i love rafa more than me old dog but....

[dr gonzo]

pennant is not up to the job, we've made some seriously bad houliier summer2002 style signings last summer and there not up to it. we've had a poor run with injuries sure but gonzales doesn't even look of the pace, his fabled speed looks to be a myth, bellamy has stepped up beyond his level and been found wanting. theres a lack of cohision through out the squad that exactly mirrors 2002-2003. it bloody worrying. an in no way do i blame rafa but something needs to be done, no? if we don't bid for swp it's a bloody tragedy of pig headedness

[dr gonzo]

sorry for this aimless thread, i got home and my frustration got the best of me before i could read the main one.................

long live someone else

[Guest]

yeah pointless thread. There's a lack of confidence running through the team at the moment and Pennant is one deeply feeling it.

[Milan_Milan]

A new alias for Speedy perhaps?

[redlancer]

maybe if pennant was give some support we might see him at his best.

Last night when ever he got the ball there were 3 blue shirts on him.

Portsmouth certainly thought he was a threat.

Thought they defended very well

[brikkis]

pennant is not up to the job, we've made some seriously bad houliier summer2002 style signings last summer and there not up to it. we've had a poor run with injuries sure but gonzales doesn't even look of the pace, his fabled speed looks to be a myth, bellamy has stepped up beyond his level and been found wanting. theres a lack of cohision through out the squad that exactly mirrors 2002-2003. it bloody worrying. an in no way do i blame rafa but something needs to be done, no? if we don't bid for swp it's a bloody tragedy of pig headedness

If we didn't have so many injuries Pennant would not be playing so what else can Rafa do

[Depth_Charge]

Thought they defended very well

shhhh... don't let anyone hear you say that.

Surely when a team come to purely defend we should beat them 6-0 or so just like everybody else does.

Portsmouth were well organised and with our midfield injury problem it was always going to be hard work. Too few crosses and nobody getting to the byeline (except Gerrard - once) meant that our strikers never really got a sniff, yes we were dissapointing and we lacked that cutting edge but I don't think it was as awful as people are making out. Every time I see Pennant chicken out of taking on a defender I'm thinking that's why Rafa plays Stevie G. wide right, because when Gerrard plays there at least the forwards get some service.

The problem we have at the moment (as I see it) is that despite strengtening the wide areas (supposedly) - we still suffer from a lack of width, or certainly a lack of quality wide players. We have a really strong nucleus of quality players around which to build the team, but it's on the wings and in areas where we need creativity that we are often found wanting.

[Rich]

It's become more and more apparent just how important the wide areas are in terms of how Rafa shapes his teams. We need genuine quality and guile in those areas to unlock the tight defences we come up against.

[marcgerard]

We have nt had the best of service so far this season from either wing and I think it might take Gonzalez and Pennant some time to come to terms with what is required. Personally, I think the amount of tracking back Pennant is having to do has meant he is nt able to go past players with speed, so he is looking for the short pass inside more often than not. I think it will take some before he has the fitness to do the job he was bought to do, and his confidence might have well gone by the the time he gets there.

Another aspect that I think we need to address is just how deep Kuyt and Crouch tend to drop off, at home especially it seems to just create more congestion and does nt allow us to stretch the defences of teams that are sitting so deep. By the time either get into the box they are often being tracked by a midfielder and having to coipe with well drilled defenders.

[fatistuta]

I think that unless Rafa gets an open check book then we will only get Pennant and Bellamy and Gonzales type signings, however individually I think these players are good enough although not world beaters and I think they have improved the squad from last season that was getting so close.
But for one reason or another it just is not happening for the team.
If you're totally honest it's not just the new players not performing, and if the team was playing well then I think the new players would have settled and performed better.