Quick synopsis please

[alunevans]

Played very well and knocked it about creating a hatful of golden chances first half which were wasted partly because Crouch screwed up 3 very good headers and Bellamy hasn't got a left foot.

They scored with their first proper chance then we huffed and puffed without really looking likely except for yet ANOTHER hitting the post, this time from Xabi.

Each time a substitution was made it weakened us.

But we should have gone in at half time with the game over.

Not luck though. We just insist on not buying goalscoring forwards and so this is what happens.

[The Glove]

Crouch was **** and shouldve scored atleast 3.

Gonzalez was his normal useless self.

Everyone else huffed and puffed, man of the match was probably Alonso, atleast his passing seems back to normal.

We shouldve won by half time but we didnt so we are ****. Play like that agains Spurs and the result will be the same.

Thats basically it.

[REDSCOUSER]

Howard mate,
We wasted chances, Friedel was on top form. We concede early in the 2nd half and could not recover.
The squad is STILL not good enough to win the league.

[SouthAfricaRed]

Didn't see the game and rather than go through the match thread would somebody give me a quick assessment of how it went?

Ta.

We missed a Lot. They didn't

[REDSCOUSER]

We missed a Lot. They didn't

1 goal out of 3 on target
we had 10 and could not feckin' score

[ronan]

gonzales is turd so far
yet to see him perform at any sort of decent level for us
he was pish today
crouchs headin was ****e but you cannot blame one man for a defeat
we didnt show enough initiative going foward imo

[AFII]

We have a very good penalty box player(Kuyt) but Rafa plays him to deep.

I would use Kuyt more or less in the same way as Fergie used RvN.

[Howard_lfc]

Cheers lads.

Thanks for depressing me.

[Los Rojos]

We have a very good penalty box player(Kuyt) but Rafa plays him to deep.

I would use Kuyt more or less in the same way as Fergie used RvN.

Based on what I've seen so far this season, Kuyt needs a lot more chances to score than Van Horseface ever did.

I'm not sure he's the man we need to lead the line on his own. In fact he looks much better as the deeper man of a front two.

[desertscouser]

Based on what I've seen so far this season, Kuyt needs a lot more chances to score than Van Horseface ever did.

I'm not sure he's the man we need to lead the line on his own. In fact he looks much better as the deeper man of a front two.

Horseface is a phenomenal goalscorer, far more clinical and prolific than Kuyt ever will be. Kuyt is a much hard working player and hence more of a Rafa and GH type of forward.

It would be nice if we went out and signed an animal of a goalscorer. Someone who's selfish as feck and only knows where the goal is.

[Rich]

Problem is there aren't many/any natural goalscorers, players that score in 9 out of 10 chances.

[desertscouser]

I know.

It's really frustrating though that the only two proper goalscorers we've had in the past 10 years are Fowler and Owen, both of whom fell in our lap. Houllier was a complete disaster when it came to signing goal scorers..

Heskey (Donkey of the highest order)
Diouf - as prolific as Erik Meijer
Sean Dundee - wtf?!
Camara - loved the guy but he was hardly prolific
Anelka - great player and if played in the proper position a very good goalscorer. But GH discards him.
Cisse - flmao

Have I left any other donkeys out?

In fairness Rafa's record isn't much better either. No doubt he's signed much better forwards than GH but a clinical finisher has thus far eluded him. Bellamy is a great player imo and would be the first forward on the teamsheet for me but he's never been prolific. He needs someone next to him who is and at the moment it doesn't look like we have that player. I rate Kuyt but it seems to me that Rafa's not utilizing his goalscoring prowess, playing him far too deep to be any sort of threat.

Rafa needs to sign a clinical goal scorer if we're ever to win the league.

[The Glove]

If there is one then he is only gonna come from abroad and he isnt gonna be cheap. Then, we run the risk of him not being able to cut it. This could be a reason why Rafa is looking to other areas of the pitch for goals.

[desertscouser]

If there is one then he is only gonna come from abroad and he isnt gonna be cheap. Then, we run the risk of him not being able to cut it. This could be a reason why Rafa is looking to other areas of the pitch for goals.

I'm not saying it's easy to sign a real top notch goalscorer but it's amazing how in 10-15 years neither of our managers have been successful in that department. In fact, imo the best striker we've 'signed' in the last 15 years was probably Collymore who if it wasn't for the fact he was off his head would've probably scored over 20 goals a season for us for many years.

Demento seems to be able to sign goalcorers on a regular basis. Solskaer, Cole, Saha, Yorke and Van Nistelrooy - all of whom are clinical finishers yet we can't. It's frustrating as feck and it costs us a title challenge every year.

[The Glove]

Solskear was one fo the ones who couldve gone **** or bust and didnt cost a fortune, Saha was a gamble but atleast he had already played here and was used to it, Cole is like Hasselbaink, scores goals where ever he is and we could never have afforded to get him frm Newcastle, Yorke was like Saha so I guess Ruudy was the biggest gamble but didnt he cost a load?

We have always had a bit of a goal poacher though so its only since Owen left we have needed to look for one. Only since Rafa came have we been looking for a main striker. We've tried a few and a few we've shipped out. i guess rafa will keep looking but in the mean time, try and get more from midfield.