Good evening.
The results of a rapid fire opinion poll survey thing I ran earlier today are in and here are the results. About 1000 people joined in which for a chilly Monday after a home defeat isn’t a poor show, so thank you for that.
Enjoy the rest of your night and please do observe the Firework Code – you are no use to me as a reader with charred rocket sticks protruding from where your eyeballs used to be.
Which of these lists are closest to the priority you place on potential achievements for the season?
| Top 4 finish or better | 61% | ||||||
| Top 5 finish | 27% | ||||||
| Top 10 finish and win a pot | 13% |
Looking at the Premier League table we sit 5th after 10 games. How do you feel we are we getting on?
| Could do better | 60% | ||||||
| Quite nicely | 35% | ||||||
| Bit of a joke | 4% | ||||||
| Famously | 1% |
The transfer window wasn’t great for us. Who do you blame?
| Levy & Co. | 40% | ||||||
| Both of the above | 36% | ||||||
| Market forces | 24% | ||||||
| Andre Villas-Boas | 1% |
Lots of injuries, but do you expect the boss to do better with the players he does have?
| No, he’s probably doiing the best he can | 44% | ||||||
| Yes, still lots of great talent there | 39% | ||||||
| I’m actually amazed we’re doing as well as we are given resources | 17% |
William Gallas. Straight question. Do you rate him?
| He’s average enough, no better | 57% | ||||||
| He’s doing a great job | 32% | ||||||
| Without him we’d be screwed | 7% | ||||||
| No, ex gooner rubbish | 4% |
Booing at games (that old one again)
| It’s not something I believe helps the situation | 89% | ||||||
| It’s what they deserve! | 11% |
On Saturday prior to stropping down the tunnel Defoe only touched the ball 11 times and only made 5 accurate passes. Did he deserve to get subbed?
| Yes he is a selfish git | 68% | ||||||
| No, he was gonna come good | 32% |
Back to missing players and AVB, how do you see the 6 games?
| A further dip in form, 1st teamers return, then improvement | 93% | ||||||
| It won’t make a blind bit of difference AVB can’t manage | 7% |
The Europa. Given the injuries what would you like to happen in terms of team selections?
| Focus entirely on the Premier League & the Europa | 50% | ||||||
| Focus entirely on the Premier League & the FA Cup | 28% | ||||||
| Focus entirely on the Premier League | 22% |
How do you watch games?
| On TV, online that sort of thing | 43% | ||||||
| Some live games | 37% | ||||||
| Season ticket holder/borrower | 20% |
The simple fact about the Ade substitution is that AVB had to take off somebody. So what other options did he have?
He could have switched to 3 at the back. However, that is a formation which risks shackling the wide players, giving them a lot of defensive responsibility. I also have my doubts as to whether this is a formation the squad have spent any time practicing, in which case it is certainly risky business. Either way, it would put is at great risk of conceding a second, which would defeat the purpose of the whole operation.
By the way – in the end, we did switch to 3 at the back (when Carroll came on for Walker). That was when there was 10 minutes plus injury time left. But AVB apparently wanted to get Ade on earlier (with over 30 minutes left, as it transpired). Less of a risk to go to 3 men at the back when there’s only 10 minutes left. If you do manage to go ahead during that time, it leaves less time left when you have to defend with an attacking formation.
He could have taken off Thudd, leaving us with four defenders, six attackers, and nobody to distribute the ball. Might have worked, but not what I would call a balanced team.
AVB could have taken off Bale or Lennon, but as it stood, those two created most of what little threat we were managing. And playing with only one wide player would narrow our play and allow Wigan to bring an extra defender into central areas.
He could have taken off Gylfi or Deuce. They are both attacking players who (at least in a game where we are creating chances) can pose a goal threat almost on par with Midget Gem (both have scored about as many as him since Dembele got injured, unless I’m forgetting something). They are also far better at keeping posession than JD, which is pretty important when you’re trying to hem in the opposition and pile on pressure. I would add that, up until that point in the game, they had been just as productive as, or probably better than, Defoe.
The final alternative, for the sake of argument, would be to take off Brad. Then we could play someone (I don’t know – let’s say Caulker?) as a sweeper goalie. I thnk that speaks for itself.
Or he could, as he did, take off Defoe. He is probably our least effective attacking player when the opposition set up to defend and we have to put a lot of high balls into the box.
So if taking off JD for Adeboy was such a bad idea, what was the alternative that was so much better?
Long post, but the switch was obvious. Sig or Dempsey had to make way. Neither had achieved anything. Not saying Defoe had, but we’ve seen him ‘not touch the ball’ and then put in the net 1000 times before. Defoe is 10x as likely to score playing next to Ade. And I’ve told you a million times not to exaggerate.
ANGRY DRESSING ROOM,PLAYERS TAKING BLAME FOR THE SHAMBLES,SURPRISE SURPRISE,NOT BLAMING BOOING TO COVER THEIR ASS. :blink: :shocked: :shocked2: :dizzy2: :silly: :freu :-p :finn: :ninja: :daumen: :daumen: :daumen:
http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2896/premier-league/2012/11/05/3505414/-
Reading this you’d almost get the impression that they actually care about winning. It rocks my very foundations.
Players care not for Club or Fan but for POCKET only :daumen:
Ti’s a game of mercenaries, not many regional players with loyalty about these days if any at all.
Its a business for most of the owners,management and players.
Its been like that for a long time.I guess the last time it wasn’t was when players earned as much as bus drivers.
enjoyed reading posts , wide range of opinions on team performances . My opinion is , without kaboul , ekotto , parker , dembele , adebeyor and now sandro (possibly) the squad is just not good enough . This would be priority for Villa Boas and Levy to sort out. also I must add so called `lesser clubs` always seem to out battle Spurs . Why is this ? are players at Spurs above `getting stuck in` , or is the Southern Softies label correct, whatever it is Spurs are very often left wanting when the opposition `get stuck in`.
Not many people considering playing Parker, Sandro and Dembele together (with Dembele furthest forward). If they were all match fit and in form (a big ‘if’ I know)this is the way I’d go, we’d be so solid and Sandro and Dembele could launch forward with Parker there holding.
PNB did have a great season last year