Would be fantastic if they pulled the trigger on this grinning idiot Gracia this week. He stays, we go down. Simple as. He hasn’t got a clue. Fluked us to the cup final and the biggest embarrassment in the history of the club, which has brought way too much good credit with most of our fans considering we’ve been a complete joke in the league since about March. Newcastle is a huge game now.
Have a completely different view of that. I didn't consider Capoue's role as captain, but he was blameless in the way he played. Made some good tackles, one or two over committed ones, which were lucky not to get a yellow and generally drove everything good we did. He also stuck to a role, playing deep in front of the defence, which I thought meant that we lost out because his obvious quality was not available in attack. That is on Javi, because his presence obviously didn't help galvanise our defence. More than once he did his trademark of shrugging off challenges and then spraying a 80 yard crossfield ball to turn defence into attack. Out of all the players I blame for yesterday, Capoue is not one of them.
Being captain in football is of limited importance except when the pressure is on. The captain has to set standards & hold people to account. Kompany was exemplary at that. Capoue doesn’t appear to talk to anyone & his body language, when we went behind, was defeatist. I wouldn’t want to be standing next to this man in the trenches.
Watching the MotD highlights there was a significant possibility that Haller was offside in the move that led to the penalty. Presumably that would not have been checked by VAR but would have been if the move had directly resulted in a goal. Can that be right?
There seems a complete lack of organization at the back. No one is communicating. Foster looked frustrated. Everyone defends each other. You defend as a unit. We are not doing that. A few players are doing their jobs only to be let down by others. Gracia must make changes. Player wise and formation wise. Lets just go back to playing on the counter. Our players would be well suited to it. ---------------------------------------Foster/Dahlberg--------------------------------------- -------------------Kabasele--------------Cathcart-----------Prodl-------------------------- Foulquier/Janmaat--------------------------------------------------------------Masina----- -------------------------Doucoure--------------------Capoue------------------------------ --------Sarr--------------------------------------------------------------Deulofeu----------- -------------------------------------------Gray-----------------------------------------------
It was a clear foul and our players stopped momentarily. You have to play to the whistle as you cannot trust the officials especially the clown yesterday.
And was Antonio offside for the header which Foster saved which lead to the corner which lead to the 3rd?
Fosters handling was a little shaky but he looked better yesterday. Cleverley I can forgive as he kept going despite it being his first competitive game in a while and he nearly scored after looking rusty early on. Hughes. He needs to play centrally as he has the ability to do so . One thing supporters must not do is get on players backs and start moaning and booing. It becomes a vicious circle of draining confidence. They need to have that boosted and maintained and despite the ominous signs fans need to keep behind the team. Doucoure needs a kick up the backside as he is playing well below his normal standards.
Spoiler: UEA_Hornet, post: 2774486, member: 48 An appalling sight at any football club. No thanks. A rather unpleasant character off the pitch as well. Ask his former tenants.
My thoughts: - As has been said by many, the subs. were made far too late. At 1-1 they could have been extremely effective. At 1-2 we can get back in the game. At 1-3 it's gone. And Sarr and Welbeck were stood on the ******* touchline watching the game go! What would that have done for their confidence when they finally did get on, to be chasing a lost cause that they stood and watched happen? There is a rule-of-thumb that suggests that you shouldn't make a change when you're defending a corner but the two changes that were made were hardly critical to our defensive set-up as has also been said. Anyway, they should have been made far, far earlier by following another rule-of-thumb. Make your first change at least on 60 mins. Javi is just not brave enough in this department. What would the Joker have done? - What is the point of a rule change if it isn't enforced? Both the Spammers being subbed should have gone off along the GT touchline. Instead the ref. gently shoos them in the opposite direction. What is the ******* point? - why wasn't Rice booked on 90 minutesish for blatantly kicking the ball away at our free-kick?
I've just seen the third goal. Have to admit I thought it was a header when I was there. Beautiful comedy. Almost like a goal from Virtua Soccer in the arcade back in the day. Complete with hilarious hitting the ground in frustration from the Carthorse.
The delayed subs were infuriating. A big chant for the subs around me. Sarr & Welbz were completely shafted by coming on at 1-3.
Watching the game on a river, the commentators said VAR was checking the offside in the lead up to the penalty. That was apparently the longer check as the penalty itself was a slam dunk.
One of the Spams walked the last 20 yards as the ref gestured for us not to take the throw in just yet.
My player summaries Foster - kicking and handling were not top drawer. Not sure if he could have done anything for any of the goals, but looked like not from the Family Stand. His save when one on one and the charge out to mug off (a phrase which I seldom use) their attacker was great entertainment, if a little risky. Holebas - not his best nor his worst game. The obvious targeting of Dawson for all our set pieces meant it was easy for west ham to focus their defensive efforts. Can't play this role which calls for a full back to cover the whole length of the pitch and still be able to defend. Dawson - utter gash. We've bought a complete lemon. Buy cheap and this is what you get. A lower half, Championship centre back who might score a few from corners. Many called it in the summer and were shouted down. Gino owns this colossal **** up due to his stubborn refusal to invest any serious money in his defence. To have seen our defence as a weak, and worsening area for 2 seasons and to then go and try and fix it with a 5.5m signing from the Championship, who is 29 years old, so doesn't even have a hope of being developed into a better player, was some arrogant and stupid stuff. I dont care how many Champions league qualifications the Pozzos have or how much more experience than me they have in football, there is no way that on this, Gino is smarter than me, a 41 year old, no mark on the internet who can see this as obviously as the sun in the sky. Cathcart - have said for ages that the fact that he's our best centre back is testament to just how poor our defence is throughout the squad. Putting Dawson alongside him makes him worse. Needs a fast, mobile partner, not a slower, more cumbersome version of himself. Kiko - I've been reluctant to pile on against him because when he first signed on a free, I thought we had a bargain. Has good pace and gets into good positions. His crossing was better than usual yesterday, but I wouldn't say his defending was poor, more that it was non existent. Again, to play a system where the full backs give all your attacking width will only work, if you have the very best, top drawer full backs. Like Alexander-Arnold and Robertson good. Ours are well down the scale for quality and athleticism to own and cover that much ground, whilst remaining effective. It's a maniacal decision to persist with that approach, especially as the general quality they provide from the wings is so poor and our ability to attack wide balls is generally quite weak. Capoue - our best player by a mile. Despite the songs, he does rarely give the ball away, even when it looks odds on, crowded by opposition players, he comes through. One moment I remember was he did some sort of skill where he played the ball with a flick of his back heel around his standing leg to leave the Hammer player baffled, then sent a long, cross field ball to find Kiko, perfectly in space. Doucoure - on a downward trend for some time now. Was very poor yesterday. Injured? Confidence? Head turned? No idea what the issue is, but in any case, the solution is to give him a break from the first team 11 for a few weeks and see if he can get right. Does not deserve to be a starting player on form, going back to the tail of last season. Cleverley - all action and 100% effort, but very ring rusty. Should have scored on more than one occasion. He needs more games and is the sort of player we need in the side if we are going to halt our slide. Hughes - another player who is long overdue a benching. He's been playing game in and out for so long that it's actually damaged him as a player imo. He looks shot for confidence and also looks like he's just tired out, even after just 3 games. Should not be an auto starter and no idea why he has been. Deolefeu - is our most threatening attacker, but also most infuriating. Makes Gray look clinical. Takes a second too long to shoot every time and also, takes 2 touches too many before playing in a team mate in a better position. Still a useful player to have at the club, but for now, IMO should be deployed from the bench. Is too much of a luxury to be starting. Gray - did some excellent work. The goal was very well taken and his movement before he received the ball to play in Hughes for the miss of the season was absolutely top drawer. As ever, he missed some chances, but is, until Welbeck proves otherwise, our first choice striker right now. Deserves to start the next few games, certainly ahead of Deeney. Subs - I left before the subs finally came on so no opinion. Hope they were better than the dross they replaced.
It's odd the authorities went to such lengths in the summer to promote this as part of the package of rule changes yet don't enforce it. And that's what I think is happening here. A conscious decision by the powers that be to not penalise players for it in the PL.
Was a bit unfortunate West Ham did score just as the subs were going to be made but the defending for that was awful . First a free near post header then Haller reaches the ball with his back to goal before any of ours react !
Kavanaugh was poor again yesterday. Did not apply the new rule for the subs going off, but no doubt people will deny that happened or will defend him for doing it. So many freekicks he gave to West Ham, yet ignored freekicks for Watford. Last season we only got 1 penalty, this season none. In that time we've conceded well over double figure in penalties. We get more yellow cards than any other club, every season. I think the picture is clear, we are continually hard done by, by referees. Certain officials are worse than others though.
That sub rule will probably be another forgotten about like so many minor ones ... TBH they all just stand in the middle of the pitch anyway to get around that rule.
Kavanaugh was awful to be sure. The lack of enforcement for the new sub rule was pure comedy. Like he'd not got the memo or forgotten. Penalty shouts were right though.
And so it continues ... Where does "double figures" come from? Off the top of my head, I can think of six. Could be more though. You're good at detailed analysis ...
One of our defensive issues is that when we attack both of our full backs push up too high leaving our centre backs exposed. One should have the awareness to sit slightly back when the other is attacking.
I think the second West Ham goal sums up our defence perfectly. Anderson pushes the ball forward into the penalty area and both Cathcart and Dawson run away from him to take a central position. What was Cathcart thinking of? You have to go to the man with the ball to put pressure on him. The moment Anderson had the ball we had FOUR defenders in the box and West Ham only had Haller in there. Yet because we put no pressure on Anderson, he was allowed to play a simple pass to Haller who was incredibly unmarked. What were our players doing? They were standing in spaces with no West Ham players around them. Cathcart took up the wrong position, then was slow to close down Anderson. Dawson took up the wrong position and could not cut out the low cross. Doucoure allowed Haller to run past him which gave the West Ham striker the simple task of a tap in. Absolutely appalling.
I would be happy with that. Holebas looked like he was treading water in the second half. Is that 3-4-3?
Not sure about the players Smudger picked, but the formation might be worth a go. Let's face it, we're at the point where we need a radical change. What's the worst that can happen.....we get thrashed, which is what is happening right now anyway, so I'd say we've got nothing to lose by doing this.
