No pace out wide, will be like watching a QSF team. 60 minutes of hoof to Deeney with Gray chasing knock downs. At least it's only Newcastle so it might work for today.
Don't worry, Hughes is going to join in the second half after resting through the whole of the first half.
Normal service as usual. Dominate the game, miss easy chances and allow the opposition back into it through sheer ineptitude, poor management and a lack of backbone and composure. Poor substitutions from Gracia. No one to sit on Shelvey and sitting deeper and deeper inviting trouble by a cowardly change upfront. Not to mention continually giving the ball away cheaply and once more the number of times the final ball was misplaced was terrible and a constant throughout this season.
Rancid 2nd half, stupid substitutions, ridiculous formation, Gracia should just **** off now, don't even bother going to the last game
A win is a win and we got what we needed to be safe, so we have to be thankful for that. But I just don't know what Gracia says to them at H/T as they continually get worse afterwards. Should have been out of sight in the first-half. Gracia just seems totally unable to counter the threats and tactical changes from the opposition. And when he tries, he gets in badly wrong. Newcastle had about 10 mins of pressure and Javi ***** himself and brings a defender on for a striker and invites that 10 mins of pressure to become 45 mins of pressure. A better team with a better striker than Gayle would have punished us today.
Karnezis - solid today. Kabasele and Cathcart - about 10-15% better than Mapps and Prodl at CB, maybe just enough to stop us conceding a second at the end there vs if Prodl was on the pitch... Holebas - he's been worse Janmaat - not great (Mariappa - one very good block) Pereyra - very good in the first half, shame he couldn't last. Hughes - always looks excellent in first halves, but then his energy levels drop significantly at about 60 minutes - it's a big barrier to him being a reliable top performer. Capoue - MotM Doucoure - continuing his poor second half of the season. Gives the ball away for fun. Only positive is that unlike most our wingers and forwards he is able to keep his energy levels up and stay sharp for a full 90 minutes. (Deulofeu - abysmal cameo, I'd be hesitant to sign him for a big fee. Another player with some good quality, but poor work ethic, injury prone and can't last 90 minutes) Gray - what more can people ask of him? Some nice passes and link up play, caused their defence problems with runs in behind, won a penalty. Yes he had some poor touches every now and then, but no more than some others in our team. No he's not ideal, but he at least should have had every minute as a lone striker away from home which Deeney had, and we might have got at least a goal or two on our travels under Gracia had that been the case. Deeney - just fuc4 off already.
Richie's last 15 minutes again today just underlined my point - he's not a striker (though also right now he barely even looks a professional footballer).
He will be But no he doesn't fit a 541 panic and lash it or whatever the **** we were playing 2nd half, can't think of a single striker who would
Gracia came to us when we were on a serious slide and many feared we could be sucked into the relegation fight. Under him we stabilised, had a wonderful night against the champions, two massive close wins against Everton and Brom, and now today a 4th home win in his 7 matches in charge. Today was actually the first time since the opening day that we scored twice in the first half at home. Tonight we can celebrate a safety that wasn’t a gimme when he arrived, and we can sit back and laugh at Stoke and watch the mad fight between Swansea, Southampton, Brom and Huddersfield to avoid joining them. Job done and sincere thanks to Gracia for the 15 points he’s overseen on his watch. I will leave it to others on here tonight, as I see many are already doing, to comment on how an almost-certain win at half time became an another almost threw it away performance. Gracia isn’t a bad coach, but I have never felt he was the right man to take us to the next level. We already have the nucleus of a good squad for next season, and with good summer signings and the right man in charge I believe we could be nearer the 50 point mark next season rather than the 40 of this. I think slowly but surely more and more people are beginning to realise this too. But if that man isn’t to be Gracia, he still deserves thanks for his time in charge here. He’s kept us up, and that’s great news.
Sounds like we should have won comfortably today. Why do we always make it difficult for ourselves? Oh well. Anything other than a Southampton win and we're safe
Southampton could win their remaining 3 games 6-0 each and we would still be safe - but you were joking eh?
Up until today l thought Gracia may be worth sticking with, now he should just go ASAP. Totally inept, what the feck is in his head.
