Totally agree. It wasn't just being thrashed by Liverpool, it was the manner of the defeat. We didn't show any fight at all. As I said to my son when we went 2-1 down yesterday, whatever happens now we can take some huge positives from today. I never guessed at the time how huge that positive would be!
Norwich definitely going. Then two from Palace, Burnley, Southampton, Leeds and Watford. Newcastle will probably turn things around, but it’s not guaranteed, and I can see Wolves or Brighton going on a bad run. So I am going to suggest that with steady improvement under CR, we stand a good chance of survival.
I think it’s fair to say, this sort of result was coming!! I was driving through the hills in North Wales yesterday so listened to live commentary. They were very complimentary apart from the first 15 mins which is understandable.
Right up there with our very best away victories in Premier League years. King's performance was everything we've lacked for the last few years with our incapable and underperforming front line. Still can't quite get over the last twenty minutes, shades of the famous early 90s 4-3 win over Bolton where we were 3-0 down then scored all our goals in the last 20. Another hat trick that game too...
Well he is no Calvert Lewin but Benítez did get good games out of him at Newcastle. Guess he hasn’t got the pace to trouble a Cathcart which most others have or doesn’t work as hard so WTE wasn’t under pressure as much on the ball? Seems to be more of a target man. They were particularly upset about Gordon going off but then Richarlison did score . Ranieri definitely got his subs right and made some bold moves showing who is the boss. We went with a purpose to attack and hassle them. Maybe knew it was going to be our day when 2 of the goals are from set plays and VAR goes for us !
Not a bad result for the league one squad we’ve assembled/worst team in premiership history. Let’s hope they can back it up next week.
I would be fascinated to know Ranieri’s assessment of the squad he has. Without question, he must be able to judge players, their strengths and where he can improve them. How big a deficit does he feel we have in defence? How reliable is the midfield? How good does he think those attacking options are? I was also glad to see the formation change to the 4-2-3-1. Lots of ways to get the best out of what we have with this.
You'd have to say it's the greatest result in our history. Don't you know how mahussive Neverton are? Equivalent of beating a prime 80's/90's AC Milan in the San Siro.........
Excellent summary. Very descriptive, succinct, and a good blend of colloquialisms, nicknames and thinly disguised expletives. Ever considered a career in journalism? You could upgrade the Wobby for example - they need the help of a master wordsmith.
Firstly, this evidence of direct individual tactical instruction is manna from heaven - like finding water in the desert having dragged yourself across the baking, fissured mud for days: And secondly, this is a further theme from midweek, when instead of uttering meaningless platitudes about how 'in this moment, we go again' and pretending that everything was basically fine, something just magically went wrong inexplicably and next time it will all be alright, Ranieri actually came out and admitted openly on more than one occasion that we had played terribly against Liverpool and that it wasn't good enough. Now, despite the brilliance of the overall performance, still he is not blind to the elements of the team that need work, and is already demanding more: These are very good signs, indeed.
I am a bit concerned about Sarr's general attitude to games. He was ok in flashes yesterday but why does he shirk so many opportunities to run at the opposition? I was glad when Claudio hooked him, the right choice because it was obvious no threat was coming down our left anymore. You have to wonder with Sarr if it's a confidence thing as he is clearly very talented, and we would probably still be a Championship side if it wasn't for is goals last season. We all know he will probably go either in January or the Summer, but I would expect a bit more application from him. Pedro did more in the time he was on the pitch.
The greatest victory yesterday was my kids realising how fortunate they are to grow up in the leafy suburbs of Hertfordshire. As we got off the train in Kirkdale “grim” is all the eldest said!
Wolves definitely not, for me Brighton and Brentford are more likely to get sucked in and that isn’t very likely. Don’t count out Villa as well, poor defence and average manager.
A huge does of belief and confidence restored for the players. To be more positive in their mindset. We have been far too negative so often this season. When we do go at teams like Villa we can get goals. We have a very decent set, more than decent set of forwards. Just that we have not secured the ball enough or got the ball to them often enough. Pedro is one to keep an eye out on. He also looks stronger somehow and Cucho was excellent yesterday with the others. Sissoko will be a godsend. It's up to the others to show what they can do. Kucka may not have the stamina so may have to come in and out which makes the loss of Etebo aggravating. Tufan has the quality but still needs to get up to speed. For instance not getting into Keane for the second and rarely popping up around the box which he is normally renowned for. Defensively Ngakia is developing in the crucible. Rose needs to get fit to see his absolute best. And great to see Nkoulou in the middle. He started the fourth I think. Also needs to get up to speed. But has bags of experience. It's a commodity especially at the levels he has played which you do not normally get for free. And Sierralta. Growing and developing. So in January Claudio may want a couple of reinforcements in midfield and defence. It's vital we carry this belief into the next matches. Even if we get knocked back to play positively, at a high tempo and fight for every cause. And Southampton and Arsenal. They are winnable matches. When you see Norwich yesterday that was a carbon copy of us against Liverpool. No effort, no hunger, standing off and giving up. And no team work. We hunted in packs yesterday. Sarr aside where he does leave Ngakia more exposed. Getting Sarr to replicate the form he can every game will be one of Claudio's big challenges. Because he is a match winner, a decisions winner and give the other players space by attracting the double marking.
Moussa Sissoko is magnificent. A little clumsy on the ball at points, but my goodness, he’s like a force of nature at times. Watching him drive with the ball is a thing of beauty. It’s like using a sledgehammer to crack walnuts.
It's hard to define him as a striker. He certainly is not one of the out and out types. He is so comfortable with the ball. His technique is superlative as we saw many times in the Championship. Good dribbler and his vision is excellent too. He could play anywhere upfront on the flank, centrally perhaps now as he looks to be much stronger and dare I say a wee bit taller. Or as you say BRLR he could be comfortable just off the central striker. He drops deep works hard and distributes. I would not mind seeing us playing King-Pedro as a front two. I think they would have great chemistry.
Every season they seem to be nearly nailed on for relegation at some point and then survive. Makes you wonder when it will end.
I tend to feel that the beating last week may have been a good lesson for the team. Today they've shown fight and passion Every Sarr struck me as being a bit lazy over the last few games Gets the ball and attacks but when it breaks down just drops the head and strolls off The rest of the team showed yesterday great spirit when the ball was lost it was get to it and regain possession again. Thought the players were in the refs ear considerably more also. Claudio seems to be getting them motivated. Loved the fight they had
Rondon is not a particularly good player and never has been. So they are not wrong. It's one thing to be able to throw money at a problem, it's another to do it well.
Well, I was not expecting that, although it's always the games I can't get to that we decide to turn up in, so maybe I should have expected the performance that we got. I thought we were on for another hiding when they scored early, but fair play to the lads, they finally showed a bit of bottle and self-belief and had a go back. Yesterday was the first time I watched us this season, and I thought we had a clear game plan. We will always be poor defensively unless we invest properly in our defence, hopefully a bit better with Sierralta and Nkoulou. We look very dangerous going forward and have the pace to cause any team a problem, and for the first time since Ighalo, we have a forward capable of finishing. I thought King was excellent yesterday, not just because he took his goals well, but the way he held the ball up and brought our other dangerous players such as Cucho, Dennis and Sarr into play was impressive. Although it sometimes left Ngakia a little exposed, I like the way that we played Sarr yesterday. He drifted into little pockets and had more freedom, making it harder for Everton to double on him, and the vast majority of times when he got the ball, he was very direct and positive with it. I think Ranieri's tactical know-how and ability to make subs yesterday proved why the board were right to get rid of Xisco. At the start of the season, I said that we need to be aiming for 10 points or above from our first ten games to give us a fighting chance of staying up. I didn't think we would get it, but we somehow have.
I do apologise to the rest of the forum for my complete lack of faith in CR70. Keep tinkering Tinkerman!!
Yesterday's win at Everton just showed what we should have been doing to Wolves, Newcastle, Brighton & Leeds. All missed opportunities. To have only taken a point from those games was criminal. But yesterday was very much a case of 3 points I never expected we'd get before kick off. I watched the entire match today, and before that stunning turnaround I got the feeling the game was running its course and Everton were in 'managing the game' mode. To get 2 goals in just 88 seconds completely unhinged Everton. They had to switch quickly from managing the game to chasing the game. It's very strange for that to happen. From that point on Watford were amazing. It would have been easy to have sat back and wait for an Everton onslaught, but that just didn't happen. We kept attacking them and they just couldn't cope. Pickford made a brilliant save about a minute after the third goal, which I never knew about before. Not sure I've quite ever witnessed such a collapse from an opponent before, but all credit has to go to Watford for their attitude to going forward and not sitting back. The game was beautifully read and managed by Ranieri. Watford played well throughout and in no way was the score a fair one when we were losing 2-1. Of course Everton had a couple of big chances they didn't take, but you expect that. It's Everton away after all. They will create chances against you. But Watford going forward look as good as anything outside of the top six. This is a real advantage. We have a better forward line than half the Premier League, when everyone is fit. We have a couple of nice players in midfield as well. Hopefully we strengthen further in January just to make sure we stay up, but I'm feeling a lot more confident this morning than I was last Sunday.
