Remember who we are and where we came from

[Kladze]

After the effort our players expelled against Chelsea just three days ago, it was always going to be a hard slog tonight against a team who are no mugs.

My main worry is that we may be even more shagged out by the time we get to play Newcastle - Yaya looked absolutely shattered in the second half.

You might also worry about what the gap is from Saturday to Thursday.

A little bit OT, but how do you get saturday noon to thursday evening to three days...? :)

Fussy fuckers! ;-)

[KinkyKinkladze]

I'm rather drunk, I am sorry :(

[dazby]

What a load of fucking tripe. We were absolute shite tonight & dead lucky against a team who most other top 6 teams & some others like Everton would just steamroller into the fucking ground. Every corner we had was a fucking nightmare for them but we were so fucking inept that we went inside all the time rather than using the great big fucking yawning gaps they left us to run into out wide, so rather than building pressure & turning them round we played in front of them while they all stood in a fucking line & let them get away without conceding many corners. They didn't even get that right either, letting us pass straight through the middle of them for the goal.

Absolute fucking uselsess, clueless. poncing, weak, pointless, boring, wanky, bullshit football. Thank Christ it was Juventus & not Everton or Spurs because they would have absolutely fucked us up. Mind you I suppose we'd have our 10 men behind the ball v them so wouldn't have to attack too much.

We drew ya cranky old bugger. Should have saved this speech for a loss.

[Ted Hughes]

What a load of fucking tripe. We were absolute shite tonight & dead lucky against a team who most other top 6 teams & some others like Everton would just steamroller into the fucking ground. Every corner we had was a fucking nightmare for them but we were so fucking inept that we went inside all the time rather than using the great big fucking yawning gaps they left us to run into out wide, so rather than building pressure & turning them round we played in front of them while they all stood in a fucking line & let them get away without conceding many corners. They didn't even get that right either, letting us pass straight through the middle of them for the goal.

Absolute fucking uselsess, clueless. poncing, weak, pointless, boring, wanky, bullshit football. Thank Christ it was Juventus & not Everton or Spurs because they would have absolutely fucked us up. Mind you I suppose we'd have our 10 men behind the ball v them so wouldn't have to attack too much.

We drew ya cranky old bugger. Should have saved this speech for a loss.

But for a very lucky bounce, it was a loss. We made an ordinary Juve side look like the one Kiddo & Joe Royle played against. I know how we could have easily beaten those lot tonight & the fact we didn't have the slightest idea is just nowhere near good enough imo. I don't think people realise just how completely one dimensional we were tonight.

[Ted Hughes]

What a load of fucking tripe. We were absolute shite tonight & dead lucky against a team who most other top 6 teams & some others like Everton would just steamroller into the fucking ground. Every corner we had was a fucking nightmare for them but we were so fucking inept that we went inside all the time rather than using the great big fucking yawning gaps they left us to run into out wide, so rather than building pressure & turning them round we played in front of them while they all stood in a fucking line & let them get away without conceding many corners. They didn't even get that right either, letting us pass straight through the middle of them for the goal.

Absolute fucking uselsess, clueless. poncing, weak, pointless, boring, wanky, bullshit football. Thank Christ it was Juventus & not Everton or Spurs because they would have absolutely fucked us up. Mind you I suppose we'd have our 10 men behind the ball v them so wouldn't have to attack too much.

Woke up on the wrong side of the bed have we?

Everton? They are wank. We would smash them with Zabaleta upfront.

We rested players, we gave players a chance, obviously it was going to be sloggy. Get a fucking grip.

Rested players? What we missed DeJong's attacking prowess? We had the most attacking 11 we've put out so far & it was fucking clueless. It was a load of fucking shite. It wasn't just the personell that was wrong, it was the total lack of any fucking attacking cohesion whatsoever. When you see the ability of the players we had on that pitch & how they can ping the ball around the pitch like fucking Barca then have no basic idea of a plan whatsoever once they get within 10 yards of the opponent's box, it's a dreadful waste of talent.

[the_georgian_genius]

What a load of fucking tripe. We were absolute shite tonight & dead lucky against a team who most other top 6 teams & some others like Everton would just steamroller into the fucking ground. Every corner we had was a fucking nightmare for them but we were so fucking inept that we went inside all the time rather than using the great big fucking yawning gaps they left us to run into out wide, so rather than building pressure & turning them round we played in front of them while they all stood in a fucking line & let them get away without conceding many corners. They didn't even get that right either, letting us pass straight through the middle of them for the goal.

Absolute fucking uselsess, clueless. poncing, weak, pointless, boring, wanky, bullshit football. Thank Christ it was Juventus & not Everton or Spurs because they would have absolutely fucked us up. Mind you I suppose we'd have our 10 men behind the ball v them so wouldn't have to attack too much.

A great thread until this "fucking uselsess, clueless. poncing, weak, pointless, boring, wanky, bullshit" post.

I bet you are a barrel of laughs on a night out, every post of yours is a moan which is OTT. Kinda funny once it enters the ridiculous stage.

[john68]

SorryTed, I don't often disagree with what yo post mate but I think the critique is way over the top. We yhad our shite like most games but there was also plenty of decent stuff too.
I'm disappointed by their goal and I thought we could/should have won but there were plenty of occasions when i applauded City stuff tonight.

[DoomMerchant]

SorryTed, I don't often disagree with what yo post mate but I think the critique is way over the top. We yhad our shite like most games but there was also plenty of decent stuff too.
I'm disappointed by their goal and I thought we could/should have won but there were plenty of occasions when i applauded City stuff tonight.

fair enough, but didn't Hodgson's Fulham dick over these old cunts just 6 months ago? i don't even think that match was close. Juve were unimpressive imho, and we should have walked this 3-1 and as it stood we nearly lost the fucker.

i think Ted's spot on in that we have NOTHING in the final third, and haven't all season to be fair. Jinky's sweet run onto that ball was made all the sweeter because we're dying for some of that creativity -- we've been lacking it severely. It was nice to see tonight but i think we need to see it a couple times a match. The talent is on offer...why we can't harness it is anyone's guess.

cheers

[Slim]

Chimenti, Salihamidzic, Zebina, Cannavaro, Grosso, Camoranesi, Felipe Melo, Sissoko, Diego, Candreva, Trezeguet

Manninger; Grygera, Chiellini, Marchisio, Martinez; Krasic, Bonucci, Sissoko, De Ceglie; Del Piero, Iaquinta


Yeah Doom, I mean Sissoko was playing, so obviously the same team.

[kinkylola]

Chimenti, Salihamidzic, Zebina, Cannavaro, Grosso, Camoranesi, Felipe Melo, Sissoko, Diego, Candreva, Trezeguet

Manninger; Grygera, Chiellini, Marchisio, Martinez; Krasic, Bonucci, Sissoko, De Ceglie; Del Piero, Iaquinta


Yeah Doom, I mean Sissoko was playing, so obviously the same team.

Add to that the fact that we haven't exactly romped all over fulham under hodgson in recent times ... I think it's a pretty weak point. I do think in terms of ability we have better players all around the pitch, bar one or two individuals, but they definitely have more of a presence and that's something we are striving for.

[john@staustell]

I find myself disappointed with the draw. Channel 5 and Stan the Man gave some good in-depth analysis of things (much to my surprise) and for their goal we had 5 or 6 chances to tackle and break down the move after AJ (was it?) lost possession.

Cant help feeling that the 'Mancini team', 4-5-1 with DeJong in, would've won 1-0! But he seems to have bowed to the 'attacking line-up' camp, perhaps because he didn't think Juve would be very good! But they played well and surprised everyone, given their league performances.

Still fancy us at their place though.

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

What a load of fucking tripe. We were absolute shite tonight & dead lucky against a team who most other top 6 teams & some others like Everton would just steamroller into the fucking ground. Every corner we had was a fucking nightmare for them but we were so fucking inept that we went inside all the time rather than using the great big fucking yawning gaps they left us to run into out wide, so rather than building pressure & turning them round we played in front of them while they all stood in a fucking line & let them get away without conceding many corners. They didn't even get that right either, letting us pass straight through the middle of them for the goal.

Absolute fucking uselsess, clueless. poncing, weak, pointless, boring, wanky, bullshit football. Thank Christ it was Juventus & not Everton or Spurs because they would have absolutely fucked us up. Mind you I suppose we'd have our 10 men behind the ball v them so wouldn't have to attack too much.

WAYYYYYYYYY overboard imo.

[Rae4685]

WAHEYEEEEEEEE OVERBOARD

[Beefymcfc]

Although Teds post seems a little over-the-top, I actually find myself agreeing with the content. Juve looked a poor side who got a goal from nothing (I thought Joe should've saved it btw) and then posted 10 men behind the ball. This gave us plenty of possession with very little substance once we got in the final 3rd. Don't get me wrong, it does look good passing the ball across the midfield, and back across the midfield, but that is not where you get the points.

I know everyone's waiting for the genius that is Balotelli, but for me personally, I'd like to see Ade given a run in the side as I think he is the one who will start opening defences up and allow us to score more frequently.

[Douglas Higginbottom]

Whilst Ted's post is OTT there is part of it which is hard to disagree with. We did look fairly clueless at times and some how just couldnt use the flamks as we should have. Juventus were not a top side which is just as well as we would probably have lost but they were well organised and set out to be tough to break down.They play like that day in day out and we therefore had to either score the first goal or do something special. Our goal was something special but apart from that we huffed and puffed.

It could have been worse because they looked half decent going forward and could easily have had a pen and a free kick in the D but fortunately we had a ref who didn't just buy any fall/dive. Even so Del Piero nearly won it.

I would add a little to the title of the thread. .... and where we are going.We are prgressing I think and musnt expect it to be easy to get to the top. Games like this remind that teams will come to stifle play and break on us. We have to be able to break them down without losing defensive discipline and so far we are not very good at that. We don't as yet really get at sides and batter them with attack after attack with chances on goal on a regular basis. But we are playing with a good shape, the passing is decent and once we get more movement in the final 3rd and with more players involved I believe things will improve.

Surely Newcastle , even if they come to defend , will give us positive signs.

[Grob]

We struggled to break down a solid unit.

Not the for the first time in the past year and a bit.

The inability to change tactics to break teams down is piss poor, but now expected from this manager.

No flexability at all

[brite blu sky]

Maybe we are expecting a little too much too soon.

There were a number of killer through balls during both the Juve and Chelsea games, just cut out by the last defender.
That shows to me there are signs that we do have what it takes and we will unlock tight defences in due course.

As for last night, we were caught out by how determined Juve were and how solid they were in their defending. Yes it highlighted there is work still to do, but we know that tbh. Another factor was although imo he put more effort in than we have seen recently, Adebayor was just a bit rusty.. give him a run of 3 games and he may shake that and be a useful addition to the strikeforce. Bear in mind he sometimes had 3 players on him, that gives others more space and is a part of his usefulness. When he is sharper he could be the difference. It is worth cutting him a bit of slack and giving him one more go at it.

Under the circumstances most of us seem to have accepted the 1-1, ok Juve were good on the night and we have to accept that.
Come the next few games though and it has to be results first no excuses.

If there is a positive.. for me that deJong will be fresh as a spring daisy for the Barcodes, and what i wrote above that there were some killer passes cut out by Juve and Chelsea and without disrespecting Newcastle or Blackpool im not sure their defences will cope with such play for a whole game.

[Tokyo Blue]

If you are going to play with wide men, you need two, one on the left and one on the right.

[john68]

Just to clarify, I don't disagree with much of what ted says in his analysis but feel that he failed to add that there were highlights.
We are very much a learniong team at the moment and I have always expected the good...Chelsea and Liverpool to be added to the poor Sunderland and Blackburn.
In time we will hopefully improve as we go.

I am specifically pleased by the progress that David Silva seems to be making and the improvemont up front was noticeable when he came on. I am not so sure about Ade these days. Maybe the scenario is already set that he will leave and be replaced by another.
Boateng will get up to speed and we still have Ballotelli and Kollarov to come bak, so the future is still very bright.

[simon12]

If you are going to play with wide men, you need two, one on the left and one on the right.

We did for the last 4 mins!!!