mcfc1632 wrote:My initial thoughts yesterday was 2 points dropped through another overly boring display - yes I know it was Arsenal at the Emirates - but come on.... no better time to play them
I also thought - shit I hope this is just tactics for this game and not the way he will set us out next season
Since sleeping on it I have been wondering if there might be more sense to the tactics yesterday.
That point might be more important that it looks at first because it really sets us up for a 'play-off' against Spurs in a must win game
It means (because of the goal difference position) that (assuming we can win at West Ham) that we could afford a draw against Villa even if Spurs win their next game (so long as they do not get a cricket score)
Or am I clutching at straws looking for plus points?
Ted Hughes wrote:Those who say a point is useful; it's only useful if Spurs fuck up. They probably won't apart from v us, in which case the point is irrelevent anyway. A win however would have put them under pressure.
It was one of those occasions where the real qualities of a team & manager show through. We didn't have any.
Spurge wrote:Ted Hughes wrote:Those who say a point is useful; it's only useful if Spurs fuck up. They probably won't apart from v us, in which case the point is irrelevent anyway. A win however would have put them under pressure.
It was one of those occasions where the real qualities of a team & manager show through. We didn't have any.
It's certainly a useful point at Arsenal and Spurs fucking up doesn't come into it. If we win our remaining games we finish 4th.
I knew we'd set up to stifle the Arse, it was always going to be the Mancini way and for this game I had no problem with it, however what I really hope is that now we go all out for wins at home against Villa and Spurs (2 cup finals). If we don't end up with 4th spot then we should be abvle to look back at these 2 games and think it least we gave it our all as oppsoed to regretting playing defensive football and getting caught out.
viking the Odd wrote:I just don't understand the negative play,even against the scum,we let them play in the middle, a loss would not of mattered,and just imagine the confidence we would of taken from a victory. I can not see Mancini getting us 4th with this style of play,he is trying to save his job, but I think he's loosing it. If the rummours in the press are to be believed,he's lost one or two players, and just when we need things to be on track,it's not. 6th for us .
Ted Hughes wrote:Spurge wrote:Ted Hughes wrote:Those who say a point is useful; it's only useful if Spurs fuck up. They probably won't apart from v us, in which case the point is irrelevent anyway. A win however would have put them under pressure.
It was one of those occasions where the real qualities of a team & manager show through. We didn't have any.
It's certainly a useful point at Arsenal and Spurs fucking up doesn't come into it. If we win our remaining games we finish 4th.
I knew we'd set up to stifle the Arse, it was always going to be the Mancini way and for this game I had no problem with it, however what I really hope is that now we go all out for wins at home against Villa and Spurs (2 cup finals). If we don't end up with 4th spot then we should be abvle to look back at these 2 games and think it least we gave it our all as oppsoed to regretting playing defensive football and getting caught out.
Well even if we'd lost the Arsenal game & won our remaining games we'd still have finished 4th, so from that point of view it makes no difference whatsoever. It does mean that if we draw with Villa we're still in with a chance of nicking it on goal difference so I suppose it has value from that but I recon if we don't beat Villa we're fucked as Spurs are playing Burnley needing to improve their goal difference. They'll fucking eat them alive so in the real world; a point yesterday was probably the same as a defeat.
Spurs losing gave us a free shot yesterday with nothing to lose but everything to win. Also Villa would be out of it making that game less of a problem. Now both they & Liverpool have a lifeline. Arsenal wewre there for the taking & we should have gone all out to grab 4th place. Doing otherwise is not the 'winning mentality' we're supposed to be aiming for. Not at all. It's not what I want to see, now or in the future at our club.
Ted Hughes wrote:Ted Hughes wrote:Spurge wrote:Ted Hughes wrote:Those who say a point is useful; it's only useful if Spurs fuck up. They probably won't apart from v us, in which case the point is irrelevent anyway. A win however would have put them under pressure.
It was one of those occasions where the real qualities of a team & manager show through. We didn't have any.
It's certainly a useful point at Arsenal and Spurs fucking up doesn't come into it. If we win our remaining games we finish 4th.
I knew we'd set up to stifle the Arse, it was always going to be the Mancini way and for this game I had no problem with it, however what I really hope is that now we go all out for wins at home against Villa and Spurs (2 cup finals). If we don't end up with 4th spot then we should be abvle to look back at these 2 games and think it least we gave it our all as oppsoed to regretting playing defensive football and getting caught out.
Well even if we'd lost the Arsenal game & won our remaining games we'd still have finished 4th, so from that point of view it makes no difference whatsoever. It does mean that if we draw with Villa we're still in with a chance of nicking it on goal difference so I suppose it has value from that but I recon if we don't beat Villa we're fucked as Spurs are playing Burnley needing to improve their goal difference. They'll fucking eat them alive so in the real world; a point yesterday was probably the same as a defeat.
Spurs losing gave us a free shot yesterday with nothing to lose but everything to win. Also Villa would be out of it making that game less of a problem. Now both they & Liverpool have a lifeline. Arsenal wewre there for the taking & we should have gone all out to grab 4th place. Doing otherwise is not the 'winning mentality' we're supposed to be aiming for. Not at all. It's not what I want to see, now or in the future at our club.
Edit. I don't want to be critical of Mancini because I want him to stay & win us the title (which I think he can) but he's wrong to take us down this negative road. He can succeed without doing that. If he takes the wrong route he'll end up unpopular & sacked & we will have wasted a year. He has the ability to win with style & abandon this negative attitude.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger:
"I am not used to games like this.
"We created very little chances. Man City did not create anything, were highly focused on defending and gave us no space.
"We could not find an opener. It was a locked game of very few chances. But we did not throw everything forwards blindly, because we knew we could not afford to lose.
"However, we are nearly there (Champions League) It is 90% now, but not yet 100."
brite blu sky wrote:i was dismayed when both the teams were announced.. both with 5 man midfields.. Wenger set out to stifle the game as much as Mancini imo.. the emphasis clearly on not losing. It would have been possibly a bit dangerous to have gone gung-ho by Bobby. These games always seem inclined to be like this until someone get a goal and it opens up. The derby was similar even though we were 442. It could have been different if either team had grabbed a goal, but all things considered not conceding and getting a point was not so bad.
Both the derby and this game do show a cautiousness that one hand is not unexpected, but as many people point out is perhaps shackling this teams ability to play terrific football and score against anyone.. but it is a tight call when playing the likes of the rags and Arse at this stage of the season with so much at stake. Note that the draw for Arsenal has ended their remote chance of the title, so you could look at it in the way that we stopped Arsenals final shot at staying in the race, which is no mean feat at their place in front of their own fans. The rags and Arsenal are not Birmingham after all.
We will have to up it in the 2 home games to come thats for sure, but that doesn't look out of our capacity to do. I suspect we will see the difference in quality between Villa and the rags or Arsenal.
Ted Hughes wrote:Spurge wrote:Ted Hughes wrote:Those who say a point is useful; it's only useful if Spurs fuck up. They probably won't apart from v us, in which case the point is irrelevent anyway. A win however would have put them under pressure.
It was one of those occasions where the real qualities of a team & manager show through. We didn't have any.
It's certainly a useful point at Arsenal and Spurs fucking up doesn't come into it. If we win our remaining games we finish 4th.
I knew we'd set up to stifle the Arse, it was always going to be the Mancini way and for this game I had no problem with it, however what I really hope is that now we go all out for wins at home against Villa and Spurs (2 cup finals). If we don't end up with 4th spot then we should be abvle to look back at these 2 games and think it least we gave it our all as oppsoed to regretting playing defensive football and getting caught out.
Well even if we'd lost the Arsenal game & won our remaining games we'd still have finished 4th, so from that point of view it makes no difference whatsoever. It does mean that if we draw with Villa we're still in with a chance of nicking it on goal difference so I suppose it has value from that but I recon if we don't beat Villa we're fucked as Spurs are playing Burnley needing to improve their goal difference. They'll fucking eat them alive so in the real world; a point yesterday was probably the same as a defeat.
Spurs losing gave us a free shot yesterday with nothing to lose but everything to win. If we'd won yesterday we could have lost to Spurs & still finished above them. Also Villa would be out of it making that game less of a problem. Now both they & Liverpool have a lifeline. Arsenal wewre there for the taking & we should have gone all out to grab 4th place. Doing otherwise is not the 'winning mentality' we're supposed to be aiming for. Not at all. It's not what I want to see, now or in the future at our club.
Ted Hughes wrote:By drawing we've given Villa something to play for & taken the pressure off Spurs.
Beefy, what we could have done differently is tried to win the game. That doesn't automatically mean we would have lost if it didn't work, we could just as easily have lost to a shot anyway if Arsenal hadn't been completely shit.
I said before this game & the Utd one that I didn't mind us being cautious provided our plan was that we were looking to break & score at every opportunity when we got posession. Instead our plan was to keep almost everyone behind the ball & just whack the ball forward to a few isolated players. That's not clever tactical genius stuff, it's Mick McCarthy, Tony Pulis stuff. Everton played so much better there against a stronger more confident Arsenal side; it's shameful. They looked a class above us.
I think it's sad that we have so much skill & pace but can't even dare to throw a few people forward on the break especially when we've done it successfully before. I don't want to watch football like that.
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