benjii

Part of the problem is that lack of goals breeds lack of goals. There have been plenty of matches this season where we've played pretty well for the first half but just not stuck it in the net. I'd wager that in quite a few of those matches, had we done so, we may well have rolled over teams in the second half and scored more. In fact, when I can be bothered I might go back and look at the matches where we scored in the first half and see what happened. Although off the top of my head, now I think about it, I remember the Spurs match where we scored first then got stuffed. So I might not bother.

I didn't say it was. I said we had a clear style in response to your completely inaccurate description of our style, following a suggestion that there wasn't one.

It's not wholly attributable to a "blip in the system". Missing penalties, missing chances and crossing badly are nothing to do with a "system". Redmond often fails to deliver a decent cross and the final ball from Tadic and Cedric is pretty eratic too. Bertrand is usually reliable but he was a culprit yesterday as well.

Yes, thank you. I hadn't seen that when I wrote my post. The double save from Butland yesterday.... if we had finished one of those chances it would have been a beautiful goal. It was a fluid and incisive move involving a number of players. Puel's job is to set the team up to maximise our control of the match and nullify the opposition. In the vast majority of games we have done that well. Unfortunately, when you don't score it means you are always on the edge of defeat and nerves and pressure build up. You could say we should have reverted to more percentage football but, frankly, what's the point? We still wouldn't have finished any higher and I doubt we would have got to the league cup final. Puel was clearly recruited with a mandate to try to impose a style on our play. We haven't really had a style since Poch left because Koeman never really looked beyond the next match and was an arch pragmatist. Fair enough, that's a valid approach, but I don't think it's what Les et al really want long-term. Now, you can say it hasn't worked, which is legitimate but that's as much down to the personnel available as the manager IMO.

No, not at all. Do you actually watch the matches? The style is clearly to build along the deck, through midfield, using short passing where possible and then to create openings through either interchanging around the box or creating two-on-ones out wide. We tend to do that quite well. Where it usually goes wrong is the final pass or the final finish.

It's sometimes down to numbers in the box and sometimes down to just rank bad execution. Yesterday we got in behind down the left loads of times and put in a number of rubbish crosses. We are nowhere near as "defensive" or "boring" as a lot of poster on here make out.

I think we have a clear style. Whether it's the best or jet is debatable but it's obvious we had a strategy this season to implement a certain style of play. Much more so than under Koeman, for example, who would constantly flit between counter-attack, building from the back, direct balls etc...

Numbers 2 and 5 are completely subjective and the answer to number 4 would be "no" whoever the manager was. And I don't think anyone expected our league position to improve.Don't think that's the best test, really

I think that's the crux. Our fans have shown their true colours and a couple of dodgy results at the start of next season will turn the atmosphere even worse.

They had a must win game away to Palace and didn't manage a single shot on target. Negaitive, crabby football. Doesn't play 44****ing2.

Yes, that certainly sounds like a "no brainer" to me too.

That ties in with a few other noises I've heard....

Just seen Martin O'Neill moving some things into his Winchester house....

Yeah, in the Chapel it's a fine line between streaking and noncing.

Well we have missed two penalties in that time. Can't really blame the manager for that.

2-3 pm on Tuesday.

Agree with that too.

Yeah, but if we play 433 the crowd can't cope.

Bertrand has been playing like he wants to leave recently.

Agree with both of those.

Not football related but next weekend there's England at the Rose Bowl and the Common People festival on the Saturday. Plus it's a bank holiday weekend so would probably be busy anyway.

Forster is best in goal.

Oh yeah..... I remember that at The Dell! Also protests in the car park.

Who's better?