shurlock

We kept a clean sheet against Swansea and Reading.

Agree - thought Punch should have started after Lallana's performance last week. He has much better understanding with Clyne and is more direct than Lallana. Jrod is an odd one as well. He still seems stuck on the left, albeit he has licence to come inside.

When and where have I ever said we're amazing? I said that we were better in the first game than today -and given the doom and gloom following that fixture, that's saying something. Agree we were beaten easily today. But I don't think we're far off them -and certainly the gap has narrowed as the season has progressed. They remind of what Reading were in the championship in that they have pace/power which allows to get men behind the ball and break with frightening speed. We have Clyne and Jrod and that's about it. Lukaku made a massive difference today - he alone changed the game for me.

Agree - we were poor last week and today seemed a continuation. Take Lambert out of the equation and we struggle for ideas. Again our biggest threat today was Clyne who happens to be our quickest and most direct player - shame his day job is defending.

I actually thought we played much better in the first where we had quite a few chances and dominated possession. I don't think they're much better - the biggest difference between them and us is pace/power in one or two positions. Hopefully that's our priority in the summer.

Quite like to see Punch back in the lineup.

Very true

Of course, you might never know: promising players may have been let go by academies, never to return to football.

An excellent idea - people initially make it for all kinds of reasons which have nothing to do with football. It's not as if by 16-19 the dye is cast. Rickie is a perfect example of someone who got a second chance.

At least, he's a bit more forthcoming with news i.e. on the injury front - none of Adkins banal mind games.

Villa doing well this half - pressing high up. Will give them some confidence for the run-in, even if united have totally taken their foot off the pedal.

Legend

Schneiderlin in an interview with the French press said that MP has an aura about him - guess you only see that when you're up close and spend time with him.

That the keeper gets the benefit is such a default position now that I don't ever expect to score from similar situations. That said, Halsey who was much closer to the incident seemed OK with the challenge.

Just got back - in many respects, our performance was quite disappointing and there's a lot to think about as we plan over the summer. Today was the first game under MP that Lambert truly failed to get in the game. And without his ability to hold the ball further up the pitch, our other creative players struggled. Lallana was particularly disappointing - he provided no real penetration from deeper positions and was a bystander when he should have been supporting our most dangerous attacking player, ironically Clyne. Clyne's threat showed that we're missing genuine width -not just another inside forward, a Lallana, Ramirez or even Jrod who likes to drift inside. Punch ticks some of the boxes, not least because of his understanding with Clyne, though his play is quite sideways. Given MP has opted for discipline and structure, playing Davis in a position that would suit Ramirez and Lallana in a more expansive set-up, it seems that we can't accommodate everyone and our options are pretty samey. Thought our midfield fought brilliantly today, typified by Cork's battling run in the first half which was my highlight of the game. Both CBs played well. Fox had a tough opening but, otherwise, had an excellent game given most of their play went down our left, they had plenty of 2-on-1 situations and Fox was given very little protection. If there is a criticism of Fox on today's showing, its that he offered nothing going forward. We missed Shaw's pace, power and ability to stretch a game. Don't remember us testing the keeper other than Lambert's free-kick, a Cork effort in the first half and Mayuka at the death. Do wish we gambled more and take a shot on- Lambert passed up a number of good opportunities at the start of the second half. Interestingly our first team no longer practices long-range shooting in the warm-up. Anyway, a point is a point and a decent result all things considered. Swansea, coming off a two week break, were really eyeing up this game as they have Man City, Utd and Chelsea in quick succession. As someone else has said, I dont think we would have got anything from under NA. The commitment to pressing, even when it wasn't firing on all cylinders, is ultimately what helped us stem the tide after a pretty shaky opening and take some of the pressure off the defence. Had we sat back and not been more aggressive, it would have been a long, old afternoon.

Yes then went to Cardiff where he picked up a season-ending injury. He has a history of getting crocked.

Don't disagree. But the point about Fox is that we need players for the here and now, not their future talent -and players should largely be selected on that basis. Rereading the posts on JWP earlier on the season, some of the hype he was getting was frankly ridiculous; "Davis is ****, we won't miss Morgan, we've got JWP etc". He's got a long way to go -at least 2/3 years IMO- longer than some on here would admit. All perfectly reasonable and natural given his age. But even if's that the case and he's the cream of the crop (behind Shaw), it puts the idea of blooding youngsters in a slightly different light.

If JWP is the next man up on our conveyor belt of talent, it can't say much about the readiness of the rest of our youngsters.

Not sure how the probabilities are calculated, whether teams final points score -and hence their final league position- are a function of their ppg. But do struggling teams in the final few weeks historically outperform their average form over the season as every game becomes a cup final and other teams have less to play for?

Exactly. The whole media and country are conspiring against sam. Their fans are getting so precious about the taunts "Did you see the football we played against Man U?" they quiver. For a fanbase that's been starved football, I guess even Maccy Ds feels like a Michelin 3 star meal. Bless their little essex cotton socks.

That's right - the other half of your thomson and thompson double act posted a picture of dale stephens whereas you posted the right one.

Big Sam just wants some love http://www.standard.co.uk/sport/sport-comment/despite-what-gary-lineker-thinks-were-more-than-a-longball-team-and-to-suggest-otherwise-just-undermines-my-players-8579655.html

This, hot on the heels of the hammond thread - the OP is losing his touch. Used to impart enough seriousness on his questions to pull them back from the brink of wummery and hence fool punters. Where's the magic gone, charlie? Looks like we may have another two-bit glasgow saint.

Nice haircut. He's an animal - makes vidic look like some emaciated, smackhead tranny.