The horrific QSF set us up at home with 3 CB and two defensive midfielders. Naturally we conceded less goals in that period when we were so defensively focused. For the true story of our defensive unit think back to Brighton and West Ham under Javi, and then the chaos today. Also Mariappa shunting crosses miles over the crossbar does not help the offensive cause.
It is just a figure of speech. The game against Brighton is massive now. Lose and all confidence is shot, players and fans alike. Win and we have a chance when it comes to avoiding relegation .
This. 3 games in a row where we have thrown points away. Morale can't be great. Add 8 points onto our points total and see where we could have been.
Pearson really lost me today with his substitutions which weakened the team, and the tactics were those of a championship team. We were just lumping it long, hoping that something would drop. When the hit and hope football didn’t work, we pushed more players forward until we got caught. We were headless Chickens for most of the 2nd half. Losing leads for the 2nd game on the bounce, really points to defensive weaknesses which are showing again. The fact that we didn’t strengthen in the defensive department during the window is scandalous.
Get an allotment. I came across some potatoes which I had missed digging up in the autumn today - we will now have an extra potato salad dish, maybe two. Happy days. What happened in the football?
None of us on here surrendered that game. If the people in front of us have shown that they have given up, we'd be mental to stick around and try and manufacture belief amongst ourselves, when the players who materially affect things have shat the bed and are happily wallowing in it.
Bournemouth looked as bad as I’ve ever seen against us, they’ve just won two in a row and we’ve now lost two in a row. Things can change very quickly in either direction. All teams in the league (Liverpool aside) are capable of hitting a bad run and putting in poor performances and chucking leads away. Just because we are in the relegation zone and had previously strung together a decent set of results it doesn’t make us somehow immune from this. We were never going to skip off into the sunset and win every game. We are not down yet however disappointing today was.
Think of that squad next season in the champ next season without Deulofeu, Sarr, Capoue, Doucs, Perreyra and Troy a year older. We've seen the quality of the players behind them and Gino won't be getting his cheque-book out with the lower income and excess cost to remove from the payroll.
I'm afraid we're down guys. My only saving thought is that if we somehow don't go down this season, we would've gone down next year as we cannot compete financially Sent from my ONEPLUS A5010 using Tapatalk
I agree, I'm not 100% convinced either. But it is fans giving up hope so early that I just don't understand as if we are the only team suffering, and like it is 1st May, not 1st Feb. West Ham lost a two goal lead at home to Brighton today, and Villa lost to a bottom three side with 10 men for 40 minutes, and they have a Cup Final to negotiate alongside their relegation fight. We still have players to get match fit or come back from injury and new players to settle into playing in the Prem.
We really did throw that one away . On 44 minutes we were very comfortable and literally cruising to a victory . Im not sure what happened , but once that first goal went in we looked panicky and didn’t really recover any composure until about 15 mi a into the second half . I’m I agree that the manner if our defeats in the last 2 games is worrying and appears to be more like the ‘Watford of old’. However , did any of us really think we were going to simply float to survival and some if the issues that were there would not rear their heads again . This dues to mean that Pearson can’t go back to basics again to galvanise the squad . He has to do that all over again and Brighton is pretty much a must win game now. I’m not just giving up based on that though as I’ve seen how good we can be and we can hit those Jerry’s again. Isaac success though .. what a terrible waste of a squad place . I can’t defend this guy at all he literally seems incapable of doing anything useful these days
One of those games. Didn't deserve to lose. Hopefully Sarr back soon. Think we would have won easily with him. It's not the end of the world. Fair play to the Everton fans. Not one of them gestured or taunted the Family Stand. They were just ecstatic that they'd won and just cheered on their team the whole game. I don't think we or most teams would have been so magnanimous.
It's ironic that many fans are critical because we kept trying to get the win, instead of accepting a point, yet others are saying we just gave up. IIt shows that it really is difficult to please everyone. But I really don't know what game some people were watching, but I was only watching a stream, but the commentators I heard, and the pundits I was flicking between on BBC and Sky seemed to agree with me, that we were trying hard to get three points.
I was at the ground, so I didn't see the stats, but from my recollection, Pickford didn't make a single save second half.
Basically we have a bunch of players who prematurely think the job is done 11th, finalists. "Don't need to try, we're good enough." Good December. "We're safe, job done" 2-0 up. "We've won" Attitude stinks and will ultimately get us relegated when we should be well clear of danger.
You could plant a fruit bush but it’s a bit early for most veg yet. Get some black plastic or tarpaulin, cover the patch up (after weeding) and get the soil nice and warm for next month. You could dig in first early potatoes in early March. They will be delicious with a BBQ come July. You could be sowing some seeds indoors if you have a warm windowsill. All far more rewarding than watching that bunch of turnips.
If it's not this season it's the next. We do not have £££'s to throw at clubs for their best players. We are marginally operating on a budget just bigger than our Championship days. Transfer windows have been really poor apart from Sarr who really does look like something special. We will never be a top 10 side, not with this squad, it doesn't matter who manages us, the errors are there to see. On another day, we would of lost at home to Spurs as well, it's such small margins again and I cannot praise what P&S have done in the short time they have been here. We had nine points.... NINE. But despite the fantastic run we had, the old mentality of switching off has come back to haunt us. Even if we do survive - which is looking very bleak considering Brighton will be up for the game against us - then it's manure and LiVARpool at the Vic, I struggle to see where are next win is coming from. We had to get four points minimum out of these last two games - we got none. We had such a bad start it was never going to be easy staying up - but we did have a chance. Problem is, that chance is getting smaller and smaller and further away each week,
Pickford didn’t make a save second half and we were battered the first 15 mins of the second half as our defenders and keeper looked like complete strangers in full panic mode.
Pissed off with the shower of 5hit team. I am off out now. Tomorrow is France v England rugby. Going to watch it at the Ufredy Hotel/Bar. The owner is a football hating, Toulon Rugby Club fan nut. After the recent 5hit football from Watford. I hope England turn up in Paris. I don't want that **** telling me each day how bad England and football are. Due to be at Brighton next week. Two tickets could be up for sale depending on how l feel after the rubbish today.
That was hilarious though. Talk about fragile. As I said on the shoutbox, zero leadership at the back.
Agree. Whilst he on the website blaming our game management for the 2 set piece goals it was the subs- firstly IS for RP and then IP for GD when they were down to 10 seemed to me to lead to us looking so disorganised. I would have thought GD would be the man to exploit them being down to 10 and potentially RP as well-with both Wellbeck and TD in there and by keeping it on the ground not lumping it skywards As others have pointed out our set piece delivery looks very poor and our centre halfs -whether Cathcart,Kabs or Dawson just do not get their heads on any delivery to even look like scoring. That is down to NP but he chooses to highlight the (admittedly poor) conceding of those -there was another 45 minutes with 20 of those v 10 men-yet nothing on that
I don't think we were the first team to have a panicky period after just losing a two goal lead, it is pretty normal. Nevertheless, they didn't really have any clear chances either in the second half until they scored at the end. No, we didn't hit the target second half as our 7 or 8 shots went wide or were blocked. But that doesn't mean that we had given up. Fine margins.
Fine margins that continually go against us. Hence we’re in a position in the league we deserve to be in.
Maybe inside the ground, but the behaviour of many of them outside afterwards was disgusting. They have more obnoxious fans than any other PL side. Or any other side, period. Possibly excluding the Neanderthals up the road.
Sad thing about today was that it was so utterly predictable. In what universe does a professional management not recognize the need to strengthen at the back in the last window of opportunity? Maybe one that’s about to depart, and maybe that’s a message that’s permeating down to the players.
Team weakness today, defence looked shaky but only 2 shots on target in the game also showed our forward play was also poor. We created lots of good positions but delivered very little. The two goals were great team play, why could we not create another shot on target.
