aimaad22 4156 Posted September 17, 2017 Share Posted September 17, 2017 Couldnt catch the game but a very decent performance by all accounts. 4th We'll have these little great runs while Rafa is here I suppose. How good is it to see us so well organized and drilled for a change Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Gloom 21915 Posted September 17, 2017 Share Posted September 17, 2017 It won't always be pretty but we'll be hard to beat and we won't often take a Pardew style drubbing. I wonder if the lack of investment has allowed him to forge a siege mentality with the players. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfy 12 Posted September 17, 2017 Share Posted September 17, 2017 Another great 3 points. Could have been a whole lot easier if we'd taken our chances...especially Joselu but the main thing is we held on to claim the spoils from a much better Stoke team than we've played in the recent past. Rob Elliot was outstanding and make some fantastic saves. Ritchie is a revelation and a man of the match for me, today. Lascelles showing why he's captain and finishing it all off with another headed goal. The King Salmon. A very good team performance again. This team has the potential to get stronger as time goes on, with players gelling more and more. As long as the dressing room stays tight we should be looking to really kick on from here and get closer to that magical safety number sooner rather than later, hopefully. Still early days yet but it's looking good so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfy 12 Posted September 17, 2017 Share Posted September 17, 2017 5 minutes ago, Dr Gloom said: It won't always be pretty but we'll be hard to beat and we won't often take a Pardew style drubbing. I wonder if the lack of investment has allowed him to forge a siege mentality with the players. Something like that but also there seems to be a real battle for places with players desperate to be part of the team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayvin 5217 Posted September 17, 2017 Share Posted September 17, 2017 33 minutes ago, Dr Gloom said: It won't always be pretty but we'll be hard to beat and we won't often take a Pardew style drubbing. I wonder if the lack of investment has allowed him to forge a siege mentality with the players. Genuinely don't think we're that bad a team anyway. I was convinced last year that the team as it stood would be capable of avoiding relegation and we have actually strengthened. Merino as an alternative to Shelvey is not what I expected, that's a huge bonus. Colback isn't in the side. The defence actually looks better than at any time I can remember. Joselu isn't great but imagine if we did have that decent standard of striker. Has to be a priority for January. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renton 21611 Posted September 17, 2017 Share Posted September 17, 2017 15 minutes ago, Rayvin said: Genuinely don't think we're that bad a team anyway. I was convinced last year that the team as it stood would be capable of avoiding relegation and we have actually strengthened. Merino as an alternative to Shelvey is not what I expected, that's a huge bonus. Colback isn't in the side. The defence actually looks better than at any time I can remember. Joselu isn't great but imagine if we did have that decent standard of striker. Has to be a priority for January. Trouble is it's a priority for most teams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayvin 5217 Posted September 17, 2017 Share Posted September 17, 2017 Aye, true enough. I'm prepared to believe Joselu might just have been trying too hard yesterday tbh. Positionally he was great, just let down by finishing. Either way, we're scoring goals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Gloom 21915 Posted September 17, 2017 Share Posted September 17, 2017 And the one thing you'd say about Joselu so far which has been pleasing has been his all round game. He seems much better suited to the line striker role than Gayle, who'd benefit from a second striker to feed off. And although he misssd a hat trick of good chances yesterday, at least he is getting into goal scoring positions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aimaad22 4156 Posted September 17, 2017 Share Posted September 17, 2017 Aye I'd go with that too. For the time being anyway, the misses were shocking mind Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayvin 5217 Posted September 17, 2017 Share Posted September 17, 2017 Our upcoming games look like games we can get something out of as well. Even Liverpool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wykikitoon 20129 Posted September 17, 2017 Share Posted September 17, 2017 Just watched the highlightrs. Could have been a lot more comfortable. I would be more worried if we werent creating the chances. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adios 717 Posted September 17, 2017 Share Posted September 17, 2017 Also nice that under Rafa when a team equalise you still think "we can beat these fuckers" whereas for too long we've been wondering how many the team'll lose by. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom 14011 Posted September 17, 2017 Share Posted September 17, 2017 At the end of the day if you spend £5m on a striker don't complain too much when he's not banging the goals in, however simple. I think he'll start putting them away eventually mind, as mentioned earlier in the thread he was trying too hard. Perhaps he wanted it too much. Anyway it was a great all round performance and we should have had a hatful, Shaqiri was a tad fortunate for his goal - there was a deflection off a defender just as he hit it and it took it just out of Elliot's reach. Interesting nobody has mentioned it and I couldn't spot it myself - Heurelho Gomes pointed it out on Goals on Sunday. Goalkeepers Union. They also pointed out Lascelles goal shouldn't have counted because he put his hands on a defenders back, as if that doesn't happen all the time unpunished. Tossers. It's annoyed me that neither MOTD nor Sky pointed out the Atsu penalty incident. It was a stonewaller! A lot of people are saying he should have got his shot off earlier but so what? That's a penalty all day long. Sky/BBC can easily put aside ten minutes to try and get our players banned if need be, so why can't they cover our matches properly? Oh well, it's turning out to be a canny start. Hard work, determination & organisation the key, who knew? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaddockLad 17246 Posted September 17, 2017 Share Posted September 17, 2017 (edited) Rafa seems to have improved the level of performance of most of the players since the start f the season. Possibly teams coming at us more in this division is giving us more space to attack in too,but the signs are most players are improved at least 10-15% on last season. After what could be described as a "summer of discontent" that is frankly phenomenal. And am off to Brighton next Sunday, with Monday off Edited September 17, 2017 by PaddockLad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philmagwired 4 Posted September 17, 2017 Share Posted September 17, 2017 Hope my sense of us becoming hard to beat is not down to the shortcomings of who we've beaten so far.Early days but getting a bit fucking twitchy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StoneColdStephenIreland 74 Posted September 17, 2017 Share Posted September 17, 2017 9 points out of 12 from the teams that will be around us is a cracking start. Especially when you see the likes of Palace without a win against 4 of the poorer sides in the league and Liverpool, Chelsea and Spurs dropping points against Burnley. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Gloom 21915 Posted September 17, 2017 Share Posted September 17, 2017 1 hour ago, StoneColdStephenIreland said: 9 points out of 12 from the teams that will be around us is a cracking start What you on about? We haven't played either of the Manchester clubs yet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LooneyToony 41 Posted September 17, 2017 Author Share Posted September 17, 2017 16 minutes ago, Dr Gloom said: What you on about? We haven't played either of the Manchester clubs yet You are so right, sir. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OTF 7295 Posted September 18, 2017 Share Posted September 18, 2017 6 hours ago, Dr Gloom said: What you on about? We haven't played either of the Manchester clubs yet Which explains why we're around them. When we beat them they'll start to fall away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fish 10856 Posted September 18, 2017 Share Posted September 18, 2017 On 16/09/2017 at 2:07 PM, adios said: Odd that Rafa trusts Mbemba over Manquillo on the left. Thought he might have been picked ahead of Gamez/Manquillo because of his height and experience in the Premier League? I thought Stoke looked like they were targeting the left back position with their attacks, maybe? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayvin 5217 Posted September 18, 2017 Share Posted September 18, 2017 Fish, what in fuck is wrong with your computer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fish 10856 Posted September 18, 2017 Share Posted September 18, 2017 29 minutes ago, Rayvin said: Fish, what in fuck is wrong with your computer? I have no idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Carr's Gloves 3892 Posted September 18, 2017 Share Posted September 18, 2017 59 minutes ago, Rayvin said: Fish, what in fuck is wrong with your computer? It has a BK&C issue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ayatollah Hermione 13863 Posted September 18, 2017 Share Posted September 18, 2017 What this recent run has proven is that the league is bang average and an organised, well drilled side that is working their bollocks off is enough to see off a lot of teams, especially at home Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fish 10856 Posted September 18, 2017 Share Posted September 18, 2017 10 minutes ago, Ayatollah Hermione said: What this recent run has proven is that the league is bang average and an organised, well drilled side that is working their bollocks off is enough to see off a lot of teams, especially at home Aye, that should be enough to deal with most of the league and will only really come unstuck against the top sides, but we would have struggled against them anyway. You think our young team will struggle where more experienced heads might deal with pressure better? I mean, Lascelles seems a good captain and players like Hayden and Clark seem to have their heads screwed on right, but could their youthful exuberance see us come undone in the future? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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