MATCH THREAD - Swansea (A) Sponsored by the play off final

[Ian Royal]

I never expected anything other than a struggle leon, I'm just pointing out how stupid and blinkered a point RR made.

right...well I disagree. An away point is an away point - doesn't matter how we get it. They can't take it away from us because we were sh1t in the second half. Does the point from Newcastle at home count for more because we absolutely battered them and they cheated a goal?

No, it's another example of why we're going to be in trouble, because it's another game we should have won, for very different reasons, that we didn't.

[grey_squirrel]

Not sure if I am in the positive or negative camp tonight after that performance and all these comments but my biggest concern is McD's tactical awareness. Yet again he takes off the strikeforce and leaves the midfield - where unsurprisingly - we were totally put to the sword from the 1st minute until it's too late. That concerns me.

As for Tabb, well I've said it time and time again.

[leon]

I never expected anything other than a struggle leon, I'm just pointing out how stupid and blinkered a point RR made.

right...well I disagree. An away point is an away point - doesn't matter how we get it. They can't take it away from us because we were sh1t in the second half. Does the point from Newcastle at home count for more because we absolutely battered them and they cheated a goal?

No, it's another example of why we're going to be in trouble, because it's another game we should have won, for very different reasons, that we didn't.

agreed I also think we should be now in 13 place with 7 points and a game in hand....

so let's get this right, we're agreeing that taking out of the equation a cheated goal and a poor second half we could be one win away from 9th....

I'd take that as a decent start to the season

[Maguire]

Well we were really quite poor today but the two bright points are 1) we got a point out of it and 2) we're unlikely to be that poor again for a while.

Only played football for the last 7 or 8 minutes, the rest was just long balls onto the full-backs heads. I realise we've been doing that for years but it's supposed to be followed by "and then play our football in the final third". We didn't do any of that.

Kebe anonymous as an attacking force but he did do well covering back. Shame he did *exactly* what he did in the p/o final when he gave away possession for the equaliser. In the p/o final it was the first goal iirc. No nutmegs on the half way line please Jimbo.

Last thing - I've seen Pogrebnyak get a bit of stick on these pages for being a disappointment and a dodgy transfer. Well for my money he's pretty much our best player and he'd be blinding if he had similarly talented players around him. Hold up play is very good and doesn't often give up possession easily.

OKay really the last thing - Tabb + Karacan = alarm bells.

[Ian Royal]

right...well I disagree. An away point is an away point - doesn't matter how we get it. They can't take it away from us because we were sh1t in the second half. Does the point from Newcastle at home count for more because we absolutely battered them and they cheated a goal?

No, it's another example of why we're going to be in trouble, because it's another game we should have won, for very different reasons, that we didn't.

agreed I also think we should be now in 13 place with 7 points and a game in hand....

so let's get this right, we're agreeing that taking out of the equation a cheated goal and a poor second half we could be one win away from 9th....

I'd take that as a decent start to the season

Yeah, if we'd got the rub of the green we'd be mid-table and looking very comfortable. We haven't though and plucky but unlucky teams quite often go down.

[Hoop Blah]

Honestly I do not think we were played off the pitch at all - we just ran out of steam, our players were chasing them down all the time - Tabb was hounding them around in midfield always closing them down and harrying them, then when we ran out of steam they took control and we made a few stupid tactical errors, like Kebe gave the ball away when we were attacking, which lead to their one goal.

Ever thought that that's part of the plan when teams keep the ball and move it around the pitch well making the opposition chase shaddows?

Or is that just a conincidence that teams who,

...pass it from one central defender to the other central defender for 90 minutes and call that sexy football

seem to finish strongly and wear teams out?

[old woman]

agreed I also think we should be now in 13 place with 7 points and a game in hand....

so let's get this right, we're agreeing that taking out of the equation a cheated goal and a poor second half we could be one win away from 9th....

I'd take that as a decent start to the season [/quote]
Yeah, if we'd got the rub of the green we'd be mid-table and looking very comfortable. We haven't though and plucky but unlucky teams quite often go down.[/quote]

Does it matter if we go down?? Not really a great fan of the premiership, so as long as we get past 11 points, I really don't care.

[Hoop Blah]

When Man Utd, Chelsea, Man City etc. play poorly and get a point it's a sign of potential champions, yet when we...

You get my point.

Problem is those teams also go out and win the majority of their other games. So far we've not looked capable of doing that as even when we've played comparitively well we've only come away with a point.

Libertine - You've reached that conclusion on the evidence of 2 fcuking games!!!???

Brilliant.

To be fair, average vs Stoke, half decent but all in vein vs Chelsea (really only 2-0 football as McDermott calls it as we were such underdogs so under no pressure), woeful vs Spurs, good against Newcastle, poor at Swansea. That looks pretty inconsistent to me.

[Hoop Blah]

Well we were really quite poor today but the two bright points are 1) we got a point out of it and 2) we're unlikely to be that poor again for a while.

Did you say the same after the Spurs game?

Last thing - I've seen Pogrebnyak get a bit of stick on these pages for being a disappointment and a dodgy transfer. Well for my money he's pretty much our best player and he'd be blinding if he had similarly talented players around him. Hold up play is very good and doesn't often give up possession easily.

OKay really the last thing - Tabb + Karacan = alarm bells.

Agreed on both those points. The Tabb/Karacan combination didn't look good enough last season and yet somehow we've ended up with them starting for us today. That's a bit of a worry, as is the general lack of quality in the side. It feels to me that McDermotts signings haven't quite paid off as yet and we're still stuck with the same side we had last season (which never looked better than a Championship side).

I know Mariappa, Shorey and Pogrebnyak all started today, the latter apart, we don't seem to have really increased the quality in the side enough or stepped up our level of play sufficiently. It's going to be a long winter.

[Maguire]

Well we were really quite poor today but the two bright points are 1) we got a point out of it and 2) we're unlikely to be that poor again for a while.

Did you say the same after the Spurs game?

Well no, because we lost.

[Hoop Blah]

I didn't think I needed to clarify that I was talking about your point 2....

[Royal Rother]

When Man Utd, Chelsea, Man City etc. play poorly and get a point it's a sign of potential champions, yet when we...

You get my point.

Problem is those teams also go out and win the majority of their other games. So far we've not looked capable of doing that as even when we've played comparitively well we've only come away with a point.

Libertine - You've reached that conclusion on the evidence of 2 fcuking games!!!???

Brilliant.

To be fair, average vs Stoke, half decent but all in vein vs Chelsea (really only 2-0 football as McDermott calls it as we were such underdogs so under no pressure), woeful vs Spurs, good against Newcastle, poor at Swansea. That looks pretty inconsistent to me.

Are average and half decent different in your world then?

[Hoop Blah]

Yes.

[Maguire]

I didn't think I needed to clarify that I was talking about your point 2....

tbh I don't think it was bad as Spurs but then I was actually at the Spurs game so witnessed the shambles with my won eyes. The players could barely pass the ball to each other in that one.

[USA_Loyal_Royal]

if im being honest with myself, as most other fans probably thought the same. if we went to swansea and got a point we would have all been happy and celebrating. but since we went up 2-0 and ended with a draw, some are disappointed. to be honest i was most disappointed because i wanted revenge for wembley!

[Archie's penalty]

Well we were really quite poor today but the two bright points are 1) we got a point out of it and 2) we're unlikely to be that poor again for a while.

Did you say the same after the Spurs game?

Last thing - I've seen Pogrebnyak get a bit of stick on these pages for being a disappointment and a dodgy transfer. Well for my money he's pretty much our best player and he'd be blinding if he had similarly talented players around him. Hold up play is very good and doesn't often give up possession easily.

OKay really the last thing - Tabb + Karacan = alarm bells.

Agreed on both those points. The Tabb/Karacan combination didn't look good enough last season and yet somehow we've ended up with them starting for us today. That's a bit of a worry, as is the general lack of quality in the side. It feels to me that McDermotts signings haven't quite paid off as yet and we're still stuck with the same side we had last season (which never looked better than a Championship side).

I know Mariappa, Shorey and Pogrebnyak all started today, the latter apart, we don't seem to have really increased the quality in the side enough or stepped up our level of play sufficiently. It's going to be a long winter.

Yep. Agree. Can you think of any answers?

[MmmMonsterMunch]

We'll be better with Legs back in the team - he was missed today.

Like someone else has said I'd rather push McAnuff into the middle & get both McCleary & Kebe on the wings than play Tabb. Tabb was out of his depth last season let alone in the Premier. Guthrie must've have been watching that thinking how the hell am I not playing?!

[Ian Royal]

Ledge only had a dead leg, so hopefully he'll be back and stay fit for a while. When he plays well we look alright. I hope we're looking at him and Jem together at home with Hunt and one of Pog and Roberts upfront. That should give us threat and graft enough to cause teams trouble.

Away I'd prefer to see Hunt either dropping deeper into more of a midfield role, or preferably stick Guthrie in for him to pad out the midfield and help us keep the ball a little better.

Personally, I'd also really like to see Pearce come in for Gorkss.

McCleary and ALF to act as the impact subs to try and pick us up late points.

[MmmMonsterMunch]

Ledge only had a dead leg, so hopefully he'll be back and stay fit for a while. When he plays well we look alright. I hope we're looking at him and Jem together at home with Hunt and one of Pog and Roberts upfront. That should give us threat and graft enough to cause teams trouble.

Away I'd prefer to see Hunt either dropping deeper into more of a midfield role, or preferably stick Guthrie in for him to pad out the midfield and help us keep the ball a little better.

Personally, I'd also really like to see Pearce come in for Gorkss.

McCleary and ALF to act as the impact subs to try and pick us up late points.

If we play like we did today against Liverpool it will be a cricket score. Don't think we will though.

[TBM]

lol match of the day made us look better than we were