Season 2012-2013

[Edward224]

Still we battled well in the 2nd half and I am proud of their performance in the 2nd half. We did well to get back into the game.

[Tes]

1-1 away to the European Champions. We'll have far worse results this season. 6 games unbeaten. We have to start from somewhere and build a foundation, 6 underbeaten is as good a place to start as any.

Interesting how well West Ham are doing. Experience? The virtues of which can never be over extolled.

[Tes]

Still we battled well in the 2nd half and I am proud of their performance in the 2nd half. We did well to get back into the game.

Credit to the manager for his use of substitutions. We didn't look as far away from them in the second half. A long way to go, two thirds of the league campaign to go. Now we need to start and build on this and kick on, and start turning 1 point into 3. Do we have that next gear in us? Stay tuned and find out.

[the dude abides]

chelsea will be kicking themselves.  They bossed large parts of the game and should have built upon their goal.

Suarez is invaluable to us, as is the pace of Sterling.   

I was totally depressed watching our midfield.  Allen is out of his depth.

we snatched a point today.  I am off to open my red wine and have a nice warm bath.

[Edward224]

Mentioned allen but not Sahin and Gerrard?

Allen was definitely poor in the first half in 352, but in the second half in 433 Allen was his usual self. No coincidence we started to control the game when we were in a 433 with  the 3 in midfield (inc. Allen) controlled the game.

Out of his depth my bottom.

[Ageing Stick Insect]

Unbeaten in 6. Gerrard doesn't take a corner and Carra flicks on Barnes-esque for Suarez to nod in. Tes, didn't I say we needed to drop Gerrard for corners? And Jamie must have been watching Barnes at corners!

Should have won it at the end. Predictions of 3-0, 4-0 were silly. We're better than that.

[the dude abides]

Mentioned allen but not Sahin and Gerrard?

Allen was definitely poor in the first half in 352, but in the second half in 433 Allen was his usual self. No coincidence we started to control the game when we were in a 433 with  the 3 in midfield (inc. Allen) controlled the game.

Out of his depth my bottom.

Chelsea bossed us when we had 5 in midfield.  Indeed they bossed large parts of the game, but just couldn;t get the second goal.

and to answer your initial point, here's my earlier quote: "I was totally depressed watching our midfield."

it's a point which we have to be thankful for.  You didn;t expect much from today's game, nor did I.  We have to be grateful.

[Martinmarx]

I suppose Brendan chose a cautious approch to this game and that's fair enough. I'm not as forgiving for him chosing to do that from a 3-5-2 formation. Maybe Skrtl's absence made it hard for him to play with only 2 in the center of which one is Carra. As Edward said our midfield got better in the second half and cred to Suso for being so incredibly poor with his first 4-5 to get it right and help us get back into the game.

In contrast to Tes I found Enrique having his best game of the season. Sure, he misfired a lot and wasted a couple of passes here and there, but he was never out of position and he ran his socks off both ways so cred to him, especially as he almost got a winner for us at the end.

We lost to many due to an extremly doubtful peno, City we drew due to a silly mistake, Everton got a Point courtesy of a substandard linesmen, Chelsea only created chances from our mistakes. All in all it ain't that bad after all. Once we strengthen the squad I'm sure we'll improve quickly and vastly resultwise.

[Tes]

Martin, that's the point, there is no 'only' about mistakes, especially when they lead to goals. Poor officiating we can do nothing about and that's completely out of our hands, anything else is down to us and we have a say in it.

I only meant anybody but Enrique when it was he the ball fell to in the area. It was a specific point about a specific moment in the game. I made no other reference to any aspect of his performance at any point in the game. 

[the dude abides]

still, we mustn't grumble.

one point closer to the magic 40.

[Ed]

Maybe BR is taking the play the kids thing too far! 

[the dude abides]

carra and stevie G's hats look pretty cool.

[Martinmarx]

carra and stevie G's hats look pretty cool.

And here was I thinking it was Johnson to the right.

[Tes]

carra and stevie G's hats look pretty cool.

Could prove problematical in a heavy downpour. I wonder how many pints of liquid they hold.

[the dude abides]

And here was I thinking it was Johnson to the right.

 

might be Johnson.

tell you what though, I reckon that young red, in the picture, looks like Suarez. 

In the Topper (kid's comic from the 70s), there was a column called Danny's Tranny.  I reckon Danny has zapped Suarez down to size.