So my line up would be:
Green
JOB Faye Tomka Linda
Noble
Morrison Vaz Te
Lansbury
Baldock Maynard
I know it will never happen with Big Sam at the helm, but I feel a bit better having put it on the screen & maybe we could still creep into that top two. Or maybe it is just me, I have only seen us beat Millwall at home this season & that includes Bristol City, Doncaster, Watford, Crystal Palace & Boro!
The thing that struck me last night was the lack of pace in the midfield, we all know Nolan & Noble are not the quickest off the mark in terms of pace but surely they can pass the ball quicker & try to get the opposition defence moving around, you never know some gaps may even appear! __My answer for what it is worth (& if the Daves realy do read this, perhaps they can have a word ....) is to make Noble our holding midfielder (his distribution is usually better than it was last night & he has never been the gut busting attacking midfielder), put Tomka back where he belongs - next to the outstanding Faye & replace Nolan with Lansbury who has been superb for England's U21s as the attacking goal scoring midfielder. Then we need two pacy goal scoring wingers - Vaz Te on the left & Morrison on the right (I know he is untested but the boy has talent & pace & knows where the goal is). It may be a new concept but maybe these wingers could be encouraged to get to the goal line & pull the ball back to quick witted goal scorers who thrive on chances created in the box, if only we had some ....................... oh wait a minute, what about Baldock & Maynard?!
An excellent article on KUMB & the points raised are blatently obvious. There are 6 weeks left to go, what is the harm in getting totally behind the team - you may find that the result is a positive one. The players will respond & get a bit of confidence & suddenly will want the ball & take responsibility for it. I am sure there is an eliment of Sam's instruction in there but when coinfidence is low players just want to get rid of the ball. I will be there tomorrow singing my heart out & hopefully everybody else will give our boys a lift from the first whistle & maybe they will give us something back to cheer, stranger things have happened! COYI
It is very easy saying that we should be planning for next season but if you listened to the Southampton manager's interview they are dealing with the now & that is exactly what we should be doing. They had a tricky spell & seem to have come through it, Reading have not had their spell yet but I am sure they will & I am sure we will get over ours. We seem to play better against better quality opposition so I am quite glad we have got the Doncaster & Watford games out of the way - we appear to have a more difficult run-in which I think will suit us. Those calling for Big Sam's head are premature, he was brought in to do a job & he is still on track to do it. Huge game against Leeds up next & hopefully that will get us back on track with Southampton at Millwall & Reading away at Barnsley could make things interesting. Keep the faith, I know it has not been pretty but we are still in a good position for the promised land & IF we get there, then Big Sam will have another huge job to do. COYI
Certainly lightened the mood, why did we ever get rid of Kovacs?!!!!
Bad attitude/advice - done absolutely nothing at Burnley - enough said! I would have thought Montano would be closer but again he can't seem to get regular football at Notts County so obviously is not good enough.
I know it is not going to happen as it is not the Big Sam way, but now we have the pace in the squad I would like us to get the ball on the floor & play with a much higher tempo & we would not need a big lump up front. I would love to see:
Green
JOB Tomka Faye Linda
Vaz Te Noble Taylor
Lansbury
Baldock Maynard.
We were poor today & I do not understand the logic of taking Vaz Te off when he is comfortable playing on the left & leaving Collison on who had an absolute shocker. He struggles to play wide right let alone wide left! He was getting absolute pelters from my section of the ground & I agree with other posters that he has made it very easy for Big Sam to bring Nolan straight back in. I think the problem we have at home is tempo, at times we are like watching England, we slow the play down & play into the opposition's hands. Man for man our team is technically superior to most teams in the division - if we raise the tempo with quick short passes & use the pace we now have out wide with Faubert & Vaz Te to get behind defences we would create far more chances. I would also like to see Maynard & Baldock up front, Baldock made a big difference when he came on & created two very good chances & yes he should have taken one but at least he hit the target with both efforts & we must remember he has not played for weeks & weeks. Plenty for Big Sam to think about. We are still only a point behind Southampton with a game in hand & there is still a 6 point gap to third. I know he only signed a new contract recently but Zaha will be a good replacement for Faubert when he leaves in the summer, looked very tricky.
I believe he was offered a new contract in the last year or so & he did not want to sign it. Can't say I blame him, why would he want to be tied in for another 3-4 years if he never gets to play. Shame, I think he would have been a good replacement for Rob Green if he refuses to sign his new contract in the summer., he could have been the new number 1.
I have just seen the highlights on Sky & Greeno has come a long way out & did not get anything on the ball. I thought it was game over at that point with no keeper on the bench. Fair play to the boys not only do we not allow them to score buy we also score 2 more ourselves - absolutely outstanding. Lansbury made a few catches, maybe he will get a game in goal on Saturday or do we go back for Almunia on an emergency loan? Great to see Maynard, Vaz Te & O'Neill getting their first goals for the club - confidence must be really high. Really well done, I am a very proud hammer tonight.
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