carrafan

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I thought we missed a physical player like Crouch yesterday. However big their defenders were, you'd always half expect him to win his fair share of headers. It might have been right off Mourinho's textbook but i was wondering why Skrtel wasnt brought upfront just be that physical specimen in the last 5-10 minutes. It would have given Stoke a new thing to worry about. Dont think our wide players ran enough at the defenders to try and get themselves into the box, with the ball either. Benayoun tried that when he was subbed on and almost got through. So did Gerrard a couple of times but apart from that i thought our wide players were a bit lazy and took the easier route of crossing the ball way too often, without mixing it up. But hindsight is a wonderful thing and maybe them coming inside would have only meant that the box would've got more crowded. We'll see a lot of teams try this tactic of defending deep in numbers against us now that we've lost Crouchie and it'll be upto us to get the results. An early goal would've counted a lot yesterday. They only got more confident as time went on and were hardly chasing the ball in midfield meaning that they never got tired. Is N'gog supposed to be good in the air?

Happens every game.

Do you have a degree in missing the point? How does 'spain looked more effective with Torres alone upfront' equate to 'they struggled to score goals otherwise'?

Blinder? I said he didnt have as bad a game as people made him out to be. And before you get down your high horse, they might all be different kinds of players but they work best when attacks are built round them and seldom work together with partners. Spain looked more effective with Torres alone up top in the Euros than when he had Villa working with him. Similarly Quaresma didnt have a great season when Lisandro Lopez shared responsibility with him.

Berbatov is a player whose the focal point of attacks, he's someone on whom teams are built round. Dirk's all heart and a lot more versatile albeit nowhere as good on the ball. I wouldnt swap Kuyt for Berbatov now as we have Torres whose a similar player to Berbatov. Ronaldo's another player in the same mould. So are Ibrahimovic, Quaresma and Trezeguet. But if we didnt have Torres in our squad, the swap would be a no brainer. Berbatov would have scored shedloads for us.

Although i agreed with your previous post about Lucas, i'm not sure about this stat. A good reason that we won a lot of game with Lucas in side side was also because he's played quite a lot more against the average teams than the really good ones. Of course, he played against Inter, and Chelsea but IIRC on the whole, a higher percentage of his appearances have come against okay opposition. Dont have any stats though, just a judgement call.

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Haha

Hehe.. you never know whose serious and whose not with some of the opinions round here.

No that would be the deflected ones. He's scored against Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United. Scored in an F.a. Cup final, UEFA Cup final and a CL final. Lampard and Gerrard are completely different players with different roles in the side.

Plus although he might not be express quick he has a nice turn of pace with him, when he has the ball..beat their fairly quick right back with a trickery and pace a couple of times yesterday. What's surprising is that, for such a direct player he doesnt score enough goals but i suppose improvements can be made.

Dossena's the new Riise!!

Arbeloa had another decent game. We couldnt keep the ball all game though, although that was partly because of the numbers Marseille were putting forward to pressurise our midfield. Lucas and Mascherano, except for a couple of misplaced passes didnt have poor games at all, they might not have made crunching tackles and passed 50 yard crossfield balls in but put in a heavy shift all game and their good work is shown by the fact that Marseille got nothing on us through the middle, most if not all their chances, except the goal came out from wide. Kuyt had a poor game though. It looked as if he was trying too much with his flicks and one touch football but when in the lead, what we wanted was someone to keep the ball and Kuyt didnt do his job IMO. Surprisingly, its Kuyt's ability to keep the ball that is his forte. Didnt do enough, but its understandable after his game against United. Reina was boss. I almost expected him to come and clear the ball through which they scored as well, but then again he was really good today. Although his shot stopping and handling was spoken about today, none of the commentators spoke about his positioning which was immense all game. A tough win which was really needed in a tough group like ours where i think a team can go through with 7 or even 8 points on the board.

Fagan might be a c***, but Guthrie's an equal thug for making such a 'tackle'. Just because Danny was our player blinds some of our opinions bout the incident.

Unless he was offside when Alonso hit his shot. Dont see why its a matter of discussion anyway, he would have followed the ball in if it had slowed down, but it didnt.

I think Berbatov's a quality signing and a type of player that they needed. He did cost a lot but if they win the league with him playing a part, you wouldnt see them Mancs complaining. Its choosing between either Tevez and Rooney to play alongside it which is going to be a problem. Tevez is a better player and in better form than Rooney, but he is still on loan and the firm the owns him whatsitsname, would want United to pay through their nose for him. I'm actually having doubts whether Ferguson would buy him if he costs 25 million or so. Berbatov yesterday did nothing but still created a goal for Tevez even though he hadnt play a single game in pre season. He'll always play a part in many goals throughout their season but the question is whose Ferguson going to drop to partner Berbatov especially once Ronaldo comes back.

He used to play attacking midfield for Porto and did really well in the season they played in the Champions League. Hasn't ripped any trees apart for Manchester United but he's still only 20. He's actually a quite a decent player and maybe this shows that some of us need to get some perspective about Lucas and how tough it is for even top class youngsters to make immediate impacts in the premier league?

Thought Benayoun had a decent game. His movement was quite good and almost latched on to a couple of chances, showed game intelligence and linked up well with Kuyt and Keane. But it was his movement that didnt let united's back line settle at all. I dont see why people have a go at him all the time, he's quite a decent player.

Had a right laugh at Sammy Lee's reaction to our second goal. Now thats bonkers.

Martin Atkinson?

2 - 0 Arsenal. To be fair Blackburn have missed a couple of sitters and a few more half chances. Warnock is just awful at defending.

Where's Ostrich man?

Lets hope he'll have no problems getting stuck in.

They might look dark, but they're white at hart up there.