C'mon guys, it's not THAT bad...

[GPK]

Ok, so great disappointment from high expectations today, but it really isn't that bad and todays result is certainly not the end of our season (unlike the scum's!).

So, the negatives first....

today was the best chance of winning at OT for many years (team full of confidence, King in the side, no Rooney, no Ferdinand, etc) and yet we failed to take advantage
tactics horribly wrong. BAE has previously proven that he cannot play on the right. In fact it looked to me that this was affecting the formation with Hudd especially playing very close to BAE, probably because he knows the lad doesn't have a right foot. Harry should have stuck with the same team which would have allowed Bale more opportunities to use his pace down the right.
-2 silly unnecessary penalties, both down to players playing out of position


Now the positives...

We were beat fair and square. How can this be a positive? Well, at least we're not left with a sour taste of being cheated out of a result. No arguements about the pen decissions. No perfectly good goals disallowed. All in all, I thought the ref had a very good game
City only drew, so we're still a point ahead. Plus they now have a bit of a keeper crisis.
Lennon's back. Hopefully he didnt have any issues with the injury after the game and will be available for the remaining games
Cast your minds back a couple of weeks. We had just lost an unlosable semi to Portsmouth, we had 3 tough games ahead of us, City were in the driving seat....Our season was over. Looking at the fixtures I dont think anybody could have honestly said that we would come away from the 3 games with 6 points in the bag.
We lost to the current champions, but were not disgraced. Now, if it had of been a loss against Stoke, Burnley, etc, then yes it would have been a massive negative.


Yes, Harry got it wrong today. But please, let's move on. Please get off of Harry's back. By all means pass judgement at the end of the season when everything is done and dusted.

The way I see it is that we are still very much in the driving seat (thanks to the City result) and have 3 very winnable games ahead of us.
I'm much happier now looking forward to Bolton, City and Burnley than the 3 games we had ahead of us 2 weeks ago (and look what happened with them!)

COYS!

[NDC123]

Totally agree. A draw at Man City & wins against Bolton & Burnley see's us finish 4th. If Villa do us a favour against City we may be able to lose there & still get 4th. Its all in our hands & we have an easier run of fixtures to Man City who have to beat Villa, Spurs and West Ham - i'm sure they would swap with our league position & fixtures given the choice :biggrin:

[Apples]

Ok, so great disappointment from high expectations today, but it really isn't that bad and todays result is certainly not the end of our season (unlike the scum's!).

So, the negatives first....

today was the best chance of winning at OT for many years (team full of confidence, King in the side, no Rooney, no Ferdinand, etc) and yet we failed to take advantage
tactics horribly wrong. BAE has previously proven that he cannot play on the right. In fact it looked to me that this was affecting the formation with Hudd especially playing very close to BAE, probably because he knows the lad doesn't have a right foot. Harry should have stuck with the same team which would have allowed Bale more opportunities to use his pace down the right.
-2 silly unnecessary penalties, both down to players playing out of position




Now the positives...

We were beat fair and square. How can this be a positive? Well, at least we're not left with a sour taste of being cheated out of a result. No arguements about the pen decissions. No perfectly good goals disallowed. All in all, I thought the ref had a very good game
City only drew, so we're still a point ahead. Plus they now have a bit of a keeper crisis.
Lennon's back. Hopefully he didnt have any issues with the injury after the game and will be available for the remaining games
Cast your minds back a couple of weeks. We had just lost an unlosable semi to Portsmouth, we had 3 tough games ahead of us, City were in the driving seat....Our season was over. Looking at the fixtures I dont think anybody could have honestly said that we would come away from the 3 games with 6 points in the bag.
We lost to the current champions, but were not disgraced. Now, if it had of been a loss against Stoke, Burnley, etc, then yes it would have been a massive negative.


Yes, Harry got it wrong today. But please, let's move on. Please get off of Harry's back. By all means pass judgement at the end of the season when everything is done and dusted.

The way I see it is that we are still very much in the driving seat (thanks to the City result) and have 3 very winnable games ahead of us.
I'm much happier now looking forward to Bolton, City and Burnley than the 3 games we had ahead of us 2 weeks ago (and look what happened with them!)

COYS!

Good post.

I hope people are not on Harry's back.

Even though, we all probably thought from the start WTF has he done with the team selection, he has done so much for us that can forgive the odd mistakes.

Only, if he now plays a proper team....which is

Gomes
A right back if possible / if not right footed CB
Dawson
King / Bassong
BAE
Lennon
Modric
Huddlestone / Palacios (depends on game)
Bale
Pav
Defoe

Palacios should be on the bench next game purely because his form has been awful lately - two pens given away in his last two games. Granted soft pens, the first should not have been given. But he did not play well gainst pompey or utd.

If we are losing the battle we can put him on. And....Lennon, Defoe partnership works really well and we missed Defoe when Lennon came on.

[mjbmedia]

people can be on his back if they want, thats their perogative, just cos some people are happy to settle for another dire performance at OT, other than 10 minutes, I see it as three points dropped.
look Harry has years of experience and yet he still makes stupid mistakes that a rookie shouldnt make , yes hes done great to get us where we are, but unless we end up 4th after 38 games, who gives a toss , and we have blown already being there too many times to just sit back, again, and pathetically settle for another loss cos thats Ok cos City didnt win either.
With that sort of losers attitude, no wonder we are clearly the southern Newcastle perenial under achievers.
We have cover in every position, yet he cleverly put too many out on loan, many with no recall option, der thick ****, and the ones that we still have he ignores and plays people out of position, when its been proven they suck.

OK thats off my chest.
harry has done great , so far, but it means nothing if we dont finish off the job .
People can have a go at him yes, suggest hes sacked, well thats dumb , settle for below par performances no way

[irishspur]

Good post.

I hope people are not on Harry's back.

Even though, we all probably thought from the start WTF has he done with the team selection, he has done so much for us that can forgive the odd mistakes.

Only, if he now plays a proper team....which is

Gomes
A right back if possible / if not right footed CB
Dawson
King / Bassong
BAE
Lennon
Modric
Huddlestone / Palacios (depends on game)
Bale
Pav
Defoe

Palacios should be on the bench next game purely because his form has been awful lately - two pens given away in his last two games. Granted soft pens, the first should not have been given. But he did not play well gainst pompey or utd.

If we are losing the battle we can put him on. And....Lennon, Defoe partnership works really well and we missed Defoe when Lennon came on.

Its actually 3 in his last 3 sunderland away aswell as pompey and utd! I agree we should play the same team as beat arsenal and chelsea even if it means playing kaboul, although id like to see walker there instead.

[deadleyledley]

it is still in our hands and that is all that matters. as long as we churn out the results for 3 more games then we can relax and think about how we will excel next season.

[choda]

people can be on his back if they want, thats their perogative, just cos some people are happy to settle for another dire performance at OT, other than 10 minutes, I see it as three points dropped.
look Harry has years of experience and yet he still makes stupid mistakes that a rookie shouldnt make , yes hes done great to get us where we are, but unless we end up 4th after 38 games, who gives a toss , and we have blown already being there too many times to just sit back, again, and pathetically settle for another loss cos thats Ok cos City didnt win either.
With that sort of losers attitude, no wonder we are clearly the southern Newcastle perenial under achievers.
We have cover in every position, yet he cleverly put too many out on loan, many with no recall option, der thick ****, and the ones that we still have he ignores and plays people out of position, when its been proven they suck.

OK thats off my chest.
harry has done great , so far, but it means nothing if we dont finish off the job .
People can have a go at him yes, suggest hes sacked, well thats dumb , settle for below par performances no way

I thought it was far from dire, to be honest. To have a hum dinger tight game at old trafford where a team outside the cl looked the most likely to go on and win at 70 minutes is huge progress. I think we have to be realistic about results by looking at performance.

That was not below par. A few players were below par on the day, but the team performance wasn't.

If we keep playing and performing like we have been we will be vindicated with achievements and more progress.

Days like today I think it is something that can happen to anyone challenging and I think we will learn from it.

[Gino Ginelli]

Ok, so great disappointment from high expectations today, but it really isn't that bad and todays result is certainly not the end of our season (unlike the scum's!).


So, the negatives first....

today was the best chance of winning at OT for many years (team full of confidence, King in the side, no Rooney, no Ferdinand, etc) and yet we failed to take advantage
tactics horribly wrong. BAE has previously proven that he cannot play on the right. In fact it looked to me that this was affecting the formation with Hudd especially playing very close to BAE, probably because he knows the lad doesn't have a right foot. Harry should have stuck with the same team which would have allowed Bale more opportunities to use his pace down the right.
-2 silly unnecessary penalties, both down to players playing out of position


Now the positives...

We were beat fair and square. How can this be a positive? Well, at least we're not left with a sour taste of being cheated out of a result. No arguements about the pen decissions. No perfectly good goals disallowed. All in all, I thought the ref had a very good game
City only drew, so we're still a point ahead. Plus they now have a bit of a keeper crisis.
Lennon's back. Hopefully he didnt have any issues with the injury after the game and will be available for the remaining games
Cast your minds back a couple of weeks. We had just lost an unlosable semi to Portsmouth, we had 3 tough games ahead of us, City were in the driving seat....Our season was over. Looking at the fixtures I dont think anybody could have honestly said that we would come away from the 3 games with 6 points in the bag.
We lost to the current champions, but were not disgraced. Now, if it had of been a loss against Stoke, Burnley, etc, then yes it would have been a massive negative.

Yes, Harry got it wrong today. But please, let's move on. Please get off of Harry's back. By all means pass judgement at the end of the season when everything is done and dusted.

The way I see it is that we are still very much in the driving seat (thanks to the City result) and have 3 very winnable games ahead of us.
I'm much happier now looking forward to Bolton, City and Burnley than the 3 games we had ahead of us 2 weeks ago (and look what happened with them!)

COYS!

:dito: This.

[choda]

:dito: This.

Yes, an excellent post.