Relive every moment of every first team game since the beginning of the 2005/06 season. Our archive of matchday threads originally posted in the General Discussion Forum.
Behrami and Ben Haim played for the reserves this morning, but where were Dyer & McCarthy? Not in the reserves, not even on the bench for the first team.
Well I can see already that Avram Grant will be hounded out by the same fans that wanted Curbs out. Grant will be boring. We won't concede many and we we won't score many, but we'll pick up points.
The team that Grant picked yesterday cannot play 451 / 433, hopefully grant was just giving certain players one last chance to impress before he decides who to ship out, for 433 to work for us this season we need to have two from dyer, boa, barrera, sulejmani ( assuming he signs) playing either side of cole, if these players are not available then we should go back to 442! also imo faubert is never in a million years an offensive player, he is uncomfortable with trying to take a man on and prefers to overlap like the fullback that he is, whether he is a decent fullback is open to debate but i would rather he was played there than where grant has been playing him and he should be ahead of tomkins for rightback surely!
I spent most of the 1st half responding to my 5 year old son asking the same question over and over again "What type of plane is that one daddy?" but he saved his best for the second half which was "Which one of those men is Lewis Hamilton??" :lol:
But it wasn't all bad, our lass eventually started to enjoy the match. In the bar at our hotel on saturday night she gave the following analysis
"OK, it wasn't a great game but they weren't bad. Green was good...couple of good saves. The defence was ok. Midfield look solid especially with Scotty and that little fella playing next to him (she meant Noble). The only real issue I can see is up front. You had the midfield doing all the work, creating space but then nobody to pass to. I mean, who's that big bloke who wore the no. 9 shirt. He did nothing. How can he expect to get the ball if he doesn't move. He should look at that bloke who came on in the second half...piggyone?? He was quality. Plenty of running. Oh, and that one who wears no.32. Crap."
Lawro eat your heart out.
I did agree with her comment about Cole. Showed nothing at all. Fell over far too easily on a few occassions in the first half, had a one on one at the end of the half and screwed that up. And again showed no movement in the second.
For all his faults on saturday, Diamanti did provide for me the pass of the game in the scond half. Superb cross field pass out to Faubert who took the ball and ran before whipping in a cross....but unfortunately nobody was in the box.
1st half we playe with more or less last seasons team....we looked no different to last season
2nd half with new players on...started to create some nice play and chances.
Did chuckle when we, as my wife put it, lifted our own cup and the announcement was made "Well, in his first game at UP Avram has got us some silverwear. We're expecting more from you this season Avram" :lol:
BillUp wrote:Reid plays right back so I'm sure he will be used there come the start of the season.
I have to agree. Tomkins looked lost. You could see Faubert wasn't to happy with a couple of Tomkins mistakes. Diamanti looked terrible and kept loosing the ball. So did Cole. Hitz looked sharp, so did Noble. Parker didn't have a stand out performance. All in all though, still a good game to watch for my Son's first visit. I'm deaf in one ear and so is the bloke sitting next to him. :lol:
I think Tomkins needs a spell on loan to a championship side to get a bit of confidence back. I know he was playing out of position but that is no excuse for keep giving the ball away under no pressure whatsoever, he done it alot last season which cost us massively and I dont want the kid going down the same road this season. As a defender, if you give the ball away you instantly put the back four on the back foot and then more and more mistakes happen.
And for the record- Upson dont look much better either.
Dannyboylister wrote:Well I can see already that Avram Grant will be hounded out by the same fans that wanted Curbs out. Grant will be boring. We won't concede many and we we won't score many, but we'll pick up points.
despite being our best striker by a country mile,cole can be lazy.i watched him closely sat 2nd half and although a friendly he often looked tired and disinterested.he seems like he has a stamina problem to me? and this was noticeable last season at end of games even before he was injured v burnley.
w6hammer wrote:despite being our best striker by a country mile,cole can be lazy.i watched him closely sat 2nd half and although a friendly he often looked tired and disinterested.he seems like he has a stamina problem to me? and this was noticeable last season at end of games even before he was injured v burnley.
Before Cole's injury against Burnley he was brilliant.
I never saw him look remotely lazy, he only became 'lazy' after being flogged like a dead horse and being forced to play.
w6hammer wrote:despite being our best striker by a country mile,cole can be lazy.i watched him closely sat 2nd half and although a friendly he often looked tired and disinterested.
Got to say I was less than impressed with CC on saturday. No movement, did look uninterested, went down far to easily at times. Compare to Piq when he came on who never stopped moving and actually got into some good positions in the box. Final balls through limit opportunities though
