A disappointment, but not a disaster

[Didsbury Dave]

Good post there DD,

I thought Mancini made a mistake when he brought SWP on I would have brought on RSC. Johnson became ineffective when he went to the left.

I did allude to this in my original post. I can accept that point but I can also see why he did what he did.

 

[bizzbo]

OP captures the mood nicely. I hope I haven't spoken too soon, but this seems like the first time in a while that the vast majority of us are on the same page after a defeat. it makes a very nice change.

 

[JULES]

I have seen 10x worse efforts than last night, 4th is still on.

 

[stonerblue]

Excellent post DB and good to see proper Blues can still take defeat on the chin.
My only criticism would be the swapping off Micah for Paddy. I presume Micah must've been injured though.

 

[Wrighty Wrexham]

Agree with sentiments, saw a few things differently to yourself though as I thought we were thoroughly outplayed, we had a 10/15 minute spell after about 15 mins and same again early in second half but overall I thought Everton were simply the better side.

Distin looked class, shame we faced him when he appears to be 100% fit and in form.

Personally I feel Bob got it wrong tonight, I have been a big advocate of his tactics but we needed Rocky on from the start, regardless of his fitness we needed to get amongst them from the onset and tonight we couldn't.

Making the SWP sub when Stevie came off was an opportunity to put that right but he made imo the wrong call as he should have at least got Rocky on then - when he then got Rocky on he took off the wrong man in AJ but Bob took the easy option, why take off the man who gives the best delivery when you bring on the target man?

Overall though it is not the end of the world, Villa are wank and Spurs are riddled with injuries - they will get spanked when they play the top3.

Still fancy us for 4th, 3 points tonight would have been fantastic but now we just need to win our next 3 which is very achievable.

Wouldn't mind Arteta in a City shirt next year.....

This spot on

Why take the best crosser of the play off when you've just but your target man on!!

 

[mike channon´s windmill]

It was one of those nights tonight, a disappointment but certainly not a disaster.

We played a good side and we had key men missing. The manager put out an attacking side and I was pleased with the shape. Maybe a question mark about Zab at left back, with all those right footers around him.

For the first half hour I thought we were really good. We were aggressive and wrestled hold of the midfield. We could and should have scored. I haven't seen the highlights yet but the Tevez dribble sticks out, and some good balls in the box.

We were unlucky to concede with their first real attack. I felt there was no foul by Barry but Gleghorn on GMR was adamant there was a foul.

We had to change when IReland came off too. IT could be argued that RSC should have come on then and Tevez dropped deep but what he went for was still positive and gave us outlets.

IT took us until about 60 mins to take control again and there was some good buildup play, if maybe some poor deliveries. But we could have scored. The second goal killed us of course, on the break, and credit to Everton for scoring and it also, importantly, defending really well. I wish we'd never lost Distin, he still looks the business to me.

We're still right up there and averaging 2 points a game, which is what we need. 6 points from 2 hugely winnable games and we're right in the mix.

I don't feel blame needs to be apportioned for this. The home record was bound to go and it was kind of inevitable it would be like this - just one of those nights were nothing runs for you and it all runs for the opposition.

As an aside, I have to say I sat in a different part of the ground tonight, 102 instead of 328. It was a much more critical and there was much less camaderie. here was too much barracking going on for me at key points of the game. I bollocked some bloke in front of me for shouting, within earshot "You're fucking shit Barry". He wasn't the only one but he got the brunt of my rage. We were pushing for an equaliser, how is barracking going to help?

But anyway, I enjoyed the game in some ways but the result hurt and flattered Everton.

The man speaketh sense - sad to hear about the fans around you - not what we need

 

[Didsbury Dave]

Excellent post DB and good to see proper Blues can still take defeat on the chin.
My only criticism would be the swapping off Micah for Paddy. I presume Micah must've been injured though.

I must say that puzzled me a bit. Every time Vieira comes on it looks a wierd call to me to be honest.

 

[The Fat el Hombre]

It was one of those nights tonight, a disappointment but certainly not a disaster.

We played a good side and we had key men missing. The manager put out an attacking side and I was pleased with the shape. Maybe a question mark about Zab at left back, with all those right footers around him.

For the first half hour I thought we were really good. We were aggressive and wrestled hold of the midfield. We could and should have scored. I haven't seen the highlights yet but the Tevez dribble sticks out, and some good balls in the box.

We were unlucky to concede with their first real attack. I felt there was no foul by Barry but Gleghorn on GMR was adamant there was a foul.

We had to change when IReland came off too. IT could be argued that RSC should have come on then and Tevez dropped deep but what he went for was still positive and gave us outlets.

IT took us until about 60 mins to take control again and there was some good buildup play, if maybe some poor deliveries. But we could have scored. The second goal killed us of course, on the break, and credit to Everton for scoring and it also, importantly, defending really well. I wish we'd never lost Distin, he still looks the business to me.

We're still right up there and averaging 2 points a game, which is what we need. 6 points from 2 hugely winnable games and we're right in the mix.

I don't feel blame needs to be apportioned for this. The home record was bound to go and it was kind of inevitable it would be like this - just one of those nights were nothing runs for you and it all runs for the opposition.

As an aside, I have to say I sat in a different part of the ground tonight, 102 instead of 328. It was a much more critical and there was much less camaderie. here was too much barracking going on for me at key points of the game. I bollocked some bloke in front of me for shouting, within earshot "You're fucking shit Barry". He wasn't the only one but he got the brunt of my rage. We were pushing for an equaliser, how is barracking going to help?

But anyway, I enjoyed the game in some ways but the result hurt and flattered Everton.

Great post that Dave, I feel pretty much the same and I expect most blues who aren't like little babies do too.

Everton are a good solid team in great form. We came out in the first half and after the first few minutes were knocking it around nicely and pressing for a goal. Carlos was working his balls off and came within a whisker of getting one on a couple of occasions, but everton defended very well and we just couldn't quite break them.

When Stevie went off I also thought that RSC should have come on instead of SWP to give Carlos a bit of help up front, but maybe then we would have got overrun in central midfield with only Barry and de Jong in there.

Once we settled in the second half we had them pinned down and were pushing for a goal, but again just couldn't quite break them. They defended very well and it's times like that when you need something a little bit special to carve them open and maybe if we had a Torres or a Drogba instead of RSC then we would have got it and gone on to win, but it just wasn't to be our nite.

I thought we missed Johnson when he went off as he has a class about him that Bellamy and SWP simply haven't got. I felt he could have been the boy to come out with something special to cut them open, but it was always gonna be a tough game and it just didn't quite happen for us last night

3 winnable fixtures now and we could really do with 9 points. Let's take out our frustration on wigan on monday

 

[Wrighty Wrexham]

Excellent post DB and good to see proper Blues can still take defeat on the chin.
My only criticism would be the swapping off Micah for Paddy. I presume Micah must've been injured though.

Agree to an extent

Surprised that Micah went off as I thought he had a good game and was creating abit of havoc in their defence when he went forward.

However glad to see Paddy on thought he looked class and didnt put a foot wrong! Maybe he hould have come on for De Jong!!

Coming on for Micah caused more disruption to the team as Zab switched wings and Barry dropped to left back!!

And where did their second goal come from? Our left backs position!

 

[Failsworth_Blue]

Excellent post DB and good to see proper Blues can still take defeat on the chin.
My only criticism would be the swapping off Micah for Paddy. I presume Micah must've been injured though.

I must say that puzzled me a bit. Every time Vieira comes on it looks a wierd call to me to be honest.

I thought it was the right thing to do, at the time we had Everton under a lot of pressure and had them pinned back but Barry and De Jong aren't good enough passers when they've got the ball in the final 3rd so to bring Vieira on when we were having lots of possession in their half was a good move for me as he's a much better passer however sadly it didn't work out and Vieira didn't see much of the ball

As i said in another thread the major problem we have is when teams get in front and sit back putting men behind the ball. Have we got players who are intelligent enough with their passing to break teams like Everton down? Bellamy and SWP are excellent when they can get in behind with their pace but are they good enough with the ball at their feet and numerous defenders in front of them?

 

[Lancet Fluke]

Good post DD. I didn't think we were too clever in the opening 5-10 minutes but did then really get a grip of the game and their goal came just as we were looking most likely to score. Everton are superbly well organised and the first goal was always going to be crucial, I didn't really fancy us to get back into it once we went one down. Poor start by Ireland but for me, looked like he was just getting to the pace of the game, and literally two minutes later he was taken out by Heitinga. Also frustrating that Mancini couldn't start with RSC seeing as he did so well on Sunday but it must be the case that he can't manage two matches in 3 days. I do think we needed to have a target man to hold the ball up against Everton because it is tough to play through their midfield and even tougher for players like Bellamy and Tevez to get behind their defence. Not great but not as dreadful as the people around me seemed to be suggesting and I still think we have as good a chance as Spurs and Villa of making 4th. You're right the fella you mentioned shouldn't have shouted at Barry but he was right, Barry was shit.

 

[Dave Ewing's Back 'eader]

What disappointing to me is the realisation that we still need several new signings to compete for possible top 4.

No we don't. We're right on the edge of the top four and have beaten all the top three, in a topsy turvy season of tumoil and injury, in lots of ways.

We're good enough to finish in the top four already. It's whether we can continue to blend as a cohesive unit

Cohesion was the difference between the two teams last night. They do not rely on a couple of individuals. If you look at all their individuals they are seriously weak, but together, paradoxically, they are a decent unit. We are the opposite, individually good players but not putting in regular and coherent displays.

 

[The Fat el Hombre]

No we don't. We're right on the edge of the top four and have beaten all the top three, in a topsy turvy season of tumoil and injury, in lots of ways.

We're good enough to finish in the top four already. It's whether we can continue to blend as a cohesive unit

Cohesion was the difference between the two teams last night. They do not rely on a couple of individuals. If you look at all their individuals they are seriously weak, but together, paradoxically, they are a decent unit. We are the opposite, individually good players but not putting in regular and coherent displays.

Correct but it's to be expected because Mancini's been here for just 3 months and most of our team last night have been here less than 15 months. moyes has been building his for years

 

[barcablue]

We are in a position where if we win all of our remaining games we will finish at least 4th. The only team who have it in our own hands.. What is important is that we win on Monday. Spuds play Pompy at home at the weekend and if/when they win that the pressure will be on us to win on Monday night. If we lose that and are then 5 points adrift it could be hard to take.

Lets not forget Spuds have to play the top 3 teams in a row and will for sure drop some points. But to keep confidence up we need to make sure we win on Monday and stay 2 points behind Spurs.

 

[Wrighty Wrexham]

The only team who have it in our own hands

Spurs obviously have it in their own hands too and maybe even Villa if they win all their games!!

 

[Didsbury Dave]

Correct but it's to be expected because Mancini's been here for just 3 months and most of our team last night have been here less than 15 months. moyes has been building his for years

That's what i'm saying. It's plain wrong to say we haven't got the players. We haven't got the players to win the league yet, but we've got a good enough group of players to finish 3rd or 4th right now.

I don't believe that point can be argued. Every Blue knows that we should not have drawn all those games against poor opposition earlier in the season. It happened because of poor organisation, not poor players.

WE could easily be 6 or 8 points better off now, pushing for 3rd.

As I said, it's been a season of turmoil and change.

 

[bizzbo]

It's plain wrong to say we haven't got the players. We haven't got the players to win the league yet, but we've got a good enough group of players to finish 3rd or 4th right now.

I don't believe that point can be argued. Every Blue knows that we should not have drawn all those games against poor opposition earlier in the season. It happened because of poor organisation, not poor players.

WE could easily be 6 or 8 points better off now, pushing for 3rd.

As I said, it's been a season of turmoil and change.

I guess that's true, but i still look at the squad and think it's imbalanced, incomplete. in another year, if liverpool had gerrard and torres fit from the start I'm not at all sure we'd beat them in the league.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

It's plain wrong to say we haven't got the players. We haven't got the players to win the league yet, but we've got a good enough group of players to finish 3rd or 4th right now.

I don't believe that point can be argued. Every Blue knows that we should not have drawn all those games against poor opposition earlier in the season. It happened because of poor organisation, not poor players.

WE could easily be 6 or 8 points better off now, pushing for 3rd.

As I said, it's been a season of turmoil and change.

I guess that's true, but i still look at the squad and think it's imbalanced, incomplete. in another year, if liverpool had gerrard and torres fit from the start I'm not at all sure we'd beat them in the league.

I think our squad is better than Liverpool's by a fair distance. Not many of their squad would get in our first 11. I think you've named the onyl two

 

[Lancet Fluke]

I guess that's true, but i still look at the squad and think it's imbalanced, incomplete. in another year, if liverpool had gerrard and torres fit from the start I'm not at all sure we'd beat them in the league.

I think our squad is better than Liverpool's by a fair distance. Not many of their squad would get in our first 11. I think you've named the onyl two

Reina and Johnson almost certainly, Mascherano probably, Benayoun occasionally. No-one else though. They have half a decent team and no depth to their squad.

 

[The Fat el Hombre]

I guess that's true, but i still look at the squad and think it's imbalanced, incomplete. in another year, if liverpool had gerrard and torres fit from the start I'm not at all sure we'd beat them in the league.

I think our squad is better than Liverpool's by a fair distance. Not many of their squad would get in our first 11. I think you've named the onyl two

Mascherano and Reina as well, although i wouldn't have any others on top of that. Liverpool have had a bad season but they've still got world class players littered in that squad and I still wouldn't write them off just yet.