ElanJo said:I'd go for:
___________Given____________
Richards__Dunne__Onuoha___Bridge
_________Zab__DeJong__________
SWP_______Kompany_____Ireland
___________Big Phil_____________
Or possibly:
___________Given____________
Richards__Dunne__Onuoha___Bridge
SWP_____Zab__De Jong__Garrido
_______Kompany__Ireland_______
(maybe switch Ireland and SWP)
Either way, I cant see us beating Villa today :(
Daniel Sturridge said:Brilliant today and imo proves we can be just as good if not better without Robinho, I also think the team that finished the game today is the team we should be playing away from home from now on except bring Bellamy back and de Jong in for Headless.
Team for away games:
...................Given....................
Zabaleta...Dunne...Onuoha...Bridge
Ireland...de Jong....Kompany...SWP
......Evans / Bojinov...Bellamy.......
That team I guarantee will get us some good points away from home.
My ratings for tonight:
Given - 7, didn't have too much to do but when needed he was there, couple of great saves.
Zabaleta - 9 (MOM), had Young in his back pocket first half and defended him well second half, some great challenges and one of his best games for us.
Dunne - 9, best game for us for a while, won nearly every header against some big players and generally defended well.
Onuoha - 8, carried on his good consistency and his partnership with Dunne is looking great.
Bridge - 8, a lot better today since he had some help by Ireland first half and SWP second, attacked well and probably his best game for us so far.
SWP - 9, he's back to his best, running at players again and looked really keen, the break has clearly done him good. Deserved his goal.
de Jong - 8, brilliant again, swept everything up and was gutted when he went off injured.
Kompany - 8, carries on his consistency with another great performance, buy of the season by a mile!!
Elano - 8, a few things wern't coming off for him at first but carried on and put in a great performance, some brilliant through balls like he used to do last season.
Ireland - 8, ran his bollocks off again, must have completed his 15th marathon this season with the amount of running he does, class passing and quality game again.
Caicedo - 6, looked slow, first touch was awful and just looked very poor today.
Fernandes - 5, this guy is just not a footballer, must have a pass completion of 2%, ran around a lot but was just pointless tbh.
Evans - 8, did more in 15 mins than Caicedo did all game, looked like he wanted it, won headers, quality chest for Elano's shot and did amazing for SWP's goal.
Bojinov - 7, came on and had some great touches, did well for the goal and I can't wait for him to be fully fit.
Still cannot believe the result. Excellent.salfordtrueblue said:for me this lionheart fella,wants to get a bit of a city heart,always knocking the side. Just pmed him to remind him of the postavoidconfusion said:Blue Si said:lionheart said:Quite frankly it amazes me how stupid and ignorant so many of the posters are on here. No way in hell will we beat Aston Villa tonight. With an in-form Bellamy and a motivated Robinho, we might have knicked a result but, without them, we have no chance. Man for man in every single position on the park (except goalie), they are much better than us. If Given plays a blinder, we may keep the score down to 0-1 but am expecting much worse.
I've been itching to post this......STUPID & IGNORANT eh?
get a bit of fucking backbone and faith!
cock head!
Good find.
Feeling stupid now lionheart?
He cmpleted 2 of 3 passes and complete 2 of 3 tackles in his return from injury and first game time in wuite a while. Your analysis seems a little harsh. Espically considering you give everyone else 8's and 9's.Daniel Sturridge said:Fernandes - 5, this guy is just not a footballer, must have a pass completion of 2%, ran around a lot but was just pointless tbh.
He completed 2 of 3 passes and complete 2 of 3 tackles in his return from injury and first game time in white a while. Your analysis seems a little harsh. Especially considering you give everyone else 8's and 9's.Daniel Sturridge said:Fernandes - 5, this guy is just not a footballer, must have a pass completion of 2%, ran around a lot but was just pointless tbh.
C_T_I_D said:Just got a few points to make.
The Dunne and Onouha partnership.
I think this is developing really well and is promising. Dunne went and spoke to Onouha and also spoke to Bridge before the game just kicked off. Onouha, in my opinion, is the most natural defender we have at the club and his reading of the game is exceptional. Dunne was dominant in the air and won more or less every header. If one of them made a mistake then the other was there to cover for them and that happened on numerous occasions.
Elano and Ireland.
I questioned whether they would be able to work in the same team but they seemed on the same wavelength and that is a testiment to the ability of 'Superman' given the other player is a Brazilian playmaker! Some of the interplay between Ireland, Elano and SWP was beautiful to watch really and their joint ability to pick out a pass played a significant part in this fixture. It is an interesting statistic that Elano has never missed a penalty for us.
The 'Given' effect.
To me, he inspires confidence and not only is he a great shotstopper, he is very vocal and knows how to sort his defence out when facing free kicks. I like his desire to win and succeed with this club, it's something that isn't quite there with Hart yet (the vocal side).
The strikers.
Sorry Caciedo, but you're never a premiership striker. No desire to run for the team and simply held the ball up all game. Not an attacking threat in my books which is worrying considering he's meant to be a striker. When Chad/ Ched (don't start that debate again ffs!!) came on I labelled him a Championship class striker and his movement alone proved me wrong. A great chest down for the attempt on goal by Elano and if not for a great save by Friedel would have gone in. Bojinov looked really up for it and wanted to succeed immediately, always wanting the ball and wanting attacks to start. He'll be important for us, but he desperately needs playing time and that was clear to see at times.
Not missing Bellamy and Robinho.
They played as more of a team because of this and seemed more on the same wavelength rather than playing the 'Give it to Robinho and hope he does something special' tactic. If we get to see Bellamy and Bojinov up front when both are fully fit, I think we're in for a treat!
Elano was not tracking back, although his work on the ball was good.Chippy_boy said:bluemoonmatt said:Chippy_boy said:Bluemoon115 said:Get in there.
So, Hughes is clueless eh?
Yup.
hold yer hands up and admit you talked shit son, at least attempt to retain your dignity.
I have plenty of dignity thank you.
Bringing Boj on was the wrong thing to do in my opinion. Of course I am delighted we won, but just because we did, it doesn't automatically mean Hughes made the right decision. I don't think he did.
I think Hughes makes some very poor substitution decisions generally. Not making changes when they are needed is his usual failing. Or making them too late.
This was another daft one. But he got away with it this time, largely because the team played so damned well.