Mind you, as soon as you saw the team you knew what we had in mind. Conservative would be a fair enough description, with a midfield deprived of Stanislas in favour of Boa. The full backs were restored, but when those full backs are Faubert and Ilunga, it isn't terribly inspiring is it? Faubert was merde as usual and Ilunga gave up early, as usual. He breaks down as often as a 1973 model Cortina! What was wrong with him this time? He walked off fine.
Going forward we were uninspiring. Sears set up Cole superbly, after a brilliantt Obinna pass, but Carlton was wide of the goal, at a tight angle, was being closed and had to hit it with his left foot. It was no surprise to see it roll well wide. Parker was unlucky with a lovely chip. We headed over from a corner. And Everton scored an own goal. Apart from that, did we offer anything? Boa wasted a half chance. I'm struggling to remember anything else but it is very possible that I was asleep for large chunks of the game!
Everton weren't much better. Distan missed an early chance from just about the same spot as Cole. Fellani forced a goodish save from a corner. Everton had the ball in the net but Cahill was obviously offside (mind you Tomkins should have thumped the ball clear just in case!). They scored a good goal and arguments raged about who in the West Ham defence was to blame. Spector was sucked in, leaving Coleman unmarked to score, but where was Tomkins? Trying to close the cross on the right hand corner of our box. So where was Faubert? God knows but he wasn't where he should have been. Spector or Faubert? Take your pick. Sadly both were picked by Avram, albeit the Wank initially started on the bench.
The crowd were quiet, the football was tame, bordering on lame, and both sides seemed happy enough with a point. Fulham won, Blackburn won and Blackpool won too, but we snoozed our way through to a bore draw. Whisper it quietly folks but Villa are too good to go down; and we know what happens to teams in Claret and Blue when people reach that conclusion. Let's hope the Mancs thump Birmingham tonight!
Players ratings: Green 6: Faubert 4, Tomkins 6, Upson 7, Ilunga 4; Sears 6, Kovac 5, Parker 7, Boa 5; Obinna 6, Piquionne 7 Subs: Spector 5, Cole 6 (Hines not on long enough to rate)
21 comments:
im sorry i disagree with a few of your ratings there piquionee was awful today he lost the ball time and time again one of his worst performances today sears played better then you have gave him credit for and kovac gave away the ball nearly every time he touched it and parker played better hen you gave him credit for aswell
Back down to earth today with a big bump!
We were poor today, I could not understand the team selection at all.Saving ourselves for Wolves? Come on that's just stupid.
Why was Carlton on the bench? Mind you he was poor when he came on. Sears had another steady game as did the centre backs.
Boa was just about okay, Kovac did little wrong, sorry did little, and even Parker was subdued.
It was a game we could easily have lost, so a point was welcome.
A win in the Wolves game is vital now....that means we'll surely struggle and lose, memories of the season we went down and lost to a very poor Birmingham side in a must win game springs to mind....Stern John scored (never heard of him before or after that game really) straight down the centre, that was the beginning of the end that season; strange what you recall.
JC
HF bore Score: 1
Spot on with your match analysis.
Poor football and very scrappy.
Boa was very bad and is always a liability.
Sears wasn,t that bad and was working his socks off and at times was dangerous.
Towards the end of the second half when Everton got tired you could see that Sears caused some problems with his pace.
Therefore Grant should have put on Stanislas instead of Boa to scare the toffees.
Sears for his work effort and was dangerous when he had the ball and thougt he deserved a 7.
Kovac was decent but nothing special, you could praise him for his part in the goal because most players wouldn't try an overhead kick.
In teh second half he was one of the better players, got stuck in and made some decent tackles, but he is not the player to create danger or push the team forward.
Thougt he deserved a 7, but the rest of the ratings are pretty much spot on.
Excellent, you summed the match up prefectly!
Wasn't that a good result - didn't anyone fear worse?
No need to apologise Fred. What did Parker create?
I'm not saying it was a bad result given our record against Everton, but it was a drab match. I think Avram would have taken the point at the start given the team he picked!
its not what he created its what he did to stop everton scoring
So he did half his job well.
The minute I saw Spector replacing Illunga I have stated that this is like we have conceded a goal. Very soon after I was proven right. Why is it so hard for our guru manager to understand just about anyone is better playing left full back than Jonathan Spector? I mean Zola kept picking Spector despite being hopeless in this position. Why is Grant persisting with this guy? I just don't get it. Really, anyone would have played better in that position, even our second goalkeeper!
Even Gabbidon Sav? LOL
I'm not convinced it was Spector's fault as I say. Why was Tomkins out of position? Given he was on the right hand corner of the box, who was marking in the centre back position? I think I would have been sucked in if in Spector's boots. Where exactly was Faubert? Not where he should have been which is why Tomkins was closing as if he was the right back!
And to be fair to Grant, Spector wasn't selected was he? Presumably Gabbidon and Ben Haim were unavailable given both started the last game and neither even made it on to the bench tonight.
Thought we played better than we did against FULHAM,but still nothing great to watch.SEARS done ok ,certainly he is more effective on the wing then he is up front.He has the pace and skill to take players on which we are in short supply of.FAUBERT and SPECTOR were awful,shouldn't be used as full backs.PARKER was good ,I like his workrate,the other players should learn a few lessons from his game.He runs after everything,quick into the tackle,generally his playing tempo is a lot quicker than most.SPECTOR was way out of position for the goal COLEMAN scored(by the way he had a very impressive game),he should have been marking him.It was down to UPSON and TOMPKINS to deal with those in the goal mouth area.Definitely a 6 pointer Saturday against WOLVES .Lets hope GRANT can outwit McCARTHY in the tactics game ,because last time we met WOLVES outplayed us.This is such an important match,if we lose GRANT's job will be hanging by the proverbial thread.A victory should see us climb above VILLA and onwards and upwards.
But Tomkins was trying to block the cross in the right back position!
Even Gabbidon is way better than Spector. Why is Spector even selected to be on the bench is beyond me!
Basically if the back line kept their positions we wouldn't have this blame game
If you had a split second to decide whether to mark a winger on the corner of the 6 yard box, or a striker dead centre of the goal around 4 yards out, who would you think is in the most dangerous position?
I'd have done what Spector did every single time. He was just unlucky that the cross was overhit
The cross was not overhit Jack. It was placed there to give a sitter of a goal to the Everton winger. The Everton players ran in all directions in the box to make our disorganised defence lose their tracks and leave empty spaces. Cahill looked up, realised where his colleagues were left unguarded and placed the ball there for the goal. There was no overhit. It was all planned and it worked for them because we have defenders like Spector, Faubert and Tomkins (and many others really) that Grant failed to organise to defend as a team.
Well Grant inherited all thos eplayers, of course, and Clarke and Zola spent 2 years failing to organise them!
Of course the cross wasn't overhit, it was delivered to perfection and Coleman did brilliantly. He was on the touchline and covered a huge amont of ground to get on the end of the cross. You are right Sav about the movement of the Everton players. The way they set up, it was impossible to know who would appear where and Arteta, Fellani and Cahill are clever footballers who find holes in even the best defences. Jack is spot on about Spector's decision making however. Tomkins also had to try to close the cross given there was nobody else trying to do so. Fault lies with Faubert as he was out of position.
Surprised to see you only give “My Boy" a 6?
I think he has been a revelation since his return to the team and is displaying the sort of form that a few of us have believed was in his locker. Unfortunately he did have a poor run of form and lost his confidence where every mistake was literally punished with a goal. Across the forum world he does seem to be winning back some support but there still seem a few that are only to happy to wait for his next mistake and that is a deep shame to one that still looks a real talent to me.
He was heading for a 7 mate, but did you see the way he dawdled on the ball in his own six yard box when Cahill knocked in the disallowed goal? The air was blue before I realised the linesman had his flag up! Tomkins should have hoofed it. Instead he watched it bounce, only for Cahill to knock it home. Imagine if the flag hadn't gone up!
LOL my youngest was also giving him a bit of stick re that disallowed goal. I initially might have agreed and far be it for me to defend him lol but when I looked again not only was he putting his hand up for offside but I think he was also half stopping so had he heard the whistle or seen the flag?
I know I know but just a feeling but if not that's what he needs to tighten up on re his concentration throughout 90 minutes.
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