Re-evaluation of expectations?!

Even putting yesterday's result into. Bit of perspective and possibly writing it off as a one off (?!?) where does everyone see us finishing now given some very good, rather bad and a tad inconsistent results thus far.

I honestly feel last nights result was a one off , With players like Noble, Tomkins etc and Bilic n Dicks around the team they will have known that the result will have hurt us fans etc and will want to make sure it never happens again and plus with Song back I`m pretty sure Bilic will change it around until Payet n Valencia are back and at least we can look forward to having them two back in the new year
I still think we will have a good season and finish in the top 10 maybe higher depending on injuries n luck

Arran H wrote:I honestly feel last nights result was a one off , With players like Noble, Tomkins etc and Bilic n Dicks around the team they will have known that the result will have hurt us fans etc and will want to make sure it never happens again and plus with Song back I`m pretty sure Bilic will change it around until Payet n Valencia are back and at least we can look forward to having them two back in the new year
I still think we will have a good season and finish in the top 10 maybe higher depending on injuries n luck  

 Have you forgotten Watford away already? It was not a one-off. We were awful at Watford. Defensively poor and powerdpuff going forward. Fast forward to Spurs away and it was like deja vu

To me it is obvious what is wrong. Carroll should not be starting. Not only does he lack movement but it forces Sakho to be played wide. Sakho gives us energy and running off the ball that makes it easier for our creative midfield players to pick a pass to him

In midfield Bilic has to consider dropping our captain (once his suspension is over). He is too lightweight, lacks pace and does not have the discipline to track runners (Eriksen and Alli last night). Kouyate was all-energy, pressing, breaking up play and getting into goalscoring positions. He was left isolated most of the time. We need legs in our midfield. Legs like Spurs had in Dembele and Delle Alli. They had 3 (Dier, Alli and Dembele) who interchanged and always filled in if another went forward. We never had that. We need Song back to shield the back four and move the ball quickly. Kouyate can then make his runs safe in the knowledge that there are "legs" behind him to cover

To compound things, too often our back four - the full backs in particular - are left exposed and caught in no-man's land too. Look at Kyle Walker's goal. Cresswell had tucked in to give an overload as is correct. It was Zarate's job to track the right back. He didn't bother. I have seen a lot of criticism on the web about Carl Jenkinson too. Again if he is not given protection it gives him a problem down our right

The whole team has stopped defending collectively. It starts from the front. When Sakho was up front he harried their back four into mistakes or playing long. Carroll doesn't give us that

Before everyone gets carried away about how good we've been this season, we have the same number of points as last season. So, yes it has been easier on the eye and we have taken some big scalps away from home. BUT we have lost at home to Leicester & Bournemouth. We were lucky to get a point at home to Norwich. We have lost at Watford - a side who had failed to score at home for 3 games. We gifted them 2 goals - and it could have been more

It is NOT all rosy in the garden

Bilic needs to use his squad when they are all fit. Antonio deserves a chance. Alex Song HAS to start ahead of Noble. He or Obiang have the legs to shield the back four. Noble and Carroll need to have some time on the bench

At the moment it is jobs for the boys. Remind you of anyone?

I think we have a top 10 squad, maybe if they play hard a bit higher.
We have been lucky in a few games and I tend to agree with Tony.
I'm not a Noble fan and feel a lot of our problems centre around him just being to slow.
I agree that Carrol has done nothing and that Sakho should play through the centre.

If I was Bilic for the West Brom game I would change it around a bit and go with :
GK: Adrian
RB: Jenkinson
CB: Ogbonna
CB: Reid
LB: Cresswell
RM : Moses
CM: Song
CM: Kouyate
CM: Obiang
LM: Antonio
CF: Sakho

With Song as Captain

Not reassessing my expectations, I still only wish for 17th or higher. 

This season has been almost exactly as last seasons start (that, it could be argued, was even better as the rest of the division and the big boys, were performing to type)

Inconsistency is the nature of teams such as ours, and always will be. Look at the Scouse result, Leicester flying. Football is, in my opinion, great when it's so unpredictable. I quite enjoyed Sundays game as the Spuds were bloody brilliant and we had no answers.

We stand off, we're too deep and everything Mr P says. We also pissy-arse about too much in our own half and pass the ball back to Adrian through two touches when we have the ball at the 18 yard line (theirs!). We're not Barcelona.

We've got a lot of creativity at last attacking wise, we need a tighter and more disciplined unit when not attacking, which means better defensive minded players and lots of work on the training pitch. 

We've improved through Sam and it can be built on but modern football, and everyone is included, gets carried on this wave of "we're great, oh we're shot". 


We're West Ham.

If we base our start with Tottenham`s start for example , Both have had great starts as was shown going into Sundays game with both on same points with only 3 goals the difference HOWEVER and I`m not using this as an excuse but our back four keeps swapping around where as Spurs have had the same back four every game so they are all on the same wave length which was shown on Sunday when pressed us high up etc they knew what each should be doing etc where as us our players haven't really been able to settle down etc because through injuries or Suspensions we haven't been able to play the same back four week in week out

As much as I think Tomkins is a great player I think Ogbonna should now that he is fit be partnering Reid at centre back with Jenks and Cresswell ether side

I think if we are to play with a midfield 3 it should be Song , Kouyate and Obiang Tbh as again Noble is a good player but when you have Song fit you would be stupid not to start him and use his experience etc

I agree Arran, the only change I would make would be to play Tomkins at RE.

Arran H wrote:If I was Bilic for the West Brom game I would change it around a bit and go with :
GK: Adrian
RB: Jenkinson
CB: Ogbonna
CB: Reid
LB: Cresswell
RM : Moses
CM: Song
CM: Kouyate
CM: Obiang
LM: Antonio
CF: Sakho

With Song as Captain

No Lanzini. Really?!! We are at home to WBA. We do not need 3 central midfielders.

For me - 

GK: Adrian
RB: Jenkinson
CB: Tomkins
CB: Reid
LB: Cresswell
CM: Kouyate
CM: Song (captain)
LM: Moses
RM: Antonio
No.10 Lanzini
CF: Sakho

Subs: Randolph, Obiang (if fit), Caroll, Zarate, Ogbonna, Oxford, Zarate

I'm. With Tony,  Lanzini must play. Tonys selection looks balanced and gives us a good chance against Pulis's defensive side. Carrol is no more than an impact player now,  coming on with20 mins left and the opposition tiring. Desperately need a win Sunday to stop tve rotand stay top 6

Tony P wrote:

Arran H wrote:If I was Bilic for the West Brom game I would change it around a bit and go with :
GK: Adrian
RB: Jenkinson
CB: Ogbonna
CB: Reid
LB: Cresswell
RM : Moses
CM: Song
CM: Kouyate
CM: Obiang
LM: Antonio
CF: Sakho

With Song as Captain

No Lanzini. Really?!! We are at home to WBA. We do not need 3 central midfielders.

For me - 

GK: Adrian
RB: Jenkinson
CB: Tomkins
CB: Reid
LB: Cresswell
CM: Kouyate
CM: Song (captain)
LM: Moses
RM: Antonio
No.10 Lanzini
CF: Sakho

Subs: Randolph, Obiang (if fit), Caroll, Zarate, Ogbonna, Oxford, 

Id id like to see Moses have a game like he did against Newcastle when last I was there. I just have a funny, sneaking feeling Oxford may just start to give him another chance and bring some young optimism into a team that lost two games in a row 

alfiehammer wrote:

Tony P wrote:

Arran H wrote:If I was Bilic for the West Brom game I would change it around a bit and go with :
GK: Adrian
RB: Jenkinson
CB: Ogbonna
CB: Reid
LB: Cresswell
RM : Moses
CM: Song
CM: Kouyate
CM: Obiang
LM: Antonio
CF: Sakho

With Song as Captain

No Lanzini. Really?!! We are at home to WBA. We do not need 3 central midfielders.

For me - 

GK: Adrian
RB: Jenkinson
CB: Tomkins
CB: Reid
LB: Cresswell
CM: Kouyate
CM: Song (captain)
LM: Moses
RM: Antonio
No.10 Lanzini
CF: Sakho

Subs: Randolph, Obiang (if fit), Caroll, Zarate, Ogbonna, Oxford, 

Id id like to see Moses have a game like he did against Newcastle when last I was there. I just have a funny, sneaking feeling Oxford may just start to give him another chance and bring some young optimism into a team that lost two games in a row 

When was that? We lost to Watford, drew with Everton and then lost to Spurs. Not a great run, granted but not 2 defeats in a row

Fairs, I completely managed to forget about the Everton result.

Tony P wrote:

Arran H wrote:If I was Bilic for the West Brom game I would change it around a bit and go with :
GK: Adrian
RB: Jenkinson
CB: Ogbonna
CB: Reid
LB: Cresswell
RM : Moses
CM: Song
CM: Kouyate
CM: Obiang
LM: Antonio
CF: Sakho

With Song as Captain

No Lanzini. Really?!! We are at home to WBA. We do not need 3 central midfielders.

For me - 

GK: Adrian
RB: Jenkinson
CB: Tomkins
CB: Reid
LB: Cresswell
CM: Kouyate
CM: Song (captain)
LM: Moses
RM: Antonio
No.10 Lanzini
CF: Sakho

Subs: Randolph, Obiang (if fit), Caroll, Zarate, Ogbonna, Oxford, Zarate

I didn't realise we'd signed the Zarate twins 

Don`t how but I forgot about Lanzini lol Talking of Lanzini , Do you think that the board will try and sign him on a Permanent deal in January or wait till the end of the season ? I know we have first pick on him as part of the loan deal but that don`t mean nothing as the player can still reject us but If we get him in January at least if we do sell him in summer we can get a bit of money for him etc

Blakey wrote:

Tony P wrote:

Arran H wrote:If I was Bilic for the West Brom game I would change it around a bit and go with :
GK: Adrian
RB: Jenkinson
CB: Ogbonna
CB: Reid
LB: Cresswell
RM : Moses
CM: Song
CM: Kouyate
CM: Obiang
LM: Antonio
CF: Sakho

With Song as Captain

No Lanzini. Really?!! We are at home to WBA. We do not need 3 central midfielders.

For me - 

GK: Adrian
RB: Jenkinson
CB: Tomkins
CB: Reid
LB: Cresswell
CM: Kouyate
CM: Song (captain)
LM: Moses
RM: Antonio
No.10 Lanzini
CF: Sakho

Subs: Randolph, Obiang (if fit), Caroll, Zarate, Ogbonna, Oxford, Zarate

I didn't realise we'd signed the Zarate twins 

:-) Thought I had missed him off so added him. Doh !

Well Bilic made the changes, and we looked great in the first half but woeful in the second, almost like two different teams.

mottinghammer wrote:Well Bilic made the changes, and we looked great in the first half but woeful in the second, almost like two different teams.

 Our right hand side is weak currently. Jenkinson has lost all confidence and Moses seems to have lost interest !

Thought there were too  many not at the races today. Sakho for all his energy and chasing his passing was absolutely woeful first half.