Football: A Feast for Forwards

[Iskaral Pust]

Decent result for Sunderland. Poor in the first half but were much the better side in the 2nd half, could have sneaked it. Larsson's goal was top class. Once Suarez went off for Liverpool, they were toothless.

Agreed. Two very different halves. Liverpool looked very comfortable in the first half, and might have been out of sight if we had converted other chances: missed penalty, Downing hit the bar and Carroll's goal disallowed for a soft push. And we played some decent possession football at times. Adams, Downing and Enrique played well, and Henderson was not too bad.

But we ran out of steam in the second half. Suarez and Lucas were understandably tired, but we lost all shape without Suarez and just hoofed it toward Carroll. This is exactly what I was afraid of. I want a second Suarez instead of Carroll. Carroll's a fine player, but he does not fit into a ball-playing team and I don't want us to structure our play around a target man with limited mobility. It's especially galling to see Sergio Aguero move for almost the exact same fee we paid for Carroll. Hopefully Carroll will work on his movement and he'll adapt to the quick-passing game rather than the other way around.

Flanagan had a nightmare at right-back and was culpable for the goal (well taken though by Larsson). He's young and he'll get back to his earlier form, but this is the danger of relying on inexperienced back-ups for the defense. Carragher really worries me back there too. At least Enrique looked very solid, and we finally had enough ability on our left to actually play on that side.

I think we also had a problem with so many new faces that it disrupted the cohesion of the team. We had four new players plus Andy Carroll who is still effectively a new player because he played so few games last season. That's half of our out-field. Once we lost our way a little, we didn't really know how to rally together. I would have replaced Carroll and Henderson with Kuyt and Maxi at half time, and then brought on Aquilani for Suarez when he got tired. (we needed someone who could take on Suarez' role as a play-maker). Unfortunately, Carroll stayed on and was ineffective, and Meireles didn't look too bothered when he came on.

Nice to see Lucas looking so composed in midfield, picking up from how he finished last season. He has really grown as a player in the past year.

Sunderland look like a very good unit, with some players back from injury and some new signings. They need to make sure to support Gyan though, he was isolated for a lot of the game.

[Fireball07]

Agreed. Two very different halves. Liverpool looked very comfortable in the first half, and might have been out of sight if we had converted other chances: missed penalty, Downing hit the bar and Carroll's goal disallowed for a soft push. And we played some decent possession football at times. Adams, Downing and Enrique played well, and Henderson was not too bad.

But we ran out of steam in the second half. Suarez and Lucas were understandably tired, but we lost all shape without Suarez and just hoofed it toward Carroll. This is exactly what I was afraid of. I want a second Suarez instead of Carroll. Carroll's a fine player, but he does not fit into a ball-playing team and I don't want us to structure our play around a target man with limited mobility. It's especially galling to see Sergio Aguero move for almost the exact same fee we paid for Carroll. Hopefully Carroll will work on his movement and he'll adapt to the quick-passing game rather than the other way around.

Flanagan had a nightmare at right-back and was culpable for the goal (well taken though by Larsson). He's young and he'll get back to his earlier form, but this is the danger of relying on inexperienced back-ups for the defense. Carragher really worries me back there too. At least Enrique looked very solid, and we finally had enough ability on our left to actually play on that side.

I think we also had a problem with so many new faces that it disrupted the cohesion of the team. We had four new players plus Andy Carroll who is still effectively a new player because he played so few games last season. That's half of our out-field. Once we lost our way a little, we didn't really know how to rally together. I would have replaced Carroll and Henderson with Kuyt and Maxi at half time, and then brought on Aquilani for Suarez when he got tired. (we needed someone who could take on Suarez' role as a play-maker). Unfortunately, Carroll stayed on and was ineffective, and Meireles didn't look too bothered when he came on.

Nice to see Lucas looking so composed in midfield, picking up from how he finished last season. He has really grown as a player in the past year.

Sunderland look like a very good unit, with some players back from injury and some new signings. They need to make sure to support Gyan though, he was isolated for a lot of the game.

Yeah you were unlucky not to be further ahead at half-time (though looking at the Carroll incident, I definitely think it was a push now, thought it was harsh earlier but he did unbalance Ferdinand and cause him to fall). Suarez is a horrible person but he's a fantastic player and will cause problems for every defence in the league, his movement is top class.

Adam was good in the first half alright but was anonymous in the 2nd half. Colback and Cattermole were awful in the first half but dominated in the 2nd really, Colback didn't give a moments peace to Adam. (Also Colback seemed to be on the end of an unusual amount of fouls- way more than any Sunderland player). I thought Cattermole was at the top of his game in the 2nd half which was a relief because it looked like he was going to get sent off.

And Brown had Carroll in his pocket, he was man of the match imo...very pleased with his performance as I wasn't sure whether he'd be a good signing. But I'm delighted to proven wrong. Carroll is a good option but isn't that good. If he gets good service he'll do damage, but you can't just lump balls up to him and hope for the best. Suarez is much more talented than him, no doubt about that.

I thought both Carragher and Agger were very good, on top throughout. Gyan was isolated but didn't have one of his best games in any case. Ji did well enough when he came on and Sessegnon looked dangerous when he ran with the ball.

If we can replicate the 2nd half performance next week, I'll be confident. As for Liverpool, they looked decent but they can't rely on Suarez to win them games each week. I hope they don't expect too much out of Henderson yet, he's not worth £20m and needs to be given time to fit in...and I don't think Adam will work in a 2-man midfield against the bigger teams...he doesn't track back enough and Cattermole really should have scored with some of his bursts forward at the end. Downing did look dangerous and that would have been a cracking goal.

And Aquilani wasn't on the bench as far as I know.

[ljkeane]

Flanagan had a nightmare at right-back and was culpable for the goal (well taken though by Larsson). He's young and he'll get back to his earlier form, but this is the danger of relying on inexperienced back-ups for the defense.

I was surprised they went with Flanagan ahead of Kelly, Flanagan was decent when he came in last season but when he was fit I thought Kelly looked the far more impressive of the two. For that matter why didn't Johnson play? Is he injured?

[Horza]

QPR 0-4 Bolton

Who saw that coming? Not me, promoted sides are the last teams you want to play first round.

Masterclass from Cahill, we are going to miss him. Was very impressed with Eagles, he won a lot of ball and got into nice areas. Davies and Klasnic did well to hold it up but neither has the pace to apply forward pressure. Bring on Tuncay.

Still, No-Kidneys just has that knack for lashing it in there. Also who is this new guy on the left and what has he done with Martin Petrov?

Our horror run of fixtures might not be so horrible after all.

[polishgenius]

Who saw that coming? Not me, promoted sides are the last teams you want to play first round.

Me. Well, not 4-0, but QPR despite having the richest owners in world football have spent bugger all on strengthening, Warnock isn't a manager with much of a record at getting players to play above their level as this lot definitely are (well, not in the Prem at least), and their 'talisman' Taarabt is in my opinion completely lacking in the mental tools to succeed at Premiership level. So I definitely thought you'd win. QPR are going to struggle badly this year.

[Paxter]

Terrible in the end from Rovers after a promising start. Santa Cruz and Roberts looked OK up front but the defence looked lost (N'Zonzi as a centre-half :worried:). We desperately need Nelsen, Samba and Givet back or we are going to keep losing - even to mediocre teams at Ewood.

Not surprising to see Arsenal and Liverpool drop points in the first round to decent opposition.

[Mme Erzulie]

I'd like to echo those who said they would have liked to see Aquilani and Kelly on the pitch. Henderson is looking awfully average to me. What does he bring to the pitch that Lucas or Spearing or Shelvey don't? I won't write him off yet, but he definitely needs to live up to his price tag.

And I think the people dismissing Carroll are gonna have to eat their words. Yeah, at times, there was a bit of hoofing going on, but this is a half-new team, and once the players get to know each other, I have a feeling we'll be seeing a lot of goals from the big lad. I thought the "push" on Ferdinand was ridiculous, and thought the goal should have stood.

Suarez is pure class, and his attitude on the pitch is admirable. He wants the ball ALL the time, but also seems to have very good decision-making, and rarely goes on a solo run if there's someone better placed (although playing in Lucas in the box when he could have had a shot himself was, perhaps, too generous). I wish he hadn't gone down when Richardson touched him. I think he could have stayed on his feet and scored.

Adam looks good. I agree he's not the hardest working going back, but he makes up for it with great passes (Alonso style) and a deadly left foot on set pieces. He would have had two assists yesterday, if not for the disallowed goal. He also went close himself on a couple of occasions.

Downing looks good when he gets on the ball, but was invisible for large parts of the game yesterday.

I think Liverpool's Achilles heel is pace. Enrique is fast, but apart from him, have we got anyone who can outrun players or keep up with the quickest ones? I can see ManU tearing us apart with Nani, Young, Evra, Park etc.

Flanagan had a shocker, but that's part of "growing up". He's what, 17? Some of the problem seemed to be an inflated amount of self-confidence. Once he learns to not fake the clearance EVERY time and to position himself better, he'll be fine.

In the second half, it looked like poor fitness, lacking team cohesion and no Suarez were the biggest contributing factors to our demise. Meireles really didn't look bothered, and while Kuyt is a great grafter, he's not really a game-changing substitute. We definitely need some cover for Suarez and Carroll up front, especially if Ngog goes.

To me, the money we spent on Henderson could have been spent getting a good back-up striker.

Arsenal looked like a reduced version of themselves, and I reckon Newcastle would have won with Nolan, Carroll and Enrique in the team. Barton is a one-of-a-kind. Depending on how Chelsea look, we could have a battle of Manchester for the title.

[Iskaral Pust]

And Aquilani wasn't on the bench as far as I know.

Correct. Our most in-form player from pre-season didn't make the bench. I assume the club is trying to finalize a deal to sell him back to Italy. But we look like we could really use him to support our possession further up the field.

KidC - I think Andy can be a huge attacking force for us, but I don't want the team to hoof it at him uselessly like we did with Crouch.

[Lord of Oop North]

Finally had a chance to make it out to a Toronto FC game this year, and it was a good choice. The squad finally looked good, after a miserable season. We have this great little forward named Joao Plata, an eighteen-year old from ecuador. he was playing for LDU Quito for a little while, but was loaned to MLS this year. Great kid. Fast, technical, and lots of fun to watch. Sadly, this likely means that we will lose him :(

[Jon AS]

Bah, losing in Leverkusen isn't terrible, but it was still unnecessary. Bayern of course beat Wolfsburg with a last minute goal, and Wolfsburg had a regular goal wrongfully disallowed for offside.:rolleyes:

Combine it with lots and lots of rain and this was a pretty shitty weekend. At least I've got cake...

[Iskaral Pust]

That game showed United's big advantage:

They played very well early on, but they did not take their chances. They conceded an equalizer and the game had drifted away from them. It was looking a lot like Liverpool's game, but they still managed to find a winner (looked like an own goal) in one of their rare second-half attacks. Even when they are shaky, they maintain some coherence to their style of play and they have enough fitness to threaten late in the game.

Welbeck as ineffectual, but Berbatov was not much better. They'll obviously miss Ferdinand and especially Vidic if they are injured.

WBA played some tidy football. They would have had more goal-scoring threat in the second-half with Odemwingie's pace. Choy offers them a great outlet, but he has to learn how to pass.

[polishgenius]

Ferdinand is out for six weeks, Vidic for two. Also Rafael for ten. So we'll be starting with two of Jones, Evans and Smalling in the middle v Spurs and Arsenal; big test for them.

I think that ability to maintain coherence is our big thing; I said to the fellas I was watching it with who were complaining that we had no chance of scoring that why not? Us playing badly has never stopped us scoring before; if it was Arsenal or even Chelsea they'd have reason to grumble.

Cleverley looks like a really good outlet. Got a bit of everything, tackling, passing, dribbling. Hope he keeps it up. Young looked good as well, our best two players.

De Gea looked nervy and was at fault for the goal but people are overreacting a bit.

West Brom should do fine. Long is a good signing, should offer able reinforcement to Odemwingie. And Tchoyi is a monster. Vidic and Anderson were just bouncing off him.

[Alcibiades]

Finally had a chance to make it out to a Toronto FC game this year, and it was a good choice. The squad finally looked good, after a miserable season. We have this great little forward named Joao Plata, an eighteen-year old from ecuador. he was playing for LDU Quito for a little while, but was loaned to MLS this year. Great kid. Fast, technical, and lots of fun to watch. Sadly, this likely means that we will lose him :(

I really want Toronto FC to have a good season and give those great fans a reward. It must be the worst run club in MLS to have gone this long without making post season.

I went to my first DC United game yesterday. I didn't know what to expect with the game in old RFK stadium. But I actually thought the fan experience was pretty good! Routing Vancouver 4 nil helped as well. I also got to see Charlie Davies booked for diving. :rolleyes:

[mormont]

Barca finally get Fabregas. And the price is pretty good - for Barca.

[Lord of Oop North]

I really want Toronto FC to have a good season and give those great fans a reward. It must be the worst run club in MLS to have gone this long without making post season.

Aye, our club has had piss-poor management from the get-go. It's too bad. Games are still a blast, though. I have tickets in a great corner, and it's always fun. Win or lose.

[Robb_]

Thank god Fabregas is finally signing for Barca, it has dragged on for about 2 years too long.

I was dissapointed in our second half performance against Sunderland, everyone looked knackered and Meireles looked like he couldn't be arsed. But it was only the first game of the season and every other contender (apart from Utd, and still possibly City), dropped points.

Gervinho getting sent off is good, he can't play against us next week now. Fabregas and Nasri won't be playing either. We should definitely be expecting 3 points.

[Paxter]

Bit random, but came across a fairly interesting article about managerial turnover in the EPL. Turns out that the lower leagues of English football are far more volatile than the top division and the rate of turnover in the top flight hasn't changed a great deal over the last 30 years. But there has been a noticeable uptick in sackings since 2006 - anyone have any ideas as to why this might be the case? Increasing foreign ownership perhaps? Certainly the ridiculous sacking of Allardyce last year was a result of that.

[Iskaral Pust]

Barca finally get Fabregas. And the price is pretty good - for Barca.

I didn't think the price was favoring Barca very much. Fabregas is obviously a great player, and with many playing years still ahead, but 30m + 5m in add-ons is a lot of money for a midfielder who has missed a lot of games in the past two seasons, who lost his scoring touch last season, who has been clearly unsettled and wanted to leave, and who might not be in the first 11 at his new team.

The big problem is that it's not simple to spend that 30m to replace Fabregas, as Liverpool saw with Alonso (for example).

[mormont]

Isk: you have a point, but in a negotiation where the bidder started at £27m, the seller declared that completely unacceptable and demanded £40m as a starting point, and the final result was £25m up front, an additional £1m a year for five years and £4.5m in conditional add-ons, then the impression has to be that the bidder got the best of the negotiations.

It will certainly be difficult for Arsenal to replace him: every club they approach will feel they have the upper hand. They know Arsenal have to sign someone and they know how much they have to spend.

[Alcibiades]

I love the pics of Fabregas kissing his new badge already. So promiscuous! :laugh: