Fans View: Why!?

Saturday´s defeat at St James´ Park raised so many questions for forum member ´SaffaBlue´, so he listed them…

WHY: Does David Moyes persist in picking a defensive “keep it tight, and see if we can nick one” side? Losing 6 out of the last 7 matches should provide him with a clue that it is NOT working.

WHY: Does Tim Howard, an established international goalkeeper, not command his penalty area at all?

WHY: Is Tony Hibbert seemingly incapable of throwing a ball to a team-mate’s feet? Standard procedure sees the ball bounce around halfway to the man, and they often battle to get it under control.

WHY: Are our throw-ins ONLY taken by the two full-backs? Never ever taking a quick throw allows the opposition all the time in the world to re-group.

WHY: Does Phil Jagielka persist in wellying the ball aimlessly upfield? 99,99% of the time the ball is coming straight back. It is purely and simply gifting possession.

WHY: Was Sylvain Distin, by a country mile our best defender this season, not in the starting 11 on Saturday?

WHY: Leon Osman? Pace, strength, poise, drive, presence, guile, quick feet, etc. Top class central midfielders should have at least 3 of those attributes. Ossie has only one of them. When he’s on form he can be useful – but ONLY in the middle, never never never ever ever out wide!!!!!!! He has been awful lately and yet still starts every match, and invariably ends up playing wide at some stage due to baffling substitutions. So he has “quick feet”. Fair enough, but so did Fred Astaire.

WHY: Swap flanks with Drenthe & Coleman for any length of time against the skunks? Coleman was struggling on the right – his natural side – the result was that neither looked in the least bit comfortable.

WHY: Do we hardly ever get a man to the by-line before crossing?

WHY: Does John Heitinga always give the impression that he’s playing in roller skates?

WHY: Does our self-proclaimed “secret weapon” only get the occasional 10 minutes on the pitch, every 4 or 5 matches?

WHY: Does Phil Neville consistently under-hit passes? These more often than not end up as hospital passes.

WHY: Do we never catch the opposition on the break?

WHY: Are certain players guaranteed a game, irrespective of form?

WHY: All 10 outfield players back to defend corners? This absolutely does my bloody head in!!! This means the opposition can send just about everyone up, as they know there will not be a break on. It also gifts the ball back to the opposition. On Saturday, the skunks won a corner in injury time and we STILL had everyone back to defend! It would surely make sense to leave Drenthe on the halfway line? He’s 5’5” so not much use in our box, but fast as hell, and therefore ideal for a counter-attack.

WHY: Are the vast bulk of our substitutions left too late? They are ALWAYS reactive instead of proactive. I will never forget the match in which Mourinho substituted Boulharouz (spelling?) after 15 minutes of a match against Spurs, when Robbie Keane was having a field day. Could you ever envisage David Moyes doing that?

WHY: Is there always a 15 minute committee meeting between Moyes, Round, Woods & Co, before making a substitution?

WHY: Is Louis Saha always so isolated up front? It seems to me that regardless of whomever our attacking midfielder is, Louis cuts a forlorn and lonely figure. The fact that ‘King Louis’ gets a strop on and sulks when things don’t go his way is another issue, and one that has me screaming with frustration!!!!

WHY: Are the majority of our passes either directly to feet or slightly behind the man? Pass in front of the guy for crying out loud!!!

WHY: Do we persist with what – for want of a better word – can only be called ‘Plan A’. There is not much point in the ‘A’ actually, because there is no ‘Plan B’ or any other plan. If ‘Plan A’ fails, we lose.

WHY: Did we buy Diniyar Bilyaletdinov?

WHY: Was Ross Barkley summarily substituted and dropped from the squad after giving away a penalty against Blackburn? Howard, Jagielka, Hibbert, Neville, Osman, etc……. Make mistake after mistake without suffering similar treatment.

WHY: Does Jack Rodwell look half the player he did not so long ago? Has all of the exuberance and spontaneity been ‘coached’ out of him?

WHY: Does Fellaini keep committing stupid fouls? After 3 years, you would have thought he’d learned by now. Last week against United was a classic example. We all saw the ref warn him, yet he still puts in a daft challenge and gets his 5th yellow. We missed him so much on Saturday.

WHY: Does it look as if all the fire and spirit have been drained from David Moyes? You get paid a bloody fortune, so the least you can do is motivate YOUR players! Bigging up the opposition & phrases like “bringing a knife to a gunfight” do no good whatsoever! We look beaten before we start.

WHY: Do we, after almost 10 years of David Moyes, still have little or no natural width in the side?

WHY: Bring on James McFadden? The guy has hardly played in 18 months, and was ****ing useless when he was first here. OK, so Vellios was injured in the warm-up, but McFadden? By all accounts, Stracqualursi is reputed to be the “new Brett Angell”, but we’ve hardly seen him yet, so are unable to give a proper assessment, whereas we all KNOW that McFadden is utter ****e.

WHY: Do people still cheer when Kenwright’s mug appears on the big screen? So he “Saved us from Johnson”, well thanks for that Bill, but that doesn’t qualify you for unlimited goodwill. Are people really so blinkered and naïve that they cannot see the catastrophic damage that has been done to our once-great club?

WHY: Is David Moyes and his coaching staff unable to get the best out of strikers? Don’t give me the old “…well they were all defenders when they played” bollocks! So were both SAF & Arsene Wenger, and neither of those seem to struggle with attacking football.

WHY: Is a large sector of our support quite prepared to accept an abysmal start to every season? The stock phrases quote are “We will be alright after Christmas” or “David Moyes will turn it around, he always does”. Maybe he has done in the past, but if you carry on playing Russian Roulette year after year, you will eventually blow your own brains out, metaphorically speaking.

WHY: Is anyone that dares speak out immediately labeled a ‘kopite’ or ‘not a True Blue’? I approached this season with a positive attitude for once, but this has disappeared due to the garbage that we witness every single week.

WHY: Are people still under the impression that we are doomed to relegation if David Moyes should leave? This is of course absolute bollocks of the highest order. Have you noticed the direction we have been heading for the last 6 weeks?

WHY: Am I castigated for demanding that we at least TRY and live up to “Nil Satis Nisi Optimum”?

WHY: Have we still not won away at any of the so-called “Big Four”, after 40 (yes, forty!) attempts under David Moyes? Does that not give insight into the mindset of the squad? Did anyone see how Swansea had a damn good go at the ****e on Saturday?

WHY: Is it that people seem to blame the dissenters, and accuse them of “not getting behind the team” and say stuff like” the team will play better if everyone gets behind them and suppirts them”. I am of the opinion that iit´s a ´chicken and egg´ scenario. Give us something to shout about!!!!!

So many questions…….. So few answers.

Yours sincerely

Depressed, Benoni, South Africa.

Feel free to add more, or indeed feel free to have a constructive go at me. Don’t just spout the ‘kopite’ drivel as that serves no purpose whatsoever: [Forum Thread]