Substitutions

[DionDublin]

And its one of many reasons why he should do the honourable thing and go.

 

[billycopper]

The bigger problem here is that, the longer we go without a win, the more conservative Moyes is going to get...at least IMO. It's pretty obvious now, after 8 years, that it's not in David's nature to take a losing stance...even if it's at the expense of a win. For him it seems to be anything but a loss will do and that's an admirable trait, to an extent, but it can also be your undoing. Right now I'm just concerned that he'll turn this in to a grind all on his own because, above all, something is better than nothing...and I can understand why he gets in that frame of mind.

It's understandable, but so goddamn frustrating...

I agree with you. I said during the game that 3 points would have caught us up with Liverpool (at that time), whereas we would be bottom whether we drew or lost. At that stage I would have gone for the win and risked losing, because the rewards were much greater than the costs.

The worrying thing is that we've seen lots of teams go down who are hard to beat, but have trouble scoring themselves. Whilst we are creating more chances, every goalkeeper we come up against seems to be on form. If I was Moyes I'd probably look at ensuring that we were difficult to score against first and foremost. Recently, Osman has been the culprit for jogging back and not doing more to cut out crosses. It's a flaw in Baines' game too. After that I'd spend a lot of time working on set plays on the training ground. We must have one of the worst conversion rates in the league.

 

[neonleon]

And its one of many reasons why he should do the honourable thing and go.

A three beller. Don't see many of them these days.

 

[Matt Damon]

And its one of many reasons why he should do the honourable thing and go.

I can think of numerous reasons I want you to go. And why you should too.

 

[Robert Jarvis]

It's not about those players in particular. The argument is that Moyes trusts his core of players, but not the fringe.

But if his faves are not fully fit, what is he playing at?

 

[billycopper]

But if his faves are not fully fit, what is he playing at?

To be honest, I think he's so short of ideas that he pins his hopes on the tried and trusted every time, even if they are the walking wounded.

Watching MOTD, West Brom had four players in the box for pretty much each of their goals and the ball was delivered from the final third. That's exactly what we did to break down United. It's all that we need to do to improve our goalscoring rate.

 

[billycopper]

Stoke were trailing at Newcastle. Pulis withdrew a defensive midfielder and threw on a forward. Result: a win for Stoke. The Premier League isn't for the faint-hearted. You must be brave and take the initiative in a game if you want to be challenging at the top of the table. West Brom is another good example. They could have parked the bus at the Emirates, but they got at Arsenal.

I think it was Howard Kendall's second spell in charge. We were in a similar position to the one we're in now. The manager opted to go with something different, switching to 4-3-3 with Beagrie and Nevin flanking Sharp and Sheedy tucked into left midfield. We went to Old Trafford and won, as I remember.

Another game that sticks in the mind is when Southampton went to Anfield at the time that Liverpool were all-conquering. I think they actually went 4-2-4 and stopped the RS from playing from the back. They were hemmed in and ended up conceding four goals at home. Of course the plan could have misfired spectacularly, but they were expected to get well-beaten anyway, so what did they have to lose?

Our football is about fine margins. When the 4-5-1 system works well for us, we very often come away with a 1-0 win. We're not earning clean sheets at the moment and we're not taking our chances at the other end. I'm sure that Moyes will keep going until he gets it right. I would love to see us being more adventurous and inventive though.

 

[Great Dane]

Stoke were trailing at Newcastle. Pulis withdrew a defensive midfielder and threw on a forward. Result: a win for Stoke. The Premier League isn't for the faint-hearted. You must be brave and take the initiative in a game if you want to be challenging at the top of the table. West Brom is another good example. They could have parked the bus at the Emirates, but they got at Arsenal.

I think it was Howard Kendall's second spell in charge. We were in a similar position to the one we're in now. The manager opted to go with something different, switching to 4-3-3 with Beagrie and Nevin flanking Sharp and Sheedy tucked into left midfield. We went to Old Trafford and won, as I remember.

Another game that sticks in the mind is when Southampton went to Anfield at the time that Liverpool were all-conquering. I think they actually went 4-2-4 and stopped the RS from playing from the back. They were hemmed in and ended up conceding four goals at home. Of course the plan could have misfired spectacularly, but they were expected to get well-beaten anyway, so what did they have to lose?

Our football is about fine margins. When the 4-5-1 system works well for us, we very often come away with a 1-0 win. We're not earning clean sheets at the moment and we're not taking our chances at the other end. I'm sure that Moyes will keep going until he gets it right. I would love to see us being more adventurous and inventive though.

THIS.
Gutsy managers are the ones who know that they need to make a change now in order to sway the game in their favour. Fergie did the same in the game vs Bolton. Rooney did not do anything he threw on Macheda and took a midfielder (can't remember who) off and put Owen on - and guess what Owen scored.
I don't understand why Bilya did not get a chance to play in the hole behind Yakubu, everyone except Moyes believes this is his best position. I really don't think he will get a look in until the FA Cup starts or Osman picks up an injury.

 

[toffeebhoy]

the billy sub was baffling i think the guys form isnt the best as of late !!!!!! so why he was the one to turn to at that stage is oddd but i dont think he made it to change the game directly i think it was made out of ...."what if ....

the DM interview didnt surprise me that much i think hes known for quite a while what players positions are i just think he prefers to more cautious and pick a player he knows will "dig" in regardless over a player may show signs of slight potential in a particular position

 

[billycopper]

The downside with Bily is that he's very often anonymous and will appear to be not pulling his weight. The upside is that he's capable of popping up with a goal. According to soccerbase, his goals to games ratio is 0.22, in other words he'll score in 1 game out of 5.

The downside with Ossie is that he too is very often anonymous and that he's easily muscled off the ball. There was the added disadvantage that he wasn't fully fit. On the plus side, he's fairly disciplined and can pop up with important goals. His goals to games ratio is 0.12 or 1 in 10.

Looking at it on paper, who would you rather send on to replace Cahill? It's a no-brainer.

 

[chicoazul]

Cold is the water
It freezes your already cold mind
Already cold, cold mind
And death is at your doorstep
And it will steal your innocence
But it will not steal your substance

But you are not alone in this
And you are not alone in this
As brothers we will stand and we'll hold your hand
Hold your hand

 

[BigBlueConk]

Cold is the water
It freezes your already cold mind
Already cold, cold mind
And death is at your doorstep
And it will steal your innocence
But it will not steal your substance

But you are not alone in this
And you are not alone in this
As brothers we will stand and we'll hold your hand
Hold your hand

I agree.

 

[billycopper]

Norwich: Naismith (Mirallas) 70, Kone (Jelavic) 81, Anichebe (Barkley) 89
West Brom: Naismith (Mirallas) 73, Kone (Jelavic) 72
Cardiff: Kone (Jelavic) 68, Deulofeu (Mirallas) 86
Chelsea: Stones (Naismith) 89, McCarthy (Jelavic) 66, Deulofeu (Mirallas) 89
West Ham: McCarthy (Naismith) 45, Lukaku (Jelavic) 45, Oviedo (Osman) 52
Newcastle: Deulofeu (Mirallas) 73, Naismith (Barkley) 88, Stones (Osman) 89
City: Gibson (Osman) 63, Deulofeu (Mirallas) 63, Kone (Lukaku) 82
Hull: Pienaar (Osman) 56, Kone (Lukaku) 68, Naismith (Barkley) 80
Villa: Osman (Barkley) 60, Naismith (Pienaar) 80, Deulofeu (Mirallas) 89
Spurs: Barkley (Osman) 63, Deulofeu (Mirallas) 63, Jelavic (Lukaku) 86
Palace: Barkley (Osman) 56, Deulofeu (Mirallas) 56
Liverpool: Deulofeu (Baines) 50, Stones (Pienaar) 83, Osman (Mirallas) 88
Stoke: Stones (McCarthy) 74, Jelavic (Lukaku) 80, Mirallas (Pienaar) 83
United: Deulofeu (Barkley) 69, Osman (Pienaar) 80, Naismith (Mirallas) 89

So:

*Martinez has used all three of his subs in every game bar three (West Brom, Cardiff and Palace), where he used just two. They each ended goalless and I would have expected him to try anything to nick a goal.

*He's subbed on a total of 14 different players in contrast to Moyes, who tended to stick with the same 11 and around 5 further squad players.

*He's not afraid of taking off the fans' favourites. Lukaku, Barkley and Mirallas have all been given the hook.

*Deulofeu has made 9 sub appearances, followed by Naismith (6), Kone (5) and Stones (4).

*Mirallas has only completed 90 minutes twice (West Ham and Hull).

*The most subbed off players are: Mirallas (11), Osman (6), Jelavic (5), Barkley (5), Lukaku (4) and Pienaar (4).

*The average time of his first substitution is 63 minutes.

*He's made just 10 substitutions in the last 5 minutes of matches.

*Lukaku (West Ham), Pienaar (Hull) and Osman (Villa) have come off the bench to score.

 

[The Hibbert Agenda]

Great summary- cheers!
The absence of Heitinga's name is quite lovely.