West Brom v Everton. 20th Jan at 20.00.

[dannyboy]

Not a hope, Pienaar is key to our style.

He puts the effort in aswell, he is way underrated for his defensive work.

His flaw, and this is the flaw in our squad in general is that his final ball/shooting is not of the quality required to be up the top.

Watch that game tonight, and watch the Arsenal game. A big difference is Pienaar recieving the ball to feet....not miscontrolling it and then spinning and pushing into the space between defence and midfield. This is key to us as it keeps the other team worrying about us and unable to get a foothold in the game. Barkley also opens games up by beating his man or a sudden burst of pace, but again is weak on the final ball.

I don't know how anybody would want Pienaar dropped before Mirallas.

I'm sorry, but Pienaar has been profligate in possession all season long. I'm not buying into his exceptional work rate either, he looks similar to Osman in that his legs are on the verge of going.

I'd look at that Arsenal game and tell you the lack of chances we created despite controlling the game was down to the likes of Pienaar being unable to unlock a defence. That's why I want McGeady or Deulofeu in there now.

 

[blue4eva77]

Worst I've seen McCarthy play since joining, the kind of performance I expected from him regularly so at least he's proved me wrong in that respect.

We need our injured players back quickly, especially those capable of creating chances. Playing a left back over on the right wing shows the extent of our problems.

Lukaku is still flattering to deceive, some of his touches were absolutely shocking. His record against Liverpool speaks for itself though so let's hope he can find some form next Tuesday.

Some of the first touches by all our lads were shocking. That pitch was awful. The groundsmen must of sat on his arse mowing that all day long for it to be that short. Decent blades on that mower..... clearly fushion pro glide.

Ball was bouncing everywhere but that doesn't excuse where our midfield disappeared too and why they sat so deep

 

[billycopper]

Up until about the hour mark we looked quite good. Vic caused us some problems and we lost control of the midfield towards the end though.

I think that Martinez could have been braver. They played 4-4-2, so what would we have lost by matching them up? Osman was pretty anonymous, so we didn't have a man advantage in the middle and Lukaku was largely isolated again.

City are the only one of our rivals to win at the Hawthorns so far- Arsenal drew and Newcastle were beaten, so it's not a disaster, but the three points were there for the taking if we could have kept hold of the initiative and managed the game a little better.

 

[Oviedo37]

Just got home from the match now lads, not f*cking good enough what so ever. We had a real chance there tonight and we badly messed it up, all of our team seemed lethargic and uninterested especially that t*at Osman the old man. We had an opportunity to go 4th and cocked it up surprise surprise. Get a f*cking leader in like Joey Barton instead of having a miserable captain like Jags, get rid of him. Distin was also poor, really poor. Imagine him vs Suarez, Jesus christ. We need some passion and drive in that team, it's broken no leaders, against modern football. Get rid of Lukaku as well lads, he's shocking, Vic looked great compared to him.

 

[barneygumble]

I'd say i've been pessimistic since the turn of the year, and not necessarily because we've been bad, but because the others haven't been great but grinding out results. If you look at Spurs, they haven't been doing anything amazing, but are getting 3pts, week after week, and it just doesn't feel like we're getting it. I'm certainly not giving up, we're still one point off, but we just seem to be getting a lot of injuries, and it's just frustrating isn't it!

That said, football is a funny old game, if we win next week at the pit and Spurs lose to City, we find ourselves in.... 4th, so it's not the be all end all drawing at WBA, we are all allowed room for error, it just sadly means that we're gonna need less slip ups in the final 15 games now, and you have to look at games versus Newcastle, Fulham, Sunderland, Hull and Southampton and hope for a very minimum of 12 out of 15 there, knowing that we only got 5 from a possible 15 at Cardiff, Norwich, Stoke, West Brom and Palace. I'm not saying it isn't possible mind, and our next home fixtures are Villa, Palace, West Ham, Cardiff and Swansea, if that isn't an incentive, i really don't know what is?

Either way, August-December has provided some amazing memories so far, and we still have 4 months to play, we can still do it, we just need a break on the injury front, Barkley, Deulofeu, Pienaar, Alcaraz and Coleman could potentially be back for the derby, and how much of a timely boost will that be?

 

[dholliday]

Just got home from the match now lads, not f*cking good enough what so ever. We had a real chance there tonight and we badly messed it up, all of our team seemed lethargic and uninterested especially that t*at Osman the old man. We had an opportunity to go 4th and cocked it up surprise surprise. Get a f*cking leader in like Joey Barton instead of having a miserable captain like Jags, get rid of him. Distin was also poor, really poor. Imagine him vs Suarez, Jesus christ. We need some passion and drive in that team, it's broken no leaders, against modern football. Get rid of Lukaku as well lads, he's shocking, Vic looked great compared to him.

Bolded comments are piss-poor, lad.

 

[dannyboy]

Bolded comments are piss-poor, lad.

Distin against Suarez is about right.

 

[barneygumble]

Bolded comments are piss-poor, lad.

I'd complain too, but we've all been there. Pay £50+ to watch Everton in midweek, on TV, and we stick in a **** performance, i can understand his disappointment, even if he is way, way off the mark Baring in mind it's 1 year to the day that we played Southampton on a cold monday night game, on TV, and we played Naismith for 90 minutes. Getting in at 8 in the morning and having to go straight to work was dead fun, i know the feeling. Barton though

 

[Oviedo37]

Bolded comments are piss-poor, lad.

You're probably right mate, anger is getting the better of me here...

 

[Oviedo37]

I'd complain too, but we've all been there. Pay £50+ to watch Everton in midweek, on TV, and we stick in a **** performance, i can understand his disappointment, even if he is way, way off the mark Baring in mind it's 1 year to the day that we played Southampton on a cold monday night game, on TV, and we played Naismith for 90 minutes. Getting in at 8 in the morning and having to go straight to work was dead fun, i know the feeling. Barton though

We have no leaders who bring motivation...we need someone

 

[riddick]

Time and time again we've seen the team bottle it when any kind of expectation is thrust upon them. Martinez has to take some of the blame for the piss poor subs but most of the blame has to lay at the feet of the players.

 

[Oviedo37]

Time and time again we've seen the team bottle it when any kind of expectation is thrust upon them. Martinez has to take some of the blame for the piss poor subs but most of the blame has to lay at the feet of the players.

agree completely with this

 

[bicycleheader]

I'm sorry, but Pienaar has been profligate in possession all season long. I'm not buying into his exceptional work rate either, he looks similar to Osman in that his legs are on the verge of going.

I'd look at that Arsenal game and tell you the lack of chances we created despite controlling the game was down to the likes of Pienaar being unable to unlock a defence. That's why I want McGeady or Deulofeu in there now.

I said exactly that about Pienaar, his final ball isn't good enough. The main point about him is that with his control and ability to take possession in tight areas and turn a man he opens the pitch up for us. Now whether he gives a simple pass and we go on to threaten from there or he gives a weak pass or shot, it is still putting us on the front foot and making us a threat. Without that tonight the ball does not stick up front at all.

Maybe, maybe McGeady can come in and threaten his place but it is Mirallas who should really be threatened as his final ball is also woeful and he doesn't have half the influence on our control of the games as Pienaar does.

Pienaars workrate is nowhere near Osmans, and that makes a bit of mockery of your assessment of him. The seasons been pretty exciting so I've downloaded a good few of the games to watch again and Pienaar has been on his game more than off and has a huge affect on how our gameplan works.

Another question is though would I like to upgrade him? Yep...he is getting old and final ball isn't good enough, but from the squad we have now and the performances this season Pienaar is a definite starter in our best first eleven for me.

 

[Big Fat Sam]

Time and time again we've seen the team bottle it when any kind of expectation is thrust upon them. Martinez has to take some of the blame for the piss poor subs but most of the blame has to lay at the feet of the players.

True but I'd cut them some slack. Lukaku must be knackered but literally cannot be rested as we have nobody else. I'd say a knackered Lukaku up front is better than Mirallas going there and bringing in Naismith. I hope Traore can help us out, he'll be a decent option. When you play 4-5-1 and your striker is dead on his feet (just an assumption) you're always going to struggle for goals. It seems Martinez has addressed the issue and a Traore will be eligible for the next game. Let's also not forget our massive injury list: Deuofeu, Pienaar, Barkley, Kone, Gibson...

That said, none of what I just typed can excuse performances such as Osman's and Distin's tonight.

 

[barneygumble]

We have no leaders who bring motivation...we need someone

We haven't had a problem all season mate. The difference today is we were lacking badly needed flair, and with no Barkley, Deulofeu or Pienaar, we were always gonna struggle to create any. If you take the best 3 creative players out of any team in the premieri league, they're gonna struggle, especially when ours are THAT good.