I thought for quite a while before the game and still couldn’t figure who would win it, at least not enough to make a prediction.
I ended up with the conclusion that I’d have been happy with a point, which would have been a fair result today, but I have to say I think Swansea did more than us throughout the whole game, which is why I find I can’t really complain.
They play some lovely one touch football, don’t they, Swansea?
But we played an open game too and it made for decent viewing, with both teams going for it.
Simply put though, Swansea were the better side in the first half. They controlled the ball better and made better space, which combined with their passing accuracy, made it seem like we were chasing shadows at times.
Still, we were holding our own and countering quite well, but I think many of us must have felt somewhat relieved that it was 0-0 at half time.
Sherwood obviously had a word at half time and told the fullbacks to get more involved, which I thought was a risky tactic, as Swansea’s wide men had already caused us problems.
Our defence were doing fairly well though and we were definitely the better side for most of the second half.
Until Monk brought Montero on.
He gave Bacuna a torrid time and managed to get down the wing to lay a nice ball on for Gomis, who had looked unlucky up until then, to beat Clark to it and score.
We had our chances, but I never felt convinced that we’d score unless we had a bit of luck on our side.
It was one of those days.
Criticisms?
Well, I didn’t understand Westwood coming on for N’Zogbia, as I thought the latter looked a threat. But what do I know?
And Guzan’s kicking is just atrocious. More practice needed there, I think.
Regardless, I don’t think we should be too downhearted.
We played pretty well against a very good footballing side and mostly held our own.
It’s just that the negatives outweigh the positives at the moment.
We’re back amongst it again and it looks like Benteke is injured yet again. For once, the international break might do us a favour there, I suppose.
If only we’d got the point today, we’d have felt just that little more secure.
As Tim Sherwood would no doubt say; “Onwards and upwards!”.
Gabby getting the ball stuck under his feet; arrgh!
Why was our most creative player Gill on bench Ffs. And why was mutton left bk? Clueless
I have to admit, I can’t understand why Hutton didn’t move to RB.
I’ve never done tactics though Ooah; that’s the manger’s job and he lives and dies by it.
That said, it still wasn’t too bad today, imo.
Yes we lost, but at least it was way better to watch and we hadn’t lost before we’d started.
I still think we will stay up. Does anyone know what the attendance was today can’t find anywhere
In my opinion, this would have been classed as a good game under the Lambert resume, but it was a poor performance from a team that can do better.
TBF….Swansea deserved to spank us, especially in the first half.
The honeymoon period is well and truly over and I think we are doomed under this tactically inept and naive manager…….Dim Deadwood, the new puppet for Randy to control! Baggies, Sunderland was simply papering over the cracks as they are both dismal teams! I cant see any escape this season, the trapdoor is well and truly ooen with away games at Citeh, Manure, Saints and Spuds……where are the points in those games?. . zero I suspect! So we are relying on our home form to see us safe…….really?…….we have managed to win just 18 out of our last 71, yes 71 home games! And we need to win at least 3 of our remaining home games!
Why Dim Deadwood didnt see out the game at 0 – 0 is beyond me as a point at this stage of the season could prove crucial. The fact they we only managed 3 shots on target against a Swansea team who are safe and planning their holidays is beyond me! The overall performance was almost as bad as anything under Lambert.
Dim Deadwood is a novice. Moreover he is a tactically naive and inept manager with NO plan B.
We are doomed.
Dim Deadwood and Randy OUT, OUT, OUT,
lol
MATE Sherwood was a non starter from the off for you,do you really think under our predecessor we would of pulled this one out the bag inept tactless?? we would of been in a lot poorer position if dim deadwood weren’t at the helm totally disagree with you ps nice to see you back if only briefly.
Totally agree Giddy.
Nice to see normal service has been resumed.
By the way that wasn’t directed at you Badger but at the other whingy whiny fickle f**kers.
BWS it’s not the end of the world is it MATE?teams below us lost & I’m sure the others tomorrow will do us a favour.bring on the mancs I fucking hate them
I am shocked mate, I really believed we’d turned the corner and 3 points was a given today but hey ho Rome wasn’t built in a day.
MATE Sherwood said from the start we’ll win some & we’ll lose some before the end of the season we’ll today we lost one.
I did wonder what you were on about there BWS.
No worries mate.
Is the above post by by a former regular that used the name that was an anagram of than?
If so maybe ADHD might be a good user name?
F**k it I’m off for a pint, have good evening gentlemen (and ladies of course).
Laters.
UTV!
Not sure mate.
There’s something a wee bit iffy about WHV’s comments if you ask me…
Better hope we beat QPR then utv
problem is the team got too arrogant and though we would turn up and win.
especially guzan okore and clarke trying to toy around in our own box.
sinclair needs shooting practise but i am also worried about our subs as they seem to always be the wrong choice.
I’d love to know what choices TS had for left back, Hutton is not the answer on that side. As other blogs have said it was Lambert like today, Swansea’s style was what Lambert was trying to get Villa to play. Whereas Monk has been trying to get Routledge paired with somebody who can score on the counter-attack.
I had a feeling the goose was cooked when Shelvey departed for Dyer. That meant our defence, Clark apart, could be seriously outpaced by 3 Swansea attackers, and Gomis isn’t that fast by EPL standards. We could have sat back on the 0-0 and waited for Swansea to lose patience and over-commit men forward. Instead we lost patience ourselves and were suckered.
Two bad habits resurfaced,
Guzan trying anything fancy, he was very lucky it was Go-miss and not a decent striker, who took the ball off him in the area.
The other fault was up the other end. Strikers waiting for crosses, and standing still under the flight of the ball. What is wrong with Benteke? Last week he ran in powerfully on to a cross, jumped like stag and powered the header over the defender and past the keeper. That worked because he arrived late and with momentum. Not once did he position himself today to do that again. He was back to the Heskey routine – already standing at the likely point of impact waiting for the ball to hit him.
I think the criticism of Benteke is a bit harsh, OLL.
I think he’s very much a player who needs his head right to be at his best.
And given that I can hardly recall a challenge of his that didn’t go unpunished, it’s not surprising his head went down.
I thought the ref was poor, fwiw.
And I don’t think he got much service either.
Yes, he should be able to ride this stuff out, but we shouldn’t forget he’s still quite young.
Badger I’m not getting new posts ,its been over the last 4 post ,I’ve been into notification but still not registering, any idea as to why,
Not a clue mate.
It could be anything.
Any new anti virus? Cookies?
Try re-subscribing Bill.
OK try that, Badger, strange that.
Benteke’s problem was highlighted by TS post match…hip injury and rather severe pain…
They even gave him more painkillers at half time. Nothing to do with hia head or attitude this time around.
Anyone know the attendance today???? Shame as it seemed quite good.
That’s what I’m trying to find out can’t find anywhere Giddy
Don’t understand why they have put double zero as ground attendance, that’s on their website.
Maybe they are not declaring it for some reason
Why people have been raving about Clark lately, I have no idea! Yes, he has improved this season (that’s not saying much), but I’d like to see a statistic on how many goals we have conceded this season where he was marking the goalscorer. Should have done better today. As should have Bacuna to prevent a cross coming in in the first place.
Would have been a big point today, but we really should have been playing for all three. I can only see us getting 8 points from the remaining games – 3 against QPR, 1 against, Everton, 1 against West Ham, and 3 against Burnley. And those aren’t guaranteed! Let’s hope we pull off a couple of shock results against the top half sides.
Here’s my predictions for the remaining games in terms of points I think teams could pick up:
LEICESTER:
– West Ham = 3
– West Brom = 0
– Swansea = 1
– Burnley = 0
– Chelsea = 0
– Newcastle = 1
– Southampton = 0
– Sunderland = 1
– QPR = 3
TOTAL = 9
OVERALL TOTAL = 28 (relegated)
QPR:
– Everton = 1
– West Brom = 0
– Aston Villa = 0
– Chelsea = 0
– West Ham = 3
– Liverpool = 0
– Man City = 0
– Newcastle = 3
– Leicester = 0
TOTAL = 7
OVERALL TOTAL = 29 (relegated)
BURNLEY:
– Tottenham = 0
– Arsenal = 0
– Everton = 0
– Leicester = 3
– West Ham = 0
– Hull = 0
– Stoke = 3
– Villa = 0
TOTAL = 6
OVERALL TOTAL = 31 (relegated)
SUNDERLAND:
– Newcastle = 3
– Palace = 1
– Stoke = 1
– Southampton = 1
– Everton = 0
– Leicester = 1
– Arsenal = 0
– Chelsea = 0
TOTAL = 7
OVERALL TOTAL = 33 (safe)
VILLA:
– Man Utd = 0
– QPR = 3
– Tottenham = 0
– Man City = 0
– Everton = 1
– West Ham = 1
– Southampton = 0
– Burnley = 3
TOTAL = 8
OVERALL TOTAL = 36 (safe)
HULL:
– Chelsea = 0
– Swansea = 1
– Southampton = 1
– Liverpool = 0
– Palace = 0
– Arsenal = 0
– Burnely = 3
– Tottenham = 0
– Man Utd = 0
TOTAL = 5
OVERALL TOTAL = 33 (safe)
I think Everton will be ok. Looking at the fixtures, I think the Hull vs Burnely game could be a decider with the loser going down. There’s bound to be a few shock results in there! I reckon we could surprise a few teams yet – possible Man Utd. Who knows?! But it’s going to be squeaky bums from here on in!
Sickened we lost today, we didn’t play well but deserved a draw, Benteke won everything in the air except to head on goal, Clark had a great game but outmuscled for the goal and we should have learned sooner that montero with fresh legs had the beating of bacuna and somebody should have helped him, gabby wasted the best chance by having the ball between his legs and taking an age to shoot with his left foot when the right was the way to go!
I was in the dog Ellis stand and hav to say it was dead all game, I even got some funny looks for my shouting but to be fair I was probably swearing too much, still thought they could have helped towards the atmosphere a lot more as only sounded like the holte and north stand were singing at all! Good attendance it looked like though.
Well I went against my ,Im not going to watch Motd, where the hell was our right back,and Okore I’ve said before to slow to get back on a ball, Clarke OK was held off for their goal but how many times was he our savour, I know its only minutes of the game on Motd but some was saying Abonglahor was guilty of a miss, but it was a blocked shot and hard lines on him, Sinclair’s near miss looked a good shot on goal, again its sticking out like a sore thumb right back and caught out of position defending an on goal attacks is a major problem.
Morning all pissed off we got nothing yesterday. Teams around us also dropped points and as long as that happens we will be OK. Keep the faith up the Villa.
Nail biting time, but think we will get wins against QPR, West Ham and Burnley with a draw against Everton and I am sure Sherwood wants to go back to Spurs and stick one up Levey… Thats a minimum of ten points so would see us well clear….. Lets just hope we are safe before the Burnley game..! As cannot see us having the balls to fight that one for a full 90 minutes.
QPR and Burnley are the HARDEST ones we face and we NEED to beat them….and cant see it happening,their forward play is so dangerous.
Benteke is still being Benteke….getting offside…..fouling almost everytime he jumps and then complaining and complaining again when he does not get the pass – mind you the others should get their heads up and look for a mate in the open.
As said we should have settled for a draw (good old hindsight) as they bought on all pacey subs and the goal was a carbon copy of an earlier move.
Benteke getting offside? I believe we had 1 offside against us the whole game! and he won basically every ball lumped up to him so i don’t get the criticism of benteke he did all he could with no proper chance created for him again! The only criticism I would hav is that once or twice he was slow with passing the ball and then got crowded out but other than that he couldn’t do much else.
All spilt milk now.
Pity Sinclair didn’t net at the end, pity Clark didn’t have the nous to bring down Gomis at the start of his run and take the yellow card (and a point).
Anyway it’s the international break and a real chance for TS to re-assess the squad before the Man Ure game who are far from unbeatable these days.Crunch match is against QPR, 3 points there and I reckon we’ll be a lot nearer being safe.
I was full of doom and gloom when Lambert was in charge but even after this loss I’m still quite hopeful. At least we had some shots on goal 🙂
UTV
Clarke made a couple of decent blocks don’t forget…