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the problem is last season we pulled off some amazing wins at city and arsenal etc. its obvious we aren't going to get anywhere near those heights this season. the main problem is we're losing to wba and watford. second season syndrome looks like its set in to bilic reign and it looks like its going to be a season of trying to finish mid table (so far anyway). my opinion is and some disagree thats fine but our signings just aren't what was required. some of them may turn out to be good players for us but fact is we need players that were going to come in and take us forwards, not players who have to take a season to bed in. other teams have surpassed us in the transfer market and its showing early on….everton for example, a shambles last season are rejuvenated with bolasie and co. liverpool with mane, palace are improving with bent eke, and then the sleeping giants of man u and city are awake with new managers and new signings. question is did we over achieve last season due to our greatness or others decline? and have we failed to push forwards with our signings of zaza, calleri, nordveit, tore, ayew? we can argue that this time round we 'spent' big…but did we really or was it in proportion to the extra revenue and tv deals? and did we spend big on average players instead of players that would be better than what we had? its all 'knee jerk' reaction perhaps….but its a debate worth discussing in my view. theres also the matter of some of bilic decisions….favouring calleri over fletcher all the time when its clear as day that calleri is nowhere near ready for this level of football whereas fletcher shows signs of actually affecting a game. the decision on antonio early on. all i can say is in my view we need carroll and cresswell back as even a fully fit payet doesnt seem to have enough to get us winning against the likes of watford and wba at the moment although to be fair its the defence that is a disaster.
Yep ,agreed ,its high time
Yep ,agreed ,its high time our buying in policy was looked at ,when you think of it not sinse Deano have we had a descent striker ,who was it that bought in this shite (the four you mention Dicksy ) who ever it was wants a right f###ing,never thought id say it but when i loo at zaza i think to myself Carlton Cole wasn't.half bad
Zaza will come good. Can't
Zaza will come good. Can't judge him based on 2 games where hes recieved absolutely no service. He shouldve stayed on over calleri
I thought the same Fred, he
I thought the same Fred, he needs a goal and I'd have kept him on, we just need to play to his strengths, plus Calleri isn't confident either and keep dragging them off after 45 mins doesn't help confidence.
Fred & chippy
I do hope that you both are right about zaza,but what ive seen of him from the 2 games so far,he is either not match fit or hes bloody useless!!i said the same about nortveit after 2 games!!
Personally I think it's way
Personally I think it's way too early to write off Zaza, Tore, Norveit and Calleri, they've all come into a struggling side, they need time to settle in our best starting 11
ZAZA don't have time!
I'm all for giving time,but don't forget that's 2 lives used up before that certain number of Premier League appearances kicks in
I'll conceed the point on
I'll conceed the point on Zaza but the other three aint worth a shite Dave ,whoever is responsible for signing them wants a kick up the hole
Don't concede your point of
Don't concede your point of view mate, that's what it's all about, we all have different opinions
I'll conceed the point on
I'll conceed the point on Zaza but the other three aint worth a shite Dave ,whoever is responsible for signing them wants a kick up the hole
I think we have a different
I think we have a different issue, I still think we play as if Carroll is in the side, diagonal passes out wide and try and get the ball in, I don't think this suits Zaza, as it didn't suit Valencia and doesn't suit Calleri, we seem to want to turn every forward into a target man for some reason. It is a concern that we're shipping goals against WBA and Watford, I doubt they'll score 4 again this season, but I think Slav is the right man, whether it's just getting the balance of offense and defence right or whether there's a bigger issue I'm not sure, got to get out of the rut soon though and we need to start by defending as a team.
we have 4 class players,
we have 4 class players, Lanzini, payet,Antonio, and feghouli.
The rest are poor,mediocre,brain dead etc
Noble is a major concern to me as he always slows our play down.
When ayew and Carroll are Fit will we play them both up front ?
Does Randolph come in to replace Adrian?
Not convinced about our options for the back four . Do we have sufficient quality to keep a clean sheet ?
.
I think we have more quality
I think we have more quality than just 4 players, bearing in mind this is probably an improved squad on the one that did so well last season.
The defence is a huge worry, is it just lack of concentration, not sure, I wouldn't be too worried with playing Randolph though, he's a quality keeper, possibly less erratic than Adrian.
Zaza
Reading the comments about Zaza above, I gotta agree with ditm. I watched the game online today and was at the Watford game. I'm sure the bloke is made of rubber. Every ball that went to his feet just bounced a yard or more away from him. I agreed Bilic had to take him off but for Fletcher, not for (can't hit a cows arse with a banjo) Calleri.
As for our defence, it gets left wide open. Not only are they making stupid individual mistakes, they're not getting the support from the rest of the team like they did last year.
With regards attacking. Yes, lots of slow sideways play allowing the opposition to get back and organise themselves. Imo, we're a shambles all over the place at the moment. We were a good team for the most part last season though. A good team doesn't turn to crap overnight. There's something more wrong somewhere.
All about opinions mate isn't
All about opinions mate isn't it, for me I was really frustrated when Carroll was playing, his second touch is a tackle and he's as mobile as my dead gran, I don't think he's the answer. I'd love to see us play 2 upfront occasionally but then we're so heavy in midfield that it means dropping another player, I suppose the question is can we afford to carry players like Payet and Lanzini, personally I think we need those 2 but for that to happen we need the likes of Noble and Kouyate to do the hard work for them and defend.
Noble is great if we play a
Noble is great if we play a counter attacking game as he will sit deep and help the defence but if we try to play fast attacking football from the off as soon as he gets the ball he slows up play. Kouyate is not the player he was last season again is this because he suits a counter attacking style? zaza despite being awful did make some good runs but we consistently failed to put the correct through ball along the ground which I'm sure he would be better at controlling when he is running onto the ball rather than playing back to goal which he cannot do. Don't envy bilic his job at the moment but think he should play first team midweek to give them More time playing together rather than making wholesale changes
Good point regarding Noble,
Good point regarding Noble, perhaps he's struggling to come to terms with the different style a bit, agree regarding Zaza as well.
As much as hes had problems.
As much as hes had problems. Diafra sakho is needed badly in this team. His movement and pace get us playing on the front foot and i think him and zaza would work well together.
Wouldn't disagree with that
Wouldn't disagree with that Fred
fred149 ..
Totally agree regarding Sakho .. I also think young Fletcher could eventually do very well and would also like to see Reece Oxford a hell of a lot more involved .. "If" fit for me Carroll is just an Impact Sub and nothing more !
Sakho is the most natural striker
We possess,we need him at the moment imo...also obiang needs to start,to add bite to the "engine room"....
we dont have
any leaders on the pitch and some may say scot parker was the last one we had but I believe the last leader we have had was the terminator.....sorry to dig him out but noble is not a captain/leader of the team to much of a nice guy and going through the squad who is the player on the pitch to be a captain who will give players a verbal volley when not doing there job? struggling are you? me to.....as to are we in trouble the answer is yes if you ship 4 goals to the likes of Watford and wba then the writing is on the wall..
The godlike status of bilic
The godlike status of bilic has been largely exaggerated. Our demise started 2 or 3 months before the end of last season but due to injuries we overlooked it. Playing Antonio at right back was something that could only have worked for about 3 games. Bilic took until the last week of the transfer window to do anything about something that was patently obvious. He has effectively drummed obiang out of contention for no reason we know and is currently forgetting Oxford as a possible defensive midfielder, whilst accommodating kouyate as a defensive mid with no discipline at all! In short, I think he makes his opinions on players and play and doesn't waver from them. Yes we have the defensive solutions but it means we have to put kouyate at centre back and use obiang and/ or Oxford as protection for those 2 centre halves. Trouble is bilic isn't gona do this as he can't adapt to his original opinions on players. There is plenty of time so no panic, I just don't see bilic to easily see the solutions and so wouldn't be surprised to see his sacking by end of November. Especially if a top manager is looking for a job. IMO bilic thinks he can get away with playing the same way in the prem as he did in Turkey and hasn't realised that if you are not defensively solid and well drilled you will get tanked by anyone.
Trouble moves on too slowly
Yes it looks a little bleak at the moment. We are all at sea with little semblance of a good defence. Everybody is up in the opposition's half and we are left stranded. Too many errors from experienced players is worrying even Ginge is struggling. I do fear our transfer buys/loans have looked poor. A case in point is Zaza. He cannot hold a ball up nor can he do much else from what I have seen, Compare him to Slimani whom we were interested in last year and it is no contest. Slimani for Leicester yesterday worked his socks off, had good game awareness and scored two goals. We should have secured him. We are overrun with midfielders/wingers when we should have made our defence more stable. Bilic looks shocked. I hope he can turn things around but I am not too sure he can for a quick fix. I guess we will be ok eventually but barely mid-table I think.