Cracking game today....!

I really enjoyed the match today.... even the atmosphere is getting better.... it was one of those games that was rip roaring but didn't fly by... if you know what I mean....!
glad Klasnic got a goal too....!

Today`s game was a very open one but Everton scored two goals they should not have had.. Poor defending again let a very poor Everton team back on level terms. But for the second home game running a good game to watch.

Really enjoyed today's game. We weren't as fluid as we were against Spurs, but we made several good chances (should've/could've been 2 up after 2 mins).

We're weak defensively... Zat Knight really does my head in, and I felt he was very slack for their 1st goal (I'd like to see AOB given a start next time out). Also Ricketts is quite weak at the back, but going forward I think the guy's mustard! His crossing is excellent and always causes the opposition real problems... I think if we can get in a CB to partner Cahill then we'd be able to afford to keep Ricketts in the team, but Ricketts AND Knight in our back four is just too much defensive weakness for us to cope with.

All in all, it's looking pretty decent for us... we're playing competitively and being reasonably entertaining too... I hope Megson keeps it going; he's doing a fine job of late.

i think the lack of fluidity came from the amount of time the ball spent in the air this week. Against Spurs much more of the football was played on the ground, as it should be, especially on windy days like today and the Spurs game.

Knight does look a little out of sorts at times, especially when he has to use his feet when under a little pressure. At one point in the first half he was heading a ball clear at about 6" above the ground. They really didn't deserve to get a goal let alone two. Although I thought Saha took the first very well, despite being given a heck of a lot of time and space.

Lee looked good again and found the back of the net very well after some good work and a great cross in from Ricketts.

I thought Kevin Davies had a difficult match today, didn't win too many headers or free kicks. The scousers were moaning about the poor refereeing today, on Radio Merseyside, they should try it from Davies' point of view.

Thought 'Lazarus' took his goal well. If only you could get a bet on at the ground during games for situations such as that.

Kevin Davies should have had 3 headed goals from his last 2 outings, how he's missed them I still don't know.

Excellent game, excellent result and entertaining to watch.

Heart in mouth time when Klasnic went down and looked to be in a very dire condition. Thankfully, whatever it was, he recovered and went on to score the winner.

Klasnic is a keeper for me and I really hope we try and get him signed permanently as soon as possible.

Many expected 0 points from the Spurs, United, Everton and Chelsea games. We have 4 points and it should have been 6-7 or even 9 by the way we played the 2nd half v. United. Not too shabby. If we can just hold Chelsea off and knick a point in the league, then it will be a very good run of results v. some bigger/"better" clubs.

bigsamsarmyusa wrote:Heart in mouth time when Klasnic went down and looked to be in a very dire condition. Thankfully, whatever it was, he recovered and went on to score the winner.

Klasnic is a keeper for me and I really hope we try and get him signed permanently as soon as possible.

Many expected 0 points from the Spurs, United, Everton and Chelsea games. We have 4 points and it should have been 6-7 or even 9 by the way we played the 2nd half v. United. Not too shabby. If we can just hold Chelsea off and knick a point in the league, then it will be a very good run of results v. some bigger/"better" clubs.

He definitely did a good impression of an unconscious body lying on the pitch. There was absolutely no movement from him, not even a head roll. It was a comeback of 'biblical' proportions.

As for being a keeper, I'd still be willing to give Al Habsi a run out before him. I can't see that happening though unless Jussi picks up an injury.

What now for Elmander??

I can't see him getting a start before Lazarus. He looks more of a finished article for the team. He runs more, he puts himself about, he shoots. I know we haven't played to Elmanders strengths a great deal, but he's been here over a season and hasn't shown as much as Lazarus has since he came. I feel we may show Johann the door come the January sales.

Klasnic is a keeper for me and I really hope we try and get him signed permanently

I would still see how he does up front before trying him out in net!

Admin wrote:Klasnic is a keeper for me and I really hope we try and get him signed permanently

I would still see how he does up front before trying him out in net!

[quote="hampo69"]

bigsamsarmyusa wrote:Heart in mouth time when Klasnic went down and looked to be in a very dire condition. Thankfully, whatever it was, he recovered and went on to score the winner.

What now for Elmander??

I can't see him getting a start before Lazarus. He looks more of a finished article for the team. He runs more, he puts himself about, he shoots. I know we haven't played to Elmanders strengths a great deal, but he's been here over a season and hasn't shown as much as Lazarus has since he came. I feel we may show Johann the door come the January sales.

I've thought for a few weeks now that we plan on offloading Elmander. He's (allegedly) injured too much and when fit, he's not scoring. If Klasnic can score those missing goals, then we might offload Elmander in January.

Klasnic is from Nantes who, I believe, were relegated to the 2nd tier in France, plus he's 29, so might not cost such a great amount.

His purchase price may be off-set by his dialysis costs.

There was a great headline in the Daily Mirror football section on Monday.
It related to the 2 lead articles of Man City's draw and our win.
It read;

"Mistakes (Hughes blasts blundering defence)....and Kidney (Organ Op Ivan is last-gap hero for Trotters).

I love me some (mi)stakes and kidney pie.

I thought it was a great game, really enjoyed it. Great finish by Klasnic, looks like we might finally have an actual striker on the books for the first time since Anelka left. Not sure I agree with the rave reviews of Ricketts, he was tremendous again going forward but I still don't like him in defense. Speaking of which we really need to sort that. I hope Megson is looking for a defensive leader, we really need one, but we also need more organisation, simply having everyone run like hell into our box whenever the opposition has the ball is not working. It is not affecting our attacking as much now as we have more mobile players on the field who can go box to box, Ricky, Cohen, Lee, but it still does not work going back.
All said much better, so much more fun to watch and we seem at last to be a real force going forward, there is still a worrying tendency to drop back when we score but may be the confidence of a few wins and playing better will sort that out. B+

hmmm but can we hold the attacking force of chelsea with our defense

Bloody hell Tim - you've turned the corner.

Can't disagree with any of that.

Tim, for what it's worth Chris Riggott is out of contract at the end of the season.

Is he any good at organising the defense, I know the club has moved away from it but an aging continental play with top class experience might be the answer. If we can sort the defense out we could have a good team, but we seem to spend all our time chasing back rather than facing the opposition on the front foot. I don't think it really helps the defense to have the opposition players and seven of their own players all running at them at the same time, I am not suggest no one should track back but surely there is a balance. I would also like to see him push our fullbacks wider when they are playing wide players, the reason we ship a lot of crosses is because wingers are either unmarked or being marked by forwards. Clearly against chelsea there is a sound reason to play a bit narrower as they dont tend to play wingers and thus the threat is through the middle. I also really think it would help defensively to leave a couple of players up when they have set pieces, clearly KD is useful in our box to defend but what is Lee supposed to do and yet when we do leave a man up it tends to be KD who does not have the pace to break surely you leave Lee and Gardner up?
We are making progress, one can now enjoy watching us play and I think we are actually faring better, especially against the big teams for attacking more.

tim_rigby wrote:I also really think it would help defensively to leave a couple of players up when they have set pieces, clearly KD is useful in our box to defend but what is Lee supposed to do and yet when we do leave a man up it tends to be KD who does not have the pace to break surely you leave Lee and Gardner up?

I've been extolling this view for over 18 months now. Although I would opt for Kevin Davies and Lee, a target man and a speed merchant.
This is the kind of things that you tell kids when they are learning the game.
I don't mind people defending, but I fail to see the need for 11 Bolton players to defend a corner in our area.
If you leave a man upfield, not only do you have a target, but they have to leave at least one defender up there with him.
I have noticed once or twice this season that Klasnic tends not to get dragged back into the area when we are defending corners. I'm not sure if it's something Megson has asked him to do , or something he has brought with him. Hopefully we will see a lot more of this when Klasnic plays longer periods of the game.

Maybe the answer is to not have any players in the area during corners.

And another thing.
Free-Kicks from outside the area.
Keeper makes a wall and covers the other part of the goal.
This gives the player taking the kick a large part of the goal to aim at 'if' he can get the ball over/around the wall. Who can't do this with the modern ball, apart from Taylor.
Maybe the wall should not be placed and let the keeper get a good look at the ball.
He cold then, possibly, collect it cleanly, and play it upfield with ease.

Hampo, if we leave one player up when defending a corner the opposition would then be forced to leave two defenders back, one to act as cover in case the other "screws up". Pretty basic stuff but some managers don't get it. Another thing that irks me is players passing up a shooting opportunity from the edge of the box. If you don't shoot youi don't score !!

Look Mourinho one of the top three managers on the planet leaves three up usually, apart from anything else Lee and Gardner are not much good in the air and are likely to loose a header thus causing more chaos.

Pulling everyone back to defend corners used to infuriate me when sam was in charge,not having an outlet to play the ball to upfield just invites more pressure.

Think we're all pretty much agreed on this one, and something I've always thought was daft.

Not a tactic by any means that is specific to Megson. In fact it's probably employed by the majority of coaches (in the prem at least) including the likes of Redknapp.