Relive every moment of every first team game since the beginning of the 2005/06 season. Our archive of matchday threads originally posted in the General Discussion Forum.
shiny wrote:Bobby and Marlene have upped their game of late and i think they should be starting ahead of sheringham and dare i say ashton who has yet to show the quality of a cluib record signing - ill keep my powder dry for now since hes only had a game and a bit so far....but not impressed so far
what do others think of ashton to date?
Ashton was clearly still recovering from his injury still.
needs games to sharpen up.
But had 2 great chances in the game..one a header wth a god save from Davies,the other a goal.
Not a bad player by any standards.
liked the look of Scaloni,quiet in the first half,but looked more settled in the second pulling off some good tackles,think he;ll be really good for us.
a couple of thoughts. scolari got forward well, i thought, nice left foot (presumably the right is ok too). if anything he didn't get the ball enough when in space. saying that he didn't exactly have a huge amount to do defensively against 10 man sunderland. i think he could be a player to take us up a level though.
met a couple of sunderland fans in the queue. the were remarkably chipper considering. they reckoned they knew last season we and wigan would get up and do fairly well.
yossi is losing his way a little. maybe harewood on the right is a good idea?
etherington did very well. i think he's one of those players who is skillful and quick enough against half of the teams in the premiership, and does really well. but against real quality he is found lacking all round. just not quite quick enough, a bit of a one trick pony when he tries to beat his man and not good enough defensively. playing sunderland he was great but if we step up a level could find himself a squad player.
Ironball wrote:
Well the highlight of the match was the New Orleans cheerleaders, no doubt.
As for the football, you are dead right about Scaloni - he had the run of the park in the first half. I think Harewood coming on was not just beneficial in terms of his power and running, it was beneficial because it suddenly opened up half of the pitch that was just not being used in the first half.
This is becoming an issue Pards needs to sort out - Yossi is a right-sided player in name only now and there were repeated occasions in the first half when the right wing was screaming out for a touchline run; NRC did one I think, but that was it. When Marlon came on he was fantastic, and I think he should be used on the right hand side next week, with Ashton and Zamora up front. Unfortunately, shortly after the goal AP rejigged things again and Harewoon went up front, and our width and balance shrank accordingly.
Great result, some encouraging performances; we have a chance to kick on and have a great end to the season - but have gotta get the right side balance working!
I'm interested, Ironball. If Marlon goes to the R midfield, do you see Yossi being on the bench? Or does he move across to the centre, meaning the team captain loses his place?
One of the these two important midfielders has to move down the pecking order if Marlon goes to the R, surely?
cant see why there are negative's with ashton's performance today
thought he had a solid debut,had about 4 chances,stuck one away,good save from his header,one other with the disallowed goal,cant see how much more he could of done
it was only 7m,not 30 ffs
I thought Ashton looked the way Harewood did at the start of the season.... more willing to back in to defenders to try and get a free kick rather than jump for a ball. He looked well of the pace...so I'm sure it will improve. He didn't seem to want to chase down back passes to their keeper... which you have to do against 10 men to heap the pressure on.
Thought Scaloni looked good on the ball.. good control. But poor distribution... again maybe just down to not being suited to place of play, etc..
Harewood was outstanding.
It's great to have attacking options on the bench. Gone are the days of the routine Dailly + Newton substitution 15 mins from the end!
if we're gonna push on (europe) then we need a SQUAD. fair play to dailly and newton and fletcher, they've come in and done a job, but with ashton coming in we've got another striker who could be a top six player AND another midfielder in harewood (we don't NEED him up front). some games may suit yossi, others reo. others both (or both for the last 20 minutes.
mullins i never really notice, but he must be doing somehting right. teams don't play and win like we do with their defnsive midfielder letting the side down.
Scanned over a few posts and as had been said already...
Harewood was badly missed and he changed the game completely.
The only thing i have to moan about was why Pardew had to take off Ashton and bring on Dailly, there was no need. Alot of moans from in the Bobby Moore lower when he made that change, because once Marlon had come on we was well and truly in control of the game.
I am law wrote:
I'm interested, Ironball. If Marlon goes to the R midfield, do you see Yossi being on the bench? Or does he move across to the centre, meaning the team captain loses his place?
One of the these two important midfielders has to move down the pecking order if Marlon goes to the R, surely?
Hmmm. Well, for those brief minutes when we started to threaten it was Mullins who made way, and Yossi and NRC were playing in the middle together. I don't see why this can't be experimented with. Anyone who says they definitely can't play together is being a little bit presumptive imo as they haven't played together in the middle until today and it worked well.
That said, it was mainly Marlon on the right that made the difference. At the start of the season Yossi was going wide but looking uncomfortable, and he regularly drifted inside. Nowadays he doesn't even pretend that he's playing on the right - quite simply he isn't. We are just not using that side of the pitch and the result is no outlet up that side, and a narrow and predictable obsession with the left hand flank.
Alternatively, Yossi could be played on the left (more familiar to him) or in the hole, though with our abundance of strikers at the moment that is less likely.
pleased we go that out of the way - i knew it would be tighter than most thought!
well worrth 2-0 tho
thought ashton looked short of fitness, and clearly int he wrong place-its early days but im sure he'll be great- good to get his first goal
scolari--less imressed with-was very nervous, over hiiting passes etc, didnt really have mjuch to do defensively ,s o cant really meaure him- got in lots of good postions going forward, but must have put over maybe 6 crosses, all of which were well poor.....im sure he'll have better games!
matty looked great today, as did marlon when he came on--isnt it good to have options!?
one final thought...where does teddy fit in now? he looks even slower and off the pace by the day----he did very lttle today, i think if katan fires up, the n we really dont have a place for him-other peoples thoughts?!
Ironball wrote:
Hmmm. Well, for those brief minutes when we started to threaten it was Mullins who made way, and Yossi and NRC were playing in the middle together. I don't see why this can't be experimented with. Anyone who says they definitely can't play together is being a little bit presumptive imo as they haven't played together in the middle until today and it worked well.
That said, it was mainly Marlon on the right that made the difference. At the start of the season Yossi was going wide but looking uncomfortable, and he regularly drifted inside. Nowadays he doesn't even pretend that he's playing on the right - quite simply he isn't. We are just not using that side of the pitch and the result is no outlet up that side, and a narrow and predictable obsession with the left hand flank.
Alternatively, Yossi could be played on the left (more familiar to him) or in the hole, though with our abundance of strikers at the moment that is less likely.
Interesting point. I suggested to the bloke next to me before half time that the right sub was to bring on Harewood at right mid and take off Mullins BUT only because Sunderland offered no threat.
Yossi and NRC were fine in the centre for a game like this with SAFC down to 10 men and not attacking. I would not play them from the start though - too attacking and would leave the defence totally exposed.
IMHO, if Pards starts against Brum with out a holding midfielder, we will struggle.
A great result no doubt, I thought that after their red card they lost any intention of attacking.
They were on the defensive, and I noticed that when teams go back and defend tightly, we find it hard to cut through the defence.
IMO there are two ways of breaking the opposition's defence in that situation:
Either cross the ball more often, but then you must have at least two big players with a good heading game, or you can give the creative players(Teddy, Yossi, Matty etc.) the ball, and have them slice open the defence with dribbles and passes, which I noticed Yossi and Teddy did often, but the finshing touch was lacking.
The team looked good today, a special mention to Marlon, who changed the game, NRC, who pushed forward and Gabbidon, who was as solid as ever.
I'd like to see your thoughts on the whole problem against defending teams, what do you think could be done against these teams?
I am law wrote:
I'm interested, Ironball. If Marlon goes to the R midfield, do you see Yossi being on the bench? Or does he move across to the centre, meaning the team captain loses his place?
One of the these two important midfielders has to move down the pecking order if Marlon goes to the R, surely?
i think you have to sit back and play the ball about and draw them out. might take a while but you have to try. then hit 'em hard and fast with a run or a decisive through ball.
you can't break them down any other way, apart from maybe just hit long balls into the box but we've never been good at that.
Ashton I thought did ok, he scored, Marlon's tap in given offside was from Ashton's shot, and Davis pulled off a great save from his header. All in all that's two goals and a save forced which were all we offered up all afternoon.
Mullins had a good game but I don't understand with 1 up front as Sunderland did, that Reo-Coker and Mullins kept coming deep to pick up the ball. The only way to break teams down with 10 men is to get it wide or have a few players that can beat people.
Eherington ran hos b*llocks off today and maybe made a few errors because of it, nut overall thought he was terrific.
Duke wrote:
Interesting point. I suggested to the bloke next to me before half time that the right sub was to bring on Harewood at right mid and take off Mullins BUT only because Sunderland offered no threat.
Yossi and NRC were fine in the centre for a game like this with SAFC down to 10 men and not attacking. I would not play them from the start though - too attacking and would leave the defence totally exposed.
IMHO, if Pards starts against Brum with out a holding midfielder, we will struggle.
Looks therefore that the moral of this thread withina thread is that AP has brought in a whole bunch of talented midfielders who can each do a good job, playing to his strengths. I can't agree more with the suggestion that we would need a holding midfielder - such as HM - on from the start against Birmingham. Altho we expected more off the Arse, I for one wonder whether this is going to be a much bigger test for us... B'rum are finding form despite today's defeat and are fighting for their lives...
A decent game, good to see the crowd getting on the teams back, reminded me of last season.
Sunderland are the worst team we've entertained at the Boleyn this season and as soon as they got a player sent off we were always going to have to be patient and draw them out. I enjoyed the game, it's not often I don't have to worry about conceeding a goal at all we out played them and in the end grinded a result out.
Ashton looked ok, especially in the second half, held the ball up well. It was Harewood who made the difference though Sunderland couldn't cope with him at all. The people who voted for Zamora as player of the season so far should really look at this match to see the difference between them.
The right back fella looked decent, a bit rusty, give him a couple of games and he will be fully up to speed.
Ashton and Scolari both had good, solid, promising debuts. Ashton got a lot of poor service (over-hit passes to his chest) but held the ball up well. The partnership with TS did not work (Teddy is the last forward in the world you want running onto the ball!) but he had two chances, socred one and forced a good header. Scolari made one error in the first half, but won every tackle in the second, got forward and put in some decent crosses. At last we have a decent right back.
Overall, the game reminded me of so many last year - ten men behind the ball, trying to delay things, upending our players when necessary and trying to kill the game. It wasn't pretty at times, but the team stuck to their guns and forced the result.
Two other points:
I note some posters on here we suggesting we should have gone for Kelvin Davies, rather than Carroll. He was terrible - his distribution worse than Bywater, and he let the second goal through his hands.
Teddy - he doesn't offer us much these days. He certainly cannot work well without a very fast player alongside him. I cannot see any merit in keeping him beyond this season.
Teddy - he doesn't offer us much these days. He certainly cannot work well without a very fast player alongside him. I cannot see any merit in keeping him beyond this season.
wot he said! he looks slow, but more imporantly, pissed off and that the world is passing him by
also you raise a good point about distribution- how good is shaka-?! he's about 300% better than carroll- couple of times today he set bobby free, carroll would have been lucky to make the half way line lol
Ashton and Scolari both had good, solid, promising debuts. Ashton got a lot of poor service (over-hit passes to his chest) but held the ball up well. The partnership with TS did not work (Teddy is the last forward in the world you want running onto the ball!) but he had two chances, socred one and forced a good header. Scolari made one error in the first half, but won every tackle in the second, got forward and put in some decent crosses. At last we have a decent right back.
Overall, the game reminded me of so many last year - ten men behind the ball, trying to delay things, upending our players when necessary and trying to kill the game. It wasn't pretty at times, but the team stuck to their guns and forced the result.
what claret dave said! :niceone:
He looked well of the pace...so I'm sure it will improve. He didn't seem to want to chase down back passes to their keeper... which you have to do against 10 men to heap the pressure on.
mart what game were u watching, ashton was running his b*llocks off to press davis, 1 of the main reasons davis kept ****ing his kicks, especially in 1st half!
also note, happy dailly got a goodish reception when he came on and not booed (i sit in CL lower) and well done to all the hammers fans who kept patient and didnt start turning on the team as we tried to get the 1st goal. although it went quite in second half, id rather uus be quiet than be booing our own players!
