Cardiff v Everton. 31st Aug @ 15.00.

[DanEFC92]

Two up front from now on please Roberto.

 

[bourneblue]

Sorry mate, but we will have to agree to disagree. You are dead wrong IMHO.

Oh no you don't, the lack of posts highlighting Fellaini's magnificent performance says it all for me.
As Paul Simon so eloquently put it "the sound of silence".
Ps,hope your feet recover,swine of a thing to get rid of bunions !!

 

[billycopper]

That's statistics for you. Every time Osman or Mirallas has a poke for 25 yards out and pea-rolls it to the keeper, that's classed as a shot on target. There's a difference however between that and a decent pass to a striker near the penalty spot. We're getting lots of the former and none of the latter.

If they've got two banks of four behind the ball they'd have to have really switched off for our striker to get space around the penalty spot.

Sturridge was a no-brainer. We should have bid for him with the Negredo funds we apparently had. However, we currently have Gibson out injured, Osman out of steam and Felli possibly on his way out of the building - we have Anichebe, Jelavic and Kone all vying to play up front, plus Vellios too. We need more midfielders simply to ensure we have enough to play our games, and better ones will create more chances as i describe above for our strikers. ideally we'd bring in both, but midfield is the clear priority.

As mentioned Jelavic 1 in 20, Kone 1 in 11, Anichebe 1 in 11, Vellios 2 career league goals. If we had to we could play Heitinga or Pienaar in midfield and it wouldn't affect the overall result too much. Having strikers who can't score has a massive impact.

Ok, let's not get silly and pretend Welbeck is any good. Show me a list of top scorers in six weeks' time.

Mate, those are all LAST year's prices. Look at some of the prices for strikers THIS summer - midfielders are cheaper. An improved midfield may make our existing strikers better, but a better striker won't improve our midfield. Plus, we have a full complement of strikers as it is, so we'd need to unload one or two or they'd just be picking up wages for nothing every week - do you see anyone bidding for Jelavic on deadline day? Maybe Juventus would take him for a few million, considering the rocket he put past them?

In the top 20 goalscorers last season:

Benteke £7m
Michu £2m
Berbatov £5m
Ba £7m
Lambert £1m
Le Fondre £350k
Fletcher £12m

A midfielder isn't going to stop Jelavic from falling over his own feet or Kone missing open goals. We have Mirallas, Barkley and Pienaar to create the chances. We need somebody more clinical in front of goal to put them away.

 

[paulbefc]

Cant be right mate, Martinez will leave one at the back and put a corner flag in goal...the clever people said.

We've got a very good, experienced back line. We've also not changed to a 3 at the back, as it looked like we would do.

We also haven't played anyone with much intent to leave their own half yet, like.

 

[steele]

Is it just me, or are we playing a lot slower than last year? Seems like we are been closing down easily this season.

Deulofeu is a great player and should start next game. Who should make way ?
Osman isn't at his best, but who can play in his position?
How can we utilize Fellaini? Defensive or offensive midfielder?

Martinez must sort this out!!

 

[faddy the blue]

The only way a striker like Jelavic can score is if we create more chances through the middle, he's not a great header of the ball but a one touch finisher . He needs someone with him there to link up with. The confidence is very low and its getting more and more frustrating not to see a win. These were the fixtures where you need 5-6/9 points. I can't see a better performance against Chelsea. Looks like we'll be the most drawing team again if it stays the same. Nil Satis Draw Optimum???? Hope not!

 

[billycopper]

Is it just me, or are we playing a lot slower than last year? Seems like we are been closing down easily this season.

Deulofeu is a great player and should start next game. Who should make way ?
Osman isn't at his best, but who can play in his position?
How can we utilize Fellaini? Defensive or offensive midfielder?

Martinez must sort this out!!

We have a few options. Mirallas has been quiet. Is it because he's being marginalised out on the wing or maybe Barkley isn't getting the ball to him often enough? Would he be better inside or on the opposite flank? I think we need to manage him carefully to make sure that his confidence doesn't drop too much.

We could potentially move Pienaar inside in place of Osman, which would allow us to try Mirallas on the left and bring Deulofeu into the side. Barkley would nominally be at the point of the triangle but they could rotate so that Fellaini had spells of being in the hole and Ross could drop deep to find more space on the ball.

 

[drakau]

when was kone ever good? never

stats show this.. ie his time in Seville

and if you look at his wigan goals, all easy taps ins

 

[DanEFC92]

when was kone ever good? never

stats show this.. ie his time in Seville

and if you look at his wigan goals, all easy taps ins

[video=youtube;t3rA3nZarTY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3rA3nZarTY[/video]

Ok mate

 

[icburns]

[video=youtube;t3rA3nZarTY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3rA3nZarTY[/video]

Ok mate

Damn he looks predatory in that video. I guess Bily looked ace on youtube as well though.

 

[samZ]

Having been at the game today and seeing the amount of the possesion we had it was frustrating that the quality was lacking in the final third of the pitch. We often sqandered chances by poor crossing or hesitating far too long. We managed to work our way into good positions out wide and often had the extra man but often failed to get beyond the first defender with the cross.
I thought Barkley had another decent game, he seemed to have more of the ball thank anyone else, not everything he did worked but he had a decent game again for us and developing into a good player. Deulofeu needs an opportunity to play 90mins in the first team. In the short time he was on the pitch he troubled their defence, looked to get into the box and they struggled to defend against him.

 

[davek]

Having been at the game today and seeing the amount of the possesion we had it was frustrating that the quality was lacking in the final third of the pitch. We often sqandered chances by poor crossing or hesitating far too long. We managed to work our way into good positions out wide and often had the extra man but often failed to get beyond the first defender with the cross.
I thought Barkley had another decent game, he seemed to have more of the ball thank anyone else, not everything he did worked but he had a decent game again for us and developing into a good player. Deulofeu needs an opportunity to play 90mins in the first team. In the short time he was on the pitch he troubled their defence, looked to get into the box and they struggled to defend against him.

Martinez post match said he thought Barkley needed to be sharper with his final ball today. Sounded like he thought it was the difference between us drawing and winning.

 

[slimspek]

Peanut Butter Vellios Time!!!!

I would prefer whipped cream

 

[slimspek]

I thought Cardiff were a bit snidey along with a blind ref. Unlucky not to get the pen. I'll start moaning if after monday we don't have shiney new signing

 

[dannythomas89]

Cant wait to see gibson back in cm