Thoughts on today v Luton

Don’t remember him saying that. Just that we had a very good spell in the match which is true. Nobodies deluding themselves here, the performances have been far from perfect. We are having long spells in matches where we don’t look like creating anything at all, but it’s okay to acknowledge that we are also having spells in which we are looking very good as well. Interestingly in the XG table we are seventh in terms of the position we should (take the use of the word should with a pinch of salt) be in given our XG for and against. Not perfect by any means, but something to build on at least. We lost comfortably our best player (in terms of natural ability) from last season as well as our player of the season (Begovic) and our best performing centre back in CCV, not to mention our best creative midfielder hasn’t been available yet. A lot of new faces have come in and young players integrated into the first team, under the circumstances I think we’ve done okay up until this point. Over time we do need to start looking more threatening over more extended periods though.

You keep banging on about losing Begovic as if we're loads weaker without him but you never answered the question. Which back five is better? Last year's or this?
 
The way I see it is our defending has been our Achilles heel for a long time. Our style of play was probably the major contributor, leaving us vulnerable, but gave us an exciting brand of football to watch and support. When things aren’t working so well in the scoring department, or indeed your not getting the possession to facilitate your attacking style then you have to rely on a strong defence to remain competitive and ‘in games’.
I think it’s generally agreed that the one change in style that Eddie did try to manufacture was the ability to hold out, park the bus, low block, 11 behind the ball, ultra defensive what ever you want to call it. I remember leaving that game against Man City home( maybe first game of the season?) and thinking I’ve never seen us play like that before!! It was bland beyond recognition and a fully committed defensive display only for Man City to nick a goal late on.

So the way I see it is if Parker is trying to Instill a defensive back bone and strength to the team then it’s something that will help us in the long run. To do that I think you have to make defensive changes at times and say ‘your not scoring’ which will undoubtedly affect our ability going forward. But perhaps this is a balance that we need to address?
 
You keep banging on about losing Begovic as if we're loads weaker without him but you never answered the question. Which back five is better? Last year's or this?
I’d say that it’s pretty even tbh, you could argue either way. CCV one of the best in the league last season replaced with Cahill who is also one of the best in the league imo. Not much between Cook and Kelly at centre back, the right back is the same. Zemura is a far better attacking threat that Kelly of last season, but Kelly was perhaps defensively a bit more solid in that position. Travers is a good keeper but a downgrade on Begovic.
 
Nice to have it confirmed before Neil convinces us all we're were actually brilliant!
I’ve never said we were brilliant. I said we had a spell of brilliance, Ian Holloway described it well. Outstanding football. Second half we were on the back foot.

I just don’t get the frame of reference against a time in our history when we were brilliant all game. Outside of the very privileged clubs in Europe is anyone brilliant all game?

It would just be nice to see people rally behind a new manager trying different things with a youthful squad rather than bitching away because they didn’t want him and finding it desperately hard to justify that opinion with a team that are unbeaten, top and the only side in England never to have been behind once and it’s nearly October…

Still keep trawling the stats you might find us bottom of the throw ins that led to goals stat or something. I mean if that’s the case he’s got to go surely…
 
I’d say that it’s pretty even tbh, you could argue either way. CCV one of the best in the league last season replaced with Cahill who is also one of the best in the league imo. Not much between Cook and Kelly at centre back, the right back is the same. Zemura is a far better attacking threat that Kelly of last season, but Kelly was perhaps defensively a bit more solid in that position. Travers is a good keeper but a downgrade on Begovic.
Tbh cahill is a massive upgrade on ccv, Kelly is more experienced, we didn't have a consistent left back last year, Rico, Kelly, Smith. But main thing with a back 5 is how they play together as a unit, and to me so far that's the improvement on last year.
 
I’d say that it’s pretty even tbh, you could argue either way. CCV one of the best in the league last season replaced with Cahill who is also one of the best in the league imo. Not much between Cook and Kelly at centre back, the right back is the same. Zemura is a far better attacking threat that Kelly of last season, but Kelly was perhaps defensively a bit more solid in that position. Travers is a good keeper but a downgrade on Begovic.

Personally I think Cahill is a level above any of last year's defenders. Agree on Kelly/Zemura. On the evidence so far Travers is not really even a downgrade, which for me adds up to this back five being ahead. If you did a poll I think it would be pretty comprehensive.
 
I’ve never said we were brilliant. I said we had a spell of brilliance, Ian Holloway described it well. Outstanding football. Second half we were on the back foot.

I just don’t get the frame of reference against a time in our history when we were brilliant all game. Outside of the very privileged clubs in Europe is anyone brilliant all game?

It would just be nice to see people rally behind a new manager trying different things with a youthful squad rather than bitching away because they didn’t want him and finding it desperately hard to justify that opinion with a team that are unbeaten, top and the only side in England never to have been behind once and it’s nearly October…

Still keep trawling the stats you might find us bottom of the throw ins that led to goals stat or something. I mean if that’s the case he’s got to go surely…
I don't expect us to be 'brilliant' all game ...I just don't expect us to be that passive either.
You're the last person on here that should be accusing anyone of bitching about a manager.....you'll find plenty of positive comments from me on the matchday threads from me this season ......loved our performance against Barnsley and I thought we looked really classy in the first half against QPR........how many times did you praise any performance of ours last season under JT?.....no all you could do was mention the cost of our squad compared to our opponents before throwing a hissy fit and leaving the forum until JT was sacked.....seriously a bit of self awareness wouldn't go amiss before you start criticising others.
 

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