Back From the Game

[RG30]

Does last night finally convince a few sceptics that Kitson should start every game?

Was there ever any though. I've always had Kitson down as our Number 1 striker, then 1 out of Doyle/Lita simply because of Kitson's goalscoring return for us and the key elements he brings to us - power, good ball control, eye for the goal.

I'm still a bit miffed by last night, and am annoyed we didn't do more with our corners considering they were 11-1 in our favour.

[biscuitsrus]

Just got back at twenty past midnight about £150 lighter. What a waste of time and money to watch a team who really didn't care about winning.

I wouldn't blame the other sides in the relegation zone for seething about the starting line up and the use of zero subs despite having Kitson and Doyle on the bench and with Long making it akin to playing with ten men. What does anyone see in Long because to me he is simply not up to this level and never ever will be.

If the club's calling it a season having stayed up, please let us know so we don't waste further time and money at the remaining games.

You are entitled to an opinion

[Sharpy]

just like saturday coppell made no positive changes to win the game as he didnt want the 3points due him not wanting european footy next year, also the reason why he dropped loads of players for yesterdays game. unfair on the travelling fans if you ask me

[Alan Partridge]

just like saturday coppell made no positive changes to win the game as he didnt want the 3points due him not wanting european footy next year, also the reason why he dropped loads of players for yesterdays game. unfair on the travelling fans if you ask me

So bringing Lita on for Oster wasn't a positive change?

You could argue he did it too late but of course that was a positive move.

Yesterday bored me.

[Hoop Blah]

Does last night finally convince a few sceptics that Kitson should start every game ?
Drogba does for Chelsea because the shape of the side is right and the same goes for us with Kitson leading the line.

Totally agree. Even against Spurs when most felt he was useless he won us possession in and around the oppositions penalty box and actually passes to his team-mates with just one or two touches. Neither Lita or Long appeared to be able to do that and either give the ball away, fall over under a weak challenge, or just misplace a pass.

The same goes for Harper. How many times does he get the ball moving quickly with a simple one or two touch pass to switch play or pick out a players run. He might not make many full blooded tackles, something that is slipping out of the game these days, but the role he performs is vital to how we play (Gunnarsson can also play it). If it wasn't for Harper last night Sidwell couldn't have made all those late runs into the box for those numerous chances.

I thought Soel did pretty well last night. People get on his back for showing no effort or heart but I think its more his lack of a turn of pace that makes it look that way. Last night he never shirked a tackle against Thatcher after he'd come on. If ever there was a player that you might think Soel would bottle it against it would've been him last night.

As for wanting to win the game. The players on the pitch certainly looked and played like they wanted to win. We outplayed a side in good form who are fighting for their lives. Could we have done more to win? Definately. On the bench we had fresh legs and arguable better, more in form players than those on the pitch.

Personally I think we're coasting a little now which I think is dangerous and bad form for those who are paying to watch a side almost going through the motions.

[brendywendy]

just like saturday coppell made no positive changes to win the game as he didnt want the 3points due him not wanting european footy next year, also the reason why he dropped loads of players for yesterdays game. unfair on the travelling fans if you ask me

thats just daft

[biscuitsrus]

Does last night finally convince a few sceptics that Kitson should start every game ?
Drogba does for Chelsea because the shape of the side is right and the same goes for us with Kitson leading the line.
Which of our giant forwards was marking Al Kakouri when his free and unchallenged header hit the bar and luckily came back out?

I don't think for a moment that we didn't try to win the game with the players on the pitch I just think that they were not our best players.
Ivar,Shorey,Harper and Sidwell have played every Premiership game for us this season but Kitson has played hardly any because of the injuries.
If they can play every game and especially our midfield two in the energy-sapping engine room why can't Kitson play at least some part in this game?

As for Halford,we spend over £2million on him,play him against the form side away including England's current winger and then don't play him again but prefer Bryn as an out-of-position full-back in one game and then Ulysses (a player who probably won't be with us next season) in the next.

BTW for a side supposedly fighting for their lives I thought Charlton were dreadful and as Salako said on Sky "brainless".
Where was all this tenacity,spirit,flair and all the other bollocks?It seems to have worn off quite quickly.
I hope they go down and Wigan particularly stay up

Q1=NO, IMO Kits is short of his best and needed to be rested as IMO he still has not fully recovered from injury. I think he is getting closer and we may see Kits back to true form by the end of the season.

Q2=Not sure why its a forwards responsibility. the marking should be a collective responsibility and worked out on the training ground and tweaked during the game when it becomes apparent where the danger lies.

Q3=IMO Kits should have come on in the last 20 mins and I would agree with you there.

Really Kits is not the answer at the mo, he needs to recover physically and mentally from his injury. For me Kits is yet to prove that he is a Prem player but I would like to think he is and I will not judge until possibly the beginning of next season.

[URZZZZZZZZ]

One of my gripes short corners

Useless in my opinion anyway, but being open minded I can see how the element of surprise may be good we you have some momentum. So why did we do it twice when a corner had to be retaken and the receiver had already been picked up by a marker.

Grinds my gears!!!

Video evidence of said point.

http://www.livevideo.com/video/BenReadi ... -tong.aspx

[EASTENDER MARKY]

just like saturday coppell made no positive changes to win the game as he didnt want the 3points due him not wanting european footy next year, also the reason why he dropped loads of players for yesterdays game. unfair on the travelling fans if you ask me

tbf I don't think there was much oppurtunity to make changes last night. Maybe Doyle or Kitson could of come on for Long but apart from that the game was too tight to make a change IMO.

[biscuitsrus]

Once again i find myself in total disagreement with most on here.

Even allowing for those that were clearly too pissed to focus properly ( called Duberryitis i believe ) people suggesting we didn't want to win the game are off their nut.

We were playing one of the Premierships in form teams, desperately fighting for their lives and in the 2nd half had them pegged back so much that they were reduced to nothing more than the odd sporadic counter attack.

Was I surprised at the team selection ?, yeah i was a bit but it's not too much of a stretch to assume that a manager of a team that hadn't won in 7 games and were playing twice in 3 days against a side with an extra days rest would make a few changes to freshen things up.

As for Kitson and Doyle not playing , perhaps the fact that they have recently returned from injury meant that we didn't want to risk them in 2 matches in a short space of time. Could Coppell have brought them on ? Of course he could, but in truth we were dominating the game in the 2nd half and he probably felt like most of us ( and the neutral commentators ) that it was only a matter of time before we broke through.

To suggest that Coppell has chucked in the towel and wanted to help out his mate is frankly ridiculous. There was one side going all out for the win last night and it wasn't the team at the bottom of the table.

Of all posts on this thread this is the one that comes the closest to my thoughts.

I just wanted to add that ALL the players showed commitment, even Seol.

My MOM was Hunty even though he missed the sitter at the end, as always run close by Ivar and Nicky.

Actually I can not think of a player who did not contribute, I actually enjoyed the game and it was for me a good evening.

[Huntley & Palmer]

Personally I think we're coasting a little now which I think is dangerous and bad form for those who are paying to watch a side almost going through the motions.

Nail on the head for me there, I am considering abandoning the two remaining away trips even if they cost me money. I'm not putting aside an entire day to travel to the North West to see that sort of performance. I was thinking to myself after the game that I now know what it is like to watch Citeh or Boro week in week out, it was quite depressing

[Vision]

Personally I think we're coasting a little now which I think is dangerous and bad form for those who are paying to watch a side almost going through the motions.

Nail on the head for me there, I am considering abandoning the two remaining away trips even if they cost me money. I'm not putting aside an entire day to travel to the North West to see that sort of performance. I was thinking to myself after the game that I now know what it is like to watch Citeh or Boro week in week out, it was quite depressing

I still can't see any evidence , from the players, in terms of effort and committment that suggest we are coasting. As I've said we lack a bit of quality and composure (particularly when Little doesn't play) but the effort and endeavour to win the game was always there.

On at least 2 occasions in the 2nd half last night we had so many players in the opposition penalty area that we were actually taking the ball of the heads of our own players.

[Stranded]

Personally I think we're coasting a little now which I think is dangerous and bad form for those who are paying to watch a side almost going through the motions.

Nail on the head for me there, I am considering abandoning the two remaining away trips even if they cost me money. I'm not putting aside an entire day to travel to the North West to see that sort of performance. I was thinking to myself after the game that I now know what it is like to watch Citeh or Boro week in week out, it was quite depressing

I still can't see any evidence , from the players, in terms of effort and committment that suggest we are coasting. As I've said we lack a bit of quality and composure (particularly when Little doesn't play) but the effort and endeavour to win the game was always there.

On at least 2 occasions in the 2nd half last night we had so many players in the opposition penalty area that we were actually taking the ball of the heads of our own players.

Indeed, I can recall at least two occasions from open play where we had 5/6 players in their box trying to score. If that's a team coasting or happy with a point then I'd love to see a team really pushing for a win.

Compare that to a Charlton team dying for a win and they often only had 1/2, often because of the numbers we'd pushed on to try and get the win.

[Schards#2]

Personally I think we're coasting a little now which I think is dangerous and bad form for those who are paying to watch a side almost going through the motions.

Nail on the head for me there, I am considering abandoning the two remaining away trips even if they cost me money. I'm not putting aside an entire day to travel to the North West to see that sort of performance. I was thinking to myself after the game that I now know what it is like to watch Citeh or Boro week in week out, it was quite depressing

I still can't see any evidence , from the players, in terms of effort and committment that suggest we are coasting. As I've said we lack a bit of quality and composure (particularly when Little doesn't play) but the effort and endeavour to win the game was always there.

On at least 2 occasions in the 2nd half last night we had so many players in the opposition penalty area that we were actually taking the ball of the heads of our own players.

To take the argument to extremes, if Coppell chose to play me up front and not sub me for the entire game, I would give 100% but it could be argued that the club were not trying 100% to win the game.

[Stranded]

Personally I think we're coasting a little now which I think is dangerous and bad form for those who are paying to watch a side almost going through the motions.

Nail on the head for me there, I am considering abandoning the two remaining away trips even if they cost me money. I'm not putting aside an entire day to travel to the North West to see that sort of performance. I was thinking to myself after the game that I now know what it is like to watch Citeh or Boro week in week out, it was quite depressing

I still can't see any evidence , from the players, in terms of effort and committment that suggest we are coasting. As I've said we lack a bit of quality and composure (particularly when Little doesn't play) but the effort and endeavour to win the game was always there.

On at least 2 occasions in the 2nd half last night we had so many players in the opposition penalty area that we were actually taking the ball of the heads of our own players.

To take the argument to extremes, if Coppell chose to play me up front and not sub me for the entire game, I would give 100% but it could be argued that the club were not trying 100% to win the game.

You're entitled to your opinion but the more I read your posts this morning, the more it comes across as you are calling Coppell deceitful at best and at worst a cheat.

Not bringing on a sub may have been a mistake, it is nowhere near not trying 100% to win a game.

[Schards#2]

Personally I think we're coasting a little now which I think is dangerous and bad form for those who are paying to watch a side almost going through the motions.

Nail on the head for me there, I am considering abandoning the two remaining away trips even if they cost me money. I'm not putting aside an entire day to travel to the North West to see that sort of performance. I was thinking to myself after the game that I now know what it is like to watch Citeh or Boro week in week out, it was quite depressing

I still can't see any evidence , from the players, in terms of effort and committment that suggest we are coasting. As I've said we lack a bit of quality and composure (particularly when Little doesn't play) but the effort and endeavour to win the game was always there.

On at least 2 occasions in the 2nd half last night we had so many players in the opposition penalty area that we were actually taking the ball of the heads of our own players.

To take the argument to extremes, if Coppell chose to play me up front and not sub me for the entire game, I would give 100% but it could be argued that the club were not trying 100% to win the game.

You're entitled to your opinion but the more I read your posts this morning, the more it comes across as you are calling Coppell deceitful at best and at worst a cheat.

Not bringing on a sub may have been a mistake, it is nowhere near not trying 100% to win a game.

If you don't play your best team then you are not trying 100% to win the game. Just as we didn't against Burnley, Birmingham, Man Utd etc. I'm not saying it's deceitful or cheating or that there aren't valid reasons but it's just a plain fact.

[Wycombe Royal]

but it's just a plain fact.

No, it's an opinion. What your "best team" is isn't a fact.

Doyle - 2 goals in 13 appearances.
Kitson - 1 goal in 10 appearances.

Those are facts.

[Adrian's Fool]

arggh. as I've already said, who's to say that our so-called "best players" weren't too tired to play yesterday? how on earth do YOU know that they were our "best" players on the day? What about repercussions for the rest of the season/ next season - don't they matter?

[Stranded]

But surely it's just a matter of opinion then. You feel the team put out wasn't the best to do the job last night, Coppell did. We have a squad of players all of a similar level.

The team was not weakened last night with the majority of changes made - the only one I can see an arguement with was playing Long but there may well be reasons behind that ie not thinking Kitson/Doyle were ready for two games in just over 48 hours.

The only thing that cost us last night was poor finishing from a number of players - if one or two of those had gone in then the line-up would not even have been a consideration today.

[Schards#2]

but it's just a plain fact.

No, it's an opinion. What your "best team" is isn't a fact.

Doyle - 2 goals in 13 appearances.
Kitson - 1 goal in 10 appearances.

Those are facts.

It is a fact that we didn't play our best team in any of the games I mentioned and i'm sure there isn't a single fan, player or club official that would argue that we did.