Back from the Game - 'boro

[Shortbread]

At any point 'Boro could have scored.

^This

Well, on the basis that any side can score at any time - OK. But do you think Boro really threatened us that much to get themselves back in the game? We let them have a bag load of possession, but I thought we kept them at arms length from the danger areas and they didn't really have the wit to break us down (and also we didn't let them pull us out of position). A side chasing the game, on the back of two decent wins that had put them right back in the race, never really created enough to justify the feeling that we were under the cosh. Neither did we create much - but then we didn't need to.

Not arguing that we won at a canter, and some of the passing gave possession away far too cheaply, but felt we had more than enough spare on the day.

[Ian Royal]

West Ham have Noble and Green,Southampton Lalana and Lambert and we have Kebe and Frederici but beyond those players these 3 teams don't have much more and don't forget that West Ham got relegated with Ba and Parker in their side and are much inferior to that relegated side yet are vying for top spot in this division.

To say west ham dont have much more than noble and green is frankly laughable. They aren't even their best players.

It's also not a great point about us either seeing as the recent poll had very few votes for Kebe as POTS and iirc Federici was third or fourth.

[Rex]

POTS is always erratic.

[Cripple Creek]

Yes, yes, yes but we digress. Can we get back to the subject of Swansea and Barcelona please.

[seahawk10]

I just wish we could keep the ball for more than 2 passes before giving it away.

I know we are counter attacking and all that but when we do keep the ball and pass it about we show we have good footballers in the side as well and I won't feel as nervous watching us play

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6yQf_hWL68#t=2m0s

[Snowball]

Seahawk, that is BRILLIANT. When exactly did U film Ian Royal?

[Ark Royal]

I just wish we could keep the ball for more than 2 passes before giving it away.

I know we are counter attacking and all that but when we do keep the ball and pass it about we show we have good footballers in the side as well and I won't feel as nervous watching us play

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6yQf_hWL68#t=2m0s

"Go to your mother's twat!"

[glenroyal]

Have to say, having been at the game, I don't recall us winning easily. At 70 minutes the lad next to me said he didn't think he could take another 20 minutes. I don't want Barcelona or Swansea and a win is a win, but let's not pretend that we were dominant. At any point 'Boro could have scored.

Kinda how we felt too. We defended better as a team, but both sides missed opportunities when presented, by simply failing to get onto loose balls. Could have gone either way on a different day. Agree with the earlier point that Roberts had a kind of experienced assurance about what he did, but even he missed one golden chance. The hard-working harrassing ball-winners (Jem, Legs, Hunt and Jobi say) did that job well, but the play-making from our possession was pretty disappointing - even Jobi. Emnes was MOTM - some great foot-on-the-ball inside and outside turns and distribution for them - but we just defended better. A deserved win, but not by a great margin. I though Moggas post match comments were pretty true - we were just "cleverer" than they were at making the best of the situation.

Sorry if that's cup-half-full. Really enjoyed the game and there was plenty of tension until we got the second. Great that we got the benefit of Birmingham and Wet Sham's results, we'll need a few more slips to get an automatic spot even if we maintain the knack of winning.

[Pepe the Horseman]

106 football wasnt that beautiful.

F/ck off. Compared to this it was Keira f/cking Knightley.

A 12 year old boy?

[Snowball]

We defended better as a team, but both sides missed opportunities when presented, by simply failing to get onto loose balls. Could have gone either way on a different day.

Much as I often think this, (Burnley, for example) shouldn't we be thinking that 12 wins in 14 (and one very unlucky "offside-goal" 0-1 defeat)
is hardly "Lady Luck."

Seems to me that we are giving away half-chances or chances from distance
or chances from set-pieces or the occasional long ball, but not (often) being genuinely
cut open in the penalty area. And even then, we have Federici to make wonder saves

4 of the last 5, 5 of the last 7 away games won, 2.14 ppg (and a good goal at Blackpool disallowed)
the second-best away defence in the league over 15 games in 7 months
the best away defence in the league since September 17th


Surely there comes a point where we have to concede the team are doing things right?

[ZacNaloen]

I just wish we could keep the ball for more than 2 passes before giving it away.

I know we are counter attacking and all that but when we do keep the ball and pass it about we show we have good footballers in the side as well and I won't feel as nervous watching us play

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6yQf_hWL68#t=2m0s

[Extended-Phenotype]

106 football wasnt that beautiful.

F/ck off. Compared to this it was Keira f/cking Knightley.

A 12 year old boy?

A HOT 12 year old boy.

[BR2]

West Ham have Noble and Green,Southampton Lalana and Lambert and we have Kebe and Frederici but beyond those players these 3 teams don't have much more and don't forget that West Ham got relegated with Ba and Parker in their side and are much inferior to that relegated side yet are vying for top spot in this division.

To say west ham dont have much more than noble and green is frankly laughable. They aren't even their best players.

So wise one when you stop laughing who are the others of Premier League quality and don't make me laugh by talking up Nolan who is now clearly a has-been according to my West Ham supporting mates?

[Ian Royal]

F/ck off. Compared to this it was Keira f/cking Knightley.

A 12 year old boy?

A HOT 12 year old boy.

definitely my fav poster.

PS good post snowy.

[LoyalRoyalFan]

We experienced pretty football under Rodgers and look where that landed us. We're efficient and 3rd. Why are people complaining?

[Snowball]

By complaining they make themselves feel less inadequate

[Ian Royal]

We experienced pretty football under Rodgers and look where that landed us. We're efficient and 3rd. Why are people complaining?

Because people would like us to be more entertaining.
Because we are not perfect and there is (almost) always room for improvement. Keeping the ball better and controlling games in midfield is unlikely to be unhelpful to our chances.
Because you could argue that it doesn't matter how ruthlessly efficient we are at this level, should we achieve the ultimate aim of the season and go up, if we can't hold onto the ball and retain possession, we'll get battered in the Premier League because teams will make their possession tell more than those at this level. We'll have even less of the ball and even fewer chances to capitalise on and those chances will be against better defences and better keepers, so will be harder to score.

At a guess, those seem like three plausible and reasonable reasons.

Pretty football doesn't have to be shit. And actually I'd argue we didn't see pretty football under Rodgers. We saw tippy tappy ineffective shit. There was no drive in attack and no excitement.

[Snowball]

We should keep doing exactly what we do now and try
to get a penalty, because over the last 5.7 seasons
the conversion rate for penalties, not including
goals scored from a save/rebound is 85%


(Official Statistics)

[BenReadingFC]

We've been shit at penalties recently, Fuck your stats.

[Woodcote Royal]

We experienced pretty football under Rodgers and look where that landed us. We're efficient and 3rd. Why are people complaining?

Because people would like us to be more entertaining.
Because we are not perfect and there is (almost) always room for improvement. Keeping the ball better and controlling games in midfield is unlikely to be unhelpful to our chances.
Because you could argue that it doesn't matter how ruthlessly efficient we are at this level, should we achieve the ultimate aim of the season and go up, if we can't hold onto the ball and retain possession, we'll get battered in the Premier League because teams will make their possession tell more than those at this level. We'll have even less of the ball and even fewer chances to capitalise on and those chances will be against better defences and better keepers, so will be harder to score.

At a guess, those seem like three plausible and reasonable reasons.

More like naive nonsense.

Nothing matters more than securing a place in the top flight and the huge £100m+ cash injection that goes with it, even if we're relegated at the end of the first season having lost every game, scored no goals and with no one in the team managing one successful pass in all 38 matches.

If 5 straight wins with no goals conceded or, winning 14 of the last 12, isn't enough without performances to match, the only way to get them is with the kind of cold hard cash that Premiership status provides.

Of course there's always room for improvement but when every team in the division would swap their current form for ours, fans of other clubs must read the constant bitching on these pages with incredulity