Three points to Zag...

[YB941 5thD EFM ~soul~]

Carrick, Defoe and Davids all on the bench.

 

I don't understand this, I have to be honest.

 

It seems we're resting our best players in the small hope of getting something out of Chelsea on Saturday.

 

I'd rather we play our best side against the lesser teams, and give ourselves the best chance of a win, than fall short in both games.

[EFM The Firm, The Voice]

These are meant to be atheletes they can play every sodding game, especially at this stage of the season!

 

What happened to the days of you start on the bench and it's up to you to take a chance when it comes along.

What excatly would Robbie Keane of gained last night, he knows he'll be dropped again on Sat but he'll know he'll get another chance in a fortnight. If he knew he had to play to stay in the side he may of done better.

 

Still 3 clean sheets on the spin is good stuff.

[MK James]

 

Dirty cheatin woodbine smoking scum, that's the players of course not Zag. I blame the manager, Blackburn need rid of him before they end up with a reputation to match that of Leeds in the seventies, but without the talent of course.

[Zagreus]

Well, the teams got a point each - a 0-0 snore draw. With Bellamy injured and Dickov suspended we've reverted back to our 4-5-1 formation, which we very rarley seem to score from. It sounded like we had the better chances, but yet again the players have let Rovers down. Another red card (that'S 2 from 3 games!), and also another one of our players will probably get suspended for head butting Andy Reid!! FFS, we are not doing ourserlves any favours. We've just been fined £10,000 (with a further £50,000 fine suspended until the end of this season) by the FA for our poor disciplinary record last season. At this rate we'll deffo be paying that 50K and alot more besides!

 

PS I've just noticed that we've had 6 yellow cards this season too, so if whoever head butted (Todd - I think) Andy Reid gets suspended we can say that's a Red card too. So that's an average of 2 yellows and 1 card everygame!! Terrible!

[MK James]

 

Bellamy and Dickov...this just proves my point. Hughes is making a team in his own image. To be fair, they'll never let you down in terms of effort, but you have at least 5 players in your squad who are red cards waiting to happen.

[Electric ~soul~]

Quote:

EFM The Firm, The Voice said:
Still 3 clean sheets on the spin is good stuff.

Four, if you include the last game of last season too (yep, another bore draw against Blackburn!)

With all due respect to Zag and Blackburn, I just felt that had we played our strongest XI last night, we may just have got three points. Okay, we may have lost against Chelsea at the weekend, but I strongly suspect we'll do that anyway.

Still. I maintain my faith in MJ - I'm sure he knows what he's doing.

Just glad I didn't bother going in the end!!

[SteveP]

I think that gamne looks in the model of the game at the lane, which was disappointing. It's just a bit early in the season for squad rotation and Defoe's an in-form striker, in-form strikers need playing when they're high on confidence.

 

Looks like that Lee-Young-Pyo is coming our way, I'm really more concerned about a 4th striker, maybe we can get owen on loan?

[Electric ~soul~]

I think Jol considers El Hamdouoi the fourth striker for the minute.

 

I think it's our defence that needs bolstering (despite four clean sheets on the trot). There were times we looked decidedly dodgy on Saturday, and surely Gardner's not the best cover we've got.

 

Lee will keep me happy on the left, though. I'm not sure I rate Edman.

[gertcha EFM]

Was Alan Hansen correct in saying Spurs didn't have a shot on or off target during the game and didn't force a single corner ?

[Electric ~soul~]

I think so. Shocking.

[SteveP]

we had 1 shot on target, according to the stats last night, that's pretty shocking.

 

By the sounds of it Rovers flooded the midfield, Neill was stupid with the challenge on Davids considering he'd only just got a yellow and Todd will def get a ban for headbutting Reid, all a bit unnecessary really!

[gertcha EFM]

Yeah it is. There should be no need to rest players after two league games seven days apart - Jol has made a [****!!****] up there. Don't change a winning team. Still hopefully he'll learn from it.

 

It seems to be the thing to make changes every match. Did I hear correct that West Brom made 5 or 6 changes to a winning team to.

[gertcha EFM]

In the paper is said Neill actually got a straight red for that tackle !

[Electric ~soul~]

Well, he got a yellow earlier in the game too.

[Zagreus]

I think if Bellamy had of been playing we may have scored at least once. Apparently Kuqi missed a couple of "easy" chances. Neill is a liability, I've lost count of how many times he's been sent off. If Neill and Todd are both suspended for threee games then Rovers are going to struggle at the back - come back Craig Short!!!

[Electric ~soul~]

I think Bellamy is the key to your season, and the reason why I predicted you'd finish so high.

 

How long is he out for?

[Zagreus]

They say a month, but he does seem rather injury prone!

[Electric ~soul~]

Martin Jol explained that Michael Carrick and Edgar Davids started on the bench at Blackburn after picking up knocks against Middlesbrough.

 

Michael, Edgar and Jermain Defoe were named as substitutes at Ewood Park with Pedro Mendes, Michael Brown and Robbie Keane back in for their first starts of the campaign. It was Robbie's 100th appearance for us in the Premiership.

 

In the end, Edgar entered the fray for Mido just nine minutes into the second half and Jermain came on with nine minutes left as a gritty Premiership encounter produced few chances and ended goalless.

 

Asked afterwards if the changes were with Saturday's clash against Chelsea in mind, Head Coach Martin responded: "No. Michael Carrick had a slight injury after the Middlesbrough game and Edgar Davids had a little inflammation on his knee.

 

"Michael Brown was ready again after injury and Pedro Mendes is a terrific player, so we can use him.

 

"Robbie Keane did well in pre-season, is looking fit and Jermain had a lot of games recently, so that was the reason behind that. We have a big squad so that's what we did."

[EFM The Firm, The Voice]

Quote:

Zagreus said:
come back Craig Short!!!

That sort of phrase wouldn't fill me with confidence!

I think Jol is talking rubbish to be honest, if Carrick and Davids had knocks then why have both on the bench especially if this sqaud is as big as he says. Surely players with knocks should be rested, what if both his centre mids needed to come off early.

[Electric ~soul~]

Well, I'd rather a slightly injured Carrick on the bench, than a fully fit Goran Bunjecevic.