16 Apr 2014 11:16:59
Had a long and involved conversation last night with some long term supporters such as myself they were insistent that we would probably have qualified for Europe if Carroll would have been fit what planet were they on I replied we were noticeably slower after the break and were totally outplayed across the park Ok Adrian could not be blamed for goals all were the type of superb finishes I wish we had Reid is no where near back to early season form Tomkins always good in the air looked slow Demel and armero were average that's an improvement on McCartney anyway Noble and Nocerino toiled and sweated but were pulled about with ease Diame made some mazy dribbles finishing not with a pass but wild shots Carroll put in a shift but was Isolated for most part Downing did nothing and Jarvis well having not played much lately did well. Carroll must get playing partner a proper finisher we need not change for changes sake but a well planned infusion of at least 5-6 players of a higher class are we prepared to spend the dough obviously not but if we don't we will be in the same position next season we are 2 seasons from Olympic park we need a team to play in it G and S must start to sort this out. We might still need a win or a couple of draws to ease clear. But all being well we must start better next season IRONMIKE
Iron Mike I always like your posts they are well put together. I wonder sometimes about our play and the way we are set up. Carroll plays with his back to the opposition goal the majority of the time and the ball from the goalkeeper is always aimed at him, but invariably the ball ends up with the opposition we never seem to play out from the back. Diame is not the player he was last year reminds me of Benayoun in his heyday. When Diame goes on a run he invariably loses it or blasts wide. If you remember back to those games in February when we went on a run, there was no Diame and no Carroll for a large part of that period and we played with a bit more thought. I don't know what the stats were last night but I lost count of the number of times when we had the ball in their half and it ended up back with Adrian. Four more games and we need a least 3 points to make surr of PL games next season, A big effort needed on Saturday and against Spurs and West Brom or we could be sweating again.
Just one more thing to point out, I was at the Emirates on Tuesday and every ball that Carroll was winning in the air (with his back towards goal) he was nodding down to that Nolan area, where he wasn't present. There is a bit of a blame stuck on Andy because I noticed a few times a runner (think Noncerino most of the time) was aiming for him to flick it on rather than bring it down, which was quite frustrating
To be honest think we are 2/3 seasons away from any type of europa football as we have seen we have thin squad with the extra travelling and games the europa demands may leave us in real trouble.
expect 20/25 million to be spent on 3/4 players a couple on loan and a couple of free transfers.
players expected to leave jussi diarra collison maiga joe cole and maybe diame mccartney contract expires in july. plus loans to return to there clubs. don't expect those leaving to generate much funds other than diame/maiga the rest will be free agents.