Match Day Thread An entertaining and satisfying win, but it was dangerous - My thoughts on the Stoke game

If only we'd signed a proper striker

 

Far too many missed chances, you won't always get away with it. Joselu particularly guilty. Elliot ****e for the goal. Making a meal out of a header after it doesn't fool anyone - it should have been stopped.

Eventually Stoke had chances but the reality is we should have been long gone by then. We must take our chances. Some lovely little bits of inter play and Rafa has done a very good job with what he has so far.

 

Why? Hayden has done nothing wrong to warrant being dropped. Shelvey on the other hand has done nothing on his sub appearances to warrant starting as well as him being a knobber.

 

Great summary. I cannot believe we are in the top 4.

 

We haven't stormed past any team but I'd say we were good enough to be considered the better team in all the matches we've won.

Apart from the one chance Tammy Abraham had, Swansea never came close, and we defended well. Stoke could have nicked it, but again we made more chances and scored more goals.

 

Elliot - 8- solid display, distribution looked markedly better at times, other times I blamed the "kick it out NOW" tactic. Can argue bad positioning on the goal, but who really expects the ball to slip perfectly through the middle of four of our defenders? Love having in the team, the save on that bouncing header was pure beauty

Yedlin - 6 - Found myself calling out for Manquillo, which I never thought would happen. Consistently lost the ball far up the pitch when he knew full well Ritchie wasn't covering. He's a risk, but probably one worth taking in home games

Clark - 8 - 5 ****ing mill. I think fans of other teams mocked us for picking him up. What I'll say is this board seemed happy, and we were ****ing right

Lascelles - 8 - Creating an immense back-line with Clark. Watching him argue with the ref, then run directly from that and head in a goal was the kind if determination we haven't seen since Barton/Nolan. Unreal.

Mbemba - 8 - He's clearly agreed to cut out his ridiculous runs, his pass to Joselu was a thing of absolute beauty. Amazing defender that helped Atsu play a looser role up top. Really worked well.

Ritchie - 9 - Unreal, he's our focal point for the season. Putting a cross directly onto Atsu's running foot shows an ability to sense what's coming that totally negates his small deficiency in speed. Watching him flip at Joselu for not passing reminds me of players I had in my old teams. I used to love playing with people like that, gets you pumped.

Merino - 7.5- Fantastic, only gets a smaller rating because others excelled. He's the ball recycler we haven't had since Cabaye. In the positions I'd normally see Shelvey take a dopey touch and lose the ball with half our team in the box, Merino would simply execute one perfect turn and create all the space in the world. Fantastic to watch.

Hayden - 7 - He's Hayden, considering that fact it was a vast improvement on normal. One day he shows up like this, looking astute and reserved. The next he'll probably look like Diane again. I do rate him to continue improving though.

Atsu - 8 - okay, WTF with that tumble in the box, but I see why he's keeping Murphy out. He single-handedly turns the tides in counter attacks. Once we get that ball up there we can be pretty ****ing dangerous, he helps us get there, he can reach a speed comparable to that of light and will be ****ing handy against bigger teams. Far more influence in games this season than last.

Perez- 6 - Learned to stop his flimsy first touches, used his lack of power effectively to win free kicks, promising but let's see him next week....

Joselu - 6 - Lot of misses. The lad seems to only be interested in first time shots when at least two of those chances merely required an extra touch. The reality is though, with Gayle on the pitch would we have created those chances? No! Would we with mitro? Maybe, but you're more likely to end up with him redcarded in the 34th minute. Considering the price, he's still a bargain, just needs to calm the **** down when in on goal, its like Hughesy's pre-match comments got to him.

Shelvey - 5- looked lost, tried stupid shots twice and both ended with Stoke gaining possession at a crucial time. I'll put it down to game time etc.

Diame - I think Benitez only puts him on to reinforce to fans how far we've come over a season.

Gayle - n/a

Benitez - 9 - Worth remembering how much we were ****ting ourselves with this team at the start of the season. How this guy has allayed those concerns is beyond me, he's the best manager we've had since SBR, no question

MOTM - RITCHIES MAGIC HAT

 

Great read. Rafa has done a cracking job on our back line. Sometimes I have found him a bit negative going the other way but I think we are seeing him make a big difference all of a sudden. Personally I think it's a shame we couldn't move Gayle on in the summer. He can't play up there in the Prem and Rafa will stick with 1 up front

 

There's something not quite right with him at the moment but if he does get right then he'll score goals. I'm not saying he'll be any kind of world beater and tear the league up; just going on seeing his strengths last season and looking at his past record in the Premier League. It's a total myth that he has a bad record in this league. Whether he has the hold up play to play to our side's strengths is a different matter so I take your point.

 

Agreed. I said on another thread its the most committed our defence has looked in a decade. I think Joselu's probably helping that attack click more than we give credit for (Moreno's a massive help of course). We were all crying for mitro to get more of a chance as he suits the tactics, but I think he's too unpredictable for Benitez, hence Joselu.
Its seems the end for Gayle, I'd say convert him back to winger but we're well stocked there and with better options. He'll be useful for 3/4 games on the way to January, but his positional awareness seems lacking far too much for this league to play lone man. We'll sell him for nearer half that 15 mill in the end I reckon.

 

Cant believe how people keep slacking of elliot. Every game he's played for us pretty much the last 3 years he's pulled of 1-2 stunning goal denying saves. And yet people keep going on about us needing a gk.

 

I think we need a new goalie.

 

He should definitely have stopped the shot from Shakira whenever wherever.

 

In case it wasn't obvious, I'll love Rob Elliot and his lady-like features until my death bed.

 

I thought he was unsighted but it should have been easy to pick up - its obvious when she is going to shoot - Her hips don't lie.

 

Rob is a good keeper in my opinion. He's just not fashionable for whatever reason.

 

Elliot is a decent lower half of the Premiership keeper. We just need the fans to accept that it makes him one of our better players, Rafa has fooled people into forgetting these guys aren't relegation fodder. Long may it continue.

 

decent keeper

 

Elliott had a really good game on Saturday. Hard to criticise him overall for that performance. Decent enough keeper but not in the upper echelons. The best we have at the moment, undoubtedly, and a good lad and professional. I'm sure he gives Rafa no bother whether in the team or out of it.

 

I think Elliot is a decent keeper. Think there are plenty of other areas we should be thinking about strengthening before we look at goalkeeper. If he gets injured then I would be happy to let Woodman have a go.

As long as keepers dont make stupid mistakes I can forgive them not pulling off occasional world class saves. Goalkeepers need to be solid, reliable and fill the back four with confidence. He seems to do that.

The Stoke goal on Saturday can hardly be classed as a goalkeeping error. He shot early through a bunch of players and it was placed nicely in the corner.