A valiant performance, but not really good enough.

Can't question the effort.

However.....

Guthrie is sh.ite. Leave him out from now on. Don't buy him.
Vaz Te is also shi.te.
Samuel and Meite are shi.te.
Andranik runs, but can't pass, trap or tackle.

In short, Cahill, O Brien and Habsi shone as being the only players out there of real class.

From now on I want to hear no clamours for Vaz Te, Andranik or Guthrie. None of them are up to it and whether people like it or not, Taylor, Nolan, Campo, Davies et al are far better players!

Can't disagree with much of that. I still think Vaz Te deserves a bit of a run as he clearly isn't match fit, but i won't hold anything against Megson if thats the last we see of him.

And despite thinking he's shite, tonight it was apparent to see why JOB gets picked a lot. While i don't think he offers much, he's head, shoulders, arms and knees above nearly all of our other midfield options.

Oh to have had a Campo or a Davies tonight, but it wasn't to be.

You really are a weird guy.
And I'll have no argument from you.
I really dont get you, you start threads whinging about whingers, then you start other threads whinging about the team. You make threads to say players who are shite are good and we should support them. Then you make threads saying players who get one outing out of a season didnt impress you and should be sold immediately. Do you have any clue at all?

You flip flop from day to day, and then criticise people for their opinions, even though they are consistent. Natasha of the rose tinters? I wonder.

Tombwfc wrote:

Can't disagree with much of that. I still think Vaz Te deserves a bit of a run as he clearly isn't match fit, but i won't hold anything against Megson if thats the last we see of him. And despite thinking he's shite, tonight it was apparent to see why JOB gets picked a lot. While i don't think he offers much, he's head, shoulders, arms and knees above nearly all of our other midfield options. Oh to have had a Campo or a Davies tonight, but it wasn't to be.

Aye agree. And I missed Stelios off the list, he looked good. He'd be my first choice off the bench.

Tombwfc wrote:

Can't disagree with much of that. I still think Vaz Te deserves a bit of a run as he clearly isn't match fit, but i won't hold anything against Megson if thats the last we see of him.

Same here, he was awful tonight but I don't think we chuck him out just yet.

Same goes for Andranik for me, looked like he was trying WAAAY too hard tonight instead of just playing football.

Samuel and Meite though can get to feck.

In fairness to Meite (he should actually change his first name to 'In fairness to', i seem to spend ages defending him), but i think he's worth keeping as cover. Reasonably decent centre halves are hard to come by, so i wouldn't be in a rush to ditch him. He's proven he can be solid in a back four where he's the only shit one, so i think he'd cope alongside Cahill/AOB, Steinsson and Gardner.

lionelator wrote:

You really are a weird guy. And I'll have no argument from you. I really dont get you, you start threads whinging about whingers, then you start other threads whinging about the team. You make threads to say players who are shite are good and we should support them. Then you make threads saying players who get one outing out of a season didnt impress you and should be sold immediately. Do you have any clue at all? You flip flop from day to day, and then criticise people for their opinions, even though they are consistent. Natasha of the rose tinters? I wonder.

Are you on drugs?

Its clear from tonight that several players who aren't being picked are not being picked for good reason.

I'm not criticising the effort or the performance but rather stating that the 11 Megson picks for the premiership is the best we have.

I'm not advocating selling all those players. Certainly not until we can replace them with more adequate players. But I certainly wouldn't suggest we signed Guthrie.

Well all those who've been saying Vaz Te and (especially) Andranik should be playing got their answer tonight!

ratbert wrote:

Well all those who've been saying Vaz Te and (especially) Andranik should be playing got their answer tonight!

Think that's fair comment Ratty. We've just about managed in the first team to create the odd chance here and there, - we never really looked like we were going to tonight, after the first 20 mins or so. BUT (how's that for emphasis?) I thought we did ok for the team we put out. No discredit. Samuel seemed to think he was fecking Ronaldo for the first 20 minutes he tried that many stepovers and I think Miete didn't do much to convince me that he was worthe a starting place.

I thought Al Habsi, Cahill, Stelios, JoB and Hunt did fine generally - the rest all heart no real quality...

On a more positive slant, how many of the bottom half sides' reserves would've done as well as our lot did tonight? Not many i'd suggest. So we do have some kind of strength in depth, as this Cup run has shown. Not enough to make an entire team out of, but i'd say a lot of these players you could slot in and they'd do a job.

I really don't think its totally fair to criticise Vaz Te and Andranik, I mean, what do we expect from two players that have had about five minutes of first team football between them since August...

Until they both (or any other player not getting regular games) has a fair run in the team, we will never know what they are capable of.

ratbert wrote:

Well all those who've been saying Vaz Te and (especially) Andranik should be playing got their answer tonight!

Until Andranik came off, we were containing Sporting pretty well (which, tbh, was our whole game plan for this evening). As soon as Braaten came on in his place, they were all over us for the rest of the game. Andranik might not have ripped up trees tonight, but he did his job ok - I've seen many worse performances from our first team midfielders this season.

Vaz Te though never provided anything after the first 5 minutes, and it seems he never will. Yet Helguson came off instead, who seemed to be the most likely source of a goal from those available tonight.

Both Sporting matches have seen us lose control of the game due to crap substitutions.

What did we learn tonight? Nothing we didn't already know. What was to learn exactly? Wigan is the target, the UEFA, because of our dire league position had to be sacrificed. A token show with a second team against a good side that our first only just held at the Rebok. Twas a foregone conclusion and it's over. Onwards and upwards now. No other way to see it.

TANGODANCER wrote:

What did we learn tonight? Nothing we didn't already know. What was to learn exactly? Wigan is the target, the UEFA, because of our dire league position had to be sacrificed. A token show with a second team against a good side that our first only just held at the Rebok. Twas a foregone conclusion and it's over. Onwards and upwards now. No other way to see it.

aye and there's the rub...

wait a life time for a european campaign and then watch as we spend our entire passage through fielding teams we want to get beat.. So we can concentrate on the real meaning of sport .... The premiership pot of gold...

Could not winning footie matches and progressing in a cup have provided a confidence and feel good factor..
and if as is likely we get done off the pies on Sunday with our 'stars' rested wtf does that leave us? Out of a competition we could have made a fist of and still doomed.. For the want of a Davies or Campo or Nolan or combination thereof Lisbon were there for the taking for an hour last night, we just didn't field a team to take advantage because as a club a win would have been an inconvenience and getting knocked out is a bonus.. That leaves us to concentrate on the proper business of earning Sky money..

...

ratbert wrote:

Well all those who've been saying Vaz Te and (especially) Andranik should be playing got their answer tonight!

i disagree

as i said in the other thread had these players played as part of a starting XI maybe. but so many players being reliant on making an impact together at once is a joke. they tried, they failed. i don't think it tells us too much because so many of them were playing their first start in fookin ages!

vaz can still play a part for me. but not in that reserves team, as part of a starting XI and maybe coming on in the last 15 mins. same with ando

hisroyalgingerness wrote:

ratbert wrote: Well all those who've been saying Vaz Te and (especially) Andranik should be playing got their answer tonight! i disagree as i said in the other thread had these players played as part of a starting XI maybe. but so many players being reliant on making an impact together at once is a joke. they tried, they failed. i don't think it tells us too much because so many of them were playing their first start in fookin ages! vaz can still play a part for me. but not in that reserves team, as part of a starting XI and maybe coming on in the last 15 mins. same with ando

Aye but neither Vaz Te nor Andranik do the basics, of trap..control...pass anywhere near the required standard!

norm the jedi wrote:

TANGODANCER wrote: What did we learn tonight? Nothing we didn't already know. What was to learn exactly? Wigan is the target, the UEFA, because of our dire league position had to be sacrificed. A token show with a second team against a good side that our first only just held at the Rebok. Twas a foregone conclusion and it's over. Onwards and upwards now. No other way to see it. aye and there's the rub... wait a life time for a european campaign and then watch as we spend our entire passage through fielding teams we want to get beat.. So we can concentrate on the real meaning of sport .... The premiership pot of gold... Could not winning footie matches and progressing in a cup have provided a confidence and feel good factor.. and if as is likely we get done off the pies on Sunday with our 'stars' rested wtf does that leave us? Out of a competition we could have made a fist of and still doomed.. For the want of a Davies or Campo or Nolan or combination thereof Lisbon were there for the taking for an hour last night, we just didn't field a team to take advantage because as a club a win would have been an inconvenience and getting knocked out is a bonus.. That leaves us to concentrate on the proper business of earning Sky money.....

Not saying I disagree with any of it Norm, just accepting what is. I did comment somewhere that we might have shown the hard-earned UEFA comp a little more respect since we worked so hard getting there. Twas not to be however.

Posted in error on the wrong thread, but.....

David Lee's Hair wrote:

Al Habsi should be in goal - if only for the fact he's willing to distribute to the nearest defender than constantly hammer it up field a la Jussi. We now know why Andranik isn't playing, touch of the proverbial rapist. I personally thought he was garbage, although only slightly worse than Vaz Te. Joey O Brien anchoring midfield is better than Batman makes out, I thought he did pretty well last night tidying up in the middle of the park.

David Lee's Hair wrote:

Posted in error on the wrong thread, but..... David Lee's Hair wrote: Al Habsi should be in goal - if only for the fact he's willing to distribute to the nearest defender than constantly hammer it up field a la Jussi. We now know why Andranik isn't playing, touch of the proverbial rapist. I personally thought he was garbage, although only slightly worse than Vaz Te. Joey O Brien anchoring midfield is better than Batman makes out, I thought he did pretty well last night tidying up in the middle of the park.

Agree with you on the keeprs DaveLH, and have thought so for some time, would have taken some fee for Jussi and gone with the big lad instead. Too late now.

I think Vaz Te should have stayed at his mums last night.

And tonight.

And tomorrow etc etc.

Once again a total lack of a cutting edge has let us down. Not a single chance all game and when with seconds left a simple pass to one of the Junior Whites would have left a clear shot at goal the final pass let us down once more.

That game was there for winning last night.