It's not Sherwood!

[oswald funkletrumpet]

I like the way we can really ramp up the whinging by extending this season into last.

quite easily when there is no discernable change

[pauliewalnuts]

Who gives a fuck about last season? We're not even talking about the same team, we're talking about a completely different set of players. Extending any analysis back to May is utterly pointless.

Someone - you can probably guess who - said after the match today "three games and we're already in trouble". Honestly. what utter nonsense. We're a team composed mostly of new players. We're a squad with 10 or so new players. It isn't going to happen overnight.

There were things today which were weaknesses we've had in previous seasons - the persistence of the utterly fucking useless Gabby, for example - but there were lots of things going on which were down to us having so many new players on the pitch, people who've been here a couple of weeks or so.

Don't get me wrong, I am not convinced at all by Sherwood, but really, some of the stuff after the last two games has been absolutely ridiculous.

[pauliewalnuts]

I like the way we can really ramp up the whinging by extending this season into last.

quite easily when there is no discernable change

Three matches, one of which we've won.

[Ads]

I thought we were a lot better today than we were in December, yet we won that game. Funny old game.

[CT Villan]

Think he has done ok so far...but today's substitution was baffling...should have been Gabby off by a country mile.

I will reserve judgement on Timmy until Xmas, then he has had some time to gel the team and determine a style of play.

[SamTheMouse]

We did well in the first half today and looked the better side, I thought. So Sherwood does know how to set up a team. But when Pardew made those changes at half-time, we suddenly went to shit and the manager didn't seem to know what to do about it.

Our fitness also still looks suspect - half the players looked fucked by the hour mark, and we struggled to win any 50-50 challenges from that point. Maybe the foreign imports have an excuse, but it wasn't just them.

[villan from luton]

Agree with last couple of comments, we were excellent first half but Pardew mirrored us and they were the better team by far second half and the substitution was wrong 100%, it should have been the shite Gabby or even a tiring Jack.

[pauliewalnuts]

Agree with last couple of comments, we were excellent first half but Pardew mirrored us and they were the better team by far second half and the substitution was wrong 100%, it should have been the shite Gabby or even a tiring Jack.

Absolutely.

Sanchez was, in my opinion, possibly the best player on the pitch.

Why take him off and unbalance the midfield?

[Dante Lavelli]

Wasn't it Sanchez's first game back?  Maybe it was slightly premeditated based on his slumps after the hour last season and the fact that he may not have been fully match fit.  Regardless he was one of our best players in the first half.  I hope that form continues as he looked very good whilst on the pitch.

[olaftab]

He played against manure.

[Dave]

Who gives a fuck about last season? We're not even talking about the same team, we're talking about a completely different set of players. Extending any analysis back to May is utterly pointless.

No it isn't.

It's still the same person making the decisions, picking the team and choosing the tactics. They may be different players, but it's the same person telling them how to play, for good (Everton, West Brom, Liverpool) or for bad (Newcastle, Arsenal, Southampton, Burnley).

[villabear]

Logical says Gabby off and AN other attacker comes on (probably Ayewe)

Jack tires then bring on Traore

Shall we take Sanchez off? Errr No

[Dave]

This board never ceases to amaze me! I was saying these things about Sherwood when we first appointed him, and again more recently and I was getting sneered at for being too negative

Yeah, you were on your own and nobody else had any reservations about his appointment at all.

I can only assume you weren't even reading this board at that time.

[pauliewalnuts]

Who gives a fuck about last season? We're not even talking about the same team, we're talking about a completely different set of players. Extending any analysis back to May is utterly pointless.

No it isn't.

It's still the same person making the decisions, picking the team and choosing the tactics. They may be different players, but it's the same person telling them how to play, for good (Everton, West Brom, Liverpool) or for bad (Newcastle, Arsenal, Southampton, Burnley).

it is pointless if you're going to start trotting out "that's x games lost out of y if you include last season" statistics.

Yes, it's the same manager, but so much has changed between the latter part of last season and this season so far that any evaluation based on a run of fixtures straddling both seasons is largely pointless.

We all spent much of last season saying how shit the players were. Then we shipped a load out and bought some new ones, just like we all wanted, and after three games - in which we've taken three points - people are going out of their way to find reasons to be doomish.

I am far from convinced by Sherwood myself, I said it when he got the job, and I am still feeling that way now, but although the manager might be the same, so much has changed in the time between then and now that the entire "we've been shit for 10 (or whatever) games now" approach is meaningless.

[villan from luton]

I don't think we were shit yesterday, but I do think the manger messed up on initial selection of Gabby, and then keeping him on when we were being overrun and taking off Sanchez was really wrong. It was a bloody hot day and should have utilised the subs