I want to see us battle today

[thetallaghttiger]

I was over from Dublin to see the Sunderland game and I thought we just didn't work as hard as them, or just didn't want it as much as them.

Today, I'm hoping we'll see the team fight for every 50-50 ball and really give it a go today. If we do this, I'll be satisfied as the thing I really fear we lack is the bottle and physical presence to fight for 50-50 possession.

Don't know if I'm the only who thinks this anyway!

Please prove me wrong today lads!

COYS!

 

[CosmicHotspur]

I too am hoping the team will settle down and play well today. Chelsky will be seeking revenge for that Cup defeat though...

 

[Krafty]

We didnt work as hard and werent as organised as either Sunderland or Boro. Individually we have the better players, but as a team we are not there yet.

We need to battle today otherwise we could get a thrashing. We need to hit them hard, unsettle them. We need to be organised and tight through midfield and defence.

If we play like we did against sunderland, I might end up hiding behind the sofa

 

[dontcallme]

To a certain extent I agree I don't see enough players fighting for every ball.

I do think lack of spirit is too often given the reason of a defeat though. Against Sunderland we had by far the better chances although they were mostly as the result of set pieces. If a couple of those chances went in we wouldn't be worrying as much about almost everything that has been discussed this week.

 

[coldasice199]

I just hope we don't get 4 or 5 nilled.

 

[DC_Boy]

it's true we didn't fight s hard as Sunderrlamd & Boro - incidentally Sunderland spent a lot of the game fouling our players but the ref seemed quite beign about it - but far worse our crowdaccepted it way too easy

most Prem clubs' fans wouldn't have accepted it so easily - our crowd like our team rolled over way too easily

also of course JR's selections made it hard to put up a fighting performance

we needed a O'Hara in there - like I said before both games

at the very least a Hudd plus JJ & modric to bolster the mid - with bentley on the right

so many things went wrong in the first two games - here's hoping we show more fight - and so do our fans

tho incidentally if we were to go round fouling like the Mackems did - I doubt very much the Chelsea players or fans would let us get away with it and we'd probably end up with a red card a stack of yellows and a sucession of free kicks not to mention a good chance of a pen against us

 

[jambo]

I think it could be a great game, Chelski have played well and we desperately need to get our season going. I think with the right set up we can cause them lots of problems. I would like to see Lennon dropped to the bench with Bentley on the right and Gio on the left, we should play Hudd JJ and modric through the middle. As long as we do fight for ecery ball and keep things tight we should be ok.

 

[thetallaghttiger]

just thought I'd bump this back up as I was very pleased with the effort today! Kalou's chance aside, they didn't have a chance in the last 20 mins I think (though we were always one slip/mistake away from conceding).

Why was this?

Reason: GREAT BATTLING FROM THE TEAM :clap:

Modric scrapped away, Didier came in to intercept/make some blocks, King/Woody were rock solid, O'Hara gathered any breaks and 50/50 balls!

If we can attack as a team a bit better, and continue to produce battling and committed performances like today's, we'll be pushing for Europe.

Still things to improve, but today was a major positive on what has been a slow start to the season!

Juande Ramos Blue and White Army!!!

 

[Krafty]

We had the right players in the right position, and we knew what we were doing. Looked much better defensively, and got a well deserved point.