I am NOT a Poyet fan. There I have said it.

[throbinson]

I don't agree with most of what you say as I think McNulty has not been the same since he came back from injury and Painter looked okay yesterday. Also, Virgo has been solid since he came back and deserves his place. He played well on Saturday except for the one mistake.

However, this point was the one I really wanted to pick up on. Have you seen Calderon play at all? The two games I have seen him play he has got forward a lot and been one of our main threats. I don't see how you can say our full backs are not attacking as he is probably one of the most attacking full backs we have had in the twenty years I have watched.

Saw him at Stockport was one of our best players imo

 

[Beach Hut]

And Tunnicliffe being benched for Virgo. Another worry.

That is a grave error as Tunni is top of the pile of central defenders

 

[BensGrandad]

The football that we are now playing is a lot better than it has been for some considerable time. His plus point is that if we are losing he will try something in an attempt to change things.

On the players I think that he is right to pick Virgo and Elphick over Tunnicliffe at the moment because Tunni is too hesitant and has been the cause of a number of goals. As regards Painter and Mc Nulty again I agree with him and McNulty is reluctant to get involved in tussles for the ball, which is understandable with his injury. Hopefully her will overcome the mental block he appears to have and will become a good full back for us again.

I do not agree with his idea of playing Dicker wide on either the left or the right as I believe that we lose his talent of good tackling and short passes.

 

[Finchley Seagull]

That is a grave error as Tunni is top of the pile of central defenders

I would have agreed with you initially but we have looked a lot more solid since Virgo and Elphick have played together. Tunnicliffe is still only 20 and has not played that many games. He is definitely one for the future but at the moment Virgo and Elphick is the best pairing.

 

[Jimmy Grimble]

That is a grave error as Tunni is top of the pile of central defenders

You can keep saying that but it won't make it true.

 

[PILTDOWN MAN]

Withdean is a very narrow pitch,.

Wider than the majority believe it or not. Some 6 yards wider than Arsenals. Same size pitch as Anfield and wider than Wembley!

 

[Billy the Fish]

You can keep saying that but it won't make it true.

 

[The Merry Prankster]

That is a grave error as Tunni is top of the pile of central defenders

He's really not.
I like the way we are going. My only concern is that the way the midfield is set up we are not getting the most out of Dicker.

 

[S'hampton Seagull]

That is a grave error as Tunni is top of the pile of central defenders

He is talented, but if he was the best CB then I'm sure he would have kept his place in the team.

Because our defence has been so hopeless this season, the case for selection is strengthend just by not being on the pitch.

 

[Mendoza]

If you look at the whole structure there are a lot of people doing stuff for the first time

Poyet is his first managerial role
Taricco in his first assistant managerial role
Oatway in his first senior coaching role
Bloom in his first chairman of a football club role
Brown in his first transfer negotiating role

A lot of important roles at the football club where people are feeling their way in and have no experience. I think it is all adding to the incosistency as none of the above have any experience to fall back on, just advice from others.

We are playing better football on the pitch, and there are few games where we dont score, yet again it is spakka defending that is costing us where it hurts.

As for Poyet, some decisions are questionable, but then again which manager always does everything correct?? Probably none!

My worry is that we dont like what happens this season, we bring in 10 new players in the summer, and they need a few months to gel, and we end up next season in the same sort of predicement as this seaon and last - this then leads to questions about Poyet and we change manager AGAIN

 

[face in the crowd]

The Withdean results are just getting annoying now, at the end of the day it is just a pitch and the players are rewarded well enough to be able to get results on it.

On the left winger point, Withdean is a very narrow pitch, so 2 wingers does not always make sense. If you look last season and in 2004 when we did have decent runs at Withdean we had a target man playing (Owusu and Iwelumo). Sadly direct football is probably the way forward at Withdean and so you need somebody that will hold the ball up and the second striker to play close to the target man. Neither of those things are happening at present.

Couldn't agree more. Away teams will, in general, put 8/9 men behind the ball and deny space. This is particularly effective at Withdean as the pitch is narrow. We are not good enough yet to consistently pass and move our way through a packed midfield and all our forwards lack strength to hold the ball up. I bet if we had someone like Calvin Andrew, we would have more success at home.

 

[upthealbion1970]

personally i don't have a clue why our home form is so poor regarding results at the moment, but we are playing some half decent football (better than in recent seasons) and i would prefer us to get the way we play right and get the results in the not too distant future because of this, as opposed to getting fluke results and playing crap.

you can now see just how much poyet has put into getting the team to play the ball to feet, and some of the one touch stuff we are playing takes my breath away. it was never going to be a quick fix and i doubt any of us know just how bad things were behind the scenes but i suspect they were far worse than poyet considered BUT we are very much a work in progress and if we continue the results will come, then we will have some momentum to carry through to next season with 4 or 5 key signings in the summer to strengthen the squad.

 

[Titanic]

Wider than the majority believe it or not. Some 6 yards wider than Arsenals. Same size pitch as Anfield and wider than Wembley!

Surely not... have you seen how close the 10 yards marker for corners is to the penalty box? It can only be 10+2+18+8+18+2+10... 68 yards wide.

 

[8ace]

The football ground guide and wikipedia both list the pitch dimensions as 110 x 75 yards.
Soccerbase don't give any figures:

www.soccerbase.com - The Internet Soccer Database

 

[Titanic]

The football ground guide and wikipedia both list the pitch dimensions as 110 x 75 yards.
Soccerbase don't give any figures:

www.soccerbase.com - The Internet Soccer Database

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/Withdean.jpg

 

[The Oldman]

I agree that our passing game has improved greatly since Poyet arrived but we are still losing possession far too often when we are mounting an attack. Poyet has yet to get the team to play for the first 10 minutes of each half. Particulary at Withdean the oppostion seem to be far more up for it in these opening minutes.
I do hope that Poyet will be a success. However as the old cliche says "the table does not lie". We are a team in danger of relegation yet again. I would setlle for a few good home wins no matter what style of football we played.

 

[Mellotron]

our away form is ok,

We are THIRD in the league on away form. It's not "ok". it's BRILLIANT considering.

 

[Monsieur Le Plonk]

Oh, and moving Bennett to right back whenever we are chasing a goal. That would be Bennett, our most creative player and best crosser.

Dont agree with the basis of your thread but you are right with this. It's madness.
Whilst a little gung-ho, I applaud the sign of intent by Gus in making all the substitutions so early in the second half. Would have liked to see Painter replaced by Hoyte to link with Bennett futher up the pitch as opposed to further back. Then again, I thought Cox created some good chances when he came on.

 

[mona]

Wider than the majority believe it or not. Some 6 yards wider than Arsenals. Same size pitch as Anfield and wider than Wembley!

Are you sure about this?
You've not mixed it up with the Goldstone pitch dimensions by mistake?

 

[mona]

Wider than the majority believe it or not. Some 6 yards wider than Arsenals. Same size pitch as Anfield and wider than Wembley!

W'dean = 110 x 75
New Wembley = 115 x 75
Emirates = 123.5 x 83
Highbury = 109 x 73
Gillingham = 114 x 75

all in yards. Anorak taken down.