Europa League Thread

everdead.ie

Hatch99 wrote: »

great strike for the goal, haven't seen enough of that from him since he signed

Only scored twice for Fulham last year.

We have been pretty spoilt with the knock out stages so far, two ties which any other year would mean you were in the knock out stages of the champions league.

hugo29

Inter are beatable we could actually win this one, still read some arsenal fans think it was great result as will affect our prem league, am i right in saying we play arsenal, inter Milan, Liverpool and inter Milan again, what a fortnight

Hatch99

hugo29 wrote: »

Inter are beatable we could actually win this one, still read some arsenal fans think it was great result as will affect our prem league, am i right in saying we play arsenal, inter Milan, Liverpool and inter Milan again, what a fortnight

I'd rather be in it than out, I'm sure the goons would have rather win than get stuffed the other night

Hatch99

everdead.ie wrote: »

Only scored twice for Fulham last year.

We have been pretty spoilt with the knock out stages so far, two ties which any other year would mean you were in the knock out stages of the champions league.

Correct but a fella like him should have a far better goal record

tippspur

Nice to win that game,even better after the negativity of Lyon in the 2nd half,great strike from Dembele just when it looked like we were gone out of it.

Leinstersqspur

Good enough for Lyon, we played better football on the night. Cant believe I got both results, easy money!!:D:D

Could be worth mentioning, Livermore comes on for Parker, Dembele pushes forward and scores. From deep Dembele is less effective because he has Parker directly in front of him which inhibits the movement. When he's advanced he can create and utilise space better, linking up with the forwards. So should Parker drop deep, or just be dropped?

Hatch99

Leinstersqspur wrote: »

So should Parker drop deep, or just be dropped?

Drop deep

Leinstersqspur

Hatch99 wrote: »

Drop deep

Agree, but why does AVB continue to play Dembele deep and Parker ahead, it's counter productive. I think it's because AVB doesn't think Parker has the stamina to play that holding role for 90mins but who knows?

2nd Row Donkey

At least someone else scored for a change.

Really hope Ade scores soon. Need him to finish the season strongly and take the pressure off Bale & Defoe when he gets back.

What are we do with walker. Naught on deserves a run or maybe Kabul at RB when he gets match fit.

2nd Row Donkey

What about Brad at the full time whistle. Did anyone else see that?
He must have been getting some stick from the home fans. Not usually his thing to do that.

tippspur

Must give a mention to Gallas tonight,thought he had a really game.

Kiith

2nd Row Donkey wrote: »

He must have been getting some stick from the home fans. Not usually his thing to do that.

What did he do? Only saw the highlights, which didn't show anything.

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

Kiith wrote: »

What did he do? Only saw the highlights, which didn't show anything.

Goan the Bradley!!

Kiith

Love it

MrKingsley

I thought we were comfortably the better team tonight. Grenier to me was their only standout player.

A couple of things.

- Completely agree with dembele and parker swapping postions. You nullify both their best assets- Parker (breaking play up which is best served in front of the back 4) and Dembele(beating a player but further up the pitch)

- It really saddened me that with 15 mins to go and we are desperate for a goal Jack Livermore is our most offensive option

- Last thing, I thought Walker was excellent tonight. To me the ref was duped by Lisandro on 4/5 occasions to make him look bad but I though he was in the right place more often than not and worked his socks off. Best perfromance ive seen from him in months

oppiuy

Dembele was poor enough for large potions of the game... I think he pulled his phone from his sock, read boards and said ill show them

everdead.ie

oppiuy wrote: »

Dembele was poor enough for large potions of the game... I think he pulled his phone from his sock, read boards and said ill show them

The boards comments were probably on a piece of paper AVB gave him!

mickman

some reports say walker was rubbish and some people on there say he was very good

I didnt see game so whats the consensus , was he good or bad ??

golfball37

Brad was getting abuse from the home fans over taking their hero's place according to the Sun today.

Gallas really stood out for me last night, we would have been well beaten if it wasn't for his presence and drive. The European game suits him more obviously. We still have a lot of players not playing well however.

3 pts Monday night is a must.

2nd Row Donkey

mickman wrote: »

some reports say walker was rubbish and some people on there say he was very good

I didnt see game so whats the consensus , was he good or bad ??

Well i missed the first half but during setanta's half time review they picked out 2-3 moments where he was at fault. He also got the run around for the 1st 10-15 mins of the 2nd half imo. It did okay in the last half hour.

Bodie Doyle

mickman wrote: »

some reports say walker was rubbish and some people on there say he was very good

I didnt see game so whats the consensus , was he good or bad ??

He didn't play that bad but keeps on giving away stupid freekicks. They scored from a freekick he needlessly gave away.Their no. 9 and himself had a right battle throughout the game. He was good going forward and used he speed at the back to cover.
If he can cut out over zealous tackling he will be fine and should remain our right back.

SuprSi

The problem he had last night is that his opponent went down with the slightest touch, trying to get him sent off. He has given away multiple free kicks like this and I'd imagine players are well aware of it, which is why it continues to happen. He needs to stand off a little and not get so tight - he has the pace to make up if his opponent gets a slight start on him, so stand back a little, let him have the ball, make sure he doesn't cross it but most of all don't give a way a free kick!

Glebee

SuprSi wrote: »

The problem he had last night is that his opponent went down with the slightest touch, trying to get him sent off.

Exactly what Inter will do as well

DubPerryman

I guess a lot of what I'm going to say will have probably been said already.

I'll start with the positives. It was very good to see us go to a very good French team and not fear them. We passed the ball around as if we were the dominant/stronger team, and we were. Though it's a confidence that AVB has instilled in the players. Secondly, it was great to see the players keep playing to the last minute and get what they deserved. The heads didn't drop. I think qualifying to the last 16 as we did i.e. beating a strong and discplined Lyon team over two legs and in the last minute, will stand to us as we push on and further increase the players' confidence/belief in what AVB is doing. As a collective unit the team should grow from that.

On the negative side, and I won't go too heavy here, in general terms I can only complain about the passing. A number of simple passes were misguided by Parker and Dembele particularly, but also Adebayor, Walker and BAE. Giving possession away is an unforgivable sin. I'd rather we did things slow and simple than rushing a pass and putting our highline defence on the back foot and under pressure.

In specific terms, Friedel is a weak link when we're playing a high line. I know we have Lloris there for the first team, but it's only when Friedel steps back in that you realise how good Lloris is. Yes, Brad made two or three very good shot-stopper saves, but his all round play and distribution wasn't great.

Finally, Kyle Walker. Yes he runs, yes he's fast. But, he's an idiot. I don't know how many times he has to give away free-kicks that we concede from, before he learns how to close a player down and then stand-up side-on so that that player can't get passed him. Some people may view it and call Lisandro Lopez a diver, but Walker gave him every chance to go down every time - good defenders don't do that. I'm hoping Adam Smith is everything everyone says he is.

yiddo59

MrKingsley

Bodie Doyle wrote: »

He didn't play that bad but keeps on giving away stupid freekicks. They scored from a freekick he needlessly gave away.Their no. 9 and himself had a right battle throughout the game. He was good going forward and used he speed at the back to cover.
If he can cut out over zealous tackling he will be fine and should remain our right back.

Well they scored from a free kick that was never a free kick. Maybe he got a little too close on occasion but I would put that down to inexperience in europe.

To me it was the kind of performance that on a highlight reel would make him look like a dud.

But over the 90 minutes I thought he was class. The only negative was the 'free kicks' but he will learn how to deal with cheating maggots like lisandro

Hatch99

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2283003/Tottenham-fan-reveals-fearing-life-attack-Lyon.html

Kold

Walker has been so disappointing this season in general. Not even close to his performance last season.

Antisocialiser

Adebayor was carried off on a stretcher during Sunday's north London derby with an injury, and the Togo striker was absent from the part of Wednesday morning's training session that was open to the media ahead of Thursday's Europa League clash against the Italian giants.

Mousa Dembele also came off during Sunday's game, but did take part in training, as did Tom Huddlestone, who has been out with a knee injury of late.

Clint Dempsey's calf injury prevented him from training.

Defoe to lead the line?

SuprSi

Happy enough if so, Ade has been utter muck this season and doesn't deserve to start ahead of a hopefully hungry Defoe.