So for a game to qualify as good football, we have to play well for how long? 90 minutes? 70 minutes?
my comments are in bold
Palace we should have won that game 3-0. They sat back all game on a small pitch and Sigurdsson and Defoe still missed clear one on one opportunities that were easier to score. we hardly created a chance against the whipping boys of the division won by virtue of a fortunate penalty. Palace also had chances to score. Turgidity rating: 6/10
With Arsenal we didn't create much, sure. But we had good possession (to go to theirs and have significantly more possession isn't easy, and is no mean feat, and it's also a fair enough tactic to go to Arsenal and try and keep the ball off of them if you are capable). A 1-0 loss there isn't really a disgrace and not an example to show up a managers 'turgid football'.No disgrace to lose there 0-1 but a disgrace not to even TRY to score when we were losing. T rating 8/10.
Swansea. Poor game by us. Won by another lucky penalty. Hardly created anything apart from long range efforts. T rating 8
Norwich. Played reasonably well against a poor Norwich side who got there tactics all wrong against us and allowed us far too much space. Eriksen shone. T rating:2
Cardiff. Played ok as a counterattacking team. Relied on Paulis injury time winner as we didn't create enough nor finish clinically enough to be well ahead by then. Always palpitations when Cardiff had a set piece. T rating: 5
Chelsea. Good first half and deserved to be 1-0 up at half time. Completely out thought and outplayed in the second half and lucky that Torres got sent off as they were annihilating us by the end. T rating 8
Villa we could have won that 4-0 easily. After a controlled first half, we absolutely ruined them in the second. agreed but should have put the game to bed far earlier. T rating 2
Everton - do you remember this game? Do you remember how edgy their crowd was? Do you remember Everton, managed by Martinez, great football extraordinair, not being able to get the ball off of us for a good hour? Because it happened. Maybe we didn't line up chance after chance, but we certainly played well and we were certainly on the front foot. It's Everton away, one of the best teams in the league this year, undefeated in the league pre-boxing day at home, it's hardly fair to use a 0-0 draw where we did play well as an example of turgid football justifying a manager's removal. just like Chelsea, first half good, second half bad. Everton were as poor as I have seen them in the first half, but really showed us up in the second and should have won it with a penalty. In the end we were scrabbling for a draw. So much for controlling whole games and scoring when we want. We never looked like scoring even when we were on top.T rating 8.
Hull. One of the direst performances on record. How we won with a flukey penalty is a mystery. We were completely outplayed. By Hull ffs. T rating 10.
Saudi Sportswashing Machine - we forced the goalkeeper to make more saves than had been needed in any game in the PL for what was it? 7 years? first half we were crap and deserved to be behind after our normal slow tempo start.We came out fighting in the second half, took the game to them and should have won. Begs the question why we let the whole of the first half go by before trying to up the tempo. T rating 6.
Man U did well to take the lead, stupid pen giveaway by Loris. A decent game by us. T rating 3.
Fulham...I think you're being very unfair here. Paulinho missed an open goal. We had chances in both halves and successfully went toe to toe with a team looking to play with high intensity and get their new manager bounce working. It certainly wasn't turgid from us. turgid it most certainly was. Fulham are playing like relegation fodder and if you think going toe to toe with them is anything to aspire to then we have very different hopes for our team.
Chelsea was a game of two halves, we played extremely well in the first and not so well in the second. Not a disgrace against one of the favourites for the title this year. see above.
Sunderland. A scrappy win against a poor team. T rating 7
I've given you Emirates Marketing Project, Liverpool and West Ham. T ratings 10, 10 and 10.
