Another thing. Would it be too much to ask for Petr Cech to

[Alberto Balsam Rodriguez]

save a F*CKING penalty, like, ever?

Has he actually saved one for us since joining? We concede about one in every two games...

These extra 10-15 points a season that he is meant to save us...... I can't think of too many occasions where he has really done that this season. Sure he has been solid and saved pretty much everything you would expect him to save but has be pulled the proverbial rabbits out of the hat over and above an Ospina or even a Chesney?

[PSRB]

These extra 10-15 points a season that he is meant to save us...... I can't think of too many occasions where he has really done that this season. Sure he has been solid and saved pretty much everything you would expect him to save but has be pulled the proverbial rabbits out of the hat over and above an Ospina or even a Chesney?

Boro he had a blinder and definitely saved us a point and there were a couple of games around that time where he played really well but yes, I do think Ospina deserves a chance

[Alberto Balsam Rodriguez]

Boro he had a blinder and definitely saved us a point and there were a couple of games around that time where he played really well but yes, I do think Ospina deserves a chance

Good point re:the Boro game. I think one of those saves was a blinder but most of them were regulation weren't they?

[World's End Stella]

Honestly you lot amaze me sometimes.

Bellerin and Mustafi were hopeless, most of midfield utterly anonymous, Ramsey was played in the Ozil role and didnt do a single thing of any note that wasn't bad, for 60 minutes Giroud barely touched the ball and the entire team lacked focus and seemed completely unprepared for Bournemouth. Not Madrid, not Barcelona, not Munich, Bournemouth.

And you think Cech is a problem? Jesus lord.

[Monty92]

Honestly you lot amaze me sometimes.

Bellerin and Mustafi were hopeless, most of midfield utterly anonymous, Ramsey was played in the Ozil role and didnt do a single thing of any note that wasn't bad, for 60 minutes Giroud barely touched the ball and the entire team lacked focus and seemed completely unprepared for Bournemouth. Not Madrid, not Barcelona, not Munich, Bournemouth.

And you think Cech is a problem? Jesus lord.

Wenger seemed to think we were leeetle bit jaded and had knocks from the Palace game. Says that we had 3-4 players who were simply not match fit, including Bellerin. The reason Ox started on the bench was because he couldn't risk having all of our knackered/injured players starting, as he had no idea which of them would last the distance and need to come off.

Not sure how other teams have done with the two games in three days schedule.

[Alberto Balsam Rodriguez]

Honestly you lot amaze me sometimes.

Bellerin and Mustafi were hopeless, most of midfield utterly anonymous, Ramsey was played in the Ozil role and didnt do a single thing of any note that wasn't bad, for 60 minutes Giroud barely touched the ball and the entire team lacked focus and seemed completely unprepared for Bournemouth. Not Madrid, not Barcelona, not Munich, Bournemouth.

And you think Cech is a problem? Jesus lord.

If that is what was being said then you would be right but it isn't therefore, you are wrong!

[SWv2]

There are indeed lots of factors that can influence and decide football matches – quality of players, quality of preparation and tactics, individual moments of brilliance or indeed the opposite and even intangible things which we often like to mock and dismiss such as the much vaunted issue of desire which can manifest itself in many ways.

I see someone (PRSB?) pointed out earlier how stats wise they covered a cumulative distance of greater than 8-9k more than us. Sounds a lot but it isn’t really when you average it out over 10-12 outfield players.

I also see that one of their players (Gosling) himself covered over 14k last night, the highest on record for any player in the league this season. An extra 24 hours rest, or simply a desire and willingness to run his little south coast *******s off for the team?

I would suggest the latter based on the fact that their players on average covered a greater distance than any other PL team. Desire again, a willingness to work very hard to overcome perhaps a technical deficiency on other better teams.

We actually had greater possession than them, more passes completed yet not one shot on target in the opening 45 minutes. That is not fatigue, just plain and simply playing ****.

No invention, no creation, no Ozil, an off-key Sanchez, midfielders allowing opposition players to run past them, a keeper who we all know to be brilliant but increasingly has us shaking our heads, too many Oxlade Chamberlains on the pitch, Giroud being the utterly useless ******** Giroud that we all know for the first 70 minutes, utterly ****ing abysmal.

Or just fatigue.

We've seen it many times before.

[Burney]

There are indeed lots of factors that can influence and decide football matches – quality of players, quality of preparation and tactics, individual moments of brilliance or indeed the opposite and even intangible things which we often like to mock and dismiss such as the much vaunted issue of desire which can manifest itself in many ways.

I see someone (PRSB?) pointed out earlier how stats wise they covered a cumulative distance of greater than 8-9k more than us. Sounds a lot but it isn’t really when you average it out over 10-12 outfield players.

I also see that one of their players (Gosling) himself covered over 14k last night, the highest on record for any player in the league this season. An extra 24 hours rest, or simply a desire and willingness to run his little south coast *******s off for the team?

I would suggest the latter based on the fact that their players on average covered a greater distance than any other PL team. Desire again, a willingness to work very hard to overcome perhaps a technical deficiency on other better teams.

We actually had greater possession than them, more passes completed yet not one shot on target in the opening 45 minutes. That is not fatigue, just plain and simply playing ****.

No invention, no creation, no Ozil, an off-key Sanchez, midfielders allowing opposition players to run past them, a keeper who we all know to be brilliant but increasingly has us shaking our heads, too many Oxlade Chamberlains on the pitch, Giroud being the utterly useless ******** Giroud that we all know for the first 70 minutes, utterly ****ing abysmal.

Or just fatigue.

We've seen it many times before.

Do you not agree that fatigue is the most likely reason why a team of talented players might underperform, though? And that that underperformance in turn will spur on the opposition?

You can't just say it's all down to 'playing shït' and nothing to do with tiredness. I would suggest that that Venn diagram involves rather too much crossover for such an analysis to stand up to scrutiny.

[SWv2]

Do you not agree that fatigue is the most likely reason why a team of talented players might underperform, though? And that that underperformance in turn will spur on the opposition?

You can't just say it's all down to 'playing shït' and nothing to do with tiredness. I would suggest that that Venn diagram involves rather too much crossover for such an analysis to stand up to scrutiny.

No.

I am a very talented footballer but very often I just can’t be ****ing bothered and on such occasion my standards drop to just being better than most others.

Sometimes I am not even tired.

[Burney]

No.

I am a very talented footballer but very often I just can’t be ****ing bothered and on such occasion my standards drop to just being better than most others.

Sometimes I am not even tired.

Yes, but you are an amateur park player of advanced years with a fondness for the good things in life (and The Jam). We are talking about highly paid professional athletes in their teens and 20s who are constantly operating on the outer envelope of human physical performance. Such chaps, I would suggest, very rarely fall into the category of not being bothered.