Torres done quite well today, he added an injection of pace and quality into the team and he worked the Newcastle defence. However we need to see this on a regular basis before we have any hope of his return.
Bertrand was shocking today, he offers NOTHING going forward and Cole is good enough to have no cover. We were playing with 10 men with Bertrand on. Benitez takes some blame for this.
Oscar was terrible too, when the going gets tough this guy loses concentration, he has no end service when going forward like Mata or Lampard or even Torres. The 2nd goal was also his fault, he lost his man and then Newcastle scored. I can't see how our fans say he can be better than Mata one day, i really don't, Oscar has a long long way to go before even reaching Mata's level.
Ba was not great either, he should have scored before he was injured and i thought today, Torres was better.
No home form, Away form getting worse. KTBBFH
Bertrand and Oscar are the problems
posted on 2/2/13
Kalou was not bad, Anelka was not bad but people wanted them out even though they contributed more to games than Oscar does. I don't understand what Oscar offers to the team apart from showboats and his touch.
posted on 2/2/13
I thought Oscar was good as well
posted on 2/2/13
posted on 2/2/13
Cole assisted Lampard with a good pass for the first. His skills going forward are underrated. Just because he does not go forward every 10 seconds does not mean he is not great offensively, Cole knows when to go forward.
Ramires was dissapointing today but still was better than Oscar. Nothing Ivanovic could really have done with any of the goals.
posted on 2/2/13
torres gave the ball away that led to the equaliser. then failed to complete a simple 5 yard pass that led to Mata getting booked to prevent ANOTHER breakaway.
virtually everything that goes through him breaks down. he looks disinterested and sloppy. hope to god Ba isnt badly injured, otherwise we will be relying on him again.
posted on 2/2/13
Seems to be fashionable to blame Oscar all the time lately - he's one of the better players ffs!
If anyone needs some time on the bench of late it's Ivanovic, he's becoming awful!
posted on 2/2/13
Oscar did well today.
Ramires was poor, lucky to be on the field really.
Terry and Cech were at fault for the 2nd goal really, but I can forgive them.
posted on 2/2/13
Cole is good enough to have no cover
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This doesn't make sense. So Cole can never get injured?
posted on 2/2/13
BK i meant Cole does not need protection against teams who's full backs never attack, Bertrand is good cover for Cole but not good enough to be better than Cole.
posted on 3/2/13
The trouble with Oscar is - Benitez has preferred Mata in the middle, so Oscar is having to play wider. And I don't think he's disciplined enough for that position. Yes, Bertrand was unimpressive, but he did offer some solidity when we defended. Oscar on the other side is not nearly as good at tracking back. I think both the 2nd and 3rd goals were at least partly due to Oscar. Yes, Terry dived in and he was the main culprit for the 2nd goal, but Oscar was behind his midfield runner which drew Cahill across to defend, which in turn left Sissoko open for the follow up.
On the 3rd Newcastle goal Oscar was marking Sissoko originally, then just left him alone once he passed the ball. That left him all alone on the edge of the box for the pull-back.
I'm not even blaming Oscar. He's just not the correct person for that position. He and Mata are both better suited for the central midfield position that requires less tracking back. The real problem is that we just don't have the personnel. It's not even Rafa's fault. It's more likely to be Emanelo's fault. Why don't we have a better scouting policy? We are just buying exciting players and trying to fit round pegs into square holes. Why did we get rid of Essien and Meireles, and then hope that Lampard and Ramires could cover that defensive midfield position? They can't. We are playing pretty well considering the players we have. Butwe miss the strength of Luiz, Mikel, Moses, Romeu etc, and we can't replace them now until they get back from injury or ACON. Let's hope it's not too late.