Not a whole lot in this one. Each side with one big chance, IMO. We're dominating position but doing very little with it. Benny for Goofy at halftime.
Debuchy off for winning the ball. Two-footed, but he kept his studs low at least? Let the bunkering begin.
Debuchy red carded for two-footed tackle, which was harmless and in which he got the ball. Modern football sucks.
Lots of things went wrong today. Debuchy obviously made a bad challenge (won the ball and didn't even hit the guy), we lost and we gave away the penalty, but I think we've shafted ourselves for the FA Cup and we've got trouble on the horizon since our next league match is City at home. Pardew didn't manage the squad nearly well enough during the last two weeks, IMO, and it was obvious from the start we were tired and off-color. Only making a couple of switches in the last few games leads me to believe he'll ring the changes for Cardiff at the weekend and we may well lose that match. Trouble is, we're out of the League Cup and we're facing the prospect of being nine points off the CL places by next weekend. Don't want to push the panic button prematurely but I'm getting the feeling we just wasted all the hard work of the last two months.
I think Pardew accidentally hit upon a system that worked within his mindset against Man United and he banked on it going into the holidays season not wanting to muck with a "sure thing." So he played it until we ran out of gas and broke something--in this case Coloccini and Debuchy. That worked extremely well against the top teams who tend to play out from the back but not so much on the teams who bang it forward or keep tidy shape by pressing possession. Notice Remy went off the boil at the same point he started playing like this? and now he is making noises that he wants to play Champions league football? He doesn't like how he is being asked to play. I'd posit it has a lot to do with Pardew's fetish for "interdiction" or making your strikers defend high up and break up play between the back four and the midfield. Which is what Gouffran and Sissoko are good at BTW...Remy, Cisse, HBA, Ba, all are attacking strikers who make something from attacking the goal not nipping away at a defender to take the ball. The last two months were great, and Pardew deserves some credit for getting it right. What happens now will be very interesting...and I'm not really hopeful we can do much better than we are doing now.
I'm not too concerned. We were down to ten men and gave away a late penalty. The biggest problem I can see with the side over the last couple of games is fatigue. The fixture congestion over Christmas has taken its toll. When we're back to our usual rhythm we'll be fine. I don't anticipate the FA cup causing too many problems as Pardew/Ashley don't really care about them. We'll more than likely field a weak team and get knocked out early.
I know mid-table and neglecting Cups is their strategy/goal, but IMO it blows. They haven't won shit in forever. Would be nice to make an effort in the FA Cup.