Shed End MOTM Away at Villa

[loz]

Cast your votes after the match

[yorkleyblue]

Clattenburg for the non-penalty and then The Villa defender who did it

Kev

[sweet waffle]

I thought Belletti played well, bar him getting skinned for the second goal but my vote goes to SWP again.

[lukasz]

SWP as usual.

[Englishman]

Who voted for Carlo?!

[loz]

SWP by a country mile for me as well.

As I said in the main game thread I was gobsmacked when SWP was taken off and malouda left on. Far too early in the season to be making any snap decisions however if this things carry on in the same manner I will begin to suspect we are seeing Jose playing favourites again.

[The Brit]

I thought Belletti played well, bar him getting skinned for the second goal but my vote goes to SWP again.

bit harsh on second goal...he got good contact on the ball but it didn't deflect out of play but stayed in

[The Moos]

Sweepy for me. Thought Alex wasn't too bad but Sweepy was great. Why on earth did JM take him off?

Who voted for Carlo?!

Main suspect must be Val

To be honest I couldn't see Carlo make any mistakes at all

[sweet waffle]

I thought Belletti played well, bar him getting skinned for the second goal but my vote goes to SWP again.

bit harsh on second goal...he got good contact on the ball but it didn't deflect out of play but stayed in

Yeah you're right. I think we have got a fine player in him though, I was thoroughly impressed by some of his passing, it was a shame we didn't make more it.

[Peeking Duck?]

I voted for Carlo as I didn't believe any of them deserved even a hypothetical MOTM award. SWP was good for one half, but after the break he reverted to type - ie, no control and 2nd touch always a tackle.

Drogs was absolutely shocking on both ends today. Lost his mark for the first goal and rolling around again like his first season. I am gonna end with that as I could probably fill a few pages worth of rant material.

I do have a question I'd like others to comment on:

I do not see we have any players with both pace and control. Am I wrong?

In fact, after selling Robben (can't force him to play here) we only have SWP for pace and his close control at speed is almost nil. Joey has great control but has lost that bit of quickness he once had. Kalou is not the answer, not is Malouda. I fear we may be on for a long ride this season - then again, I guess I could always try to lower my expectations?

P

[Jack]

How anyone can vote on a Man of the Match after that today is beyond me. We were crap - no champagne for anyone!

[Alan]

Malouda had a bit of a mare today, his crossing was awful. SWP played well but really we didnt create a lot of chances, I'll have to mull over my vote a bit more.

[chelseax]

We were unlucky not to get that pen or a goal in the first 30mins but I think Jose was wrong to start with a 4 1 2 3 he should of left Maka out and gone for a 4 4 2. If we had blitz them with 4 4 2 and had the extra striker with Drog then I think we would have got the goal. Benetti looked good apart form the second goal and what is with Terry pulling shirts all the time ? Thats not the Terry I know. Drogba lose like a man on your feet and not on your arse mate because you are'nt winning many brownie points with a performance like that. The ref's a w**ker so what get on with it and score that goal regardless of his silliness.

KEEP THE FAITH YOU GOTTA LOSE SOMETIMES

ps. goes to show just how important SUPER FRANK is.

[german-blue]

Well my vote will go to SWP, he was clearly the best player. As said before it was really annoying as he was subbed.

Malouda was a disgrace, his corners were bad, his crossing sh*t. Didnt offer anything

[g3.7]

jt for me- did well against a difficult carew, but even more impressive was his work against the other attacking players, all with far far more pace than he has. swp was our other player to play notably well.

[Chippy]

Sweepy for me as he posed our only real threat, I was amazed he was subbed when Malouda was having a bad day,

next best for me was Belleti, thought he done well going forwards and defended ok as well,

JT had his hands full with Carew and still managed to step in against other players even in such a physical contest.

Mikel looked a bit lak lustre, Malouda wasteful and even Essien seemed a bit off the pace.

still we only usually get a point there lets hope an early loss gets us going a bit.

KTBFL

[superdan]

Don't see how any attacking player can get the vote when we dominated possession but hardly had a chance.

Drogba was awful today. Pizarro just does not look dangerous - time for shevchenko to come back and form a deadly strike force with Drogba - we need goals and we've been struggling for them so far. What with that and letting in goals that we never let in last season and it's looking a bit shaky. How much longer is Carvalho out for? Alex and Ben Haim both look good but Carvalho and Terry just inspire confidence.

[Kev123]

Sweepy for me as well, not because he was great, he was a little above average, but the rest where average to poor at best. These games happen

[wicksy]

Sweepy played well I agree, but for his first full game I was very impressed with Belletti, both defensively and going forwards, so my motm goes to him.

However, there weren't too many candidates. Mikel and Essien both looked very ordinary which is worrying. Yet again we lacked any real cutting edge up front.

[Phillip]

I wanted to vote for no one, but I ended up voting for A Cole, due to his nice clearance of a cross from Luke Young that might have resulted in Villa's first goal late in the first half. SWP was OK, but that does not deserve MOM.

[superdan]

the same A Cole who fluffed a goal line clearance

[Jimboola69]

How have 5 people voted for Belletti?

He made a couple of good tackles (sliders) early in the game then was constantly skinned. They made merry hay down our right for most of the second half and this lead to both goals. The second goal directly, the first goal was a corner after they had attacked out right flank again.

Seriously guys. This is incredible.

[Taipan]

I thought Belletti played well, bar him getting skinned for the second goal but my vote goes to SWP again.

Belletti was my pick, which suprises me because I didn't expect him to be much good.

I don't think he got skinned on the second goal though. When his winger got the ball Villa had a 3 vs 2 in attack. If Belletti had committed to the tackle the Villa winger would have passed it and it would have become a 2 vs 1. I thought Belletti did okay there - despite being outnumbered he prevented his player from having a shot, and forced him to pass.