Plus a Cnut of a ref.

Good point, not saying my thoughts are correct, but with a defensive set-up we are not looking at Vokes and Barnes being challenged 'on the break' with our midfielders out of contention (recall especially the last goal). Attacks are cleared well before they even 'look' like attacks. But I get your point: playing the game in your own half (which is not necessarily what I'm advocating) rather than in the opposition half isn't smart either. And this is hindsight. Big Sam took a well-calculated gamble and like us, all he knew was how well we played against Spurs, and if we could replicate half of that form, we would have beaten Burnley. Unfortunately, the 3 games in a week finally took its toll... Who was to know?

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Yes I have no doubt that 3 games in 6 days was a major factor in our 2 home defeats but I am a little bit surprised at Big Sam's team selections.

After the great win at Liverpool Sam said there would be changes for Spurs but the only changes were Sakho for Tomkins and Jimmy Mac for Cabaye both due to injury. The same team was then selected for Burnley apart from Damo in for the injured Sako plus swapping left backs.
I really thought Sam would have targeted the Burnley game as winnable and rested key players for the Spurs game to have them in good shape for Burnley. I know our squad is thin but surely he could've played the likes of VanArnault, Flamini, Ledley, Sakho, Lee and Campbell on Wednesday? Yes it would've been a weak team but damage could've been limited. Of course the fans wouldn't have liked it but we would've all been much happier yesterday if we'd won and secured another Prem season..
Sam went to great lengths to explain the recovery problems beforehand and predicted exactly what happened so I just don't get why he played the same key players 3 times. Lucca, Punch, Townsend, Wilf and Benteke could've missed Spurs and been 100% recovered for Burnley. Scluup also would've been at his best on Saturday instead of Wednesday..

I know it is easy with hindsight but why didn't the club rearrange the spurs match for this week giving us the longest possible time to face Burnley which we all thought would be more winnable than spurs?

7 games in a month was taking it's toll, but actually we did enough to win. Zaha was onside and Heaton should have been sent off, and Zaha had a penalty decision turned down. A couple of tired looking moments from Luka wasn't good and the defence did look skittish without Sakho. But we still did enough to win, just not our day.

I think we can go to Man City, respect the point and possible get more. If Swansea lose against Everton we stay up anyway.

22 years eating a vegan diet. Perfectly happy and healthy on it.

Compared to Sakho and Cabaye recently, McArthur was crap and Delaney was crap.

Both mean that when Luka is looking to get his head up, he is receiving the ball under more pressure than usual, with fewer options. For the first time, he was getting caught in possession and that threw the entire spine of the team out of shape.

When, for the first time we have the ball and have to break the opposition down, being inaccurate in possession is a big problem. Lack of pace/aerial ability at the back then gives them an easy out as Vokes won every ball.

It's really telling how poor our spine is when Cabaye doesn't play - all the distribution falls apart and we look so disorganised.

26th January 2010 - Enter Administration
2nd May 2010 - D-Day 1 - Survival at Hillsborough
1st June 2010 - D-Day 2 - Survival at Lloyds
7th June 2010 - CPFC2010 exchange contracts.