Hilario
Mancienne - Alex - Carvalho - Hutchinson
Essien
Sinclair - Malouda
Deco
Kalou - Sturridge
Our lineup for the match. Ancelotti is letting people have a go basically, but why Hilario? Turnbull's there, we brought him in, Hilario was pretty crap last time out, has Turnbull done this badly in training?
EDIT: 0-0 first half, and we're really poor. An awful match with no continuity, many mistakes and no vision from any of our players. Sturridge missed a sure-goal because Sincair's cross bounced and he couldn't hit it properly. Neither him nor Kalou have done much so far, nothing actually. Sinclair isn't ready. Whenever he does something right, which is always his dribbling, he overdoes and tries to do it all himself and loses the ball. Malouda should be getting more balls because he's one of the best on the field and he hasn't done much either. Deco has shown that he's the man with vision I'll get to now, meant that he's been absent for a while. Essien, haven't seen him do a thing, hasn't really had to. Alex and Carvalho are solid. Now, the fullbacks. They keep getting the ball... why? They do nothing with it. They don't know how to build the attack and they keep having to. So they pass back or short and it leads to nothing. They're ok defenisively. Hilario is actually good when I compare him with everyone else, but he needlessly threw himself at a cross and missed, showing me that he's still crap.
We got a lot of corners and free kicks and had a few good headers, as well as one or two shamble-chances. America's keeper is the man of the match so far simply for stopping these chances. We've done nothing else. Neither have they, but even with our subs we should be able to do something. Many bad passes, over-dribbling, etc. I think that if Mancienne and Hutchinson stopped being our play-starters we'll get somewhere. Deco and Malouda need to get the ball more. The youngsters will improve, but not if they keep getting the bal like they do because they can't do anything with it where they get it. Kalou should drop back and help build the offensive, but we'll probably bring in some other guys. I want Hutchinson off for Zhirkov, or he should move to centre-half. I think he and Michael will do better there.
Sheva on for Sinclair, Surridge off, Di Santo on, Turnbull on. I assume Di Santo and Sheva are forward with Kalou taking over from Sinclair. It's possible that Sheva is playing as a winger. No idea, it's as if they don't know whatg their position is. Not shambles, just weird, dunno who the right winger is supposed to be, but haven't seen Kalou or Deco there. Kalou seems to be playing either as a forward or in Deco's original position.
EDIT: Yeah, forget positions, no clue. Pizarro on for someone, I think Kalou. Ivanovic on for Mancienne, Cole for Hutchinson in the 60's. We're better now. Attacking more, keeping the ball further up the field, playing quicker. Hutchinson and Mancienne are better now too, without having to create an attack, they're defending well and when they attack, it leads to something, both have had good chances. This is better, but only slightly.
EDIT: 1-0. Malouda turns around after getting a pass from Cole outside the area and crosses it in, Di Santo stretches for it and puts it in. He runs to the bench and jumps on Terry, everyone looks really happy for him, so am I, in terms of who I wanted to score in preseason, it's been very good. Only Sheva left, and Anelka, but the latter will score. Holy ****. As I write this Di santo gets the ball on the flank, cuts inside on the byline and passes it to Malouda, who scores. 2-0. Di Santo and Malouda with an assist and goal each.
And that's about it. A deserved win in the end.