[theo_luddite]

We tried to play football against Spurs and we were stuffed inside 20 minutes, we've tried to play defensively against the rest of the top 6 so we don't get stuffed again. We beat one of them because they thought they only had to turn up to win, we kept one of them (you know, the unbeaten ones) at bay after scoring first and holding them to a draw until the last 5 minutes. We couldn't pass wind at Liverpool but held out until early in the first half. We almost looked like getting something at Arsenal until they scored 3 in 5 minutes in the second half and we never had a sniff against Chelski until they took their foot off our throats in the second half. A common thread in these games was conceding soon after half-time, it was also the same at Everton. A goal to us would have put us in a far better position. We need to start the 2nd half better like we did at Arsenal and against Brighton, but we need to score when we're giving sides the run-around. We conceded at Everton and against Chelski last night before we'd had a proper kick in the second half.

Why didn't we do a West Ham on them? Why didn't we do a Brighton against them? For a start, they underestimated West Ham, Conte made sure they didn't underestimate us. We were playing Chelski, not Brighton. Cheslki's lads are payed about 10x and the rest more than ours and it's not just because they have a benevolent owner. They won this division last season for a reason. Their speed of thought, speed of passing, speed of running and speed of surrrounding us when we had the ball was more than just a notch above us. Why they didn't perform against West Ham I don't have a scooby-do, but anyone that thinks we've a squad anywhere near as good as their's needs to give their head a shake. Back in August we'd have shrugged our shoulders at a 3-1 defeat at home to Chelski. We've bigger fish to fry, starting with Southampton and Stoke. Anything from Watford on Saturday is another bonus. That's coming up.