This defeat felt better than a scrape

[Marshy]

I know this probably sounds silly, especially when we're bottom of the league and need every point we can, but I would rather we lost the way we did today than had we scraped a lucky 2-1 or something.

This performance showed that we DO have the players who can play at this level together. The tempo was good, we pressed, and this is just what we need.

We were unlucky, not because of the own goals (which were our fault) or because Fer hit the woodwork twice (the first one was a sitter and the second one a free header), but we were unlucky because we had two forced injuries. Ned had looked very good until then.

Now we have to see whether we can move on from here and really give Villa a match and get all three points..

[Smaug]

Na I would rather we won in any way

[Marshy]

Na I would rather we won in any way

A win where we played poorly and got lucky would probably not inspire confidence in the squad ...

You would rather we had fluked it with a rubbish performance than lose it the way we played today?

[Smaug]

Maybe not but this defeat is very hard to take after being the better side

[gator]

We need points, that's the bottom line! Perhaps this match inspires confidence but you can also say it magnified defensive flaws!

[Greg1882]

And they break their necks and still get sucker punched . Equally damaging for confidence , 3 points for me any day of the week obviously

[Marshy]

Maybe not but this defeat is very hard to take after being the better side

Yes, it was like an emotional roller coaster at the end.

[Marshy]

And they break their necks and still get sucker punched . Equally damaging for confidence , 3 points for me any day of the week obviously

I don't think the players confidence will be damaged after this game. Surely the management should use the match to project the team in a positive light.

[QPRDave]

Disagree with the op. A "lucky win" would be fine ....a win is a win. But if you have to lose then this game is prob the best way as we outplayed the league runners up
for large parts of the game and should've/could've been 3-0 up at ht.

[Greg1882]

Playing well and not taking your chances is a very dangerous game to play . Done well today vast improvement but let's have some perspective , we still got beat conceading two goals in the 90th minute at home against a below par Liverpool . We must tighten up and close games out

[QPRDave]

Liverpool were not allowed to play until our lads tired a bit. Another way of looking at it is we created all those chances. So impressed with the midfield today. #Energetic

[Marshy]

Playing well and not taking your chances is a very dangerous game to play . Done well today vast improvement but let's have some perspective , we still got beat conceading two goals in the 90th minute at home against a below par Liverpool . We must tighten up and close games out

I am of the opinion that if you're playing well each game, then usually you will end up getting a result.
If you're playing poorly each game, then usually you will end up getting nothing.

Yes, perspective is important, of course everyone is thinking about the positives right now, but in a few days, when we do the post-mortem with our heads rather than our hearts, we will see that although this was a vastly improved performance, there are some areas we still need to work on.

The biggest concern I would have is that Villa will now come fully expecting us to play very well, and after their poor performance against Everton, they will make it a very tough game. Anything less than points against Villa would be really bad.

[Azman]

Same #### every week, could of won should of won, this is the premier league if u don't defend or take your chances you're going to lose, not looking too great for us this season

[QPRDave]

Same #### every week, could of won should of won, this is the premier league if u don't defend or take your chances you're going to lose, not looking too great for us this season

Same #### every week????....It weren't the same #### i saw at WHL, OT, or Upton Park. We shouldn't and couldn't have won any of these games