‘The cage might be open but the beast is asleep.’
3 matches I’ve seen. 3 defeats. It just gets worse. Particularly of concern is that no matter how well Turnbull plays in goal, we are leaking all over the place. From where I’m sitting, we’re carrying 3 of a 4 man defence. And I can’t blame the foetus that is Bree – he’s only 16. (Says a lot for Brown, who he replaced). So I’ll concern myself with the other 2.
Dudgeon – Slacki was spitting feathers at this guy’s awfulness on Saturday. Interesting that the Robins targeted him and not the aforesaid 16 year old. All 3 (that number again!) goals came from Dudgeon’s side. #1, their guy cuts inside and he’s somehow clean through, 10 yards out and sidefoots home. Where’s everyone else? Well, actually, the rest of the defence is all there – but they’ve retreated at such a rate of knots that they’ve ran past this bloke and are standing marking nobody.
#2, same again, only this time their player has to pass the ball to an unmarked individual, while Nyatanga belatedly goes across to cover. #3 is a comedy in its own right, as we cede possession direct from kick off (Dudgeon managing to keep the ball in, only for their winger to nick it and sprint 50 yards clear). The cross then hits a defender and falls nicely into the path of a Townie to knock home. Cue boos and and a semi-mass walkout. Talk about history repeating itself, it was only a fortnight since MK stuck 5 past us.
I dunno who it was asked, but ‘why are left backs so s***?’ Good question. I don’t think we’ve had a decent left back since Chris Barker (and Slacki will argue over that one too, tho at least he brought in £600k!) Kennedy, McEveley, Heckingbottom, Williams,…Gibbs. And that’s not even mentioning the ones on loan (Dickenson, Andy Holt…anymore?) That is 14 years of unbroken sh*teness. I heard someone say the on-loan Dudgeon ‘wasn’t Premiership class’. Well, at this rate, he’s not even 3rd division class. Like the bunch mentioned, he’s heading towards non-league obscurity, or eking out a career at Port Vale (who’re higher than us in the table, at least).
Then there’s Lewin Bl**dy Nyatanga, who, for me, is the invisible man. How does a centre half manage to be so anonymous? I realise one or 2 on here love him to bits cos he’s not ‘Captain Fantastic’ but what I want in a defender is the ability to defend. Or at least organise the ones around him to do it. Nyatanga does neither. That’s 10 conceded in 3 games and he’s been the one constant. Apart from his non-existence, my favourite bit of Nyatanganism on Satdy was when he went out wide left to head a ball and he somehow headed it into our own area. So, out of position AND doing their job for them. Get rid.
As a team, apart from an inability to pass, head, tackle, shoot, etc, the one big problem appears to be the team’s lack of pace. Swindon..and Port Vale…and MK…were just too fast for us. Oddly, the only time we looked anything like was when he brought on the fatboys...Treacy and Jennings….and even then we went from 0-1 to 0-3. There aren’t many things more demoralising in life than having Swindon fans sing ‘we score when we want’ at you. Thank god they only wanted 3.
*** Turnbull. Sponsors MOTM. 3 fantastic saves, otherwise…well, we’d have lost by even more than we did.
** No-one. F*** em.
* ditto.
Despatches:
Perhaps playing 3 forwards wasn’t the way forward (sorry!) We looked a lot more balanced as an attacking unit once he took one of them off (along with defensive midfield ‘lynchpin’ Crainie). Yet still we only forced 2 real saves the whole match, though M’Voto missed a great chance early doors, ghosting in late from a free kick to sky it.
Drink du jour:3 matches I’ve seen. 3 defeats. It just gets worse. Particularly of concern is that no matter how well Turnbull plays in goal, we are leaking all over the place. From where I’m sitting, we’re carrying 3 of a 4 man defence. And I can’t blame the foetus that is Bree – he’s only 16. (Says a lot for Brown, who he replaced). So I’ll concern myself with the other 2.
Dudgeon – Slacki was spitting feathers at this guy’s awfulness on Saturday. Interesting that the Robins targeted him and not the aforesaid 16 year old. All 3 (that number again!) goals came from Dudgeon’s side. #1, their guy cuts inside and he’s somehow clean through, 10 yards out and sidefoots home. Where’s everyone else? Well, actually, the rest of the defence is all there – but they’ve retreated at such a rate of knots that they’ve ran past this bloke and are standing marking nobody.
#2, same again, only this time their player has to pass the ball to an unmarked individual, while Nyatanga belatedly goes across to cover. #3 is a comedy in its own right, as we cede possession direct from kick off (Dudgeon managing to keep the ball in, only for their winger to nick it and sprint 50 yards clear). The cross then hits a defender and falls nicely into the path of a Townie to knock home. Cue boos and and a semi-mass walkout. Talk about history repeating itself, it was only a fortnight since MK stuck 5 past us.
I dunno who it was asked, but ‘why are left backs so s***?’ Good question. I don’t think we’ve had a decent left back since Chris Barker (and Slacki will argue over that one too, tho at least he brought in £600k!) Kennedy, McEveley, Heckingbottom, Williams,…Gibbs. And that’s not even mentioning the ones on loan (Dickenson, Andy Holt…anymore?) That is 14 years of unbroken sh*teness. I heard someone say the on-loan Dudgeon ‘wasn’t Premiership class’. Well, at this rate, he’s not even 3rd division class. Like the bunch mentioned, he’s heading towards non-league obscurity, or eking out a career at Port Vale (who’re higher than us in the table, at least).
Then there’s Lewin Bl**dy Nyatanga, who, for me, is the invisible man. How does a centre half manage to be so anonymous? I realise one or 2 on here love him to bits cos he’s not ‘Captain Fantastic’ but what I want in a defender is the ability to defend. Or at least organise the ones around him to do it. Nyatanga does neither. That’s 10 conceded in 3 games and he’s been the one constant. Apart from his non-existence, my favourite bit of Nyatanganism on Satdy was when he went out wide left to head a ball and he somehow headed it into our own area. So, out of position AND doing their job for them. Get rid.
As a team, apart from an inability to pass, head, tackle, shoot, etc, the one big problem appears to be the team’s lack of pace. Swindon..and Port Vale…and MK…were just too fast for us. Oddly, the only time we looked anything like was when he brought on the fatboys...Treacy and Jennings….and even then we went from 0-1 to 0-3. There aren’t many things more demoralising in life than having Swindon fans sing ‘we score when we want’ at you. Thank god they only wanted 3.
*** Turnbull. Sponsors MOTM. 3 fantastic saves, otherwise…well, we’d have lost by even more than we did.
** No-one. F*** em.
* ditto.
Despatches:
Perhaps playing 3 forwards wasn’t the way forward (sorry!) We looked a lot more balanced as an attacking unit once he took one of them off (along with defensive midfield ‘lynchpin’ Crainie). Yet still we only forced 2 real saves the whole match, though M’Voto missed a great chance early doors, ghosting in late from a free kick to sky it.
By my reckoning I had 8 pints and a fair share of vodka and JD on the train. Proof that I’m not built for this was falling asleep on the bus and finding myself in Clapham Park. Again. Cue a walk and a bus back where I’m recognised by an ex pupil who asked ‘are you drunk?’ As if. I was way beyond drunk….
Away: 486
Away: 486
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