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| Wet and dreary Grove Street |
Where to start? Well, how about a tale from said Mr Jones on the train last nite. He'd seen a local newspaper earlier and some kid had been telling the court he doesn't want to live with his mam anymore - she beats him. 'What about living with your dad?' the judge asks. 'He beats me too.' 'Well' says the judge. 'Who DO you want to live with?' 'I want to live with Barnsley FC. They dunt beat anybody!'
Ho ho ho.
I have been trawling through the last few Chrons, courtesy of Salisbury. Is there an article EVERY week from a player telling me we're 'good enough to go on a run'? (I thought we had done - didn't we lose 8 league games in a row?) Anyway, Toney should be pleased this week, cos he's quoted as saying 'I'm not happy unless I'm not scoring' (hopefully editing negligence. Does the Chron even HAVE sub-editors?) But my own favourite piece was Little Lee telling us he doesn't like the fans singing their ironic chants...'How s*** must you be?' etc Well, little fella, I don't like the irony that YOU'RE still managing MY football team despite week after week of total tactical and team selection incompetence. The Wigan journo previewed this game by saying 'I think they (Wigan) can get promotion but, if they don't, then it will be their own fault. It won't be because teams have got better players than them. or that they have bigger budgets.' Sound familiar? How can a team containing Hamill, Toney, Hourihane and Pearson look so s***?
Despatches: Pearson. I'll start with him. He looked a quality player when he 1st came, but slowly, and surely, he's getting WORSE. Who do I blame for that? I've been wondering what his level is and I think we saw it yesterday: not as good as David Perkins. Lordy. Hourihane. A crowing Molly was asking me in the pub pre-match what I think of the legend now. I said he'd had a very good month (that makes 2; the other one was August/Sept 2014). Well, how s*** was he yesterday? Delivered 3 awful balls in the 1st 5 minutes, 2 into the keeper's arms and one into the stand. Later highlights included giving Williams a hospital ball (like Williams needs a hospital ball!) and hoofing a free kick over the bar. Still, the latter didn't matter, we were 2 down and into injury time. So much for Little Lee worrying that his form will have 'alerted the sleeping giants'. The piece in the Chron sounded more like a sales pitch. Lee - keep it up. I can't see anyone making a bid myself. (On another note, how comes Waddington and Molly are the positive ones; they haven't even seen the games we HAVE won lately, Oldham and Colchester). Toney looked a bit lost, but nobody thought Winnall should stay on the pitch instead. Winnall. What a player. Usually does nothing a forward should do, but notches. Yesterday, he had 2 glorious chances; the 1st one he scuffed (aren't most of his goals scuffed?) while the 2nd, he controlled the pass of the match from Williams (a reverse pass putting Winnall clean through) and while he controlled it and dawdled a defender had the cheek to nick it from him. Can Little Lee talk up Winnall's chances of being signed by someone else too? Another who was bloody awful (the worst?) was Wabara. This is a player whose contract is up in a fortnight. Say what you like about Brooce Dire, but he was always on point when facing contract talks. All Wabara does is prevent another of our youth from progressing (Bree - a player who was considered good enough when we were in the top half of the league last season). These coaches and Chief Execs of ours talk a good game about developing our own players, then bring in loanees and free transfers to take their places. Anyway, I'd get shut of Wabara. There must be better out there, even if it's not Bree. On a loanee note, it was good to see Long get a game. So it took 10 minutes for a cross inbetween him and Wabara for a Wiganer to miss a simple header. Note to Little Lee: our defence will never get any better chopping and changing. Defences have to learn to play with each, learn to communicate. Oh. (To be fair, it does look like Long is quite vocal). It was Mawson's turn to be dropped. Dropped, while that disaster Nyatanga, plays on. 'How s*** must you be?' etc Watkins was either so-so (everyone else) or 'complete dogs***, the worst player I have EVER seen in a Barnsley shirt (Jonesy). I'm ambivalent, and even when I watch him closely, think he's not great...but he's not that bad either. Better than Isgrove, tho, who sat on the bench 'earning' his loanee wages.
Finally, FINALLY, I heard my first chants of 'We want Johnson out. We want Johnson out.' Why, it's only Salisbury's cousin Chris in the East Stand lower, who's had enough. A few of us joined in, but most had already voted with their feet: they'd left. (The match was still going on, but there was NO HOPE.)
***I learnt this morning Colchester have lost 7 in a row. Puts our victory last week into perspective, does it not?
Oh yes, the match. We were AWESOME for 10 minutes, piling forward (how else would Hourihane have 3 chances to cross a ball early doors?) Mind, Wigan still missed THAT chance while we never had a shot on target. Then they score, completely against the run of play. It's a sweet, sweet move 2 or 3 quick one touch passes (were you watching and learning Little Lee, Conor...Winnall?) leaving Kellett to curl home with his left foot (making a run between left back and centre half). Cut to pieces.
Second half, if we did pass it around, it was on the halfway line going nowhere. The most dangerous we looked was either when Hamill and Aidey White linked up well, or when Wigan were trying their short goalkick routine. The latter looked like an accident waiting to happen and sure enough Williams nicked one off the right back, bore down on goal...then made the mistake of passing it to Winnall to scuff. Did I say how much I 'rate' the latter?
And then Wigan bag a second. I'm still not sure what happened. Suffice to say, it looked like play had stopped, I turned to look at something else, and when I looked back, our keeper was haring towards a ball he was always going to finish second to and their bloke waltzed round him to plant the ball in the net. Rumour has it the keeper f***ed up. Or the centre half. One of them.
*** Aidey White. I don't think much of his defending, but the left back was our best attacker.
** Williams. His best 24 minutes yet.
* No-one. Even Hamill had an offday, but if you want to see how good he HAS been, check out these Wigan Paint Pot trophy highlights:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMHidd0eoLw
The Damage:
c£30 train
I have been trawling through the last few Chrons, courtesy of Salisbury. Is there an article EVERY week from a player telling me we're 'good enough to go on a run'? (I thought we had done - didn't we lose 8 league games in a row?) Anyway, Toney should be pleased this week, cos he's quoted as saying 'I'm not happy unless I'm not scoring' (hopefully editing negligence. Does the Chron even HAVE sub-editors?) But my own favourite piece was Little Lee telling us he doesn't like the fans singing their ironic chants...'How s*** must you be?' etc Well, little fella, I don't like the irony that YOU'RE still managing MY football team despite week after week of total tactical and team selection incompetence. The Wigan journo previewed this game by saying 'I think they (Wigan) can get promotion but, if they don't, then it will be their own fault. It won't be because teams have got better players than them. or that they have bigger budgets.' Sound familiar? How can a team containing Hamill, Toney, Hourihane and Pearson look so s***?
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| The Wigan Warriors...oops, wrong sport. |
Despatches: Pearson. I'll start with him. He looked a quality player when he 1st came, but slowly, and surely, he's getting WORSE. Who do I blame for that? I've been wondering what his level is and I think we saw it yesterday: not as good as David Perkins. Lordy. Hourihane. A crowing Molly was asking me in the pub pre-match what I think of the legend now. I said he'd had a very good month (that makes 2; the other one was August/Sept 2014). Well, how s*** was he yesterday? Delivered 3 awful balls in the 1st 5 minutes, 2 into the keeper's arms and one into the stand. Later highlights included giving Williams a hospital ball (like Williams needs a hospital ball!) and hoofing a free kick over the bar. Still, the latter didn't matter, we were 2 down and into injury time. So much for Little Lee worrying that his form will have 'alerted the sleeping giants'. The piece in the Chron sounded more like a sales pitch. Lee - keep it up. I can't see anyone making a bid myself. (On another note, how comes Waddington and Molly are the positive ones; they haven't even seen the games we HAVE won lately, Oldham and Colchester). Toney looked a bit lost, but nobody thought Winnall should stay on the pitch instead. Winnall. What a player. Usually does nothing a forward should do, but notches. Yesterday, he had 2 glorious chances; the 1st one he scuffed (aren't most of his goals scuffed?) while the 2nd, he controlled the pass of the match from Williams (a reverse pass putting Winnall clean through) and while he controlled it and dawdled a defender had the cheek to nick it from him. Can Little Lee talk up Winnall's chances of being signed by someone else too? Another who was bloody awful (the worst?) was Wabara. This is a player whose contract is up in a fortnight. Say what you like about Brooce Dire, but he was always on point when facing contract talks. All Wabara does is prevent another of our youth from progressing (Bree - a player who was considered good enough when we were in the top half of the league last season). These coaches and Chief Execs of ours talk a good game about developing our own players, then bring in loanees and free transfers to take their places. Anyway, I'd get shut of Wabara. There must be better out there, even if it's not Bree. On a loanee note, it was good to see Long get a game. So it took 10 minutes for a cross inbetween him and Wabara for a Wiganer to miss a simple header. Note to Little Lee: our defence will never get any better chopping and changing. Defences have to learn to play with each, learn to communicate. Oh. (To be fair, it does look like Long is quite vocal). It was Mawson's turn to be dropped. Dropped, while that disaster Nyatanga, plays on. 'How s*** must you be?' etc Watkins was either so-so (everyone else) or 'complete dogs***, the worst player I have EVER seen in a Barnsley shirt (Jonesy). I'm ambivalent, and even when I watch him closely, think he's not great...but he's not that bad either. Better than Isgrove, tho, who sat on the bench 'earning' his loanee wages.
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| The Ponty, 60 mins in. |
Finally, FINALLY, I heard my first chants of 'We want Johnson out. We want Johnson out.' Why, it's only Salisbury's cousin Chris in the East Stand lower, who's had enough. A few of us joined in, but most had already voted with their feet: they'd left. (The match was still going on, but there was NO HOPE.)
***I learnt this morning Colchester have lost 7 in a row. Puts our victory last week into perspective, does it not?
Oh yes, the match. We were AWESOME for 10 minutes, piling forward (how else would Hourihane have 3 chances to cross a ball early doors?) Mind, Wigan still missed THAT chance while we never had a shot on target. Then they score, completely against the run of play. It's a sweet, sweet move 2 or 3 quick one touch passes (were you watching and learning Little Lee, Conor...Winnall?) leaving Kellett to curl home with his left foot (making a run between left back and centre half). Cut to pieces.
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| The Ponty, 87 mins in. |
Second half, if we did pass it around, it was on the halfway line going nowhere. The most dangerous we looked was either when Hamill and Aidey White linked up well, or when Wigan were trying their short goalkick routine. The latter looked like an accident waiting to happen and sure enough Williams nicked one off the right back, bore down on goal...then made the mistake of passing it to Winnall to scuff. Did I say how much I 'rate' the latter?
And then Wigan bag a second. I'm still not sure what happened. Suffice to say, it looked like play had stopped, I turned to look at something else, and when I looked back, our keeper was haring towards a ball he was always going to finish second to and their bloke waltzed round him to plant the ball in the net. Rumour has it the keeper f***ed up. Or the centre half. One of them.
 |
| West Stand |
*** Aidey White. I don't think much of his defending, but the left back was our best attacker.
** Williams. His best 24 minutes yet.
* No-one. Even Hamill had an offday, but if you want to see how good he HAS been, check out these Wigan Paint Pot trophy highlights:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMHidd0eoLw
Londontykes' Top 3:
1. White
1. White
2. RWilliams
3. Davies
Drink du jour: wheat beer all the way folks; Sainsburys had a choice of Weihenstephaner, Erdinger and Franziskaner. We didn't go mad and I'd forgotten what a Sunday without a hangover felt like. I didn't even fall asleep on the bus. But at least the Super Reds lost, so one weekend tradition remained.The Damage:
c£30 train
Johnson Out Johnson Out Johnson Out Johnson Out Johnson Out Johnson Out Johnson Out Johnson Out Johnson Out Johnson Out Johnson Out Johnson Out Johnson Out Johnson Out Johnson Out
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