‘It’s that very wet rain’
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I should have left after 59 seconds. We were one-nil up (a corker from Cauley). Things wouldn’t get better than this, would they? No. (Puts the same old record on.) We play well, we create chances, we miss chances….the opposition go on to rip us to pieces. In fact, it was very similar to the Dirty Leeds home game, as we elect to play without fullbacks (!) and look surprised as the opposition play it down the wings and whip any ball in they like. What is the point of a Cavare or a Jordan Williams if they can’t do the basics?
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| The teams line up. In the rain. |
The basics. Mark your man, put a tackle in, track back. The goals speak for themselves. All 3 come from crosses down our left (albeit the second was central midfielder Sibbick failing to cut out the cross) but the 2nd and 3rd…you have to see the laziness of Cavare to believe it. He barely breaks into a trot as the crosses come in and Ollie Watkins notches at the back post. Late in the game, Williams too couldn’t be ars5ed to track back (having lost the ball) and only the clearance of the game from right back Brown (on for Calamity Cavare) prevented 1-4. Once is a mistake. Twice is a pattern. Three times is a habit. Dirty Leeds and Brentford is two. We can’t afford a third. Cavare simply cannot defend at this level, while Jordan Williams is a right back playing left back. These positions are not as interchangeable as the ‘experts’ (I’ll include Stendel here) think.
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| Well done those coming up from Brentford. |
But is the problem higher up the field? The last 60 minutes (60!) we’d get caught up field, they’d break, often 4 on 4, 3 on 3…a ball through or over our defence for the winger to run on to…direct, pacey. It looked so simple. Where was our midfield? Somewhere in the opposition half, that’s where. Mind, when we attack, far too often, we cut inside, take the extra touch, allow the other team back… we’re more the team of Keith Hill than of our last relegation side. Maybe with a touch of the Viv Anderson (remember those days?), promising for 20 minutes before the opposition get the hang of our game then tear us a new one.
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| The Ponty v Brentford. |
59 seconds. That was when Cauley (with his second shooting chance of the game – we were ON FIRE!) curled the ball into the far corner from 25 yards. He doesn’t do tap-ins. Problies cos he doesn’t get any supply. Twice he’d have been clean through if whichever clueless midfielder played the ball in first time, instead of taking the extra touch and letting Cauley run offside. This must be how Brooce Dire used to feel. Or Nardiello.
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| Our scorer. |
It coulda…shoulda…been two nil just past the half hour, Thomas causing mayhem down the left as their keeper goers AWOL. The ball is played across to Conor ‘Charlie’ Chaplin, who, with a defender in front of him and an empty net, manages to hit said defender. He could have done ANYTHING else and he’d have scored. Let the ball roll across him and stroke it in? Put his foot in the ball and let the defender run past and fall over? Absolutely zero composure. Brentford go up the other end and score.
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| Match action. In the rain. |
Even then, Williams had held up the break and they’d pulled it back. We now had about 6 men behind the ball….but Williams tracks the wrong man, and one cross into space and our centre halves are nowhere to be found as Watkins has a free header. I’ll give it to these centre halves: they win everything, as long as it doesn’t involve moving. (As an aside, I noticed throughout the first half how far they were away from each other; not a tactic I’ve ever heard any of Arsenal’s legendary back 4 ever espouse.)
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| Reds faves past and present enjoy a chat. |
Worse was to come as Watkins was put clean through. How he hit the post and then the bar, I’ll never know. We’ll ignore his mate missing an open goal from the second rebound. From being in at the break 2-0, we could have gone in behind. And it was p***ing it down. I was miserable. In fact so miserable, bumping into Oakwell historian Dave Wood cheered me up. (Hi Dave! Just checking you’re reading this!)
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| The Brentford hordes. |
Still, all to play for second half. Well, all to play for for 47 seconds. Least I think it was 47. Our defence is dissected by a diagonal ball to our left. Sibbick is on the cover but fails to make an ATTEMPT to cut the ball out. The cross is incredible. From virtually the byeline, their lad hits it over the keeper for Watkins to notch. Cavare had a great view. I’m trying to defend him…oh, go on then…maybe he expected the cross to swing outwards, and he’d come away with the ball? No, I’m giving this pr*ck too many dues. First job of a defender: defend.
Then for 5 minutes…no, 45 minutes…Brentford sweep past us time and time again and if they didn’t create a chance, they put themselves in an incredible position to do so. It was only a matter of time, and sure enough, in the 68th minute, they seal the game. ANOTHER diagonal ball down our left, ANOTHER cross into the box, ANOTHER stroll by Cavare, ANOTHER steal by Watkins, who strides in to score unchallenged.
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| Early leavers. In the rain. |
Cavare lasts another 5 minutes before being the 3rd Reds player to be dragged off (Laurel and Hardy…sorry, (Charlie) Chaplin and (Mark) Thomas…both comedians masquerading as footballers…were already off at 1-2. Jordan Williams cannot believe he’s still on the pitch, but of course Stendel stuck on attacking subs (of sorts – Schmidt and Thiam)…we were LOSING. The shape stayed the same though, as Cauley appeared to drop into midfield and Thiam ‘stole’ Brown’s place at right-mid, as Brown dropped to right back and showed Cavare how it’s done.
*** Cauley. Led the line superbly before disappearing into midfield. Needs to trust his teammates tho and not simply look for a shot when his teammates are better placed, as he did late on. Still, only player who looks capable of a goal.
** Mowatt. Good on the ball and made several forward runs. No pace to get back tho.
* Brown. You can’t knock a trier, and that run back to clear the ball late on really highlights Cavare’s ‘effort’.
Official MOTM? I didn't hear one. Too embarrassed?
Onwards and…downwards!
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| An increasingly empty Ponty late on. Where's our 'loyal' fans? |
Was that Adam Davies in goal? Collins never looked likely to get the cross off that 2nd goal, and had trouble keeping his kicks on the pitch. Halme and Mads at centre half….too far apart and positionally poor. Seemingly incapable of defending if the opposition move. Thomas, when he’s not underhitting a shot or a pass, couldn’t stand on his feet. Chaplin looked promising 1st half. Give him a run instead of Thomas? Sibbick dared to put his foot on the ball, but was given it in some suicidal positions. Wilks and Schmidt were given half an hour, and the former looked like he could do something, the latter did not. What a waste of money this Austrian looks. And then there’s Thiam, who, true to form (and class) lost the ball the first time he had it. And probably the second, third and fourth.
It was also nice to see Pinnock get a run out for the last few minutes. At one point Schmidt might have been clean through, but Pinnock stretched a leg and the danger was over.
I hate Sunday football.
Drink du jour: Punk IPA in the fanzone, Erdinger on t’train.
Away: 366
The Damage:
£23 train
£2 fanzine
£3.80 beer (Punk IPA)
£2 pork pie (Sunday dinner!)
= £30.80
The Tunes:
Two Suns (Bat for Lashes)
Keychains and Snowstorms – The Singles (Soft Cell)
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| Panorama v Brentford. |
