Just looked at it again and I think Pukki was looking to play any loose ball and did so. Certainly an element of luck involved, but he had to be in the right place to make it happen.
It was a mistake, but no worse then some of the mistakes out field players made. Sometimes a quick throw is a bit of a gamble, which doesn't always come off. The intent was excellant the execution poor, however there were plenty of defenders between the Milwall player that picked up the ball & the goal. Both Klose & Tettey should have done better defending the Milwall players attack, after all if the Milwall player had been attacking from the position he was in having received the ball other than from Krul we should still have been able to defend the attack.
I agree Pukki was in the right place with the right intent, yes tachnically his touch might have not been the best and he might not have known much about it, but without his position / intent he would not have scored.
OK Rob, so it wasn’t a ‘proper’ goal t quote some ‘wally’ when we beat QPR, but they all count, as did Klose’s OG for Stoke. All Pukki had to do was get a touch on it and when you consider his workrate for the previous 98 minutes, it highlights the fitness levels of the entire team and DF’s training methods that the NCFC players were less tired than Millwall’s at the end.
Ah definitely and as others have said above all credit to Pukki for being there as well as the neat through ball from ?Buendia, which was excellent. I was really just meaning the commentator saying he chipped it over the ‘keeper! Thought that part was a bit generous... Grant Holt scored more than a few like that - it was part of his magic. And I know it’s still early days, but Pukki really does feel to me like we might have finally found the heir to Holt. I’ve no doubt that our struggles over the seasons since he left have been because we’ve never had a striker who really gelled in each and every game. Jerome is just about the closest and scored loads, but I think we all felt there was something not quite right there. He never had my full confidence anyway, often failing to score when he should have. Pukki on the other hand, I’m beginning to believe he will often score even when he doesn’t quite mean to...
Just seen this on Twitter: So the Photographer wasn't getting medical help and taken away for assistance/safety. He was being arrested! Anyone know why?! Edit: Found another post. In the comments, someone says what they saw happen.
Vrancic I believe (who along with JR had been on the field for 8 minutes) took the pass from Buendia and passed to Pukki. What’s really pleasing about the team is the way they’re running ahead of whoever has the ball, so that they can keep passing it forward and I think I saw somewhere that from the FK until it was in the Millwall net was 7 passes and the last 2 were nearly ‘inch-perfect’ and shows the resilience an determination within the team/squad. We now have a run of easier games and I hope we can amass a quite a few points before we all sit down to Xmas dinner. 6 games, so 12 points or more would be a perfect Xmas present!!! Edit - From PD's article this afternoon - 'Jake Cooper’s desperate lunging challenge may have ricocheted the ball against the Finn’s left ankle, but Phil Mickleson would have been proud of the delicate chip over the grounded Amos conjured with the striker’s second touch.'
That kind of instinctive adjustment to deflections and such seems natural to Pukki and to our other foreign players as well (Leitner, Vrancic, Stiepermann, Buendia Klose). I'd still contend that Pukki's 'chested goal' was one of those as he adjusted to the deflection. DF talked about Leitner's ability to naturally control the ball as he looks around for the next pass. The final goal was indeed a through ball from Buendia to Vrancic who then subtly layed it off to the incoming Pukki, thus wrong footing the defence. Clever stuff.
I have to respectfully disagree, Rob. What I see is Pukki putting his left foot out to control the ball, it comes back to his right and he knocks it in off his shin guard. Number 4 Hutchinson got a toe on the ball but didn't change it's path. I think the result would have been the same if #4 hadn't touched the ball at all. IMO, it was great reaction by Teemu.
Fair enough . A lot of disagreement with my post - I don’t think I expressed it very well: Pukki definitely did brilliantly to get in the right position, and it was a wonderful through ball. You might be right about the first touch- probably was deliberate, though a shade lucky that the defender didn’t knock it out of his path. However, for me, a shin is a shin - I was more surprised by the claim it was a “chip” over the GK...
Just watched a clip of the goal and Hernadez was following up in case it didn't go in and JR was also in the box
I can't believe anyone could criticise that game especially the 97 minute winner When Pukki scored that from an impossible angle everyone in the ground lost their **** even the stewards were celebrating. I guess some will never be satisfied .
