cant find any threads on this board so here's one. my thoughts on the match, we kept the ball well, williams a calming presence at the back, allen and ramsey played some nice balls in the centre of the park and especially late on bellamy caused problems and created chances with his pace. morison is a hard worker up front, and has to be because he is often isolated because of the 4-5-1, but there is pace and quality on the wings, probably the two best wingers in british football at the moment IMO. i didnt have a good view first half, but we controlled most of the game, and although we werent 'sensational' as speed put it, we were pretty darn close to it, a completely different wales has emerged under speed. sweet strike from bale for the first, and an excellent finish by vokes for his second, which put a nice look to the scoreline though we were by far the better team on the day and got the win we deserved. i wince at the thought of the 5-3-2 under toshack still, but then again he didnt have allen and ramsey in the most important part of the field
The big thing also Swamp is that we getting a run of an almost unchanged team. A team which barring one or two, is now full of players turning out reguarly in the premier league, but not only that, they're on form too!! With this consistency, there also comes the team-work & understanding, basics that are needed to have a platform to build from. More than anything, though, Gary Speed has instilled some serious belief!! We knew the likes of Bale & Ramsey were crucial to us if we going to have any success in the future, but to everyone's delight these boys have not let us down & have been incredible in the last few games. Added to that, the break-through into the team of the talent of Joe Allen, the solidity & dependability of Crofts, the pace & committment of Bellamy, the tireless work-rate of Morrison, the growing understanding of Williams/Blake & the attack minded full-backs Taylor/Gunter, we've really got some team developing!! But as always with Wales, strength in depth is an issue. So it's so important we can maintain our 1st eleven. There is some back-up with Collison, Edwards, Vaughan, Ledley & King in midfield. There's the Collins two, Nyatanga & the impressive Matthews today too, in defence. But it's up front where I feel we have the least amount of strength in depth. Morison is getting better all the time & Vokes got a brace today, but I feel if we're really got any chance of going the next level & seriously challenging for a qualification place, our wide-men & midfield have really got to continue to make-up the brunt of our goals!! Apart from the improving Morison, we maybe don't have enough top-class quality in Earnshaw, Church, Evans & Kanu et al, to make enough of a difference. That's a real shame for me.....
has bellamy always been a winger? i remember him as a striker scoring goals for teams like newcastle blackburn etc, could possibly free up left midfield for bale. also, where was neil taylor, was he injured? he could be the left back for the next 10 years, then on the right we have matthews / gunter who arent too bad, up front is a problem position i agree but we're strong in the most crucial department, the spine of the team is settled as you said and that never happened under toshack (not his fault) so hopefully the players can perform to their maximum like they have been under speed,
I'm not sure what happened with Taylor, I heard the commentators on Radio Wales speak about him, but didn't catch what they said!! Done some looking, but no info yet. Hope nothing serious for our sakes of course, impressed with Matthews in his place though.... Bellamy, not sure if he was ever really used as an out & out striker!! You could be right, but maybe more as someone using his pace just off a centre-forward perhaps??!!
Taylor picked up a knock against Liverpool last week and because it was just a friendly it was thought it was better to give him time to recover.
was that when he was clattered by a liverpool player last week? or was that a different incident? (maybe i'm thinking of when he got taken out by odemwingie. then why not play him just off morison? that would work, though bellamy's main attributes are pace and trickery so he probably is suited to playing wide left after all
Other than that silly mistake at the back, which gifted Norway the goal, we were great. I would like to see Sam Vokes, get some more game time, as I think he is under rated, and to me offers more than Morrison, who seems to do it for Norwich, but can't for Wales, I'm not knocking Morrison, as he had a good game, but I'm don't think he'll ever be a prolific scorer, Joe Allen was average, Mathews I thought had a great game, and I like Blake at the back, well deserved result, in my books! Just my opinion folkes................. please log in to view this image
I'm going to probably upset some of you but I thought Rambo had a poor game, to many passes going astray, a better team would have punished us for some of them, great result at the end of the day but against a Norway side that never looked 'up for it'
Great first half but something happened at the break. Norway came out and started playing and we struggled to contain them. After the keeper's blunder it looked like Norway would get an equaliser and we only offered something on the break. Luckily we held out and the class of Bellamy and Bale set up Vokes for an easy tap in. Fair play to the boy, he had to be there to get it and his finish for the last goal was very clinical. Overall it was a tidy performance but Speed must be concerned how Norway came back into it. Joe was distinctly average and Ramsey well off his game so our midfield wasn't dominant. Food for thought there. It seems to me that Speed has taken a leaf out of the Swans' guide to football. Some of the playing patterns were very familiar!! a style of play that is not associated with Speed to be honest. Remember how we howled at the prospect of him becoming our manager? I'd go further. This was what Tosh was trying to achieve during his tenure - ball retention, pass and move and go sideways and back if necessary so long as we kept the ball. Our players are now more experienced and better used to this system and with the class of Bellamy, Bale and usually Ramsey at the core of most of our good play, things are looking up. But let's not forget that it was Tosh that started us along this path. All in all it was an encouraging performance. We are not the real deal yet, though, and there is a long way to go before we become a consistent international force again. But it's looking good and the whole squad should be congratulated for their recent results.
Amazing how this has become a swansea v cardiff thing already. Jesus it was Wales playing yesterday. Good performance, Good result. But Sky please please please get rid of the worst pundit in the history of football, Mr Barry Horne. What a t*sser.
Barry horn was co commentator on the Liverpool game i watched,all he did was slag off the swans style of play saying things like " they ve had all These passes but what have they done with it " the guy is a total prick ,never had a good Word to say about the swans unless he is forced to through gritted teeth. Wales did well against a very poor Norway tem, in fact most nogs thought they were gonna Get a hammerings from us before the start! Allen and ramsey were very average and i thought the whole team switched off when we went 2 goals up.
My point was that Swansea over the years have played many different styles of football, so to say Swans' guide to football is a bit naff
"Swans' guide to football". As compared with cardiffs hoof and hope,eh? I know which one I,and most others would opt for.
Rhondda with respects, Vetch and Prophet have had their bans lifted, so he has the same privileges to post here as you do!
