It's on my birthday. A win would be the best present. Been off the pop since Crimbo and got a bottle of whisky off work for something or other. Think I might have me a drinking game. Every shot they have I'll have one too. I'm gonna be wrecked by 2 o'clock aren't I?
Ok,lets not get carried away.It was a super win but will mean nothing if we go and 'give up' again in our next few games. I think we would need a bit more pace against man u at old trafford.
Great report as always. Agree about Mackie aswell 999. I forgot him in my report, but how i managed that i will never know! I have loved watching Mackie since he came to us as an unknown Plymouth striker. He has been top class and I am genuinely delighted to see him Derry and Hill having a good time of it in the PL. They are all grafters and deserve success.
Nice one Col. Great to see the team obviously play to MHs instructions and implement the plan with intelligence and passion. Zamora's first half performance was superb and set the tone for all. And we played proper passing football throughout - brilliant.
Your report is exactly as I saw it, Col - and I really hope we now keep a settled team into the next few matches (although I am keen to see the rejuvenated DJ Campbell on at some point). Taarabt is now coming into his own and will play a massive part in our survival push - which I still think we will manage
Thanks Col, while others post good match reports here I always keep an eye out for yours. I was delighted with the performance and obviously the result. Thought MH took some unnecessary flack here last week. We all know the type of player he was. He is a natural leader. Leaders are competitive and hate to loose. He may not come accross as the most charismatic person in the world, but i for one am glad we have him. This is the third team that we have had this season and the second manager. I know it's an old adage but it does take time for a new team and new manager to gel. I look at the squads at the bottom of the table and despite our difficult run in i think we have every chance of staying up. We have enough good players to achieve this. No need to panic over the coming weeks, if we win our 3 home games we will stay up. Simple as. For the first time in ages, i thougt we looked and played like a team. We looked organised. Players looked comfortable in the system and with one another. Our work rate was incredible. Just maybe our increased training is paying off. I know it will be music to your ears to hear the plaudits for Adel. His work-rate on Sat was really top drawer. For a big lad, i always thought he was a little "soft", but i was amazed and delighted to also see how physical he was on Sat. On several occasions he brushed some of the Arsenal defenders aside. I hope we can stay up, because i think under MH and our owners we could really progress as a team and club. I think we will just do it by the smallest of margins. The incentive must also be to keep the likes of Diakite and Taiwo who would be lost to us and snapped up by other clubs if we were to go down. All i want is a 100% effort from our players in the coming weeks. Its amazing how far energy, effort and committment can take you, especially in the last few weeks when some teams have nothing to play for and legs and minds are tired. If they show the same effort in the coming weeks as they did on Sat then i have no doubt that we will be fine.
Cheers nuts. Agree with all your comments there. I think MH was forced into playing the 4-2-3-1 system when Cisse decided to be an idiot again!! It worked really well, allowing Adel to get further forward as part of the 3 behind Zamora, who was immense! I would be amazed if he changes anything for OT!!
What we want is united to go straight for the jugular tonight - fired up by their loss to Blackburn on New Year's Eve - then be a bit complacent against us. What we dont want is united to do a Sunderland and be caught offguard tonight, while we reap the whirlwind.
Easy on Adel, ah well, why not son!! http://goonertalk.com/2012/04/01/ch...gn=chamakh-heads-to-shisha-bar-after-qpr-loss
Another great report Col... especially liked the opening lines setting the context of subdued fans and detached but otherwise focused players before the game. Can't fault your account of the match itself other than to add the significance of Hughes' game plan as pointed out by Wenger in his post-match interview. Basically, we let Arsenal play ball to their hearts' content - until they approached our third of the pitch. Then on all but a couple of occasions (Walcott's goal and RVP), our six or seven defensive players crowded them out and stifled their initiatives - at times with added assistance from Taarabt, Zamora and Mackie. This is precisely what a manager like MH has over the self confessed, tactic-less Neil Warnock. Consolidation and effective counter-attacks. If it's all about the quality of individual players as NW would have it, we'd have little chance now (as evidenced by the Wolves, Blackburn and Bolton games). If it's about team and game plan, it's a different story altogether. That's what upsets the mighty most. That said, Diakite's performances are showing that in him, we've got two players in one. Solid at anchor and a capable opportunist going forward. Often finds himself in space with not only the confidence and skill-set but equally importly, the energy to attack and still recover. Well impressed by this lad who's still way short of his potential imo. Looking ahead, if we apply similar strategies against passing sides like United, Swans and Tottenham in particular - and City in our finale - we've every chance of adding points to our tally. It's also worth pointing out that Hughes is beginning to show the same beginnings as he did at Blackburn, City and Fulham. His sides seem to start clicking about ten games in...
Great write Up Col as always. This time I even agree with about everything you write!!! It helped that MH got the formation right for what the second time?, but this time the players also seemed to understand what they should do! Why it's taken MH so long to play it properly is another question which I hope will not end up costing us our place in the PL. Only thing MH did yesterday I didn't undersstand was substituting BZ late on with SWP, I guess BZ was knackered, but SWP? - I suppose it was to defend. Great to read you praising Barton's performance, when I know that like me you don't like the guy, and have blamed him for Adel's poor performances earlier. It was probably Barton's best of the season. Great performances though as you wrote from all our players yesterday! I though Ferdinand had his best game since before the Chelsea game, and that probably applies to Kenny too. I voted Diakite as my MOM as apart from a great game he hit the winner, but really all 11 were MOM Saturday!
Oslo, you've really got it in for MH haven't you? Talk about grudging! Read Brix's post, MH is turning us into a premiership outfit. Our challenge is that this takes time, a commodity we are short of. MH is now averaging a point a game for us, not enough but better than NWs 0.85. Meanwhile Warnocks new team have conceded 9 goals in their last 2 home games. We are in a better place now mate, except for the fact that I seem to have gone all statto. Still, you can prove anything with facts.
Well I haven't got it in for MH, SB - but that can't be proved with facts! I hope like hell he is sorting it out and he does it in time! It has taken him far too long especially considering the funds he was given. Saturday was really very good, but we have to keep it going not just against the top teams but in the games the players maybe don't see as being so special, but which in our situation are all Cup finals. If MH can get the players really up for games like Stoke then he's getting there!
I'm pretty clear that the board made a mistake in making a managerial change in mid-season. While NW had reached the limit of his talents the business of rebuilding a team and tactics in mid-flight have probably outweighed the benefits of making the change. But we can at last start to see what MH had in mind when he brought his very physical Africans into the side and how Zamora can actually do a job for us in the right set up. Having said that it's NW's Championship stalwarts that have been the real stars of the show against Liverpool and Arsenal - Hill, Derry, Mackie and Taarabt - and MH really must continue to use that as the spine of the team if we are to have any chance. That in itself is such an irony when you consider what's been spent on players this season!
Change of manager had to happen when it did. Sir Neil's dependence on individual qualities would've needed Tevezs and Ballotellis to arrest the downward spiral (and would've lacked the pulling power to attract them). Totally agree your second point though. The (Warnock) NPC players are a real Godsend now. Ironic maybe but true nonetheless.
I think it was a massive mistake NW banging on about them not being good enough and us needing lots of signings. Hughes has given them the belief and hunger to do well back to them. To top it off SWP and Barton were no better than Mackie or Faurlin. Now while I wouldnt give Derry or Hill a new contract in the summer, I certainly wouldnt have told them they were never going to play or they werent good enough. I think they have both acted incredibly professionally, especially Hill who was sent out on loan.
