Well that was excellent. I cannot say just how glad I am to have football back - as nice as Match of the Day and BBC Radio Shropshire are, they just don't quite do it. Perfect way to start the season as well, beating a side tipped for promotion and managed by an odious cretin is always nice.
So the match kicked off and we pretty much scored straight from it. Morgan chased down a ball, the defender saw a 6' 5" centre forward and assumed he would be slow; a belief reinforced by Morgan's incredible slowness out the blocks. However, he's like Usain Bolt in that once he's got going he's incredibly quick. He chased it, outpaced the defender and outmuscled him (he really seems to have beefed up, he's much more adept at holding off and outmuscling defenders, as I thought it was a weakness for someone his size last year) before clearly getting impeded by the full back who didn't want to be embarrassed again. Wright swung an excellent ball in, but it was headed away and fell to Parry. Everyone shouted "shoot", but I didn't really want him to. He did, he hit it first time on the volley from 20 yards and I think (I could quite possibly be wrong) with his weaker right foot into the top corner of the net. It took a little deflection on its way, but it was a truly outstanding goal; the technique required is quite amazing.
Anyway, I though we had an iron grip on the game for the opening 25 minutes, with Wroe quite anonymous. However, he started to grow into the game after that point and was pinging some outstanding passes around. I never really rated him that highly during his time here, I thought he was a decent League Two midfielder and nothing more, but I was impressed last night. He, along with SCS and their right winger (I think it was Monakana, released by Arsenal, number 17) looked their only decent players until Sodje came on.
Once Preston got a bit of a foothold in the game they were a little more dangerous, with Monakana tying Purdie in knots for the only time in the match as he beat three players and pulled it back, but an outstanding block from the excellent Hector put it behind for a corner. Their only other chance in the first half came from a speculative 20 yard drive from Wroe which produced a fine save from Chris Weale.
On the whole, I felt we were good value for the lead at the break. Preston had passed the ball across the back a ridiculous number of times, something we were happy to let them do, even more so as only SCS looked genuinely comfortable in possession, the others were awkward on the ball and very one footed. The lack of a decent striker was a real blow for Preston, they had nothing in terms of movement through the middle at all. Grandison had their left winger (Lee Holmes, looked very good against us last year, scoring twice for Oxford unless I'm getting him mixed up with another Holmes) in his back pocket all game despite looking a little uncomfortable on the ball barring one incredible bit of skill that had Holmes baffled and on the floor - it was far from Grandison's usual lumbering step-overs and was genuinely brilliant technique!
The second half was my opportunity to see our defence in action, and again I was impressed. Not so much, however, with the referee. In the first half the linesman had given two clearly incorrect offside calls against Morgan, but that wasn't the referee's fault. There were some ridiculous calls regarding Morgan though, he and a defender were holding each other and for some reason the referee deemed Morgan doing so a foul and not the defender. However, worse was to come. A few instances of note; the first of which came when Jones simply used his considerable body weight to hold off a striker and the referee gave it as a foul in a very dangerous position - completely incorrect - and yet when it happened in the penalty area it wasn't a foul. Poor refereeing there, he had to be consistent. Other mistakes came when their striker clearly elbowed Jones in the face when going up for a header - hopefully accidental but a foul nonetheless, and when Summerfield won the ball from Wroe with an excellent tackle on the edge of the box. The referee gave a free kick, again in a dangerous position, and Wroe characteristically wasted it, but the only way a referee can give a foul if someone wins the ball is if it is dangerous play, in which case he needs to produce a card. Needless to say, he didn't, in keeping with the fact it was an excellent tackle and a disappointing dive from Wroe which led to him being booed for the remainder of the game.
Anyway, I was extremely impressed with the defending and keeping. Weale was commanding and authoritative, and far more decisive than Neal. Hector has a fair bit of pace and though he did show his inexperience once, he also showed his Premier League class by skinning a forward to launch an attack after snuffing out some danger whereas most League One defenders would have booted the ball into touch. Jones looks like a great organiser, always ensuring the positioning is perfect and utilises his strength very well. Extremely composed and he made many outstanding blocks on the stretch which completed a game in which I cannot recall a single error from him. Grandison was, well, Grandison, and Purdie was very good. Man marking their most dangerous player, he dispossessed him 4 times with inch-perfect sliding tackles and didn't let him out of his sight. Also a special mention to Parry - covered a huge amount of ground to fill in for Grandison when the big man decided to take a brief sabbatical and play up front for 5 minutes.
Anyway, this is far too long so I'll just briefly summarise key points.
Anyway, apologies for the length of this post, I'm sure they'll get shorter and shorter as the season goes on. Oh, and remember to take a look at the betting league, this weekend's odds are up. Top of the page for this forum
So the match kicked off and we pretty much scored straight from it. Morgan chased down a ball, the defender saw a 6' 5" centre forward and assumed he would be slow; a belief reinforced by Morgan's incredible slowness out the blocks. However, he's like Usain Bolt in that once he's got going he's incredibly quick. He chased it, outpaced the defender and outmuscled him (he really seems to have beefed up, he's much more adept at holding off and outmuscling defenders, as I thought it was a weakness for someone his size last year) before clearly getting impeded by the full back who didn't want to be embarrassed again. Wright swung an excellent ball in, but it was headed away and fell to Parry. Everyone shouted "shoot", but I didn't really want him to. He did, he hit it first time on the volley from 20 yards and I think (I could quite possibly be wrong) with his weaker right foot into the top corner of the net. It took a little deflection on its way, but it was a truly outstanding goal; the technique required is quite amazing.
Anyway, I though we had an iron grip on the game for the opening 25 minutes, with Wroe quite anonymous. However, he started to grow into the game after that point and was pinging some outstanding passes around. I never really rated him that highly during his time here, I thought he was a decent League Two midfielder and nothing more, but I was impressed last night. He, along with SCS and their right winger (I think it was Monakana, released by Arsenal, number 17) looked their only decent players until Sodje came on.
Once Preston got a bit of a foothold in the game they were a little more dangerous, with Monakana tying Purdie in knots for the only time in the match as he beat three players and pulled it back, but an outstanding block from the excellent Hector put it behind for a corner. Their only other chance in the first half came from a speculative 20 yard drive from Wroe which produced a fine save from Chris Weale.
On the whole, I felt we were good value for the lead at the break. Preston had passed the ball across the back a ridiculous number of times, something we were happy to let them do, even more so as only SCS looked genuinely comfortable in possession, the others were awkward on the ball and very one footed. The lack of a decent striker was a real blow for Preston, they had nothing in terms of movement through the middle at all. Grandison had their left winger (Lee Holmes, looked very good against us last year, scoring twice for Oxford unless I'm getting him mixed up with another Holmes) in his back pocket all game despite looking a little uncomfortable on the ball barring one incredible bit of skill that had Holmes baffled and on the floor - it was far from Grandison's usual lumbering step-overs and was genuinely brilliant technique!
The second half was my opportunity to see our defence in action, and again I was impressed. Not so much, however, with the referee. In the first half the linesman had given two clearly incorrect offside calls against Morgan, but that wasn't the referee's fault. There were some ridiculous calls regarding Morgan though, he and a defender were holding each other and for some reason the referee deemed Morgan doing so a foul and not the defender. However, worse was to come. A few instances of note; the first of which came when Jones simply used his considerable body weight to hold off a striker and the referee gave it as a foul in a very dangerous position - completely incorrect - and yet when it happened in the penalty area it wasn't a foul. Poor refereeing there, he had to be consistent. Other mistakes came when their striker clearly elbowed Jones in the face when going up for a header - hopefully accidental but a foul nonetheless, and when Summerfield won the ball from Wroe with an excellent tackle on the edge of the box. The referee gave a free kick, again in a dangerous position, and Wroe characteristically wasted it, but the only way a referee can give a foul if someone wins the ball is if it is dangerous play, in which case he needs to produce a card. Needless to say, he didn't, in keeping with the fact it was an excellent tackle and a disappointing dive from Wroe which led to him being booed for the remainder of the game.
Anyway, I was extremely impressed with the defending and keeping. Weale was commanding and authoritative, and far more decisive than Neal. Hector has a fair bit of pace and though he did show his inexperience once, he also showed his Premier League class by skinning a forward to launch an attack after snuffing out some danger whereas most League One defenders would have booted the ball into touch. Jones looks like a great organiser, always ensuring the positioning is perfect and utilises his strength very well. Extremely composed and he made many outstanding blocks on the stretch which completed a game in which I cannot recall a single error from him. Grandison was, well, Grandison, and Purdie was very good. Man marking their most dangerous player, he dispossessed him 4 times with inch-perfect sliding tackles and didn't let him out of his sight. Also a special mention to Parry - covered a huge amount of ground to fill in for Grandison when the big man decided to take a brief sabbatical and play up front for 5 minutes.
Anyway, this is far too long so I'll just briefly summarise key points.
- Morgan and Gornell both played well but will never work as a partnership. Gornell drops off and plays clever flicks and dummies, but Morgan pulls out wide. There was often nobody in the box to cover.
- I liked having 5 midfielders (arguably 6, as Hector is comfortable in CM). Just like Barcelona!
- We played a high line extremely well. Sodje nearly not a goal with his pace when he came on and we were lucky, but apart from that it was good to see.
- Players filling in when others were out of position was brilliant. I mentioned Parry, but Wright, Richards and Summerfield all did so too.
- Bradshaw looked sharp when he came on. I'd start him with Morgan next game to see how they do. Much as I like Gornell, I thought he was average.
- Graham Westley is a petulant tit.
- Our R.A.F camp works well - the team look much more together than Preston, despite a radical overhaul this summer.
- Graham Westley is a bell end.
- I don't like Graham Westley.
Anyway, apologies for the length of this post, I'm sure they'll get shorter and shorter as the season goes on. Oh, and remember to take a look at the betting league, this weekend's odds are up. Top of the page for this forum
