I agree with most of this. Keeping Kermit would have secured our tenure by now. Surely worth more than 400,000. Not simply because he was our best player, but because he was the only player we had in that position. Stephens has been replaced by Poyet (more or less) but we have no-one to either hold up the ball or chip in with goals as "second" striker, let alone a player who can do both these things as Kermit did. Where I don't agree is that Powell "should" have left sooner. If he quit he would have forfeited a lot of money for not honoring his contract. I don't think that would be perceived as "showing integrity" by any prospective employers. Why should he and his family suffer for someone else's arrogant stupidity? Powell's reputation is intact throughout football. I foresee him getting a job with a "bigger" Div One club who have the budget to get promoted. Some owner will (rightly or wrongly) assume he knows how to achieve that. It would be ironic if he replaced Parky again. The wheels have come off at Bradford dramatically.
Cousins plays on the right because Riga puts him there he would of been a good England manager in the past square pegs round holes and all that. Two games left we stay up by whatever means then Jose has done well if we don't then sacking CP got us no where
Am a bit surprised at all the negativity from yesterday's game. Perhaps my standards have slipped, but thought it was a decent game and we played pretty well, and barring some individual errors (Hamer for the first, Sordell penalty, Cousins and subsequently the whole defence for the 3rd!) we more than matched them in the first half and were having a good go in the 2nd. Substitutions were shocking... Reza was back to his lightweight worst, running in all directions seemingly with no point, then falling over... and Church... errr... how is this guy still anywhere near the squad, Obika and Pigott must be really crap in training. And why take Harriott off when he's actually putting in a shift... frustratingly little end-product, but causing far more danger on the left than Cousins on the right. Biggest plus points... Sordell looks like a new man, angry that, if he'd have played like this for the whole season, we'd probably have a few extra points, certainly some extra goals, and would be safe. Great goal. But for now he's undisputed starter against his old club on Tuesday. Poyet... running out of superlatives, though yesterday him and AA needed to have a conversation about who was playing where as too often they went for the same ball. Thought criticism of Astrit harsh actually. Dervite is fast becoming our #1 centre-back. Negatives... That's two games in a row Hamer needs to look at his reactions. Solly should be dropped for Wilson and focus on next season, he's just not quite there
How many times have I come on here after games and read 'Why is Cousins out of position on the right' or 'why don't we play Solly and Wilson on the right'. CP was criticised, and rightly so, for perpetually playing players out of position, yet here we are, two games from the end of a wretched season, and we are still making the same mistakes with the new guy. I agree with everything about Sordell (that's right, I'm not calling him Sodall any more) that he finally seems to have woken up and started to play to his potential, which is nice, but infuriating he left it till now. Let's stick Reza and Church to feed him. And please, could the abuse of Harriott by our own fans at home be silenced by a few well chosen hangings? People complain that our home record is poor, but if our own fans choose to make life hell for our players, it's not really a suprise when they play badly. Harriott was supposed to have had a blinder last week, maybe because we took so few of our own fans up there?
Plenty of online abuse too, just as there was with Pigott. You can say that if you pay your money you're entitled to express an opinion, but anyone who wants to jeer our own players should save it for anyone who isn't trying, something which never applies to Harriott.
Agree and it helps no one he had decent game yesterday not the best but ok and a threat . You can never say he isn't trying hate to hear the jeers and crap from fans at him. Remember the abuse Simon Francis used to get he hasn't done badly since. Wilson player of the year for me yet he has put up with torrents in the past not so much now ..disgraceful. Agree you pray your money argument I suppose but my beef is it doesn't help the player or the team.
Disappointed with yesterday's game. Blackburn were decent on the break, but nothing special overall. 4-5-1 to start the game, but it was the defence that lost the game. Three poor goals to give away, albeit well taken by the Blackburn players. Sordell MOTM yesterday by a mile for me. He was the only one trying to make anything happen. Didn't always come off. Hardly ever had support. Missed the penalty he had won. But MOTM nonetheless. For me, the decision to take Harriott off and Reza on was what killed off the game. Not saying Harriott had a great game, but he was trying, and provided an outlet. Once he went off, Blackburn had only one player to watch (Sordell) plus allow Reza run down cul-de-sacs. Ajdarevic looked to have given up around 30 mins in and had done nothing before then. And by the time he did come off, Jackson needed subbing too. On the plus side, from CL looks like we can add Blackburn to the list of bonus matches we shouldn't even consider competing in. I didn't hear any loud abuse for Harriott in the NWQ, but thought the Lawrie Wilson song was unnecessary.
I heard a couple giving it loud in abusing Harriott from the NW but they are the same loud opinionated you get wherever you sit in the ground. I didn't think that Harriott had a bad game yesterday and was surprised that he was subbed when he was since Astrid had obviously used up all of the fuel in the tank by that time. Disagree that he was spent after 30 but definitely at 60 minutes. This is longer than he has lasted in the past so there is some sign of improvement to fitness levels - just in time for the break. I agree that, apart from the penalty, Sordell had a better game than I have seen him have the Valley all season and he genuinely seems to work well with Harriott on the left. My concern continues to be the defence. Hamer lost all concentration after the collision with Rhodes ( who milked it for all it was worth). Jacko had a word with Hamer to try and get him to retain focus but like the Viking Beserker he is trying to resemble, he chose to lose his cool and concentration. I think this must now be included in the opposition team briefing - "wind up Hamer and he will play like a nut job for the next ten minutes giving you a one man advantage". He must learn to control this if he is to continue as a keeper since concentration is an essential for that role. Solly is not yet 100% (probably the reason that Wilson was on the bench rather than playing right mid) , Fox is yet to find the balance at this level between attack and defence (that will come), Dervite was solid but Morrison had a real problem with Gestede all of which caused holes to appear. The referee was fairly neutral (although he didn't book the Blackburn player for the foul that caused the penalty.) but as with most referees at this level comes with an expectation of the result given relative league positions and judges the game with that at the back of his mind. Overall I think we were outplayed but most of our players put in a good shift. The song about Wilson he seemed to take with good humour and a recognition that the support was for him not against him.
Wilson was smiling when the song got an airing, he takes it well, saying it was unnecessary is silly.
Fans overall have been very good this season, considering what they've been put through at the Valley on many Saturday afternoons. I've read complaints about fans in the Lower West and Lower North giving the players grief, but in the NW, as IA said, you don't hear that side of it.
Lets face it, some people including IA,Scratch and Jimmy on here , can't wait to dust off that age old classic "it's the fans fault". An easy and thoughtless comfort blanket which some feel the need to resort to. For the record, despite having an appalling home record and playing ****e football almost the entire season, the fans CLAPPED OFF the players at half time both v Barnsley, and yesterday. So what if a few get on the players backs FfS ? Heaven forbid, it might motivate them to play better ! I was also annoyed that the club deemed a game v Blackburn to somehow be "category Gold". If you didn't go yesterday then please don't comment, but it felt to me at least that the club was mugging off the loyal home support. If we manage to get safe v Watford on Tuesday night then I will be giving the 550 mile round trip to Blackpool a miss. My personal view is that many of these players have royally mugged us off this season.
Strange how most of the fans who are so vehement about the so called "boo boys" are the same fans who don't go to many matches.
When you are paying top dollar week in, week out, to watch very poor football, you get to say what you like. If you don't like the people around you tutting at Harriott then get up and move. Personally I am tired of his poor passing, poor crossing, and poor decision making. My Gold game (LOL) ticket money yesterday contributed to his wages. And Petrucci's. And Astrid's. I will say what I like!
I think I'm going to move to a new section next season. There's this woman who sits about ten rows back and she really gets on my wick with her incessant screeching voice and banal analysis. Yesterday was the last straw, but I fear there is no escape from this banshee's howling drivel.
tutting is one thing, but when a person who gets breathless going for his next illegally *** at half time, shouts the C word every three words because a player doesn't run 100 meters inside 5 seconds, I do not see why I or kids around me should move, perhaps he & you, if you chose to use such language, should move. Millwall I hear has plenty of spare space for "fans" . I too pay top dollar & pay to watch football not some moron who knows even less about tactics than I do, showing off their lack of knowledge in an offensive way.
You usually do and somewhat repeatedly like a stuck record on most occasions. However your new rant suggesting that IA, Jimmy and myself blame the fans is a new low even for you. That there are a couple of opinionated people around me who have little grasp of the fact that you can't play it forward all the time is my cross to bear in the NW. It doesn't mean that I would even dream of saying "its the fans fault" nor do I believe anything that Jimmy or IA have said would suggest it is something they would say. With freedom of speech ("I will say what I Like") comes both responsibility not to defame others and the right of others to challenge misstatement. Or maybe your mother never told you that you can't be right all the time.
