Hernandez Dawson Diame Aluko was so frusting today, he did a lot of great things but his end product was awful, you want to curse him but you can't because of the class and skill he showed to get in that position in the first place, he must have Bruce tearing his hair out.
Robertson Huddlestone Hernandez Sorry Big Mo... but changing your finger tape on an attacking corner makes you miss my top 3.
I all heartedly agree we should have pissed that game defence brilliant midfield and forwards dog ****
The midfield with Huddlestone always ends up passing sideways and backwards a lot, but Bruce loves him. I think with a better formation and more help for Diame we could quite possibly create more chances and score more. The forwards have always been a scapegoat that has allowed Bruce to camouflage his own faults, and people love talking about strikers much more than they do those who are supposed to create the chances.
Don't agree. Some of those crosses in the first were begging to be headed in goal. Nothing wrong with the crosses that a decent striker would have lapped up.
Robertsons crossing is dreadful. A cross to no one isn't a good cross its a **** cross. He pulls off a lovely cross every once in awhile but throw enough **** at a wall and some will stick. His end product is drastically lacking.
Bit harsh, and besides, what else have we got? Anyway, my MOtM 1. Robertson - despite having Phillips on his side, got forward at will and put in a couple of decent crosses that an instinctive forward would have snapped up 2. Huddlestone- great ball in for the goal, kept the side ticking over and looked forward more often than not 3. Dawson- not really tested but sprayed out some great balls to Robertson and got the goal Moses- solid but didn't really get forward which was disappointing Clucas- linked up well with Robertson in 1st half - does a good job for the team, shows good energy and rarely gives the ball away. Adds balance on the left. Huddlestone's deliveries were much better though and disappointing signs of him getting a bit of flack for not being Gareth Bale. Aluko- started well and looked threatening, having one shot parried and nearly getting on the end of the best cross of the match...at least tries to make things happen Hernandez- mixed bag of some great skill and falling on his arse. Looked knackered but can't fault effort...good to hear him getting support from the crowd, more in hope than expectation at the moment though. Overall, I thought we played quite well (though my last game was Brighton away) and the atmosphere in the North Stand was better than I was expecting. Looked to me like we just ran out of steam, and I would have preferred to see us keep the same shape and swap personnel to just freshen things up. Fundamentally, main problem for me looks like the defence sits too deep, which means the midfield have to cover too much ground, leaving a lightweight forward line isolated. Bruce banging on about Clucas the other night running 13.5km says a lot- we expect him and Diame to get back to protect a back 5 which is sitting 10 yards in front of our own box even when the ball is still in the opposition half, cover across to the flanks to help out the wing backs, and then we expect to see them bombing forward to support 2 forwards who struggle to hold the ball up....there is no wonder we take a while to build up an attack and we end up passing sideways or waiting for a wing-back to appear. To me, it is not the personnel in midfield that is the problem- between Huddlestone, Diame, Clucas, Hayden, Livermore and Meyler we should be able to dominate most midfields in this division- I know Dawson isn't the quickest, but we need to take the chance on pushing the back-line up 20 yards, allowing us to press higher up the pitch, not allowing the opposition easy possession, and providing more support for the forwards.
Dawson Aluko Clucas special mention for Dave, didn't play to badly ,needs to watch it around our penalty box almost caught in possession several time's, also it has to be him or Elmo on the pitch not both, they seamed to be getting in each others way after Elmo came on.
I thought Dave played OK, just needs to get the confidence now of taking full backs on and getting to the by-line and getting crosses in.
