Shaks, you looking for a job? Might be a few in for it.... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-foyle-west-37319409
Didn't get to see the whole match (fortunately!). Was on Grampa duty & had to go to the circus. This is what I did see though ... Green - Don't be fooled by the highlight footage of the goal - the angle was incredibly kind to him. I was in the East Stand, and we all noted that he was MILES away from the ball, and looked incredibly slow to react. We also got a flapping display and dreadful distribution. The number of times his upfield launches were headed back downfield say far more about his aiming than the poor heading displays from our forwards (which were indeeed poor). Ayling - Plodder. Can't remember anything close to outstanding about him, but not a liability. We really should introduce him to bombing down & putting a cross in. Is a frustrated no. 10 & likes to go inside & get involved. But we don't pay him to do that! Jansson - Excellent. And had the kop in his pocket when he appealed to them for cheering after a particularly good stop at the kop end. The kop responded well to him, giving rapturous applause. Bartley - Solid, dependable, safe. Most of the time. Did embarrass himself once as they broke down their left & he (wrongly) stuck his arm in the air for offside & stopped. I could almost hear Jansson telling him to get on with it. He didn't stop for long. Taylor - He was there. Not the same player at all, no matter what anyone says. Gets forward as often as Ayling, but little if any end product. Not sure if he's acting under tactical instructions to curtail his attacking or not. End result is that we have no FB bite to attack on the wings. Actually, to balance this, I must mention that since Monk took over, Taylor has been advanced on the left in absolutely acres of space and no-one has ever passed the ball to him when we have this advantage. It happened again yesterday, when Bridcutt took a free kick. After 3 or 4 passes, we were defending again. One pass to Taylor, a cross, and who knows .... Sacko - Fast, tracks back, tackles, and all the other good things you wish a winger would have, as well as getting good crosses in. He's got it all in spades, but it's the crossing bit that leaves a bit to be desired. He should get the ball whipped in earlier more often, but often makes a poor decision by taking on an extra man etc. Bridcutt - Did what he was put there to do. Can't fault him. Phillips - Did what he was put there to do. Can't fault him. Always had a bit of the dirty about him, & is learning well from Bridcutt Mowatt - Saw his name on the teamsheet & it was downhill from thereon in. Not a LM, so perhaps not all his fault. Wood - Even I'm getting v.close to wanting him dropped, however 2 things save him for me. 1. He is capable of scoring if he gets service & 2. he got irtually zero service yesterday. Can't get a carpenter to make tables if you don't give him wood (if you'll pardon the pun). Antonsson - Did a lot of running / movement, but no end result. As with Wood, he need service & is simply not getting it. Subs - Wasn't around, so can't comment - other than, if they can't break into this team, they must be even worse than we thought!! Tactics - According to Monk, both teams cancelled each other out & it should have been a 0-0 draw. Personally, I don't want to hear that defeatism from my manager. I want him to out-think the visiting manager & WIN the game. 0-0 at home is neither a target nor acceptable. If you examine how we played, we created virtually no chances. We had one winger who did well, but not well enough. No width from the FBs, so it was all through the middle & was dire stuff, lacking in imagination or result. We really have to look at the manager here. There was clearly no plan B, and by the looks of it, no identifiable plan A either, hence the attack on Popey by Monk, I think. He's been found out. EDIT: Ref - forgot to mention this barsteward. Dreadful decisions, and mostly against us, even when his linos indicated correctly. Worst decision was to leave their goalscorer on the pitch when he went in on Bridcutt 2-footed, and off the ground, out of control. The precise definition of exactly why you SHOULD get a red card. This decision defined the match.
These firefighters lost their lives entering buildings which they knew were collapsing. Today is the anniversary. The post was a reminder to us all that emergency services (just like our armed forces) lay down their lives for us everyday.
Tuesday's match might be even more interesting than we thought! please log in to view this image Chris Dawkes @chrisdawkesITV Heard from reliable source that Cellino went into the #lufc dressing room after defeat to #htafc to deliver some home truths to the players
If we don't win on Tuesday, even I can imagine Cellino throwing his teddy out of the pram and giving Monk the order of the size 10
Just watched the highlights. Wood needs dropping. If he'd done what he's paid to do, we'd have won that 3-1.
He missed two headers badly, and the third goal would have come from the penalty that we should have got.
Not sure how I feel about this, yes they deserve it BUT that is surely the coaches job. This just undermines the coach and you then get players wondering are we playing for Cellino or monk.
