I want to see their goal again before I vote because the quality of my stream was dreadful, so mine will be tomorrow night. I'll also count up from the weekend at some point tomorrow if there's anyone left to vote.
I feel obliged to at least give some credit to Shane Long, who dealt with the pretty dire service well enough, won a lot in the air, laid te ball off well a few times and was a handful, despite what the commentator thought, he should have had a penalty, yes he played for it by running across him but that's what strikers are supposed to bloody do. I'm ignoring the header he missed. No one else did anything noteworthy.
Based on a phone call received from my cousin who went to the match: 1) The small crisp packet being blown around in the wind at the side of the pitch. 2) The chicken and mushroom pie. 3) A polite friendly steward who kindly showed my cousin to his seat when he seemed to be having difficulty. We're in trouble.
Livermore - Very good first 20 mins and some other good moments such as sliding tackle to stop Chamakh scoring, still dropped out of the game with Thudd Long - Worked hard and won balls, won what should be a certain pen Davies - The only other player I can't critiscise Mention to Jelavic who is getting criticised quite heavily but his job is to finish good chances, which we are not creating. Judge him with Aluko/Brady etc. back when we actually make something happen.
1 Livermore - started out great, but faded. 2 Davies - for getting away with that blatant handball in our penalty area 3 Elmo - for making a few decent crosses in which no one would take a gamble on and get on the end of. we are definitely missing Brady, and were definitely missing Aluko.
1. Livermore 2. Long 3. Boyd when he came on (it's slim pickings) Although I don't think Elmo did much wrong, I can't say he impressed at all. 3-5-2 can cope with 1 centre back who can defend but can't distribute but not 2 (McShane & Bruce look terrified on the ball). Rosie was poor today as was Huddlestone and Meyler. Huddlestone didn't look interested in his holding role. And I don't know what was wrong with McG, he was absolutely dominated - not like him at all.
1 Davies - did nothing wrong but IMHO better in back four or Central in back 3 And no-one else really worth a vote but if I had to then: 2 Boyd 3 Fryatt - he did nothing but did nothing much wrong either, and after his two goals maybe he deserved a start, though hindsight easy. 3-5-2 formation was awful. We need Brady on song for it to work. Why was he not even in the squad - he looked excellent when a sub at Southend. Jelavic was awful. Long non-descript. Rosie out of position and found out. Hudd sluggish and failed to impose himself etc etc Nobody else was worth a vote.
Interesting since all the stewards just told people to sit wherever they wanted. 1) Long, showed some determination to try and turn our **** service to his advantage. 2) Boyd, transformed us when he came on and showed just how much Meyler had been struggling. 3) Davies, rock at the back for most of the game.
Can't vote because my stream was so intermittent but I did see Gabbidons blatant push from behind on Long early on and it looked like a cast-iron penalty to me. Could have changed the game with us 1-0 up. CP is like Burnley...we never get a break.
No Roger. I thought it was a dead-set penalty until I saw the replay and Long ran across his man and fell over himself. It was the right call. Some referee's could well have given it but it was the right call. My opinion of 'possession football' is well documented on these and other boards - it's ****e! Over 6 hours and no goals speaks for itself. Jelavic and Long worked hard but there is a lot to do yet. We simply aren't creating the chances these two need. Boyd showed what was needed in the short time he came on and I think he has managed to raise his game to this level. Hard to pick a MOM as the general performance was way under par. Livermore Long Boyd
1. Boyd 2. Davies 3. Long Special mentions for the truly dire performances go to Rosie, Elmo and Bruce.
