Apart from winning and avoiding a banana skin I don't think that there was much to take from that performance. Wewere set up to allow Suarez and Mieralles to play together but that was cut short! Perhaps because the pace of the game was slow, Adam appeared to be out of sorts. His passing was poor and laboured, his shooting was off target and he got caught in possesion too often. Henderson is still very raw and appeared to lose his legs after 60 mins. Flannigan is till at least a year behind Kelly in his development. Wilsom and Robinson were solid but were not really tested by the Exeter attack. Skyrtl still managed to give a penalty away - it's becoming too much of a habit! Carroll is still not fit. He's half a yard too slow and appears to have difficulty climbing for balls he would have eaten before his original injury. I don't know what others think but I thought the pitch looked far better than it actually played. Maybe part of our miscontrol was due to the way that the pitch played. Still it's another gane out of the way and 90 more minutes of fitness practice.
I'm not going to accuse anyone of being Lettuce! His name just rang a bell - after all his name is Lclettis
I remember him off 606 too but I'm def not him.. I'm not here to wum or cause offence just healthy debate and gossip with fellow red men
People are very keen to criticize Carroll, yet he scored, and plenty of people tell us that's what a striker is there for. The fact is Exeter were up for it the entire game, and i think Andy struggled to catch up to that intensity not having started. The delivery to him was shocking as well, but i will admit his touch was poor. Also many seem not to have noticed just how effective he was against Arsenal. That was the perfect game to have someone like Andy Carroll- he forces defenders to give everything in every challenge, he holds the ball up, and is perfect for maintaining a solid away performance before we can bring on some other matchwinners and grab the 3 points. We went away to the Arsenal and bossed possession, ad having Andy was a key part of that. I'm not sure even Carroll is used to his own body yet, but it's going to take time to get the best out of him. Tonight was good all round, enjoy the cruise into the next round!
Couldn't agree more there Nips. Andy's first touch can be brilliant but it hasn't been on par to what it was like at Newcastle, he's not the type of striker to run past defenders and he needs good service just like Alan Shearer. To me this has been his biggest problem, he hasn't had a great deal of good balls played to him but when he has had good service he usually hits the target. Still miffed that his goal was pulled by the ref in the Sunderland game, but when he gets a bit of space on his left foot it is lethal.
I don't want to be a negative Nelly but it's been a while since we scored a goal without Suarez being involved. None this season! Dependent much?
Jay is going to be an important player this season, not starting often but he can do a job when needed.
People note that Suarez has scored in every game this season. Carroll has hit the back of the net in every game this season too!!!!! He's had two disallowed- both of which most refs would probably allow stand. It's not that he is not scoring- it's just not standing. Now on the darker side- I only caught the last 5 mins yesterday on actuall video- and with 2 goals up there was probably a bit of complacency and loosening the drawstrings... BUT... Carroll's passing in those last 5 mins was abysmal. Game was already won at that point though.
