A better late than never Scotty Parker held his first press conference this lunchtime. Pretty up-beat naturally. Main message was that his priority was to transfer his passion to the team and establish stability. On availability, all okay apart from the long term duo and Schurrle with his troublesome virus. Good news from the other lot - a) they won't be moving to a new stadium and b) they're banned from making transfers for the next two windows. Haven't got a clue who the New Boss will pick. So, will pop along to the Cottage on Sunday and cheer on whoever he selects - all with their shirts tucked in of course.
Tomorrow we have Graham Scott in charge. The Swindon supporter is hefty stuff and, an ex-goalkeeper, takes no nonsense. We've only seen him the once this season, the New Year's Day game at the Arsenal. The Dark Side haven't seen him at all. The last time they did was just over a year ago, January 2018, and boy did he set the cat among the hare at the old dog track. In a Cup match against Norwich he showed reds to Pedro and Morata in the 117th and 120th minute. For the record, in his 15 Premiership games this season he's handed out 38 yellows and 2 reds.
Think I'll stick with what I said in the 'Scott Parker caretaker manager' discussion If I was Scott Parker the way I'd play this was to put our newer signings & loans into the games against the top teams and say to them prove to us why we brought you to the Premier, if we go down show potential buyers that you are Premier class, if they don't perform then after the Man City game you start to introduce the PL2 players who you think have potential to work in the Championship, show them a flavour of the Premier, make them want to get back up, there are about 4 or 5 with potential. My guess is Parker will go with the majority of the Championship players as the spine of the Team that he can. I don't expect us to win, but I'm hoping as Parker says to see the players to give their all, not drop their heads at the first set back.
Results of been kind for us today. Let's hope that is a good omen for tomorrow's game. Get a nice new manager bounce and pull off a shock.
A Clue - Asked by the local paper about his team selection The Boss said, "In a nutshell, somewhere in between [Jokanovic and Ranieri]. I think under Slavisa the playing style was pleasing on the eye with wonderfully, technical, gifted players. I’ve learnt from both, it’s been a vital experience for me - to see the pros and cons first hand. We have technical players, but maybe we need to bring a bit of pace back into the team especially in an attacking sense."
First time in a while I've actually been looking forward to one of our games, looking forward to see what Parker can do with this group of players and his style of play. Not that I expect us to win or anything today, although it would be a nice bonus, just want to see a bit of fight and passion in this team which has been missing all season, I think Parker can bring it back.
I could't agree more Fabio, but in addition I hope we don't have bad luck which has been a thorn in our side so far this season.
Several of our players grew and improved as the game went on, and nearly we had the goal to get the draw. Pleased with that.
That was more like it. As you guys say, passion and fight. With players in their natural positions we played like a team for the first time since well, a while. Can't speak highly enough about the influence of KMac. But not the result we deserved. There was an offside before their first and a foul on Joe Bryan before their second. Apart from that the officials were actually pretty rubbish. Ref Scott got in the way more than once just outside their box and every time one of theirs fell over it was a free kick. The lino on the JH side seemed happier doing physical jerks than making decisions, although quick enough to rule Sessegnon off side right at the death. Probably correct but blooming tight and contrary to everything he'd seen up till then. Great stuff from Parker and Gray in such a short time - bringing the belief back. And a real confidence booster to take to Leicester.
We lost but it was huge improvement. If we'd have played like that earlier in the season we wouldn't be in the situation we are now. I liked the fact that it was largely the Championship side finishing the game today. There was fight, skill and we played like team. We were so unlucky not to take at least a draw today and Chelsea have their keeper and the Ref to thank for that. Really enjoyed the game, it went so quick. Suprised also how quiet the away fans were, must have been the quietest set of fans we've had all season.
