Here we go for the first of our weird kick off times which I am going to hate. I've also seen the weather forecast and that just fills me with even more joy. I can never look at a game against Luton without thinking of Joe Kinnear and his "Plymouth who" comment all thos years agao. He had to eat those words later after a superb Argyle performance in one of our glory years. Anyway, they are the bit of a surprise package so far this season. Given they were in the Prem last season, albeit a whole load of people were surprised they got there, they have not started this season with a bang. Now don't get me wrong because I will never assume a result just because a team is down in the depths. The irony is that we are used to playing the top end of the table over the last couple which we are back to after this one. This is the sort of game where Argyle fans will be expecting to take the spoils and historically just the sort of game where it doesn't happen. I'm going to be positive though and vote for a victory for the greens. If I'm going to have to get wrapped up for winter and stay out late then I can expect no less. COYG
Well here is hoping for a win, im leaving now to get top the Far post club again.. but the forcast is wet and windy. Well looking forward to a good evening and a beer after Enjoy the match
Just a few showers during the match I think. It is breezy. What the crazy schedule is partly about is the even crazier schedule in the elite leagues. Sky don’t have European football and so they’ve always used the Championship as something to fill in the blanks. That’s worse now as more teams, most of which none of us have heard of, have been taken into to various European competitions , meaning more games. I’ve read several articles on a backlash from the players. There’s a legal action by player unions against FIFA about this stupid 32 team world club championship they want to run in the summer along with the World Cup and the Euros and the South American and African equivalents. A well known player (I can’t remember who) was saying that there is quite a lot of talk among elite players around the possibility of a strike. No wonder, I saw an analysis of the number of games played by current young star players compared to their equivalents at the same age 10 years ago. They’ve played 20 or 25% more games, which doesn’t bode well for their longevity.
Grimshaw, Mumba, Szucs, Edwards, Hardie, Whittaker, Obafemi, Gibson, Gyabi, Randell, Al Hajj. Subs. Marosi, Houghton, Cissoko, Wright, Bundu, Galloway, Tijani, Forshaw, Palsson.
Obviously went passed bedtime......... 3 - 1 and bleddy hard fought that was as well. This is one of those games that is hard to sum up and you sort of had to be there or at least watching it. If I'm completely honest I would have to say that watching the players come out at the start I was a little bit in dread. What a size their squad is. I obviously commented on that and it looked like a mans team versus boys in stature. At this point my son said that their main striker was a donkey. Very big yes but still a donkey. He had apparently watched them versus Millwall and he was very clumsy and missed a shed load. What an assessment that turned out to be because if you look at the set ball numbers for them i.e. corners in particular you would expect us to struggle. We didn;t. He should have had a minimum hattrick but got none. He also fluffed numerous attempts not from corners. Luton, this bloke is league 2 and you need to ship him out. Now for the rest of it. At times we looked very very good and some passing routines were first class. Sometimes it worked for us and created a chance and at others it just went by the wayside. The one thing we did do for the whole of the match was compete and compete very well. Goal one was a good move and was taken well by Al Hadj. Think he will become a favourite. I actually thought goal two was a bit against the run of play at the time. Cissoko came on as a sub and made an impact. 2 - 0 and it looked all over by then to be honest. A minute later it was 2 - 1. Not even sure what happened but guess we went to sleep a bit. It then became a bit tense for us and they pressed a lot. They aren't just big but they are also fast and played a lot of balls over the top or in other parlance long. Moses came on as a sub for them and if it is the same one I remembered who is now 109 years old, he hasn't lost his pace. He was their out ball. He scored their goal of course. We seemed to recover toweards the end of the game and sure enough Cissoko came up with number three. Sounds easy at 3 - 1 but it wasn't really. It was however well deserved. Now to character assasinate one of ours. This might be a bit contentious. The player in question is Whittaker. I have to be brutal and say he didn't contribute very much at all for the entire game and this isn't the first time in my opinion either. If he isn't scoring then he seems anonymous and I am beginning to wonder if we should have pressed to take the money on offer during the transfer window. Well he isn't scoring and isn't doing much else for 90 minutes either.
Originally, I forecast this as a 3-1 win on the basis that our recent performances had warranted better than the results we got and that sooner or later, it had to click. Then I bottled it and went 2-1. In fact, if this had finished 5-1, nobody could complain given the quality of some of our play compared to their muscular long ball clogging. We carved them apart at times and made numerous chances including a Joe Edwards canon ball that hit the cross bar. However, we made it harder for ourselves than we needed to by continually giving the ball away by sloppy and over-optimistic passing Rooney clearly wants to play an aggressive style with a high press and quick attacking en masse. I swear to God that Joe Edwards spends more time in their final third than in ours let alone Bali Mumba. Fair do’s, we played some really good stuff tonight and we got the result but at times the players just need to make sure we keep the ball, especially in our own half. A thoroughly well deserved result nevertheless. Well done to the manager, whose appointment I choked on at first, and all the players. Keep that up and we’ll be OK.
The cannon ball wasn't Joe this time notdistant. Randall hit the bar with a thunderbolt that deserved better.
Bloody hell. Memo to self: do not compose match reports at midnight. Randell it was of course, who I thought had a brilliant game. By the way, did you notice another insidious effect of being on Sky? You don’t get the last verse of the Janner Song.
Perfect round up sensible, it was a greeat evening and totally agree with those words for their striker, a big player but awfull. 2 headers were goals and he just put them over, he could not use his feet either, i dont know what their corner count was. But the 3rd goal was Gibson making two great challenges in their half. Joe was unlucky not to score again, keep made a good save, 2 tough games next week and hopefully we take a few points, we should not fear them .
Much the better side throughout and this time we took our chances. I’ve been expecting this it so comes as no surprise. El Hajj may make a big difference playing in that No 10 role. Rooney has weaned Cissoko off the step-overs and made him more direct and more deadly. Gibson and Szucs are formidable as a pair. Randell is playing really well and Gyabi is starting to show why he’s in the England Under 20’s. It’s coming together. Four yellows to them and it should have been more. Only one to us, and that after Randell had won the ball fairly in my book. That’s a good indicator of the stress levels in the two teams.
