A great result today especially coming from behind to win 3-2 with the last header of the game. I don't feel much sympathy for Coventry as this has happened to us so many times this season so its nice to grind out a win at the death. After the 6 points we have picked up this week, it now makes us 10 points off the trap door with Brizzel and Millwall both losing, the league table certainly makes for better reading tonight! IMO Coventry are going down, I can't see any way back for them as we are now 12 points ahead of them and today was a must win game for them as well as for us! Chopra seems to have rediscovered his goal scoring touch and that's 10 for the season for him. JET scored a good goal and listerning to Suffolk it seems that HYAM and DRURY were just immense in Midfield again. For god sake Jewell just offer Hyam a 3 year deal and don't **** about with 1 year deals! We all knew last year that Hyam will be an exceptional player and he should be groomed for the Captain's armband next season. If Drury and Hyam carry on with this level of performance, we have the engine room sorted for the next 5 years! Scowie made the comparison between Hyam and Holland today after the game and he should know better than most! Hyam is great at breaking up play and playing it simple like Roger Osborne used to do and Drury to supply the ammo to the front 2. Sonko however was just appalling again, any balls on the deck and he hasn't got a scooby doo! We have to get a loan CB in pretty damn quick before the game against Boro. Sonko raised his hand thinking offside when the ball hit him in the penalty box! What a ****ing clown! I am a very suprised and very happy Townie tonight and I applaud the 1,200 that made the trip from Suffolk today! You must have frozen your bollocks off but at least the win made the drive home that much warmer! The first game I saw Town win in the snow was at Bristol Rovers in the 1978 FA Cup tie. Thank god for Robin Turner that day scoring those 2 goals to draw the tie. Happy days and at last we have reason to feel a little more optimistic.
Indeed JWM, its nice to have a post from you that I completely agree with, I hope there will be many more to come!! Another good result which I think makes the likelihood of staying in this division much more likely than it looked a couple of weeks ago. Though things to be concerned about are, firstly our defence, once again some very bad mistakes and we're not going to score 3 goals every match could do with a couple of CB's on loan and secondly teams at the lower end of the table always pick up towards the end of the season. I agree with you about Hyam, should be offered a better deal, hopefully Jewell will reward him as he did Cresswell. I noticed he named some of the players out of contract but didn't mention Leadbitter could be a good sign?? I'd also like Martin(can't believe I'm saying that) and Drury longer contracts so we don't run the risk of having them with only 1 year to run. I'd probably offer Smith a 1 year deal aswell, he may not make it but he's young and I think he may be alot better with a good CB next to him and not Sonko or Delaney!! Plus give Scotland a 1 year deal. Despite PJ's flaws he seems to know when its right to introduce players into the team and also take them out of the team, Martin being an example and now Chopra and also Scotland. Credit to the players themselves for working hard to get back into the team and not letting their heads drop. This is certainly a positive from the last regime where players were frozen out completely.
I am not sure I agree with you PTC regarding Jewells managment of dropping/re-introducing players, I feel that to a very large degree Jewell has stumbled across this formattion mainly due to injuries, Boots, Bowyer, Scotland, Damo (or suspended Mcarthy) have all been injured in the past 3-4 weeks so he has had to use these players, who in the main had been frozen out, I would also like to think that fan power may have been a factor as well. At least he is sticking with these boys, that is to his credit.
I agree with you in terms of Hyam and Drury, he basically picked them because the players you mentioned were injured. But in terms of Martin, when he was dropped and brought back into the team, you need to learn when to put your arm round players and when to have a go and I think Jewell did this. And Chopra, was taken out of the team because he wasn't looking great and people were questioning him and now he's come back and looked refreshed. And along with Martin who would have thought Scotland would be back in the 1st team picture this season playing well?? Also with JET looking decent now he's finally getting a decent run in the team.
Scotland has come back in due to the release & sale of Tamas & Connor. JET may well be playing much better but he was at fault for thier 2nd goal today, was daydreaming when he should have been marking....but I understand that is the way he is going to be..I still stand by my statement above, that he has stumbled across this formation
It's a funny old game alright, a few weeks ago everyone was calling for Jewell's head, and now there's a real buzz of positivity within the team. (I still say Clegg out!) I just hope we continue to perform well, we've got some tricky games ahead of us and the last thing we need is another prolonged losing streak. I totally agree, the pairing of Hyam and Drury was forced on PJ through injury, so he can't really take the credit there; I dread to think where we'd be if they hadn't had these, so it's an ill wind and all that. But credit to him for sticking with this line up. Let's hope our confidence keeps growing. COYB
This a worry!! We had that flurry of decent results after they had a go with the 4-4-2 with a narrow diamond. Once that ceased to work it has taken until recently for this 4-2-3-1 to start getting performances and results. If it starts going wrong with the current formation, how long will it take them to come up with something else that functions?
I agree YP, the thing with Jewell is that he always seems to stumble across the right formations and tactics! Take Hyam for example, the only reason he is playing now is due to Jewell being forced into playing him! This kid is a future star and I really hope that he will be club captain next year. His performances typify the character we need and puts the "oldies" to shame!
" Sonko however was just appalling again, any balls on the deck and he hasn't got a scooby doo! " Were you at the game ? Sonko was NOT appalling at all, yes he wasn't fantastic, however he was far better than Sunday league Tommy Smith, that's for certain.
I did say on the OP that I wasn't at the game and the fact remains that his mistakes our costing us every week
What did you think of Murphy yesterday Westy? I thought he was our worst player and should have been subbed, after all if a player isnt contributing to the sides performance he might as well not be there.
Perhaps the " facts " state that. The reality, is without Sonko and another Tommy Smith we'd have conceded another 20 this season. So have that for your " stats ! " Muprhy....... awkward one. Battles hard / jumps well and aims to win headers. He was certainly a mile better than how bad he played at Blackpool that's for certain. He was very slow at times with the ball, and to me doesn't move into space overly well. He isn't a striker either - so I find Murphy very awkward indeed when it comes to discussing. Prob a 5.5 / 10 performance yday from Murph's.
