Yeah the west had lots of empty blocks. As a whole, it was quiet but, in the short spells, it was louder.
One of the great positives for me today was hearing from so many of those at the game that Curtis was one of their choices for MOM. If he has truly recaptured his 2013-14 outstanding form and can stay injury free this year then we must have the best back-3 in the Championship. With Odubajo coming into the side and hopefully Gray signed to play up front with Akpom/Aluko we are going to have amazing speed in the side with Elmo and Robertson on the wings. Lets hope we can bring in the last missing piece ...a dynamic creative CMF playmaker....and we should be scoring plenty of goals. Hopefully we can bring in another 14 mill. from the sale of Hernandez, N'Doye, and Jelavic to pay for Gray and the CMFer.
I thought we never really got out of first gear or needed to, handled Huddersfield reasonably comfortably, got the goals as SB said at the right time. All the new boys had good debuts, Taylor tired a bit in the 2nd half, but the 2 Arsenal boys look class and will only get better.
I'd love to get Charlie Adam in the midfield with all that speed around him. He's not fast himself, but he's tough and has great vision, and chips in with a few goals himself. Thought he was out of favour a bit last season at Stoke - coming off the bench a fair bit. Maybe he's back in the good books.
Someone mentioned that with Maguire based upon Davies and Dawsons excellent performance today that we will have the best back 3 in the Championship. And coupled with Robertson and Obubajo we would have two excellent attacking fullbacks. That smacks of 5 at the back. I dont have a problem with it but I know some on this board dont like the system, but, given the players we have looks as though we may be heading that way. Also surprised to see Aluko on the bench given his pre-season form and sounds as though he played well when he came on. Also agree with other Burnsy and Swannys commentary was dire. Could not tell from it who was doing well, or indeed how well were playing. Miss the Sat morning game on the internet.
Hayden hasn't got much of a mention, I thought he did very well. Early on he completely missed controlled a pass and gave it away to the opposition in a dangerous area which im sure had us all worried, but after that he barely put a foot wrong. I was very surprised he was picked ahead of Meyler, but I could see why on today's showing. He was just as busy as Meyler would've been covering a lot of ground. But he also added something extra. He was great in the tackle and consistently broke up play, but he also had an eye for a pass, playing a part in both goals. Thought he complemented Huddletone well and think that partnership can develop into a successful one.
My many thanks to the poster who put up the stream for the live commentary from Huddersfield. Although obviously concentrating on their own it was a vast improvement on Burnsy. The 'text' Gamecast Commentary was an absolute disaster compared to recent years with it being mostly 20 minutes behind the game. I got better service from the simple 'live scores' site which is only a couple of minutes behind by comparison. I watched most of the Norwich v Palace game to see how Brady went and he played his part without being outstanding but Pardew has got his Palace team running well. P.S. In my pre-heart-starter state I put "Pulis" instead of Pardew - thanks Peter.
Chuba is going to need some new shins after this season...that lad is quick! Think him and Gray will be an excellent partnership. Aluko had all the time in the world yesterday...that's the drop in standard. Davies was back to his old self, never lost a header. Shagger's quick distribution was refreshing and coming off his line a few times as sweeper was promising if not terrifying. Clucas and Robbo on the left did well....get the overlapping working and they'll be potent. Hudds and Hayden were solid. Taylor was ok but his long throw has got to be used better. Elmo (if we don't lose him) and Moses on the right for our next league game. Big but...Huddersfield will be bottom half of the table, Wolves is the acid test
A splosh of ketchup on top of the pie does not make it art. Artisan pies FFS. come a long way from the garden shed on the top corner of the North and Kempton stands which sold pies and Bovril.