Blimey, we are running out of games now. From the supposed crucial run of fixtures we have had some rotten luck, and have made stupid mistakes which could well cost us come the end of the season. Cisse is a fool for what he did, and has cost us three points - but im pleased to see that he recognises this and has apologised. THE MATCH We were in control for the first 30 mins and looked like winning the game - and thanks to a nice goal from Zamora found ourselves 1-0 up. Unfortunatley, thats when things went sour. Cisse got himself sent off and the rest of the half we had to hang onto our lead. The key thing was to get to half time and sort it out then. But after just 50 seconds of the second half we had blown it. Another crucial timing for a goal going against us. Deja vu from the Norwich game then came through my mind! 1-0 up, down to 10 men, then losing 2-1! The goal to give away at that time was crucial but also poor defending. Barton gave the ball away (one of numerous times!) and i think young must have been done to let jarvis in. Second goal looked poor but the sending off completeley changed the game. THE RATINGS KENNY - 7 - made a few decent saves. a few kicks went astray and tbh i thought he may have done a little better with first goal - you could see what he was going to do. maybe thats being harsh though. TAIWO - 6 - average tbh. didnt pull up any trees, but was solid enough. still not sure on him though. FERDINAND - 7 - didnt seem to be able to win much v their strikers but defended ok throughout. had a great chance to equalise aswell but fluffed it. ONUOHA - 7 - same as ferdinand really. YOUNG - 6 - im beginning to think his lack of pace is a major weak link for us - he got done so many times, and i actually think we looked better once he went off and onuoha played at RB. BARTON - 5 - for a captain his performances have been very poor, and he was again today. he cost us the first goal and was constantly giving the ball away. this really didnt help seeing as we were down to 10 men. DERRY - 7 - did quite well i thought. did the simple things and was always a presence. SWP - 6 - alot of effort, but im afraid no end product and this is costing us. he does the difficult bits, but then does nothing once he has a decision to make. poor. TAARABT - 9 - MOM - superb from him. have really missed that creative influence. he was forging a nice link up with cisse aswell. some stunning shots which on another day would have gone in. CISSE - 5 - looked threatening and was linking up well - although a few moments of confusion which is to be expected. but im so angry at him for costing us three points, three vital points. ZAMORA - 8 - a good performance. nice goal and was well taken and general play was good. held the ball up well, but when cisse went off it was difficult for him seeing as he had no strike partner to pass to. SUBS: TRAORE - 7 - did well when he came on and played in CM. some nice passes and kept hold of the ball well. HULSE - 6 - didnt do a great deal but lots of effort and gave them something to think about. HALL - N/A - didnt really notice him tbh! THE FINAL WORD Im gutted. Came with high hopes of a win, and it looked like we would. But we seem to have no luck at the moment and another sending off has cost us big time. I know we cant really blame the other 10 players for Cisse's error, but we need to pick up points, and fast. 21 points now with realistically another 15 needed at least. Thats 15 from 15 with 6/7 of those against top clubs. We are in trouble. The positives is that we looked a good unit before the sending off and would have grown better as time went on. But for me it seems Barton and SWP are undropable, which is costing us. They are simply not worth the money at the moment. Feeling very low tonight after that. Every week we seem to fail to come away with points that we should be getting. Its getting too late in the season for that now. All these missed points is going to cost us in the end.
Good post Judo, a pretty fair assessment IMO. Another anomaly to the Norwich match is that after going 1-0 up in a similar time, the sending off also happened at a similar time. But the opposing players in each altercation were named Johnson.
In fact other than Adel who in periods was brilliant, though drifted out of the game in other periods, I thought Barton was our best player today. He was all over the park, saved us many times at the back with his coolness under pressures, and got a lot going from the back. Captain fantastic today! Agree with you that Young has again cost us a goal - I'd prefer to see him make way for Onouha at RB, and have Gabbi if fit or Hall play CB again with Anton. Stupid of Cisse but never should be a red card - we'll miss him just after having got his movement, skill and strength-
