Yeah, Hayden is another excellent signing. What with these and the Irish Cafu, it's all looking good defensively.
It was no coincidence that when Hayden went off that Birmingham took the lead around a minute or two later. If you watch their goal back ( 0.53 secs into the video ), Colback ( Hayden's replacement ) is in the opposition's half of the pitch when we lose the ball and Field is almost on the halfway line leaving Bacuna 15-20 yards of space to run at our defence. Hayden would've been sat in there defending the space in the middle of our half. Another point is that Field recovered his ground as Bacuna laid the ball off to Laird and then ball watched and marked no one instead off staying close to Bacuna and possibly preventing their goal.
I’m with you all… loving Cookie in this team and JCS is a great partner in defence. Dunne has made a great comeback, he looked fed up and like he wanted to go but now looks like he’s back enjoying his game with us again. Hayden is very good, shame we can’t afford him. Couldn’t be a better time for Marti to assess this squad for character, ability and fit for where he wants to take this team. If he manages to keep us up he will have some serious decisions to make. Out of interest, would you keep Willock if he had a change of heart?
One point not really touched on here is how poor Frey was. The worst I've seen him play and he was totally dominated by a very ordinary Brum back line. It was good that Cifuentes saw this early and had Armstrong lined up right at the beginning of the second half but something of a mystery why he then waited 10 minutes to get the change done.
We need better than either of them next season. And I don’t think it’s Armstrong though he is much improved - but not a consistent goal scorer at this level. I thought Marti was very generous to the crowd. Packed house and the noise was great for the first 10 minutes but then tailed off to nothing until they scored, and of course wild for the last 5 minutes. But overall thought the atmosphere at the West Brom game was much better.
As you say, there's no point looking ahead to next season just yet. Lots of twists and turns yet I reckon.
Birmingham Stoke and Millwall is the ideal however Rotherham seem to be doing their best to not let that happen
Hayden was great yesterday. But his injury looked very worrying. Wasn’t moving his arm or shoulder at the end when shaking hands on the sidelines
Yesterdays victory was great but the result does hide the issues. We offer very little upfront, especially playing one up front. For me both Armstrong & Dykes need another striker to work off. Sanderson had Frey in his pocket all game, a like for like replacement suited Sanderson just as much. Would have liked to see how the defense would have dealt with Armstrong had he been running off Frey/Dykes. I always liked Willock but he is living off historic reputation at the moment, for me the injuries appear to have made him hold back a bit. I agree with SW that JCS has been very professional for Cif, those injuries he had under Ainsworth cleared up over night. Was still a great result though and there does seen to be a good spirit brewing.
I thought Sanderson’s assist for Jimmy’s rocket was outstanding. Watching Frey chase after the ball will give you a good idea of what it’s like to watch me chasing after a ball, except I have slightly more hair. And possibly pace. Likewise I wish Willock would take a few more risks. I’m sure that between Smyth and Kolli when he’s fit again, we’ll forget Willock quickly if he leaves in the summer. I know it’s easier said than done but we need a 12-15 goal a season striker.
All of these issues are for next season. Right now, all that matters is getting enough points to stay up, whether we play well or absolutely ****e.
Not when Willock is playing like he did at the beginning of last season. But he hasn’t for ages. This season he’s got better as it’s progressed, but is still nothing like peak Willock. Smyth is pretty limited especially when it comes to the cross/final pass, but he’s full of running and pace and beats his man regularly and at least tries to do a defensive shift. It’s good having them both, but we probably won’t next season.
I wouldn't be too fussed about losing Willock now we have Andersen. He gave the ball away a bit too much yesterday, but Andersen gives us the crossing ability that we've lacked. He also has the confidence to make first-touch crosses, two or three of which could have led to goals yesterday (take note Ilias - get it in the box). Smyth's pace and direct running will always give defenders problems.
I was thinking about this earlier. Where would we find a striker who can score goals and remain within our budget? Hopefully Marti has something up his sleeve from his time abroad, or maybe look at strikers from league two who have over twenty goals already this season such as Alfie May at Charlton ( 21 goals ) and Macauley Langstaff at Notts County ( 24 goals .)
