Does anyone think that one of the reasons we played well today was we had team spirit, now in my humble opinion is that the spirit is there because Gyan is gone and I think since he came back after the summer he has been a negative force in the dressing room. Against Chelski the lads were in shock as we all were but this shows that they can pick themselves up and play as a team. Just my thoughts like.
Aye maybe, For me the difference seemed to be O'shea. He never bloody shut up the whole 96 mins. Bramble seemed to be asking questions and direction the whole game , as did ricco. Every time there was a sub, he was at the touch line , taking direction from Bruce and relaying to the rest of the team. Even directing in the opposition box at set plays. Proper Captains performance. Catts has a Job now to get the armband back! Bring on the canaries
Aye maybe, For me the difference seemed to be O'shea. He never bloody shut up the whole 96 mins. Bramble seemed to be asking questions and direction the whole game , as did ricco. Every time there was a sub, he was at the touch line , taking direction from Bruce and relaying to the rest of the team. Even directing in the opposition box at set plays. Proper Captains performance. Catts has a Job now to get the armband back! Bring on the canaries
Lots of things, team spirit, O'Shea was indeed a captain today, solid defence but the big one was Vaughan who gave everyone else the freedom to play, he ran midfield and linked up play.
The team definitely looked up for it and there was a real sense of togetherness, credit where its due. Vaughan was motm for me but one thing that really stood out was how Brown completely figured out and cracked the 'stoke code' he realised when he was going for the first lump to crouchie if we was getting beat to the first header he was out of position and having to turn round and get back, he then changed tact and when the ball was hoofed up to crouch he went forward making crouch think he'd be challenged then just dropped back 4 yards off, crouch thinking he was under was flicking it on but straight to browns feet. If Oshea and Brown play 30+ games we should do okay defensivly
O'Shea, was the key factor for me too - the 2 games he's played in we've had two clean sheets. Wes Brown at a million is the buy of the season. Catt's has issues too. Vaughan was a class above him and made him look like a tug without a footballing brain. Vaughan's short passes, long passes - Bloody hell, every pass he made was the right one. Very good performance - well done lad! Moment of the match for me wasn't Crouch miss kick. It was Larrson's David Dunn style total miss kick in defence trying to clear the ball. Also saw a nice tweet from Anton before the match wishing the boys luck. As did Gyan but I actually think Anton meant his. Well done lads - Bruce out!!!
Vaughn, O'shea made the difference. Bruce picked the right team for the day. Now to see if we can also score the goals against Norwich if we play the same team selection. Catts, for me, is going to struggle to get back in the side. He breaks up play brilliantly, but doesnt do anything intelligent with the ball once he has got it. Once Meyler is back, Catts is going to raise his level to even get on the sub bench imo.
We'll get goals with this midfield, not only because there's a threat from Vaughan, Gardner and Larsson, but because that threat will let the strikers loose. The days when Bent or Gyan were crowded out by defences facing no other threat are over. Goals will bring results, and results will bring team spirit. Gyan was unhappy facing a thankless task up front on his own. He probably was a disruptive influence. But that doesn't mean he intended to be. When your star player is down in the dumps, it rubs off on others automatically. He didn't have to intend it, and I think some people are now looking for fictitious reasons to hate him.
The difference was dropping catts for Vaughn and giving O`Shea the captains armband! Worked a treat and we need to keep it that way, Catts has had his day i recon!
Thought O'Shea had turned into a women he was shouting that much, that is what we need from a Captain and not red cards and stupid fouls ala Catts. Don't get me wrong here I've always said take the armband off Catts and you'll see a different player who can relax and play his football. However the CM won the game for me they had a very good game against a decent Stoke side who admittedly were a bit off yesterday but, we can only play what is in front of us which we did.
