I know it is only the JPT and if we get a good performance and 3 points on Saturday it will be totally forgotten, but I was shocked at how abysmal we were. I cannot see any advantage to the club in playing that badly. It didn't even seem to be that we were avoiding injuries because our confusion and clumsiness got quite a few players involved in physical knocks.
Not a single player enhanced their reputation, though Sullivan and Evina did enough to suggest they are adequate cover. Cannot blame the strikers too much as they didn't get a decent pass all night (apart from when a Brentford player laid a chance on a plate for Hayes, who panicked). Could easily have been 5 or 6.
Big talking point was how awful Alonso was. It was one of the worse displays of passing I have ever seen, and that is supposed to be his forte. To give him credit he was looking for the ball all night and finding big spaces in which to receive it, the sign of a class player. But that only makes his repeated giving the ball away when under no pressure even less excusable.
He has had plenty of time to get fit so his only excuse could be that he lacks matches. How will he get them with us, with only one Cup competition left? We cannot really send him out to non-league football to sharpen up as we do with the youngsters. What can we do with him?
That linesman was an idiot. Not only did their second goal come from a touch by Waggy, but their player was in line anyway so there never was any reason to disallow it. Then one of their forwards was wrongly given offside when well past our backline when at least three yards onside when the pass was made.
Only bright spot was that five first-choice players (and Kermorgant for 80 minutes) were kept out of this shambles.