Good morning.
Far from as bad as it has been. That would be my overall sweeping statement type analysis. Certainly far more positives than negatives so let’s have kick off with the bestest bit.
What a goal. Churlish of some to dismiss such a sensational strike as simply anuvver couple of mil on his transfer fee. The boy has class. Defoe is one dimensional and crucially did not score last night. My argument in support of Pav ends with anyone looks good playing alongside Adebayor.
And so to the Gomes business. Has the rest done him good or is he a man playing well beneath his pay grade due to a bad case of perception? The answer is, ‘We’ll never know.’ He will be sold is my prediction.
The stand out thought about the back four is that Raging Kaboul looks like someone we could probably massively rely upon in the future. Bassong was horrible and demonstrated why we couldn’t even flog him for buttons in the last window.
Livermore was of course out of position and that showed. But Walker and Rose weren’t up to scratch. The Rubes were a decent enough outfit – and it was only Pav’s goal that separated the two sides – but they were pretty wet when it came to our 18 yard area. Had we been playing someone with fewer competency issues in that dept we would have been undone.
Carroll is drawing plaudits from every quarter. My verdict is that he’s alright. Dos Santos is an accomplished player but didn’t seem to really find his groove last night. Azza Blud gave what has sadly become the norm – yet another – ‘just back from injury’ performance. Dull in the first half, fizzled out in the second.
Sandro was in a similar boat ring rustiness wise, but he looked more resilient and I would expect his next Premiership showing to be better still.
Defoe did little aside from make much of Pav’s unwillingness to pass to him which possibly made me laugh louder than a good Steptoe & Son. Defoe is one of the most supremely selfish footballers on planet Earth. He only ever passes if he can’t shoot. Pav outside of the goal didn’t do much himself. My defense of this would be to ask you to take a look at the team behind him.
The attendance was low. A little over 24,000 Client Reference Numbers on the premises and from this figure we must deduct 1,500 freebies for looter victims. Levy & Co missed a trick on the pricing here. They were up against the game being televised on a terrestrial channel, it not being a season ticket game and perhaps the first genuine cold snap of the Autumn.
The reality is that too many players are being fielded in these Europa games that aren’t worth the current price of admission. You want to tell me that these guys are young? Thanks for that information. You want to dispute what they are worth, don’t bother. I base my observation on the fleeing fans at previous games and the gate last night.
These games are of appeal to a slightly different demographic than those who attend Premiership games. And the charge needs to reflect that. The money that the Europa generates is less too, so the model just needs scaling down and a scratch over 20,000 can be pretty easily have seen 10,000 added to the figure.
To some extent, we have rode our luck so far. We could have lost to PAOK and again last night, but both Greek and Russian club football has improved over the years, and the fact that we have taken four points against these two teams bodes well for the future. Especially after the way we played against Hearts at WHL. With three games remaining, three points will get us through.
Positives for me Kaboul, giving a good performance when we are cursed at CB. BAE. It’s so pleasing to see a player that is clearly enjoying himself. For MOTM, Gomes. What a difference between this and the Hearts game where we won 5-0, and he looked a nervous wreck. Another couple of performances like that and he should be challenging Friedel.
Of all the players who might leave, Gomes is my biggest worry. We have three class G/k’s aged 40, 35 and 30. You have to assume that we are not going to get much more mileage from the older duo, and frankly, I don’t want to spend years waiting for us to sign another class G/k if we sell Gomes and the other two hang up their boots.
No mention for Giovani Dos Shitos? Poor boy – must have been too cold for him.
Anyway is DL and cohorts oblivious to the financial climes we’re in? As I said Stoke charged a ‘package’ price of £40 for all 3 of their group matches. Very seldom would I even dream of congratulating Stoke – although I might turn into a SC fan this weekend!
Defoe…surely its obvious that he works best in a partnership. Pav is no kinda partner and hasn’t worked well with any of the strikers we’ve had in recent time (JD, Keane, Crouch, VDV).
Pavlyuchenko has qualities its just hard to see how to get the best out of them……Defoe has qualities and we all know how to get the best out of him, play him alongside a big man.
Also in defence of JD, he thrives on supply and last nights midfield struggled to keep the ball let alone give gotod service.
Defoe maybe limited but if he could hold the ball up, head the ball, thread through perfect passes as well as he scores goals he be the best striker on the planet. Embrace him for the undoubted qualities he has.
Also hard to judge Bassong. he gets a rare start alongside a 21 yr old central midfielder, a 21 yr old left winger and a 21yr old right back….not exactly a well drilled or experienced defence. Similarly Walker, worked hard, up and down, had little protection and played alongside Livermore….give him a break!
Re: Bassong.
Point taken but the most alarming thing was that out of that back 4, Bassong was the one who looked most out of his depth
Agreed. Here’s hoping Harry picks both Sandro and Parker on Sunday ’cause if Bassong’s playing the back four will need all the protection it can get.
The goal was worth me attending the match – fairly cold ! My expectations are somewhat lower than they used to be – come on how do the players feel when they hear HR deriding the competition so much… prices should have lowered lot more than they were last night…. 24k ain’t that bad for what the match was – we are comfortable (hopefully) to progress.
Whether Gomes, Pav, Gio go or not doesn’t matter to me all I want is them to play to their best whilst at the club – but I am still rejoicing in the fact that there are NO possibilities of seeing Mr Crouch, Mr Hutton and for the moment Mr Jenas, Mr Bentley being on the team sheet. I can’t understand all the sympathy for Aaron Lennon – when is the last time he had a good 10 mins on the trot let alone good games back to back ? (come on, be honest I can name at least 6 wide men that have overtaken him)
For me Walker, Livermore, Carroll did ok for the young ones – Rose was a bit dodgy … the biggest disappointment besides lennon was bassong…. I don’t think the established ones are out to impress due to our glorious leader’s not so quiet rumblings on the competition… It’s great to see Kaboul taking on some of the responsibilities bestowed on him.
As for PL, I hope Bale et al are back on form on Sunday…. Up the Spurs and COYMS!!!!!
Ratings for last night:
Gomes 7, walker 7, Rose 5, Bassong 4, Livermore 6, Carroll 6, Sandro 7, GDS 5, Lennon 4, Defoe 5, Pav 8 ( 4 awarded just for his goal!) The experienced ones are harsher as I expect them to be showing others the best practice ….
I think your rating of fairly cold was a little generous, I’d have said bloody cold was more on the mark.
Not cold as it was for the Twente Enschende away last year – froze my…… off!!! COYMS!!!!
We were all thinking back last night to a game v Hamburg in another cobbled together cup game. Snow piled up high like a four sided wall but won 5-0 or 5-1 Clive Allen hat-trick, Although I recalled the game, no-one could remember the cup? but it was bloody cold all the same.
I have your ratings far more in line with the game I saw
The only change would be Bassong at 6; thought he did ok with a newby next to him. If he could just relax a bit when he has the ball at his feet; maybe he needs a run of games….scary thought that!
Loved watching Sandro; what an attitude he has…not to mention an engine
UncKev is right too; Basser will need Sandro and Parker for protection on Sunday
We won; they lost
These experienced folks need to step up – fed up with them passing the bust – frustrated since February last year !!!!
Good game, Good game. Did’nt the boy Pav take his goal well !!! Then he continued to shot at every opp. Now Defoe knows how it feels. Carrol could be the new Modric. Has some nice touches. Now its on to Chicken Badge V Chicken Utd ( Blackburn ). I feel sorry for Steve Kean but I hear if he gets sacked he will not have to buy another drumstick in his life…
Neither will Phil Collins from what I hear!!
retired now ain’t he – good one