Good morning.
Well we won despite ourselves. And if you listen to Owen Coyle, against adversity. As previously on ER, I’m bored now. Nobody died and Bolton fans need to look at themselves reviving the Muamba chant late in the game to rouse their players. By the same logic maybe we could have got more out of our lot last season by flashing up images of Wilson Palacios’ relatives on the Jumbotron?
So in a football context…
The positives were certainly Bale who looked like a man restored. Modric planted in front of PNB and Livermore worked excellently. Adebayor and Rafa looked like the mature and talented chaps they undoubtedly are. The most positive positive of all is Arry managing us again.
There, I said it. We have a manager who for the second time in only a few days appears to have grasped what needed doing and acted accordingly. This underlines of course how he went AWOL on us, but it’s refreshing to see him back and taking an interest.
Negatives?
Well we kept making chances and missing them will be the cry. All I can say is I would rather we did that made just 3 chances all game. So no call for anyone out or anyone in from me.
One niggle is I have to question the sanity of these long rang shots unless they’re thunderbolts of eloquently placed. Have you too noticed the increasing, ‘Whaaaat?’ from every guy that misses to his frustrated team mates after missing? Hopefully this can be ironed out by Arry encouraging them to occasionally think of others when in a shooting position.
6.814 No complaints
7.878 Genuinely mmense.
7.444 Sound and a super goal.
6.488 Jury’s still out.
7.456 Free as a bird
7.565 Considered performance.
7.000 Less pressure
7.000 Dipped in and out
8.001 Needs to share more?
8.000 Always wonderfully creative.
8.000 He’s good stuff.
7.003 Super goal.
7.999 Wonderfully selfish
P.S. That read as though I was criticising Rafa, Modders and Parker – they too also create space etc, but they don’t receive the criticism Ade got last night.
Also, if this is how the Arsenal fans started to treat him, then no wonder he wanted out.
Never look a gift horse in the mouth.
Excellent points about Adebayor, Sam.
I thought last night was one of the finer performances I’ve seen our full-backs put in – Benny is solid defensively with fewer blips, and supports Bale wonderfully well, overlapping at the right time, giving him an out-ball at the right time. Add to that this new knack, where once he would ‘hoof’ it (accurately) to Crouch, now he slams incisive balls along the ground through the eyes of needles forward to Ade, VDV and Modders in space. Kyle covers the whole right side of the pitch himself, and with the right support from his midfielders can shut it out too. When we need another man over, he’s always steaming up the right to help out.
Livermore is also very good with possession, and makes carving passes too, as well as simple sideways ball, both of which we can use.
Very positive stuff. Bring back Lennon and let’s have a few guys popping up with goals, I’m looking at Luka, Scotty and Ade here.
Benny’s passing,especially 1st half was top notch,threaded loads of beauties up the wing and diagonals to the edge of the box.My man of the match
Benny has settled now people have stopped strangely judging him based on not a lot. It’s easy to say I’ve been a big fan of the guy since his debut – a 2-0 win at home to Sheff Utd, Berba and Jenas goals, just to prove I’m not making it up ;o) – and IMO his style of play has not changed dramatically, he’s always been a ball playing full-back, looking for a decisive pass rather than a clearance. I think the better the team have got around him, he’s excelled.
Also, there’s not many full-backs that could do the two-man job he does down that left. Let’s be honest, Bale is not the most eager to chase back all the time, like Lennon. And the last couple weeks, Walker has really improved. It’s almost as thought everything we’ve all said about the team has suddenly been addressed! I digress.
Have loads of time for Livermore too, but he’s grown and grown the more he’s played. I reckon you could play him against any team, in any competition, and he’d perform to the same level. The perfect squad player. Everything that Jenas should have been and possibly more.
Up front…
Ade is such a good man to lead the line
Defoe sent a great pass for the Bale goal (or was it just the pass that was on due to a great run?) but he was berated at least twice by multiple team mates for shooting rather than passing.
We’ve been at our best this season when VDV has been in the team playing up front
Saha scored a belter and is looking a huge improvement on Pav.
In the middle…
Modders back in the middle is bossing it again, Bale staying wider but still imposing himself. Livermore is doing the job when asked – bright future ahead of him. Parker bless him, great in our half, covering and tackling but can’t pass more than five yards, falls over in the box. Think Harry should just tell him to take a breather when we are attacking!
At the back…
King the weak link in our defence? Never thought I’d say those words. Fullbacks both brimming with confidence. Nelsen has an aura of calm – what an improvement on Bassong.
I don’t know if King is the “weak link”. He won everything in the air and made it almost impossible for his opposite number to turn. He is certainly the slow link, though. It says a whole lot that (the one time King did make a mistake) he made Nelsen (34 yrs old) look like Carl Lewis covering the space.
Bit of talk on Adeboy today…can I just say that I like the bloke, always smiles, great team player, a massive step up from 3MP and occasionally he’s on fire…but lets face it, he isn’t a 200K a week player!! I’d pay 80-100K tops…but we wont so we better get looking and not leave it until the last moment again.