Let us agree something from the start. We are not going to accept the following excuses for losing matches:
1. They treated it like their cup final
2. Teams are always going to raise their game against us.
3. Injuries
4. It's a difficult division to get out of
5. Look what happened to other clubs like
6. They put ten men behind the ball and we couldn't break them down
7. They were a good strong physical side and we lost despite playing football
And finally I loved this one from Brucie after Saturday's win over
8. They played the long ball game and my players weren't used to the ball delivered long from the back to the front.
Why not? It was the only tactic we had last season. I know, I've seen it many times before. Was it all that revolutionary a tactic? Who would have thought that battling little Colchester United in their first ever game in that division would be physical and hit us hard on the break with the long ball? My nine year old niece knew what was coming.
Make a note of the above, listen out for when they are used and remember that you should not accept them as a viable excuse.
Any complaints about the line up Saturday? None from me.
Kelly looks an accomplished right back and demonstrated his desire to move forward intelligently rather than gung-ho for the winning goal. Zinedine Tebily and Zidane N'Gotty looked comfortable with the ball in the air but were caught chasing shadows on a few occasions. Sadler showed that he is fast becoming a secure left back.
The midfield four caused some trouble last weekend. Every single Blues fan thought one of them rubbish and one of them brilliant and none of us have agreed yet. I thought Danns had a good game, tackled well, very industrious and tried to move forward whenever the chance arose. I also thought Dunn was awful. On a number of times the ball was shifted out to Dunn wide on the left and his lack of pace removed any impetus from the attack. His passing was awry and there are times to put the fancy flicks back in the cupboard. At home to
Dunn will come good. DJ was DJ and Clem looked to spray the ball around when given the chance. But you lot will all have different opinions and to be honest we could all be right. At times they looked good but for too much of it they were quite frankly mediocre.
It was nice to see Forssell run at the defence and I am sure we all hope he recaptures his form of old. DJC looked nervous early on but the goal did him the power of good.
As for the subs well, Jerome showed promise. For three minutes. The red card was justified, he raised a hand into the face of an opponent and in this nanny state that counts as a sending off.
Larsson should have been booed from the start. What the hell did he think he was doing passing the ball to team mates? We don't suffer that kind of ability at
Speaking of talent, Bendtner was with the fairies. He controlled the ball beat a few on a mazy run and then he also passed to a colleague. So that's the secret then? Who would have thought eh? That Arsene Wenger is a clever guy, he made the Arsenal players pass to each other. If only we could have known that earlier. These Arsenal kids can make the difference. They have stepped down in class and it shows, they have the touch and skill of Premiership players and they stick out like a sticky out thing. And there's one more to come. Plus another big name striker.
The media claim it is Kuqi. Didn't we get rid of him? Oh the other one. Great. He isn't a bad player but is that the game plan we are going to revert to now we have found a kid who wants the ball to feet and also have Forssell, Jerome and DJC who also want the ball on the floor.
By the time you read this we have also beaten
Stoke are not going to be a push over. They love a battle and will defend their territory with all their might and probably resort to desperate basic tactics. As for the team I have no idea how they will play. I'm just glad I'm in
Keep right on kids. It's nearly Christmas and Santa is a blue nose.