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Sorry for what is again a very late report (I have good reason this time!). Having returned pretty early Sunday morning, most of yesterday was filled with sleep and a 2 hour football tournament that really did finish me off!
Getting up for work was also a struggle today, so this is the first chance that I have actually managed to sit down and reflect on our game against Middlesbrough. For anyone interested here are my thoughts…
Naturally it was a pretty early start for me on Saturday, and having left home at 4am I had a nervous feeling that something was going to go wrong, and sure enough that’s just what happened. As I set on my way to catch the ferry, I managed to find myself stuck in the road after hitting a pothole and bursting my front tyre.
So after replacing it with my spare wheel in the pitch black (last thing I wanted!) I managed to make it on time for the ferry, and started on the journey up north to the Riverside Stadium.
Once we arrived in the ground, as we went through the turnstiles there was a massive roar of celebrations. Anyone would think that our game had already began… then we noticed a large number of fans watching the Chelsea vs Man City game on the TV – and City had just taken the lead. We had a good laugh at watching them being taken to the cleaners by City, and plenty of songs accompanied the huge cheers as the game went on… the largest of the night being Roman Ambramovich’s face at the full time whistle. Following that, we took to our seats located behind the goal and waited for kick off.
The starting line up didn’t spring any huge surprises, but Connolly was absent through injury and there was a place back in the starting line up for Leigertwood. The team was made up from Ikeme, Ramage, Stewart & Gorkss and Hill on the left. The midfield was made up from Cook, Faurlin, Leigertwood and Buzsaky. With what I guessed would be Simpson and German upfront.
Literally straight from the kick off I realized what Harford had done… and it was clear that we were playing a 4-5-1 formation with Simpson wide right. Massive mistake in my eyes, he isn’t a winger and never will be.
In fairness, despite my frustration with the starting line-up, we did start the better side. Buzsaky delivered one fantastic corner that looked destined for Stewart’s head, before being headed out by the enormous Weater.
Cook also had appeals for either a penalty/free kick turned down shortly after. After bursting in from the left hand side, he prodded the ball past Weater and was clearly obstructed by him as the ball rolled through to the keeper. This was up the other end of the field, so I’m not sure whether it was in the box or not, but without a shadow of a doubt it was a foul.
Borough hadn’t really offered anything going forward, and had their first attempt on goal around the 10 minute mark. Gary O’Neil hit a freekick from around 30 yards out, which while he did strike it well was going out for a goal kick… Ikeme didn’t take any risks with it though and got a hand on it for a corner kick.
From the resulting corner, the ball seemed to evade Ikeme and eventually landed right on the back post. One of the Borough players had the simple task of directly the ball into the net, fortunately he only managed to blaze it over the bar… to our obvious relief!!
Next up we had a brilliant chance to take the lead. Cook really was having a field day out on the left hand side in these early stages, and after ripping past 2 Borough players, he eventually played the ball central for Buzsaky. With only one defender now back for Borough… Buzsaky simply played the ball to the right for the oncoming Simpson - who lashed his shot into the side netting.
There was no real further action for the following 20 minutes or so, but one major weakness was at right back. Ramage was being beaten time and time again by Aliadiere, and you couldn’t help but feel that soon he would punish us. Aliadiere had a brilliant chance to put Borough in front, and after finding space just to the right of goal he could only slice his effort wide from little more than 6 yards or so with only Ikeme to beat… He continued to get a little bit of stick from his own supporters, it was quite clear that they aren’t particularly keen on him.
Around the 40th minute mark, Borough were awarded a penalty. I would like to say that it looked debatable, but for me we had no case for complaint. Aliadiere managed to latch on to a pass in the box, and while advancing on goal Ramage stuck a foot out and brought him crashing to the ground… stonewall penalty. Robson stepped up and lashed the ball down the middle of the goal, with Ikeme diving to the side. 1-0.
We nearly went straight up the other end and scored, but Simpson saw his effort pushed wide and out for a corner.
Literally a couple of minutes later, and Borough were awarded with another penalty. This one looked far more controversial. Lita managed to race in behind Gorkss, and seemed to lean back into him and throw himself to the ground. The lino waved his flag frantically and the referee awarded it. Again Robson stepped up and this time smashed his effort to the left of Ikeme, and wheeled off in celebration. 2-0. I may be wrong as I haven’t seen it again… but it looked very harsh.
With now only a couple of minutes left to go, we had one last effort in the half. Buzsaky hit a drive from around 30 yards out, and we watched on as it looked to be bending out of the keepers grasp… but he flew across the goal and fisted the ball out for a corner kick. I have been critical of Buzsaky this season, but that really was a terrific effort – it would have been some goal!
Soon after the referee blew time on the first half, and we were left to look back on what had been an OK performance.
It wasn’t down to lack of effort, but the tactics were a complete mess. On reflection, I do see what Harford was trying to do. Pushing Simpson to the right hand side of midfield left Buzsaky with almost a free role… but does it really make sense to shove your top goalscorer out on the wing, and rely on a worryingly out of form Buzsaky to give you that spark? I don’t think so. The fact that it left German who was starting only his second ever game for us (as a lone striker!) just made it all the more bizarre, especially when you consider he was up against a Premiership quality defence.
The change in lineup was instantaneous right from the kick off. Simpson was pushed upfront in his rightful position, and Buzsaky reverted to right midfield.
Within the first 5 minutes or so, we looked a completely different outfit. Borough threw nearly every player back into defence, and it was wave after wave of attacks from here on in.
The closest we came was probably around 20 minutes or so into the half. The ball was played through to Cook on the left hand side, and he pulled off an incredible 180 degree spin, that left the defence completely bamboozled! He got to the by-line and drilled the ball across the goalmouth… Simpson literally threw himself at it, but narrowly missed making contact with the empty net gaping.
Soon after Taarabt was introduced for Faurlin, and he tested the keeper with literally his first touch. We all know how tricky he can be, but after picking up possession on the right hand side, he cut in and smashed the ball goalwards… It was a comfortable save for their keeper, but he got a hand to it and pushed it out for a corner kick.
This half was complete domination on our part, and Borough offered virtually nothing going forward at all. Next up Leigertwood had an attempt at goal which he was unlucky not to see hit the back of the net. Ramage delivered a pin point cross from the right hand side, and after being touched down by Bent (who had earlier been introduced), Leigertwood volleyed the ball goalwards, but saw it smash of the post and clear from danger. The keeper was left rooted to his spot, and had it been just an inch or so more central we would have scored here.
Such was our abundance of possession that the Borough fans even turned on their side as the half wore on, and the groans around the stadium were getting louder and louder. Lita had one of their few efforts on goal shortly after, and Ikeme did well to push it wide from danger.
A short while before the final whistle, Bent did manage to beat the keeper but it was ruled out for offside.
The referee eventually blew time on the game, and the score line ended 2-0 to Borough. I noticed at the end as the players were walking off, Gorkss made a big deal of ordering the players to come and clap the supporters. Borrowdale, Cook, Ikeme, Hill, Ramage, Buzsaky and Leigertwood all came over and were applauded off the pitch.
Player Ratings –
Cook – Thought he was arguably our man of the match. Offered great width on the left hand side, and put some terrific crosses into the box. He got clattered in the first half, but got up shortly after and gave the right back no end of problems all afternoon. Still continues to show no signs of his injury, very promising.
German – Felt sorry for him on Saturday. All too often he was left with nothing to work with, but to his credit he somehow managed to win a fair amount of headers against Weater (who looked about 3 times his height!). Great to see him starting games, but is in no way/shape or form ready to play as a lone striker yet. Poor kid ran his socks off.
Ramage – Eaten alive… he really was. Took an absolute hammering from Aliadiere, and always felt nervous with him. I don’t blame him for the penalty incident, even the best players will make a mistimed a challenge every now and then, but on the whole he was very poor. I do like him, but sadly at some stage you do have to just concede that he isn’t good enough.
Those were just 3 of our players that stood out to me (for differing reasons), but for me the fault for this result lies with Harford. Had we started with a 4-4-2 formation, I think we would have got something from the game. Borough couldn’t handle us in the second half, and how we didn’t get at least one goal I put down to extremely bad luck.
I eventually made it home at 2am on Sunday morning, and as mentioned above hit the bed for most of yesterday!!
Hopefully next week we will have a new man at the helm (Neil Warnock please!) and we can discuss his first game as our new manager… and hopefully a good 3 points against WBA.
Keep the faith, Saturday wasn’t all that bad.
Thanks for taking the time to read.
U R’ssssss!
Getting up for work was also a struggle today, so this is the first chance that I have actually managed to sit down and reflect on our game against Middlesbrough. For anyone interested here are my thoughts…
Naturally it was a pretty early start for me on Saturday, and having left home at 4am I had a nervous feeling that something was going to go wrong, and sure enough that’s just what happened. As I set on my way to catch the ferry, I managed to find myself stuck in the road after hitting a pothole and bursting my front tyre.
So after replacing it with my spare wheel in the pitch black (last thing I wanted!) I managed to make it on time for the ferry, and started on the journey up north to the Riverside Stadium.
Once we arrived in the ground, as we went through the turnstiles there was a massive roar of celebrations. Anyone would think that our game had already began… then we noticed a large number of fans watching the Chelsea vs Man City game on the TV – and City had just taken the lead. We had a good laugh at watching them being taken to the cleaners by City, and plenty of songs accompanied the huge cheers as the game went on… the largest of the night being Roman Ambramovich’s face at the full time whistle. Following that, we took to our seats located behind the goal and waited for kick off.
The starting line up didn’t spring any huge surprises, but Connolly was absent through injury and there was a place back in the starting line up for Leigertwood. The team was made up from Ikeme, Ramage, Stewart & Gorkss and Hill on the left. The midfield was made up from Cook, Faurlin, Leigertwood and Buzsaky. With what I guessed would be Simpson and German upfront.
Literally straight from the kick off I realized what Harford had done… and it was clear that we were playing a 4-5-1 formation with Simpson wide right. Massive mistake in my eyes, he isn’t a winger and never will be.
In fairness, despite my frustration with the starting line-up, we did start the better side. Buzsaky delivered one fantastic corner that looked destined for Stewart’s head, before being headed out by the enormous Weater.
Cook also had appeals for either a penalty/free kick turned down shortly after. After bursting in from the left hand side, he prodded the ball past Weater and was clearly obstructed by him as the ball rolled through to the keeper. This was up the other end of the field, so I’m not sure whether it was in the box or not, but without a shadow of a doubt it was a foul.
Borough hadn’t really offered anything going forward, and had their first attempt on goal around the 10 minute mark. Gary O’Neil hit a freekick from around 30 yards out, which while he did strike it well was going out for a goal kick… Ikeme didn’t take any risks with it though and got a hand on it for a corner kick.
From the resulting corner, the ball seemed to evade Ikeme and eventually landed right on the back post. One of the Borough players had the simple task of directly the ball into the net, fortunately he only managed to blaze it over the bar… to our obvious relief!!
Next up we had a brilliant chance to take the lead. Cook really was having a field day out on the left hand side in these early stages, and after ripping past 2 Borough players, he eventually played the ball central for Buzsaky. With only one defender now back for Borough… Buzsaky simply played the ball to the right for the oncoming Simpson - who lashed his shot into the side netting.
There was no real further action for the following 20 minutes or so, but one major weakness was at right back. Ramage was being beaten time and time again by Aliadiere, and you couldn’t help but feel that soon he would punish us. Aliadiere had a brilliant chance to put Borough in front, and after finding space just to the right of goal he could only slice his effort wide from little more than 6 yards or so with only Ikeme to beat… He continued to get a little bit of stick from his own supporters, it was quite clear that they aren’t particularly keen on him.
Around the 40th minute mark, Borough were awarded a penalty. I would like to say that it looked debatable, but for me we had no case for complaint. Aliadiere managed to latch on to a pass in the box, and while advancing on goal Ramage stuck a foot out and brought him crashing to the ground… stonewall penalty. Robson stepped up and lashed the ball down the middle of the goal, with Ikeme diving to the side. 1-0.
We nearly went straight up the other end and scored, but Simpson saw his effort pushed wide and out for a corner.
Literally a couple of minutes later, and Borough were awarded with another penalty. This one looked far more controversial. Lita managed to race in behind Gorkss, and seemed to lean back into him and throw himself to the ground. The lino waved his flag frantically and the referee awarded it. Again Robson stepped up and this time smashed his effort to the left of Ikeme, and wheeled off in celebration. 2-0. I may be wrong as I haven’t seen it again… but it looked very harsh.
With now only a couple of minutes left to go, we had one last effort in the half. Buzsaky hit a drive from around 30 yards out, and we watched on as it looked to be bending out of the keepers grasp… but he flew across the goal and fisted the ball out for a corner kick. I have been critical of Buzsaky this season, but that really was a terrific effort – it would have been some goal!
Soon after the referee blew time on the first half, and we were left to look back on what had been an OK performance.
It wasn’t down to lack of effort, but the tactics were a complete mess. On reflection, I do see what Harford was trying to do. Pushing Simpson to the right hand side of midfield left Buzsaky with almost a free role… but does it really make sense to shove your top goalscorer out on the wing, and rely on a worryingly out of form Buzsaky to give you that spark? I don’t think so. The fact that it left German who was starting only his second ever game for us (as a lone striker!) just made it all the more bizarre, especially when you consider he was up against a Premiership quality defence.
The change in lineup was instantaneous right from the kick off. Simpson was pushed upfront in his rightful position, and Buzsaky reverted to right midfield.
Within the first 5 minutes or so, we looked a completely different outfit. Borough threw nearly every player back into defence, and it was wave after wave of attacks from here on in.
The closest we came was probably around 20 minutes or so into the half. The ball was played through to Cook on the left hand side, and he pulled off an incredible 180 degree spin, that left the defence completely bamboozled! He got to the by-line and drilled the ball across the goalmouth… Simpson literally threw himself at it, but narrowly missed making contact with the empty net gaping.
Soon after Taarabt was introduced for Faurlin, and he tested the keeper with literally his first touch. We all know how tricky he can be, but after picking up possession on the right hand side, he cut in and smashed the ball goalwards… It was a comfortable save for their keeper, but he got a hand to it and pushed it out for a corner kick.
This half was complete domination on our part, and Borough offered virtually nothing going forward at all. Next up Leigertwood had an attempt at goal which he was unlucky not to see hit the back of the net. Ramage delivered a pin point cross from the right hand side, and after being touched down by Bent (who had earlier been introduced), Leigertwood volleyed the ball goalwards, but saw it smash of the post and clear from danger. The keeper was left rooted to his spot, and had it been just an inch or so more central we would have scored here.
Such was our abundance of possession that the Borough fans even turned on their side as the half wore on, and the groans around the stadium were getting louder and louder. Lita had one of their few efforts on goal shortly after, and Ikeme did well to push it wide from danger.
A short while before the final whistle, Bent did manage to beat the keeper but it was ruled out for offside.
The referee eventually blew time on the game, and the score line ended 2-0 to Borough. I noticed at the end as the players were walking off, Gorkss made a big deal of ordering the players to come and clap the supporters. Borrowdale, Cook, Ikeme, Hill, Ramage, Buzsaky and Leigertwood all came over and were applauded off the pitch.
Player Ratings –
Cook – Thought he was arguably our man of the match. Offered great width on the left hand side, and put some terrific crosses into the box. He got clattered in the first half, but got up shortly after and gave the right back no end of problems all afternoon. Still continues to show no signs of his injury, very promising.
German – Felt sorry for him on Saturday. All too often he was left with nothing to work with, but to his credit he somehow managed to win a fair amount of headers against Weater (who looked about 3 times his height!). Great to see him starting games, but is in no way/shape or form ready to play as a lone striker yet. Poor kid ran his socks off.
Ramage – Eaten alive… he really was. Took an absolute hammering from Aliadiere, and always felt nervous with him. I don’t blame him for the penalty incident, even the best players will make a mistimed a challenge every now and then, but on the whole he was very poor. I do like him, but sadly at some stage you do have to just concede that he isn’t good enough.
Those were just 3 of our players that stood out to me (for differing reasons), but for me the fault for this result lies with Harford. Had we started with a 4-4-2 formation, I think we would have got something from the game. Borough couldn’t handle us in the second half, and how we didn’t get at least one goal I put down to extremely bad luck.
I eventually made it home at 2am on Sunday morning, and as mentioned above hit the bed for most of yesterday!!
Hopefully next week we will have a new man at the helm (Neil Warnock please!) and we can discuss his first game as our new manager… and hopefully a good 3 points against WBA.
Keep the faith, Saturday wasn’t all that bad.
Thanks for taking the time to read.
U R’ssssss!
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