I managed to see the game after the boy wasn’t feeling good and we rearranged going out. Nothing at all to do with my long face the whole day.
Or indeed chaining myself to a seat with a laptop superglued to my left hand.
To the game.
Was happy with our performance and delighted by some performances. Ntcham was excellent, Julien strolled it and won every header, his distribution was great. Wee Johnson was excellent too. Shved looks as good as I thought he would be and that was with only 15 minutes or so. Could have got two goals but the one he took was absolutely brilliant and was accompanied by a yell from me that had the cat bolting out the door.
Boli had a more tempered game, didn’t take too many stupid risks and his distribution was better, I still think he needs games though and if I was Lenny I would see how he plays on Saturday before I gave him the shirt for Cluj. They are a completely different level and until Boli gets better he can be got at. I would have Hayes in before him still and that’s saying something from me. But overall I think he benefited from the lack of pressure to ease himself in and relax. I am still not convinced though and knowing how a couple of stupid mistakes have resulted in us being knocked out in the past, I would be concerned in taking a chance on him at this stage of the season. Young Ralston again failed to reduce the need for two RB’s. tried hard as he always does but lacks the quality of passing or awareness of threat too often.
Next week away will be our acid test so far. We have threat and a midfield who can compete but it’s still the two fullback positions that are vulnerable. Hatem should play on Saturday and hopefully he looks solid enough to reduce the fear solely to our left flank.
I think we will score over there and to be honest, if we can’t overcome them, as good as they may be, there is more work than than there should be to be done. I only hope our failure to get the players in to make it easier to qualify doesn’t come back to haunt us.
I have already said on another post that I feel we have enough right now to qualify. That doesn’t mean I’m happy we haven’t got the other players Lenny knows he needs. We MUST step up and get these players in to help that vital objective of securing the group stages and in doing so, burying they bastards across the city.
A strong midfield and with Hatem hopefully being solid with Julien in there I think will be enough to tighten up and also create chances, taking a couple hopefully.
We are now entering the squeaky bum stages, where daft errors can and usually are punished, as we all know to our emotional cost. If we play the way we can it will be enough.
It needs to be with what we have, because let’s face it, players coming in at this stage will not be up to match fitness that is required for such critical games.
Get the players in Peter and give us a real fighting chance not just to qualify, but to do it with a bit to spare. That’s all I ask.
And there will be no repeat of me mixing up the days to agree to do something that causes me to be given a look that literally turns you to stone. My mrs hates football and doesn’t understand why I turn into a maniac wanting my team to be fucking brilliant.
She still loves me though. She’s no daft.