How did we do?
Thursday, February 3, 2011 at 12:46AM Home again. Spent a couple of days up norf, within spitting distance of Old Trafford (tested and proved). Highlight, on the delayed journey back, was sitting within stalking distance of Kaya Scodelario. I'm practically twice her age. I disgust myself. But not as much as I disgust the o2 network and it's weak 3G connection. Following the football on Twitter whilst travelling on route from Manchester to London whilst salivating is hardly the best way to get my THFC fix.
So what have I missed during my bout of cold turkey?
Luka out for three games including the first leg of the monumental double-header against Meelan.
King delays op because he can't find his passport (you can't make this sh*t up).
Harry is still telling everyone stories about the almost/nearly signings in this past transfer window which saw us fail to resolve the ongoing forward conundrum saga.
Spurs win. Away. Gritty I'm told, not perfect and not vintage but some highlights including the performances of our fullbacks, Gallas, vdV and Jenas. Crouch scored. Defoe has forgotten how to.
And apparently if we beat Bolton on Saturday, we'll be one point better off than we were this stage last season. Not to shabby, even though some of us are struggling to stay afloat in a sea of negativity.
The arguments are aplenty and I'll formulate my take on all the deadline day mishaps when I've had nine hours worth of sleep.
Would appreciate some honest 'reports' of the game against Blackburn. Fill ya boots (i.e. the comments section).
DIY blog for this early early morning.
Reader Comments (54)
Did someone above seriously propose Pienaar for centre mid? What is this based on exactly? He is a winger / auxilliary attacker. I cannot imagine what makes anyone think he could do a job in CM. May as well stick Kranjk or VDV there...it'll give you the same lopsided outcome. At some stage Sandro needs to step up to the plate. He is a centre-mid by profession. He plays there for Brazil.
If Sandro cant be started at centre-mid during an injury crisis (ie with both first choice ones are missing), when is he going to play? The season is 38 league games, plus CL, FAC etc. It is, as we all know from cliche-land, a marathon, not a sprint. We can lose games now and then - it happens! Sometimes I think Harry is getting frozen with the fear of losing and is playing things too safe in his player selection. We need to give players like Sandro a run of games to get their feet. Otherwise we end up flogging the same players over and over again, with predictable results come this time of year (Bale crocked, Hudd crocked, Gallas crocked / knackered, Modders out, VDV dead on his feet after 70 mins of every match)
When Modders absence was known, I would like Harry to have said to Sandro 'right, this is your time. You have 3 matches minimum to make that place your own. You'll be playing defensive CM, with Jenas in the advanced role (rather than the kids who had no idea what they were doing when I pitched you in against Arsenal in the cup farce). Get used to each other in training, play yourself in'. Lets be honest, its what Wenger would do, and he would then defend that player to the hilt if / when they screw up a couple of times. Would Harry? I think we know the answer to that (and dont get me wrong - I am by no means an anti-Harry type, quite the contrary).
Just remember, this time last year the general feeling was that Modric couldn't, any any circumstances, play centre mid. Too lightweight, gets caught in possession, cant control the midfield. Only when Wilson picked up his 10th yellow was Harry forced to play him there, against Fulham in the cup. He hasnt played anywhere else since. Now is the time for Sandro to make the breakthrough. What a bost that would be for the run in.
Problem is we need him to keep the ball in milan. If we can get out of there with the score within one goal i'd fancy us to go through. Thats if we create the atmosphere we did for the inter game again, and not waste time talking crap about stratford
Hi Spooks, caught the game on an ENTIRELY LEGAL internet stream. My thoughts:
Crouch did well for the goal. Having another player up front with him meant that he had a bit more freedom to go one-v-one with his marker and met VdV's superb cross well. Hopefully he (and our other remaining forwards) can notch a few more in the second half of the season.
We looked much better going 4-4-2; it was still pretty fluid and there are times when a stacked midfeild and one up top will still be the way to go (away in the CL?) but I think Harry should settle on this formation for a while and see where it gets us.
Corluka did really well at RB and showed us what we've been missing. He even took the opportunity to get forward a few times when VdV tucked inside, which I thought we'd miss without Hutton in the team.
Gallas did well, seeing as he was limping and feeling his leg from the 60th minute at least.
Gomes really impressed me and pulled our fat out of the fire a good few times.
I'm going to the Bolton game and to be honest the only change I anticipate is Daws coming back for Gallas, though I'm hoping that Pav and Kranjcar get to feature at some point as well.
Let us hope 'Arry goes with 2 strikers against Bolton. We are long due a goals galore in the league instead of the 1 or 2 goals we currently have.