by MoorgateRoyal »
17 Aug 2015 08:49
I now sit in the West Stand after being in the East since the ground opened, and the only difference was that I saw Lady Sasima from the front during her rambling before the game, and I also felt the heat from the Carabao face-melters.
Desperately average game, in which no one stood out for us.
It's the same old story up front- Sa looks OK and fairly mobile, but has to resort to trying to win free kicks and hold the ball up for far too long because he has no support and there's no one creating chances for him. Sound familiar, anyone?
We posed nothing going forward, and then set-pieces seemed to be floated in without any urgency to attack the ball. They were also put into areas where you have to either head it very hard to score, or flick it on to runners. There were no runners to flick it on to, and no pace on the all to guide it to goal.
We had some nice interplay but, as has been said before, we are lacking in width terribly. Stacey must not have been ready to play, and G Mac is a way away yet, but in time that will come. I think Fosu will be in the squad most weeks, and if he does well they will look to bring him on for 15-20 minutes at a time to have a go at a tiring full back. We're certainly not looking good enough to have two wide forward supporting Sa/Pav, so we can play through teams.
I thought Gunter and Obita did OK, Williams was as industrious as ever, and Norwood did well despite not getting enough of the ball to dictate play from deep. Hal looked as cumbersome and indecisive as ever, and I was right near the Bamba challenge in the first minute. I've only seen it once, but my initial instinct was that he could have stayed on his feet and taken the ball on for a shot. He may have been genuinely chopped, though, in which case fair enough. Quinn looked OK in the middle, whilst Blackman was never in the game.
Ferdinand and McShane were solid enough, but a better team would have punished them. Hector certainly needs to be in there for me, probably at the expense of Ferdinand. I have no issues with him coming into the team when required, as I think he will do a good job, but he and McShane are too similar and need someone more mobile to play alongside them.
I don't think either of us will be pushing the top six on that showing, but it's a long season.