Simon Grayson frustrates me. Nobody question the great job he has done at Leeds
and the team so far have exceeded expectations in this league. So how come his
team selections are so poor at times ? You really do have to question him ? How
can you continue to pick Neil Collins when we are conceding goal after goal
that
are directly attributable to him. We’ve conceded far too many goals this
season.
Boro’s first goal just wasn’t defended at all. Becchio and Collins were marking
the Boro attacker and neither could win the ball leaving the Boro player the
easiest of chances. Now I know Becchio rarely wins a header but Collins has no
excuses, just bloody poor defending.
The first half was probably the worse we have played this season. Without
anyone
in the centre of the park with the nouse to play simple, effective balls we
were
lost. It was left time and time again to Bradley Johnson who treated us to his
array of excellent long balls and shots. He’s just a terrible footballer.
Gradel
was lost without McCartney making runs and space for him. He can’t do it on his
own and the contribution from McCartney shouldn’t be underestimated. Hughes
isn’t an option at this level in my opinion.
Others weren’t at the races either – Snodgrass , Gradel and McCormack all tried
but nothing really happened and Becchio just contributed nothing other than
falling over a couple of times. He was absolute garbage today.
Everyone near me expected a change immediately at half-time. Not Simon, he
likes
to stick to his formula but what a waste of 10 minutes before he put Kilkenny
on. Before you know it we’ve got all the possession in the world but the clock
says 75 minutes and Boro are defending like mad. It really didn’t need to be
this way.
Sam came on for Gradel and Johnson went to left back to replace the departing
Hughes. We were immediately a different team. With Kilkenny’s first touch he
played an intelligent ball inside to McCormack who was hacked down giving us a
free kick in a dangerous position. It didn’t come to much but we took over
possession and started to dominate. Kilkenny went to get the ball, pushed it
forward 10 yards to Howson, Sam or Snodgrass – it’s not the hardest football
skill in the world but it’s bloody effective and others just don’t have that
ability (Howson or Johnson). Boro also helped us by sitting back but also
frustrated us by putting 11 men behind the ball.
It was only a matter of time when the goal came as we were beginning to create
some really good chances, the best falling to Watt who seemed to put it wide
with no keeper in sight. I’d like to see it again but it looked to me to be a
really, really bad miss. The goal was a similar to the Palace game , we got
them
on the break after they had just missed their best and only real chance of the
second half, it came out to Becchio on the edge of the box, the keeper was
stranded however Becchio still had quite a lot to do and he did really well
dispatching the ball into the empty net. His only contribution to the game but
a
good one nevertheless.
Could we win it ? Definitely and we should have. Watt put over a cross to an
unmarked McCormack who from 5 yards headed wide. Terrible miss. I’ve heard on
the radio since he was off-side but so what he should have buried it and you
have to wonder where is goal is coming from ?
I think overall we maybe deserved a draw although we were very second best in a
very poor first half. If Kilkenny had started and Bruce playing alongside
O’Brien I think we would have won this game. I also think Somma up front would
have frightened the life out of them. Becchio doesn’t offer enough for my
liking. Still unbeaten in 12 now is it ? Must not grumble.
Scores:
Scmiechel – 6. No Chance with the goal and didn’t have a lot to do to be honest.
Connolly – 4. Poor defending, poor game.
Hughes – 3. Not a left back , never will be – no help to Gradel going forward.
Collins – 4. Bad defending for their goal. Just very, very shaky. Cannot
understand why he is in the team ? One or two good tackles that I’ll give him
credit for but when the heat is on he’s lacking.
O’Brien – 5. Doesn’t look the same player when partnered with Collins – who
would ? I reckon Bobby Moore would have struggled with that twat.
Howson – 6. Not happy playing deep in midfield alongside Johnson – all our best
performances are when Kilkenny plays alongside Howson – can’t Grayson see that
?
Howson however lets himself down with his simple game. He needs to do the
simple
things better – he should study Kilkenny.
Johnson – 3. Terrible. Same old, same old. Can’t pass. What a load of shite he
is at times. Moved to left back and did ok but everytime he got the ball he
wasted it. Premiership – you are having a laugh !
McCormack – 6. Lively at times but missed his sitter and was in and out of the
game. His strike partner didn’t help him much today though. I’d like to see him
giving a go with Somma.
Becchio – how can you mark this performance ? He was so poor throughout the
game
– no control, won no headers, no pace, no idea at all and didn’t make any
impact
on the Boro defence. And then he puts the ball in the net on 92 minutes. Is
that
the sign of a good striker ? It could be argued but I don’t think it’s enough.
I
was actually pissed off he scored because it means he’s in the team for the
next
game. He isn’t good enough to take us forward.
Snodgrass – 5. Looked tired, Boro marked him well – he’s a marked man now.
Grayson – not convinced with his team selections. Why was Kilkenny not playing
in the last 2 games. It’s obvious that Kilkenny is the heart of our team ?
Grayson has removed the heart from the team and the only surprise to me is that
we’ve managed to scrape 2 points. And Neil Collins is obviously a good friend
of
his. There can be no other explanation why he continues to play him ? I can
only
presume either
1. Bruce is not 100% (why on the bench though)
2. Bromby is not fit
3. Grayson rates Collins and thinks that others are responsible all the
goals
we have conceded with Collins in the team. We conceded 5 against Barnsley, 6
against Preston and 4 against Cardiff. Then Grayson dropped Collins and we
stopped conceding loads of goals ( 6 in 6 discounting the Coventry game where
Grayson brought Collins back – we conceded 2 in that game.) He know brings him
back over Christmas and we’ve conceded 6 in 3 and it could easilt have been
more. Come on it’s not rocket science.
Shit atmosphere today for a > 30k crowd. Everyone hungover – were the players ?
Happy New Year to you all.
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