Will keep it brief, partly cos there is not that much to say and partly because most of you will have seen it on TV one way and another.Rosler again did a bit of 'tinkering' this time Cooper getting the nod over Bellusci , Phillips and Adeyemi the midfield pairing and Antenucci partnered with Wood up front. It is clear that Rosler is still searching for his best eleven both in terms of personnel and formation. He also seems to believe his own tiredness excuses (even though only Taylor and Dallas have started every game and Dallas has been subbed in them all)Phillips who statistics claim ran 13.3 km on Wednesday (as compared with an average of 8-10km) started the game but started badly - his first tackle was slow and behind the pace and the ref, even though it was the first minute, gave him a yellow, something he never recovered from and he spent most of the time behind the game, trying to get to the pace but worried about another booking. This meant we had almost no creativity in the middle of the park. I like the look of Adeyemi but he is a destroyer - breaks up play and gives it to someone else. We really missed Cooks energy and driving forward influence. They slowed the game down, niggling fouls, time wasting, play acting from start to finish - they came for a point and the officials went along with their game plan.Not much of note happened in the first half until one bit of brilliance put them in front - their attacker chipped it over Cooper and then fired in a speculative shot that somehow dropped in - everyone in the ground was stunned, looked around for a bit then we groaned and they celebrated. Boy how did they celebrate - the scorer pointed to his number, to the skies, bowed down on the floor, hugged his mates and then fell to the floor again. I have seen many players booked for 'over celebration' who did less than that (perhaps it is not allowed to book a player for celebrating in such a 'religious' manner) A decent goal but one mainly against the run of play - their only real shot all half. We did not deserve anything from that half either - our main tactic a long crossfield ball from Cooper to the head of Byram - it did not always work and even when it did it came to nothing. Second half was much of the same till the double sub (off went Phillips - about time, and Byram - we wanted Dallas off) and on came Mowatt and Murphy and we started to keep the ball better and look more dangerous. We were still wondering where the equaliser would come when Bamba showed why he is captain. He strode forward beating a number of players and then let Mowatt take it off his toes and release Dallas. Dallas who had looked short of confidence till then, nutmegged one player, beat the other and put in a good low cross that Wood, reminiscent of Lee Chapman prodded home from a yard out. A great team goal. After that we huffed and puffed trying to get the winner and Dallas did try and pull off a few tricks but it was not to be. So either an unbeaten start to the season or 4 without a win - take your pick. Yes we could and should have 8 points on the board (burnley and Bristol) but have to settle for 4. Wood looks like a player and he will get 20+ goals if he gets any sort of service and if he and Antenucci can become a real partnership, reading each others game they will be a real handful. At the back we looked solid, they had one flash of brilliance (luck?) and one other clear chance from a breakaway but that apart we kept them quiet. A lack of creativity in midfield cost us today but hopefully the return of Cook will help there. We are a work in progress but given time and luck , things could be good this season DavePS - not seen any of the game on TV so some of this may be wrong! _______________________________________________ Leedslist mailing list Info and options: http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist To unsubscribe, email leedslist-unsubscr...@gn.apc.org
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