Alick wrote: > > Hughes 3 - oh dear. Offered little coming forward and was destroyed at > the back several times. > ....... > Beckford 2 - Embarrasing. If he is worth £2m then Glenn Murray is > worth £100m. Cannot hold the ball up at all. Anticipation is woeful > and doesn't fight or chase for anything unless he knows he will win it. > ..... >
Sorry but were we at the same game? Thank God for that Ted, I thought it must just be me. This was a much better performance all round than Tuesday night. Sometimes you have to give credit to the opposition a little bit and Brighton came with a game plan, stuck to it and, with a bit of help from the worst referee I have seen in years, it worked. Earlier in the season we were able to beat sides who came to defend like that because we were getting the run of the ball more than we are at the moment. You do make your own luck in football and because we are not playing with the confidence we were and are not playing as well as we were things that went for us earlier in the season are just not happening. The game never flowed at all yesterday because a pedantic and whistle happy ref stopped it at every opportunity for the slightest contact and then held it all up whilst he ensured that the ball was on the exact blade of grass the offence took place on. At the same time he didn't take the necessary stern action when required. A case in point: Beckford was absolutely cabbaged by one of their guys a second after laying the ball off. The ref did play a good advantage as Beckford's lay-off had given us a good attacking position which came to nothing but he then took no further action against the instigator, probably because he couldn't remember who'd done it. He then later booked Hughes for the slightest of touches against one of their guys, who, of course, went down like he'd been shot. Because the crowd were so incensed by this he booked one of theirs for a similarly minor offence in the centre circle whilst all the while letting more thuggish offences go with just the free-kick. I could go on about him a bit more but I won't except to say that these guys are supposed to be fit and his man-boobs were bigger than mine are. To go back to our team selection - we need either Becchio or Kandol up front with Beckford to at least give the defenders problems when a high ball is played, even if they don't actually win the header. It was all too easy for their defence for long spells of the game yesterday. I thought Snodgrass had looked in need of a rest before yesterday but I don't think he would have agreed. The way he played after he came on gave the impression he had a point to prove, he really put himself about and hit the ball with such venom for the goal I think he was picturing it as being Grayson's head! I agree with Rich Walker's observations about Howson. He has to be played in the middle in place of either Kilkenny or Doyle, for me it would be Doyle. It's quite concerning at the moment and the dreaded play-offs look a distinct possibility but I believe we will bounce back and we'll still go up automatically. Roll on Tuesday. _______________________________________________ the Leeds List is an unmoderated mailing list and the list administrators accept no liability for the personal views and opinions of contributors. Leedslist mailing list [email protected] http://list.zetnet.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist www.leedslist.net
