Another entertaining game and forgetting the low quality at times and
individual
errors I don’t think us fans can complain too much about the entertainment.
Keeping positive, if you look at Gradel’s second goal to put us up with only 10
men it was nearly as good as Rod Wallace’s against Spurs that one goal of the
season ? Ok he didn’t run from the half way line but he managed to wriggle
between 2 defenders and curl it into the bottom corner without much thought.
Wallace’s goal was a bit more calculated and the defenders backed off – Gradel
didn’t have that luxury, it was a top, top goal and he’s quickly catching up
the
goal machine that is Luciano Becchio. 12 in 28 for Gradel and 15 in 32 for
Becchio. Makes the strikers scoring rate look a bit ordinary really doesn’t it
??
Barnsleycame to win this and for me they had the one thing that really hurts us
and that’s pace. They just came at us and it was no surprise when they took the
lead. They were direct and pacey and we were like a boxer struggling to make
the
end of first round bell. To our credit we got over our wobbles and started to
take control. We created some great chances , two of which seemed easier to
score. First one to Becchio, the ball was teed up to him in the 6 yard box , he
went to volley it into the net and it just spooned off his shin past the post.
Incredible miss and everyone was stood in the stands in disbelief. Not only was
it a really bad miss it was just incredibly poor execution.
The second came to Johnson after a bit of ping pong in the box the ball came
out
to Johnson from 5 yards and he hit the post. It was harder to miss. We battled
hard and when the equaliser came it was well deserved. A cross came over ,
their
keeper came for it, completely missed it leaving Becchio at the back post to
head into an empty net. A gift of a goal for Becchio but credit where credits
due he was there.
We then took the lead. Gradel chased a lost ball into the area , he seemed to
slide in to get the ball and the next thing the hapless ref points to the spot.
Incredible. It was never a pen. Gradel stepped up and confidently put the pen
into the top right hand of the net. Good penalty. Question for you all – who is
our penalty taker. Go back to the Emirates, Gradel gets upended, penalty taken
by Snodgrass. Last night Snodgrass is on the pitch but penalty taken by Gradel.
Is the first to the ball ? or do we have a plan ?
So 2-1 at half-time I predicted from my iPhone there would be more goals. I
expected 5-3 to us. It never really worked out. Second half and Barnsley
continued to look lively whilst we seemed to get worse. Johnson in particular
kept giving away free-kicks and losing possession. Barnsley were back level
within minutes of the restart. Snodgrass went to sleep (very unlike him) and
their left winger had the freedom of the park on their left and lashed it past
Kasper. Good finish but the amount of space he had was criminal. Defending is
not just a defenders job.
Then Johnson got himself sent off – he gave the ref no option, he just fouled
time and time again. Idiot. We changed the system to accommodate. Becchio and
Snodgrass off, Somma and Watt on. We looked lively and if anyone was going on
to
win it , it was us. Somma had a couple of good runs and Lichaj was getting
forward. Gradel also, now playing up front with Somma looked full of invention
and energy. He then put us ahead with that great goal and I thought we might go
on to win it convincingly even with 10 men. But we didn’t, we shot ourselves in
the foot again. Watt stupidly hacked down a Barnsley player just outside the
box. Casper organised his wall only to see one of the players in the wall turn
his back on the ball and let it straight through the wall. It was a really soft
goal and Kasper nearly blew a gasket. He booted the post and kicked the ball
out
of the ground. You can’t plan for that. Bad goal.
We continued to push for the goal but never really looked like doing it.
I thought it was a fair result, we had more chances and played with 10 men for
30 mins but Barnsley were lively throughout and had a real go at us. Fair play
to them.
Scores:
Kasper – 5. I think there are questioned to ask about his general command of
the
box. I don’t think he’s giving his defenders the confidence they need. We do
look all at sea at times.
Lichaj – 7. attled really hard and I thought he did well. Also had a few good
runs going forward.
McCartney – 5. I thought his defending was all over the place last night.
Bruce – 6. Desperate defending , looked disorganised.
O’Brien – 5. He looks fragile, every big tackle it takes him about 10 minutes
to
recover. May be a weak link.
Johnson – 3. Worked hard but was just out of his depth again and as a result
just kept hacking people down and giving away possession.
Howson – 5. Ineffective. Lots of energy but no end product.
Kilkenny – 5. I’m a fan but he did little last night other than pass the ball
backwards or square,that might be a consequence of the lack of movement up
front
last night (Becchio).
Gradel – 8. By far our best player and great goal. And
Snodgrass – 5. Worse game this season and as a result was dragged off.
Becchio – 3. All 3 marks for the goal which was a gift but still had to be
nodded into the net, but his general play was awful I am sick to death of
watching him aimlessly trying to win the ball in 50:50s in the air. The only
balls he does get to are when he’s on his own and then he just glances it on to
nobody. Then there’s the mix up with his team mates when he spoons it off and
wonders why Howson doesn’t get to it as a red shirt picks it up. It has to
reach
it’s target Luciano ? then on the break when he’s charging forward unmarked
with
the ball. He just runs out of steam , turns round and bobbles it back to
someone
in midfield. And when I say bobbles it back have you noticed that every ball he
plays bobbles because he is incapable of a clean pass. Lacking basic, bloody
ability. He’s just not good enough and the 4-5-1 with him as a lone striker at
home is a bad tactic. Ok, we haven’t been beaten for a while but we really
should be beating teams like Barnsley.
Another question – when we went down to 10 men but still had to chase the game
he took Becchio off ? Our top scorer ? Surely he was needed ? I agreed with the
substitution and we looked a lot pacier without him.
Grayson – Unimaginative team selections. Come on Simon, let’s try something
else
?
Good crowd for a Tuesday night but a lot of very pissed off people.
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