Frankly he's pretty limited. Being tall is not a great attribute. He's a scorer. Sure that's strange for us. But they're supposed to do more than that. On 18 Aug 2014 09:11, "[broken-address]" < [email protected]> wrote:
> > > > > Our next change needed to involve brining Smith on to > get about the defence, but instead it was Poleon, which really didn’t work. > > > > > I wonder why Hock/Cellino don't seem to rate Smith. He'd be an automatic > starter in my book now that McCormack's gone (at least until one of the new > guys or not-yet-signed guys proves his worth as a goal-getter). > > Cheers! > > Sean > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Nick <[email protected]> > To: leeds list <[email protected]> > Sent: Sat, Aug 16, 2014 12:46 pm > Subject: [LU] 'boro > > > I’ll take this for a win. Boro are a big, rough arsed team. Quite happy to > stick > it in, and mix it up. But with our two newest men, Cooper and Sharp, making > steady debuts we looked solid if uninspiring. At least Hunt wasn’t lining > up. I > notice that someone thought before the match that Austin should be dropped > - > that would have been a bad call, he was man of the match for us…putting in > the > shifts of two men. > > We almost scored in the first two minutes following a shot and a parry by > the > keeper quite a way out of his goal which was followed up - and should have > been > finished but Boro had 3 men covering and the ball was cleared off the > line. This > raised the tempo and for 10 minutes we huffed and puffed around their box > without really getting anywhere. The crowd was 24,500, the sun was shining > and > Dowden turned up with the pies…my dad’s face lit up like it was his > birthday; > don’t think he could remember the last time he had a pork pie. He was well > happy > at half time. All was well with the world. > > Slowly though Boro took the sting out of it and began passing through our > midfield. They had more pressure without really threatening. Our two Chalfs > looked comfortable, as did Silvestri in goal - the problem was the FBacks - > Byram didn’t look interested while Warnock was all or nothing…frequently > making > good challenges, but they were often desperate or last ditch, while at > other > times he simply wasn’t there. To be fair to both, neither was getting much > cover > for their respective midfielders. > > On 30 minutes Boro got the ball across the box…our defenders static > watching the > ball bounce and one their forwards hooked the ball over his shoulder and > in the > far corner…now for some reason (possibly high feet by the goalscorer) it > was > disallowed…which was extremely lucky for us. There was a certain irony > given > that for the previous few minutes we’d been singing the one about “only > getting > shit refs…” > > Moving forward, we tried to pass our way through and sometimes there > looked to > be the promise of something developing with interplay between Austin, > Doukara, > Ajose and Sharp - Doukara, takes the ball well and lays it off nicely; he > might > have more pace that he appears to, because he gets by the opposition, or > gets to > the ball first when you don’t expect it. He’d took quite a lot of > punishment in > the first half, including a nasty scything chop just on half time - so he > “gave > it a go for 10 minutes” in the second before coming off for Tonge. Bringing > Tonge on was a good call as he beefed up the midfield - and had been in > good > form in the pre-season. Our next change needed to involve brining Smith on > to > get about the defence, but instead it was Poleon, which really didn’t work. > > in the second half we were pushed back and Silvestri did have to make a > couple > of sharp stops…he also dealt comfortably with the crosses slung in. > > On 75 minutes it looked like Sharp, who’d been busy without being special > up to > that point, had fluffed his lines, popping a free header 6 feet out just > wide of > the near post. Then with 2 minutes to go (of the 90) a ball is cut back to > the > edge of the box and Tonge belts it low and hard to the far corner, the > keeper at > full stretch palms it back into the midfield of the box, rather than out > and > Sharp, showing good poacher’s skills stabbed it over his outstretched leg > and > into the bottom corner in front of the Kop…and I bet he’ll take that for a > debut. He went mental ran around with his shirt off and got a booking for > his > trouble. > > Something like 6 minutes of tense injury time was played, but we hung on… > > SILVESTRI - calm, solid, quietly efficient > > BYRAM - he is a class act, but whether he’s out of position or not, he > needs to > get more involved…often peripheral > > WARNOCK - blood and thunder - sometimes it works and sometimes it is > dreadful > foul…worked in the main today > > COOPER - big, strong, decent in the air, read most of what he needed to > do…not > sure about the speed yet, but we’ll see. A tendency to wander upfield with > the > ball and lose it, but all-in-all a huge improvement on Wootton. > > PEARCE - a good battling, all heart performance > > AUSTIN - all around nuisance for Boro, tackle after tackle after > tackle…decent > distribution when played short and simply but still not up to much with the > longer more adventurous stuff > > MURPHY - also peripheral, the passing didn’t work, nevertheless he put in a > shift > > BIANCHI - always seems to have more time than his team mates; quality > touch; > needs to be on the ball more - guess he’s adjusting to the pace of the game > > AJOSE - busy, nippy and lightweight > > SHARP - the winning goal on the debut makes all the difference. Looks like > he > could make a go of a partnership with Doukara…needs good service and that > might > be the problem. > > DOUKARA - I have hopes for this guy - strong, good control - a couple of > goals > in the league and he’ll be away. > > > subs: > > Tonge - had more or less 35 minutes and certainly brought more shape and > resilience to the midfield > Poleon - not much new to say about this guy…got 20 minutes and didn’t > achieve > much > Cook - had about 10 minutes and got stuck in, I suppose. > > > Hock - team didn’t seem to have much shape for a while, looks like a > diamond 4 > in midfield with Austin in front of the back 4 and Ajose behind the > strikers…left a lot on Murphy and Bianchi…and Smith was the obvious sub > with 20 > minutes to go…but hey he has his first home win and clean sheet, so who is > the > tactical genius..? > > > > _______________________________________________ > Leedslist mailing list > Info and options: > http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist > To unsubscribe, email [email protected] > > John 'Grampa' Sykes > Rest In Peace old lad > 28th Oct 1938 - 12 Nov 2013 > MARCHING ON TOGETHER > > > _______________________________________________ > Leedslist mailing list > Info and options: > http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist > To unsubscribe, email [email protected] > > John 'Grampa' Sykes > Rest In Peace old lad > 28th Oct 1938 - 12 Nov 2013 > MARCHING ON TOGETHER > _______________________________________________ Leedslist mailing list Info and options: http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist To unsubscribe, email [email protected] John 'Grampa' Sykes Rest In Peace old lad 28th Oct 1938 - 12 Nov 2013 MARCHING ON TOGETHER
