On Saturday, 7 February 2015, 19:00, Richard Walker
<[email protected]> wrote:
Ok let’s get something straight from the off. We were beatenby the better
side. Forget the ref’s performance and a few huff and puffchances we created we
were played off the park, especially second half by avery bright, intelligent
Brentford team. 1-0 down with 20 minutes to go ,kicking towards the Kop you
would expect us given our recent form and adecentish crowd to steam roll
Brentford into submission however they justcontinued to come forward and catch
us off guard. In the game they must havehad 7 or 8 occasions where they either
had 2 on 1 or 1 on 1 with Silvestri.They created 4 great chances in the last 20
minutes and really could have gonehome comfortable. Couple that with 2
excellent 1 on 1 chances in the first halfI can’t believe my ears when I hear
Noel Whelan saying we didn’t deserve to winbut we didn’t deserve to lose.
Bullshit. We were second best all over the park.
So what went wrong ? Well, I would put the blame firmly atNeil Redfearn’s door.
We’ve been hitting a bit of form (4 unbeaten) with aparticular style of play
which today he decided to change to accommodate ourin-form hot-shot striker
Billy Sharp. Give it a rest. Billy came on againstTown and took his goal well
but there’s a difference between coming on andsneaking a goal and making an
impact from the start against 2 very strongBrentford centre halves. They made
him look stupid at times and just flickedhim away like an annoying fly at
times. Billy doesn’t have the legs and whilstI would never doubt is passion and
commitment – he ran his heart out, I don’t thinkat this stage of his career he
is going to make a big enough impact at thislevel.
Having decided to go 4-4-2 Redfearn has the dilemma ofdeciding which midfielder
to drop ? Today he decided to drop Mowatt the onlyleft footed midfielder at the
club (I think ? Maybe Norris is as well but he’shistory). This means who does
he play on the left side of midfield or effectivelythe left wing ? Now we’ve
seen earlier in the season Cook have a go in thisrole and not exactly flourish
so today it was Rudy Austin’s turn to be the newAlex Sabella. I don’t have to
tell you it didn’t work despite a full on,blood and thunder effort from Austin.
10 for effort, 1 for attainment and 10for diving. The crowd gave the ref a hard
ride but I thought he got everydecision spot on. The only one I’m uncertain was
the one down the South Standwhere Rudy was going nowhere and their guy appeared
to take him out ? Not sure,but it would have been harsh. The other decisions
were just dives especially onat the Kop end which Rudy really should have been
booked for.
We needed 5 in midfield to compete against a very livelyBrentford midfield.
When you consider they are carrying a fat, bearded pubplayer it’s pretty
impressive to see them dominate games like this and inPritchard they have in my
opinion the best player I have seen this season. Hedid everything I want to see
from Lewis Cook. Create, pass, move, score – he wassensational so it was no
surprise to hear the South Stand giving him a hardtime. I couldn’t believe they
actually took him off after 81 mins. He lookedshellshocked.
Brentford could also mix it. They outmuscled us all over thepark and when the
50:50 tackles went in we looked second best a lot of thetime.
Their goal looked soft, we struggled to clear, leftourselves short at the back
(again) a simple ball was played across the goaland Pritchard couldn’t miss.
First half, we did match them at times and we did have a fewchances – a
Morrison header , a Cooper header but to be honest we hardly had ashot on goal
in 90 minutes. At the end we created two great chances, one ofwhich fell to
Billy Sharp who failed to get the short on target when all itneeded was a
flighted ball into an empty net. Time for Halifax Billy, pack yourbags. We
shoved the new big man up front and he also had a half chance but that’sall it
was all day – half chances and huff and puff. We were well beaten by agood side
and I hope Brentford can make the play offs and the Premiership. Ifthey got rid
of their captain I think they would do it.
One final word about Brentford’s strange tactics. When wehad a corner they put
3 up – one of the very left wing , one on the far rightwing and one centre.
This had the affect of us having to a least match thatmaking our corners pretty
ineffective, especially when Luke Murphy is ploppingthem over. I wonder, if we
had been brave and had shoved an extra man in thebox it might have paid
dividends ? Probably not with Murphy taking the corners.On one occasion he took
one short and we ended up on the back foot defending.Brainless footballer.
Scores on the Doors:
Silvestri – 8. One shaky moment second half but he kept usin it first half with
2 great saves. We could have been 3-0 down.
Wooton – 3. Wank. Centre half pretending to be a right back.
Taylor – 5. I think this lad is a good footballer but I'mnot sure he’s a good
left back. Given that’s his position I am worried abouthim. Worked hard and put
some good tackles in.
Cooper – 6. Had his hands full today but worked hard whenoverrun. Took a good
yellow when they were 3 on 2 first half. Saved a certaingoal.
Bamba – 7. I thought he was strong, he showed good strengthon the ground and in
the air. Unfortunately at times he has a touch of theMichael Dubberrys about
him which as you can imagine is very worrying.
Cook – 6. I thought he started brightly and lookedthreatening however I think
he struggled with the rest of the team and also thefact that we were just
outplayed in midfield by Pritchard and co.
Murphy – 5. I missed the last 2 home games so have yet tosee the rejuvenated
Murphy. Well, if that was it you can stick it. I couldn’thelp thinking that
we’ve been through the Murphy / Austin midfield and it didn'twork then so why
would it work now ? You’re just putting more pressure on Byramand Cook. He
wasn’t awful, he was tidy at times but his long balls frequentlydon’t hit their
target and when he hasn’t got the ball he just doesn’t doenough. He’s a
pedestrian footballer.
Byram – 5. Again, he started brightly but like the rest gotoverrun and spent
most of the match really struggling for time on the ball.Frustrating. So he
wasn’t a right back , he’s certainly not a right winger sowhat do we do ? Well,
it’s like I’ve been saying from day 1 , play him centrallywith Cook. They play
well together – much better option than Murphy. We need tobuy a right winger
first though ? Max Gradel ? Austin – 5. He tried hard, he fought against
Brentford buthe lost the battle in the end, but at least he battled. I would
have give him 6but his dive was shocking.
Morrison – 4. I thought he started brightly (familiar pattern?) but again
struggled throughout against very strong defenders. He wins a fewheaders and
occasionally wins a good header but I expect more and was a bitdisappointed
with him even accepting that the midfield weren’t exactly givinghim lots of
good stuff to feed on.
Subs:
Antenucci (for Murphy) 4. Made no impact. I think Redfearnhas ruined him. He
was our top scorer , full of confidence and by not playinghim I think he’s gone
backwards. I realise why he’s had to do that in a 5 manmidfield system but
surely today Sharp should have been taken off at half timeor not even started
in preference to Antenucci.
New Big Man up Front – hard to tell.
Redfearn – got it all wrong today and no Neil you were nothard done by the ref.
You were well beaten. Back to the 5 man midfield forTuesday me thinks.
Crowd -23k. Not bad and a good atmosphere.
Also, their keeper was shit – we should have tested himmore.
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John 'Grampa' Sykes
Rest In Peace old lad
28th Oct 1938 - 12 Nov 2013
MARCHING ON TOGETHER
