Nick, If I'd written a report (Too gutted last night I'm afraid), this would have been it. I thought it was just me though - reading WACCOE everybody is very angry and talking about us hoofing the ball up to Healy & Moore (I thought the long balls were played into the channels for them to run onto with some success).
This was one of, if not the, best performances under Blackwell. I really enjoyed it, until the las 120 seconds, obviously. Difficult to see Black well still here in another month though... On Sun, September 10, 2006 9:22 pm, Nick Allen wrote: > Here's a sentence I won't type very often - today I felt quite a lot of > sympathy for Kevin Blackwell. > > We more or less had the upper hand in the majority of this game, playing > some good, sensible, quick football, with passes to feet, excellent use > of the width of the pitch - particularly from Carole who had a storming > first half and a less effective but still decent second - good support > play, particularly from Westlake and with a bit more luck and composure > in front of goal, we'd have had 3 or 4. But as dear old Brian Clough used > to say, it only takes a second to score a goal and in the 91st that's > exactly what they did. Some backing off in the middle of the field and > the lad wallops it into the top corner, he could try and do it again all > year and never will, that's life. I think its tough on Warner to > criticise him, the bigger problem was the lack of concentration in front > of him - of course if you shove your centre halves forward searching for > a winner in a 0-0 draw against a decent team, you might leave youselves > vulnerable at the back... > > The end result of all of all this is that love him or loathe him, > Blackwell now looks like a dead man walking. He's lost the crowd (I use > that word loosely). The team seem incapable of scoring from open play. > The belief is fragile - Wednesday's game will show how many of the > players have been dented by this bit of larceny. > > Wolves are a physically big and brutal team - their 3 or 4 bookings were > well short of what they deserved, but they are not top quality, even in > this division. Its certainly true that Wolves had other chances - a > couple of quick saves at the start of the second half from Warner were > important - their number 13 gave Butler a mauling and made a fool of > Kilgallon a couple of times in the first half, before going off on 80 > minutes, at which point we all thought Wolves had settled for the draw. > > Despite this we had good chances missed or saved from Killa, Healy, > Douglas, Westlake, Moore, Butler, Carole - all in the first half. The > chances were there, they just needed to be taken. There seems to be a > chronic lack of confidence somewhere - got to be down to the coaching. > > Our main game plan was to launch the ball out to Carole on the right - > Crainey or Kilgallon - or play it out there through the team - Douglas, > Westlake, Healy and Kelly - let him beat his man, or two and get the > crosses in. Or sometimes he'd skip inside and play it across the box. He > was doing this so well that their left back was substituted after 42 > minutes for a smaller faster version - and one that hadn't already been > booked. Its hard to say how all of our pressure and the balls being > pinged across the box didn't result in a goal or two, especially as their > keeper took a severe turn for the shite with about 30 minutes to go - > coming for crosses he had no hope of getting, and twice getting caught by > half-hit shots that dribbled by him only to be cleared off the line or > scrambled round the post by defenders. > > In general I was lifted by the performance but that made the gutting of > the result hurt even more. > > WARNER - a decent game - looked mainly steady - had composure under a > couple of tricky situations - decent distribution > > KELLY - in the main linked well with Healy & Carole down the right - good > running and crossing. > > CRAINEY - apart from the barrage of excellent cross-field balls to Carole > - he started mainly clueless and often beaten - needing a lot of cover > from Kilgallon - did gradually improve but never gave the feeling of > security > > BUTLER - again a fast, direct striker cause problems - again used as a > battering ram up front for the last ten minutes - again to no effect > > KILGALLON - generally good game but still he is maintaining that tendency > to cock-up big style once a game - someone rather unkindly referred to > him as the new Gary Sprake > > CAROLE - man of the match by a country mile - caused havoc, created > chances - should have scored, REALLY SHOULD HAVE SCORED - tackled back > and was a general nightmare for whichever 2 or 3 Wolves players were > marking him - one absolutely dreamlike first touch off a high ball > simultaneously controlled it, beat his man and rolled the ball 15 yards > forward to exactly the spot he wanted to cross it from... > > DOUGLAS - quiet return - didn't notice him much except when he burst into > the box and collected the ball with a touch that was either too heavy or > meant for a faster player > > WESTLAKE - pretty decent midfield performance - tackled, supported, > pushed forward - couple of wayward efforts > > LEWIS - v quiet game - save for one free kick and a couple of good > crosses > > HEALY - one of his best in a Leeds shirt - which is of course nothing > like as good as in a N Ireland shirt. > > MOORE - runs a lot - still shit - could have scored if he was prepared to > take a shot left footed rather than with the outside of his right when > through the middle > > SUBS > encouragingly BECKFORD - came on and played some of his best and most > direct football in a Leeds shirt > > STONE - came on - did zip > > > ----------------- > > > CROWD ? 16000 - who's fault is this - is it the quality of the football - > and the results? Or is it the prices? or Both? Either way 16,000 ? Big > Club ? not any more. > > > > > _______________________________________________ > 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 > oh alright then :-) > _______________________________________________ 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 oh alright then :-)
