Welcome to a blog that is the first of its kind, a review of a game that we've actually won. As such I have to analyse stuff now rather than simply explain reasons we're bad. So here goes;
Firstly the team selection last night was uncharacteristic on the part of Magath, as it actually- kind of made sense. The inclusion of Dan Burn, and his subsequent man of the match performance has almost definitely booked his place on the coach for the next U21s game- but seriously after a performance like that he should be the first name on the team sheet for Cardiff on Saturday. The combination of Burn and Hutchinson worked well in my opinion, although they did seem to lack a bit of pace- I felt they dealt with pretty much everything an albeit limited Brentford team threw at them. I also felt Bettinelli played very well, although with the addition Gabor Kiraly (Mr. Sweatpants) I don't foresee him him becoming our Number 1- despite my opinion that he should be after that kind of performance. I think the a back three of Burn, Bodurov and Bettinelli would be a good foundation on which to build, as despite the performances last night I still think Bodurov should be played above Hutchinson (at least for the moment).
However most importantly; We scored a goal and won a game! I've always thought that if we took a lead in any of the 4 games we played prior (with the exception of Wolves) we'd of been able to win. This was because of our undoubted ability to pass the ball sideways, and get the possession statistics up, and indeed this is backed up by statistics in Pre-Season where the only game we lost- was the only game we conceded in, and has been the case going back until 5th April (Villa away), and to extend on this we haven't won a game where we haven't scored first since New Years Day (West Ham home). This was indeed the case yesterday, and Ross McCormack finished a wonderful move with relative ease (he made the finish look a lot easier than it should of been with the angle in my opinion), which SHOULD cement Chris Davids place in the first eleven for Saturday. Also McCormack looked very dangerous yesterday, and I haven't seen the "offside" goals from the side-on angle they use to show offsides or lack thereof, but he could of easily had more than one yesterday and looks very promising for future games.
One interesting point I've seen raised is the correlation between Parker going off, and us going on to score and win a game- and whether this should raise questions over Parkers place in the starting eleven. In a word, No. Although Parker hasn't started well (nobody really has) I believe Parker should still be a permanent fixture in our Starting Eleven- but he should be used in a different role. I can't remember which blog I wrote this in- where I likened Parker to being a Championship version of Makelele. I believe we should use Parker exclusively in a Deep Lying role, and rather than rely on him to be our creative spark have Chris David and Eisfeld/Hyndman playing as the two Central Midfielders, and Parkers role should be to link the midfield and the defence and only pass the ball off to the two more creative midfielders.
This performance had a boat load of positives- including some which I haven't highlighted (I thought R. Williams played well all things considered, and I was also surprised at the way Hoogland played as a Right-Mid), however there were still some negatives. Cauley Woodrow seems to of lost his way in between scoring against Palace on the last day of last season and now. I don't know why, as I thought he looked quite promising against Ipswich when he came on, but he squandered numerous chances yesterday- and against a better opposition e.g. Cardiff these missed chances will be punished by the opposition.
Overall there were quite a few positives from the games yesterday, chief of which was it looked like Fotheringham was injured and as per Magath "he needs a scan". I don't wish ill on anyone, but in the situation we're in at the moment we don't need a leech taking up a place in our 18.
To the question posed in the title- Turning Point or Stay of Execution? I'm more inclined to think its the latter solely because defeating a very weak Brentford team (and not getting any points) isn't exactly a job saving result in my opinion, and with options like Oscar Garcia and Tim Sherwood becoming increasingly viable for us I doubt Magath will be here for much longer.
Thanks again for reading, I'd appreciate feedback on this as its very different to ones I've done previously- and I've tried my best to properly analyse certain issues.
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