Hello! I'm surprisingly not in that bad of a mood considering we've lost, the Derby game has definitely helped my foul moods- because an 8 Point Gap looks so much better than a 5. Millwall were dominated by Boro (unsurprisingly) and Rotherham fell apart against Cardiff, those are the other two teams along with us who haven't reached 40 Points and played tonight. The question we have to ask ourselves, and this could change should Holloway be sacked- but Can Millwall make up an 8 Point Gap against us? In the Championship it is never say never; but the current trajectory for Millwall doesn't look good- that combined with the fact we have a pretty good April fixture wise I'm still relatively confident of survival.
The game today was a condensed reflection of our season as a whole, Started off slowly- conceded a stupid goal defensive-wise; then went on to have a lot of possession, looked semi-threatening but had no end product. I'm not disheartened though, because after Millwall I was convinced we weren't going to pickup any points from this run of games against the Playoff Pushing teams, so in a way we've already exceeded expectations on this current run of 4 games- and I'm cautiously optimistic that we can get something from Bournemouth on Friday.
The Goal from our point of view was criminal. The fact we've conceded from a corner again is infuriating- and its even more annoying because Watford barely had a sniff from that point onward. Defendnig Corners is such a fundamental part of football, if Kit doesn't have everyone at Motspur Park doing corner drills for at least Half a Day between now and Bournemouth I'll have zero respect for Kit or his coaching ability.
Bettinelli could have perhaps got a firmer hand on the ball from the initial attempt from Cathcart (?), but thats a really fine-line and I think it would be harsh to put the goal on Bettinelli when we couldn't defend the corner properly in the first place.
We saw 50 Shades of Jazz Richards tonight, He showed some really quality moments including just before arguably the biggest talking point of the game- and then we saw him do something that should have seen him be Sent Off, it wasn't too dissimilar to the Matic push- which of course got him sent off. I've not been a massive fan of Richards- but at the same time he hasn't been a disaster, but the push on Vydra was just plain stupid, I'm happy to attribute it to a rush of blood and move on though. I thought Bodurov & Hutchinson looked pretty solid again tonight, they've seemingly got a new lease on life after Wolves last week- and are actually looking like competent defenders again. Comparing Stafylidis' game tonight to the 5-0 in December was like night and day- it was far from perfect, but he actually looked like he knew was a football was tonight, so its a start.
Tunnicliffe played alright, in my Preview I said it would be his type of game- and I was right to an extent; He definitely looked better offensively tonight, and if we had a proper poacher in the team we'd have scored from his headed back across goal cross. The main thing I saw from Tunnicliffe tonight was pretty his pretty hilarious attempt to get in the way of the ball when Deeney scored- you can't fault his commitment. Fofana was, well Fofana. He showed a lot of flair with no end product and just frustrates you to no end- I think at this stage of the season we have to start looking to next season, and if we're as I expect not going to be using Fofana coming 15/16 I'd try and phase in another couple of our own young players, who'll be bit-parts next season. I wouldn't mind seeing Della-Verde and Sambou on the bench a few times. Kavanagh looked quite good tonight, Its annoying coming out of a game we've lost and we've on the whole been solid. Bryan was a bit quieter tonight than he was against Derby, but Derby did afford him endless amounts of space to dictate the tempo of the game- that said he did still look alright; and he almost bizarrely scored from a Corner (again).
McCormack looked pretty good tonight, He's looked quite jaded in my opinion as of late; but while he didn't score tonight he was getting in among it all and had a number of chances. He should have arguably converted one of them- but its good to see McCormack getting in those positions again. The same can be said for Woodrow, who once again should have arguably converted one of the chances he got- but its promising we're getting in the right areas- especially against teams like Watford & Derby who are pushing for the Automatic Performances, and if we can replicate those performances against the teams Mid-Table and Lower we WILL score goals.
The Subs Kit made tonight were mixed, Hugo was quite disappointing when he came on- the way the game was shaping up if Kit did want to bring Hugo on I'd have brought off Fofana or McCormack just because as you're chasing a game you inevitably need a physical presence in the box which Hugo on his best day doesn't offer. We saw the return of Cristiano Ronaldo, Oops I meant Matt Smith- the way some fans go on about him you'd think they were on a par. Joking aside we did look quite dangerous once Smith came on, and he does if nothing else draw defenders onto him. I wouldn't start him against Bournemouth, I'd give him another cameo- and see how McCormack and Woodrow perform; and then with that in mind I'd pick the team for Sheff. Wednesday accordingly. Kacaniklic was ineffective- and I'm not sure this game lent itself to Kaca coming on in a Sub role, and I would've rather we brought on Dembele or Hoogland; Dembele for obvious reasons and Hoogland to enable the midfield to push further up with him being the anchor- who can pop up with a goal.
I'm not going to go on about statistics, because at the end of the day you create your own luck and the result is the endgame- not possession or shots or sideways passes. That said we did look positive again tonight, and I'm reasonably happy despite the loss- and as we head into Bournemouth and beyond I'm relatively confident of picking up the required points- and I think 50 would be a good target for us to try and attain.
Thanks for reading as ever, I haven't seen Kit's Press Conference yet- but I can imagine its "we were unlucky, dominated possession etc." and on this occasion he definitely has a bit more of a case, but I said it after Derby and I'll say it again tonight; what we need to do is move on quickly and get ready for the next game in the best shape possible and try and put in a repeated performance. Stay Tuned for the Bournemouth Preview on Thursday this week- and the Review when I get back on Friday. I'm a tad optimistic for Bournemouth- without wanting to be disrespectful Bournemouth haven't been great as of late- and with no basis other than a quick look at Bournemouth's Twitter they only won tonight as a result of a Penalty which came from a dive. Anyway all thats for Thursday- Thanks again, and I hope y'all have a good Wednesday.
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