Hello! We're here for another Preview and this time we're headed back down by the River to face Mick McCarthy's Ipswich. Ipswich are the one team we played before I started this blog, and while I've missed out some other teams either through illness or because I've got a massive gash on my arm- I've got to make up for lost time.
Its funny the team we played at Portman Road is so different to the team we have now its almost funny.
Team vs Ipswich (August 9th)
Joronen
Hoogland, Hutchinson, Bodurov, Stafylidis
Hyndman, Burgess, Parker
David
McCormack Dembele
While the partnership of Hutchinson and Bodurov would still be my choice at Centre-Back, Hutchinson has come on leaps and bounds since the game in August where he was at fault for both of the Ipswich goals in my opinion. Then you look at Burgess and David who are out on Loan, Dembele who's definitely our 4th (3rd when McCormack is pushed back) Striker, Hyndman- who is injured, but wasn't getting much game time before he was injured. Then you look at McCormack who had a pretty abject debut to the point he was subbed off after roughly 60 Minutes, you only have to look at all of these points to see how the teams developed since the game in August.
Now on to the game tomorrow.
Of course Bettinelli should continue in goal, despite his mistake on Tuesday. Bettinelli is our Goalkeeper for as long as he's still at the club unless we make a swoop for Manuel Neuer- and we'll get mistakes along the way, which can be expected given his age and relative experience, I think he's almost set the bar too high for himself with some of the performances he's put- so when he does make a mistake it gets highlighted more. I'd be astounded if we do keep a Clean Sheet tomorrow given our defensive frailties coming up against the Top Scorer in the Division.
The Defence will have to be absolutely on point tomorrow if we're even to have a hope of getting a Clean Sheet tomorrow. Jack Grimmer of course came back in for Bolton- and while he didn't have an awful game, I still think Jazz Richards is a step up on him and should be reinstated for the game tomorrow. The Centre-Backs were pretty poor against Bolton- but I'd still persist with them for the time being. I've seen some people calling for Dan Burn to come back in, but I think with the current squad the only way to be sure of Dan Burn would be to have a Centre-Back either side of him, because him being a naturally left-sided Centre-Back with Stafylidis one side of him he wouldn't get the cover he needs to make up for his short-comings. Speaking of Stafylidis, he's been a mixed bag as of late- there's been some games where I've been impressed with him and there's been others where I would be hoping one of the plates he was smashing would be over his head. I'm not sure how long it'll be before Sean Kavanagh and Amorebieta are back in consideration- but I would hope the imminent return of them will give Stafylidis a shot in the arm and make him go up a gear in the next few weeks.
There's only one place to start with the Midfield- and that is of course Adil Chihi. I was saying throughout my Deadline Day Liveblog that I was getting an increasing feeling that Bryan just could escape- and that has of course come true- and Bryan will be in a white (with grey stripes and orange bits) shirt for the rest of the season, and considering the way its gone it wouldn't surprise me if we used the optional extension on his deal and he'll be playing for us next season- Poor Bryan. Kit's said Bryan won't be starting tomorrow- but I hope he'll be back in the starting eleven soon, because Kit doesn't seem to be wanting to waver from the Diamond, and to make the Diamond work- we need Bryan. Now onto who'll be playing tomorrow- thankfully Scott Parker is fit again, because we definitely missed him; and his position is a role that only he can really fulfill. Parker coming back into the team will mean Tunnicliffe can be pushed out of what I'd label the "sitting role" which he's much more suited to- so hopefully we see a better performance from him tomorrow than we have in Parker's absence. The other midfield spot in the 3 will hopefully be filled by Christensen, while I'm not against Fofana- and I think his energy could be good coming off the bench; but I'm just not convinced by him, a lot of the things he does look good and are flashy which'll be good for YouTube compilations to make him look amazing, but he has zero end product- and in the position we're in thats what we need.
The #10 Role is once again up for grabs with the return of the Bryan. The one time I did put McCormack in the Midfield in these Previews he was played up front so I guess it was just done out of spite toward me. However for the time being I'd keep Kacaniklic playing in this role, and it'll be interesting to see how Kit does handle the midfield when Bryan is fully fit.
With Kacaniklic playing the #10 Role the Striking situation becomes pretty simple. With Hugo and McCormack playing up front.
Team for Ipswich
Bettinelli
Richards, Hutchinson, Bodurov, Stafylidis
Christensen, Parker, Tunnicliffe
Kacaniklic
McCormack Rodallega
I wasn't massively impressed with Ipswich in August if I'm perfectly honest, but Mick McCarthy teams are robust and I'd predicted them to win the Division before the Season stared- and while they're not quite there, they aren't far off and as I've already said we'll need to be at our absolute best to get anything from the game tomorrow- which given recent performances isn't likely, but you never know.
Thanks for reading as always, I'm really hopeful we get at least a point tomorrow- because given the string of fixtures we have coming up and depending on other results we could end up in the position of having "must win" games- and I've had enough of those to last a lifetime. Anyway- lets hope it doesn't get to that and given the current weather I hope I'm not coming back from the game soaked- and with no points to keep me warm.
Friday, 13 February 2015
Thursday, 12 February 2015
NXT Takeover: Rival Review
Hello! We're here for another Review- and given circumstances preventing me doing an Impact Review while the Football season is still on, lets get reviewing for some wrasslin!
Hideo Itami v Tyler Breeze
This match was a good opening between two really good wrestlers. If they'd given this feud a bit more of a build it could have really been taken to a different level- but given the time constraints on the feud, and on the match it was a really good opening. NXT has started to have an embarrassment of riches with regard to its talent pool- and that means we have to accept that at certain stages people like Itami may have to take a backseat. Although I still think we'll be seeing a slow burn heel turn from Itami- which'll keep Balor busy until the current Zayn/Owens situation resolves itself.
Baron Corbin v Bull Dempsey
For a No DQ Match I thought we'd have gotten a bit more weapons action. In 2015 Wrestling its rare they actually build to the crescendo and hold back in early matches, but I like the fact they did- even if it meant the stipulation for this match was pretty much a moot point. The thing I think some people have to remember is that despite all of the good matches we've seen from NXT- it is still technically a developmental territory, so perhaps the bar has been raised a bit too high for some people who aren't Seasoned Veterans on the Indy's.
The Dubstep Duo v The Lucha Dragons
It was Los del Rio v Skrillex, Maracas v Space Bar, The Macarena v Strobe Lights- and it was pretty average. I don't know if Mistico had came back for a One Night Appearance under the mask- but Sin Cara looked really off last night. Granted its far from ideal from his point of view to be on the road doing RAWs, Smackdowns etc. and then unless I'm mistaken on one of the two days off the Main Roster get to be wrestling in NXT, so hopefully this is the end of Cara's run in NXT purely from a health perspective. Kalisto wasn't much better mind, I don't know if he'd suddenly developed an allergy to Strobes but he seemed a bit off the pace as well. The number of near falls was bordering on ludicrous- and it seemed they wanted to go for quantity rather than quality in this match, and while I haven't seen much of Murphy and the other one I've seen enough to know they're capable of better.
Finn Balor v Adrian Neville
This match stole the show. My new favourite thing to do is probably going to be watching the NXT crowd raising their arms simultaneously in time with Balor. Balor's paint adds a dimension to the match before its even begun. This match was near perfect, it was built perfectly building the pace of the match to its eventual finish- bringing the crowd every step along the way. Everything from the slingshot into the barricade, to the counter to the Red Arrow- to the eventual finish was timed to perfection; and thats what this match was- perfection.
Sasha Banks v Charlotte v Bayley v Becky Lynch
This was the best womens match since- well the Womens match on the last Takeover Special. 4 Ways have the potential to become a cluster pretty quickly- but they worked out the match to give all 4 a spotlight at various intervals in the match. I was pleasantly surprised by Becky, I haven't seen much of her but I was impressed with what I saw last night. Bayley is someone I've liked for a long time- she's just naturally likable, which is pretty hard to come by in Wrestling. Her interchanges with Charlotte were top notch, and I brought it up last night it's mental that Charlotte's first match in NXT was against Bayley when both of them were pretty raw- and seeing how much they've developed since that match. Speaking of development, Sasha Banks has arguably become the best Heel Diva in either NXT or the Main Roster. I can't remember exactly when it was when Summer turned her- but if I had to hazard a guess I'd say roughly 1 and a Half Years ago. I get most people would have only been watching NXT since it came on the Network just under a year ago, but it really is crazy to see how much she's developed firstly in the BFFs and then as the focal point heel. I'd rather have had Bayley win and becoming a fully fledged heel, to start a feud with Charlotte and getting a Becky-Sasha feud to run parallel to it; but its clear they aren't going to go that way with Bayley (yet) so Sasha was the best option. For what its worth I can't see Charlotte debuting this side of Mania, and I would hope Triple H protects her from the evils of McMahon and Dunn once she comes up.
Kevin Owens v Sami Zayn
This match could have been approached from a number of different angles from both angles- both from a viewer point of view, and the two guys in the match. One thing I didn't expect was to have a similar situation to Cena-Lesnar from Summerslam with total domination from Owens, with powerbombs replacing German Suplexes. It creates an interesting dynamic for the rest of the feud now we've had the domination phase- and crucially we won't be having Zayn protected for the rest of the feud like Cena was, which means we'll see a proper aggressiveness out of Zayn for as long as they want to keep this feud going. Personally I'd keep these two like the NXT version of Bret & Shawn, meaning that they can go off and do different things before coming back together and delivering quality every time. The finish left me feeling a bit cold, I would understand the "KO" finish if Zayn was unbeaten- but he's been pinned on numerous occasions so its not like he's been wrapped in Cotton Wool. Although it creates an interesting dynamic for the rest of the feud- if they were going to work an injury angle they might as well have had him be pinned.
This wasn't quite as good as the last Takeover in my opinion, but it was still a million times better than pretty much every single other event we've had under the WWE umbrella since the last Takeover.
Thanks for reading as always, I hope you're still enjoying reading these reviews- because I'm still enjoying writing them. Anyway, these'll be back for RAW on Monday before I get into the Fast Lane (YEEEEAAAAAHHHH) with two blogs coming for the upcoming PPV. So stay tuned for those, and try and get over that horrible pun.
Hideo Itami v Tyler Breeze
This match was a good opening between two really good wrestlers. If they'd given this feud a bit more of a build it could have really been taken to a different level- but given the time constraints on the feud, and on the match it was a really good opening. NXT has started to have an embarrassment of riches with regard to its talent pool- and that means we have to accept that at certain stages people like Itami may have to take a backseat. Although I still think we'll be seeing a slow burn heel turn from Itami- which'll keep Balor busy until the current Zayn/Owens situation resolves itself.
Baron Corbin v Bull Dempsey
For a No DQ Match I thought we'd have gotten a bit more weapons action. In 2015 Wrestling its rare they actually build to the crescendo and hold back in early matches, but I like the fact they did- even if it meant the stipulation for this match was pretty much a moot point. The thing I think some people have to remember is that despite all of the good matches we've seen from NXT- it is still technically a developmental territory, so perhaps the bar has been raised a bit too high for some people who aren't Seasoned Veterans on the Indy's.
The Dubstep Duo v The Lucha Dragons
It was Los del Rio v Skrillex, Maracas v Space Bar, The Macarena v Strobe Lights- and it was pretty average. I don't know if Mistico had came back for a One Night Appearance under the mask- but Sin Cara looked really off last night. Granted its far from ideal from his point of view to be on the road doing RAWs, Smackdowns etc. and then unless I'm mistaken on one of the two days off the Main Roster get to be wrestling in NXT, so hopefully this is the end of Cara's run in NXT purely from a health perspective. Kalisto wasn't much better mind, I don't know if he'd suddenly developed an allergy to Strobes but he seemed a bit off the pace as well. The number of near falls was bordering on ludicrous- and it seemed they wanted to go for quantity rather than quality in this match, and while I haven't seen much of Murphy and the other one I've seen enough to know they're capable of better.
Finn Balor v Adrian Neville
This match stole the show. My new favourite thing to do is probably going to be watching the NXT crowd raising their arms simultaneously in time with Balor. Balor's paint adds a dimension to the match before its even begun. This match was near perfect, it was built perfectly building the pace of the match to its eventual finish- bringing the crowd every step along the way. Everything from the slingshot into the barricade, to the counter to the Red Arrow- to the eventual finish was timed to perfection; and thats what this match was- perfection.
Sasha Banks v Charlotte v Bayley v Becky Lynch
This was the best womens match since- well the Womens match on the last Takeover Special. 4 Ways have the potential to become a cluster pretty quickly- but they worked out the match to give all 4 a spotlight at various intervals in the match. I was pleasantly surprised by Becky, I haven't seen much of her but I was impressed with what I saw last night. Bayley is someone I've liked for a long time- she's just naturally likable, which is pretty hard to come by in Wrestling. Her interchanges with Charlotte were top notch, and I brought it up last night it's mental that Charlotte's first match in NXT was against Bayley when both of them were pretty raw- and seeing how much they've developed since that match. Speaking of development, Sasha Banks has arguably become the best Heel Diva in either NXT or the Main Roster. I can't remember exactly when it was when Summer turned her- but if I had to hazard a guess I'd say roughly 1 and a Half Years ago. I get most people would have only been watching NXT since it came on the Network just under a year ago, but it really is crazy to see how much she's developed firstly in the BFFs and then as the focal point heel. I'd rather have had Bayley win and becoming a fully fledged heel, to start a feud with Charlotte and getting a Becky-Sasha feud to run parallel to it; but its clear they aren't going to go that way with Bayley (yet) so Sasha was the best option. For what its worth I can't see Charlotte debuting this side of Mania, and I would hope Triple H protects her from the evils of McMahon and Dunn once she comes up.
Kevin Owens v Sami Zayn
This match could have been approached from a number of different angles from both angles- both from a viewer point of view, and the two guys in the match. One thing I didn't expect was to have a similar situation to Cena-Lesnar from Summerslam with total domination from Owens, with powerbombs replacing German Suplexes. It creates an interesting dynamic for the rest of the feud now we've had the domination phase- and crucially we won't be having Zayn protected for the rest of the feud like Cena was, which means we'll see a proper aggressiveness out of Zayn for as long as they want to keep this feud going. Personally I'd keep these two like the NXT version of Bret & Shawn, meaning that they can go off and do different things before coming back together and delivering quality every time. The finish left me feeling a bit cold, I would understand the "KO" finish if Zayn was unbeaten- but he's been pinned on numerous occasions so its not like he's been wrapped in Cotton Wool. Although it creates an interesting dynamic for the rest of the feud- if they were going to work an injury angle they might as well have had him be pinned.
This wasn't quite as good as the last Takeover in my opinion, but it was still a million times better than pretty much every single other event we've had under the WWE umbrella since the last Takeover.
Thanks for reading as always, I hope you're still enjoying reading these reviews- because I'm still enjoying writing them. Anyway, these'll be back for RAW on Monday before I get into the Fast Lane (YEEEEAAAAAHHHH) with two blogs coming for the upcoming PPV. So stay tuned for those, and try and get over that horrible pun.
Tuesday, 10 February 2015
Bolton v Fulham Review: Getting What We Deserve
Hi! Well that was bordering on physically painful from a fans perspective. Now I'm going to preface all of this by saying I am in no way on the "Kit Out" brigade- but given the way we've been playing since Christmas in effectively all but the first half against Forest, and with the string of fixtures we have coming up we could easily end up finding ourselves in and around the Relegation Zone- more so than we already are. I think its generally accepted Blackpool are down- and while Wigan could still do it (and they have a game in hand) them being 8 points away from safety has to make them rank outsiders for survival. This leaves one spot in the Relegation Zone- and realistically everyone from 10th Downwards could still be included in the talk for that one spot. I'd like to think we are "too good to go down", and perhaps we are- but as I've said since Christmas we've shown a level of naivety that means we should be at least in the mix.
The Goals were a mixed bag today, Our Goal was scrappy as anything- but at the time I'd say we deserved the goal and the lead given the chances we had through Hugo, McCormack and Bodurov. It seems the "Old Club Curse" stretches to unsuccessful half-season Loan Spells where Fulham is concerned- it was a really bad goal to concede, the scene too often this season has been Stafylidis the wrong side of on advancing winger; but this time Bodurov was horrendously out of position- and it was a complete miscue from Hutchinson culminating in a perfect storm of bad defending. There was literally nothing anybody could have done for the Saidy Janko goal however- it was an absolute screamer. The way the game was going Le Fondre probably deserved a goal- so I don't know if Bettinelli felt sorry for him or something, but as I said in my Sunderland Review, he's saved us too many times to start getting on his back yet.
Speaking of Bettinelli- I thought he had a mixed game. As I've already said he was at fault for the third goal- but lets be honest the game was done by that point, and I don't think he could have done much for the first two- the second in particular. He didn't really have to make any outstanding saves, but in general he coped with everything well enough with the exception of the third goal- which only real effect was giving us another -1 on the Goal Difference.
The defence was mixed today- I was firstly surprised that Richards was dropped in favour of Grimmer because I didn't think Kit would do it- and it makes me question why he didn't drop Fofana when he wasn't performing. Grimmer had an alright game on balance- I don't know if the opposing managers are targeting Stafylidis as a weak spot, or its just coincidence but we had yet another game where most of the oppositions play came down Stafylidis' side, this time through Janko. I've seen some people slating Bodurov again- and while he didn't have his best game this season he's still in my opinion our best defender and doesn't deserve to be dropped. The Partnership of Bodurov and Hutchinson is our best by a mile- that's not to say its a perfect pairing and we won't leak goals, but it is the best we currently have at our disposal. The Loan Window is open- and I think we might see what I'd call "Panic Loans" coming in just to make sure we limp over the Safety Line ASAP, and I can see us going in for Harry Maguire from Hull- or another Centre-Back.
The Midfield wasn't up to much today, I said in my preview I didn't think Christensen was match fit- and while he had a better game than he did on Saturday that isn't really saying much. Tunnicliffe in the Parker role doesn't work- characterised by him nearly giving a goal away in the first half when he was robbed, which lead to a Gudjohnsen chance where he should have done better. However positively from that perspective it seems like he won't have to be playing that role for much longer. Fofana was, well Fofana- he does many Fofana things, none of them that good. Kacaniklic had a pretty indifferent game, but that was more because of the lack of pretty much any consistent attacking threat once we scored than anything else.
Hugo did struggle today, but I wouldn't have subbed him off because when he was we were still in the game (on the scoreboard) and given Hugo's scored in the two games before this I wouldn't have put it past him to score had he have stayed on. But that was Kit's decision- and this time he got it wrong in my opinion. McCormack is on a run of indifferent games at the minute, and this was no excpetion. He only really looked threatening twice- once in the first half where he got a good save out of Lonergan, and another in the Second when a Grimmer cross came in.
I think Kit's lost the plot with regard to Subs- and I don't say that lightly. Fair Enough I don't think he had a shot on target in the Second Half, but subbing off your Top Scorer when he's on a mini goalscoring run at 1-1 is suicidal in my opinion. Now I advocated bringing on George Williams at the Weekend- but bringing him on when we've already conceded in the midst of a poor second half display is idiotic. The positive I suppose is that Parker is back- and long-term thats a good thing, but I don't think we needed to sub on Parker the way the game was going, and while Fofana does have major flaws his energy could have made a different in the later stages and I'd have taken off Tunnicliffe who had a pretty poor game in my opinion.
One positive that came out today was that Bryan is staying so it seems, I don't think Bryan is the going on strike type- and he is the sole reason I'm happy for Kit to persist with the Diamond because he's seemingly the only one who can play that role consistently and make us tick.
Thanks for reading as always, I know its depressing sometimes- but I hope you enjoy the Reviews that come off the back of them. Anyway, we should be used to disappointment by now- and at the end of the day the only thing we can do is move on and try and get something from Ipswich.
RAW Review- 9th February
Hello! We're here for another RAW Review- and lets be honest, nobody really cared about RAW with all of the Seth Rollins stuff going on. I love Mercury and Noble- but dammit guys?! but there was a RAW going on- so lets get reviewin'.
Roman Reigns, Daniel Bryan Promo
Thankfully the Reigns promo was kept as short as it realistically could have been given the circumstances-I said it last week and I'll say it again, the teased heel behaviour of Reigns is just a tease and I haven't changed my opinion of that this week. However, it is a way to keep Reigns' character interesting- because if he were the stalwart babyface from now until Mania even the kids would be hating him by the end of March. The Bryan Promo was good- I'm not sure how much Bryan can eek out of the current scenario, because it is a pretty thin storyline from a Promo point of view but he still kept it relatively engaging to set up the Authority matchmaking at the end of the segment.
Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns v Kane & Big Show
There's only so many things Bryan & Roman can do with Kane and Big Show- that isn't even be knocking the two big men; Kane in particular- for him to do what he has done for the time period he has shouldn't even be possible; his knees shouldn't exist anymore. Even on Show & Kane's best day you aren't going to get a fast paced, high-octane thriller- especially when Roman is on the other side of the proceedings. The finish was weak- but I think that was intentional so people didn't zone out for the Main Event. The dropkick by Bryan into Reigns was a good way to keep the tension flowing for the Main Event- with the subsequent shove etc. I just think it could have been executed a bit better timing wise to get the crowd involved more (although they were largely flat through the whole night).
Ryback v Seth Rollins
The match was alright given the time constraints- and the way they had the finish play out. You always get at least a degree of quality when Rollins is involved, and this wasn't an exception- the fact they clearly wanted J&J to be the main device in the match it was a bit disjointed, just because there's only so much you can do with a match when you're having outsiders interfere- but you're not doing the DQ finish yet.
Sheamus Return Vignette
The vignette was pretty standard, all I'm going to say for now with regard to Sheamus is that he'd better be a heel when he does come back- because with the push for Roman we have enough of pretty bland babyfaces at the minute.
Paige v Brie Bella
This match was pretty standard diva fodder- This feud just seems to be dragging from my perspective, even though its been relatively short. I'm not going to say take the belt off of Nikki- because I can't see her run ending this side of Wrestlemania, I just wish they'd give them something to sink their teeth into- not just essentially "Bitches will be Bitches".
John Cena Appreciation Day
The Video Package they produced was top draw for this- I've said it time and time again, and I even made a point to highlight it in my awards blog, but the one area in WWE that is synonymous with quality is the Video Package department. The Cena Promo was- well a Cena Promo, although Cena inadvertently sending me on a 10 Minute Chumbawamba trip last night definitely made it worth it. I was happy in a way for the Cena "You Want Some, Come Get Some" type scenario to actually be met- and for Cena to end up on the wrong end of it, whether Cena does lose at Fast Lane is one thing- but if Rusev looks properly strong in the build it shouldn't harm him too much provided they protect Rusev during the match.
Bray Wyatt v Dolph Ziggler
The problem with this RAW as a whole was they didn't give any match the chance to be outstanding- this match wasn't going to be a world beater, but the two styles can mesh quite well. I liked the way they led to the finish- just because Bray taking Dolph's head off before hitting the Sister Abigail made him look like a monster, its good to see a Full-Timer being given a proper build for Taker. Them teasing Bray Abigailing him onto the concrete made him look like a monster- and a psychopath who'll happily destroy someone.
Paul Heyman Promo
Heyman effectively sold us on two matches within the short (by Heyman standard) time period he was allotted. I've said it before- to say a Heyman Promo was good is a formality, I would have preferred for Brock to get physical in some way- even if it meant destroying a jobber or something just because when he is on RAW he should be looking menacing, because if you're just going to have Brock stand in the background while Heyman is cutting a promo- with no consequences its a waste of one of his appearances.
The Dusts v New Day
The end game for this was to tease more tension between the Dusts- so in that respect it delivered, but they could have easily kept it to the backstage segment rather than effectively wasting around 5 Minutes. It did seem last night that WWE valued quantity over quality- and given the fact the Network is free this month they should have done it the other way around to entice people into subscribing.
Triple H/Sting Promo
You know what I was saying about Video Packages? Not only was it a bit creepy- the fake sting was a bit naff but the "I Accept" graphic with HHH in the shadow was a poignant image and something they can build on.
The Uso's v The European Uppercats
Another average match that wasn't given enough time to really develop into anything more than filler.
Sin Cara v Mizdow
The Mizdow/Miz dynamic is actually getting really good. Miz with the exception of Rusev is the most heely heel on the roster in my opinion- and he can make anyone be an over babyface in my opinion, so provided they can work it right Mizdow could be set up for a while by working with Miz; but then again its WWE so there's no guarantees.
Bray Wyatt Promo
I had an idea for the last statement in each of Bray's Promo to tell a story in their own right it started with "Find Me" and then we had "Let Me In" on Smackdown- but that's gone out the window with the repeating of "Find Me" on this RAW, but that said it was still a good promo and it's getting people to anticipate- and building the excitement for the Feud before its even officially begun.
Dean Ambrose v Curtis Axel
Axel has gotten a million times better since the Rumble- he's actually been given a purpose albeit in a comedic(ish) role. It's quite funny really- because although it wasn't ever said that Axel spot was most likely for Justin Gabriel before he quit.
The BNZ Segment was hilarious, if for no other reason than the sliding bar at the bottom- but its good to see them giving the IC Title more of a spotlight with an over talent chasing it forcefully.
Rollins, J&J, Big Show and Kane v Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan
The match was a good angle in all, I wish we'd have seen more of Roman just because we didn't get a proper angle between Rollins and Reigns because of his injury in the Autumn- but the angle they worked with Bryan doing all the work and Reigns getting the credit is a good one to work until Fast Lane; and also to an extent if you really want to get deep into it is a statement on how WWE works.
Overall this RAW was just a bit meh.
Thanks for reading as always, I'm still enjoying making these reviews- so I hope you're still enjoying reading them. I'll be doing a Takeover Review later on in the week- so stay tuned for that, and lets see how much it eclipses this RAW.
Roman Reigns, Daniel Bryan Promo
Thankfully the Reigns promo was kept as short as it realistically could have been given the circumstances-I said it last week and I'll say it again, the teased heel behaviour of Reigns is just a tease and I haven't changed my opinion of that this week. However, it is a way to keep Reigns' character interesting- because if he were the stalwart babyface from now until Mania even the kids would be hating him by the end of March. The Bryan Promo was good- I'm not sure how much Bryan can eek out of the current scenario, because it is a pretty thin storyline from a Promo point of view but he still kept it relatively engaging to set up the Authority matchmaking at the end of the segment.
Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns v Kane & Big Show
There's only so many things Bryan & Roman can do with Kane and Big Show- that isn't even be knocking the two big men; Kane in particular- for him to do what he has done for the time period he has shouldn't even be possible; his knees shouldn't exist anymore. Even on Show & Kane's best day you aren't going to get a fast paced, high-octane thriller- especially when Roman is on the other side of the proceedings. The finish was weak- but I think that was intentional so people didn't zone out for the Main Event. The dropkick by Bryan into Reigns was a good way to keep the tension flowing for the Main Event- with the subsequent shove etc. I just think it could have been executed a bit better timing wise to get the crowd involved more (although they were largely flat through the whole night).
Ryback v Seth Rollins
The match was alright given the time constraints- and the way they had the finish play out. You always get at least a degree of quality when Rollins is involved, and this wasn't an exception- the fact they clearly wanted J&J to be the main device in the match it was a bit disjointed, just because there's only so much you can do with a match when you're having outsiders interfere- but you're not doing the DQ finish yet.
Sheamus Return Vignette
The vignette was pretty standard, all I'm going to say for now with regard to Sheamus is that he'd better be a heel when he does come back- because with the push for Roman we have enough of pretty bland babyfaces at the minute.
Paige v Brie Bella
This match was pretty standard diva fodder- This feud just seems to be dragging from my perspective, even though its been relatively short. I'm not going to say take the belt off of Nikki- because I can't see her run ending this side of Wrestlemania, I just wish they'd give them something to sink their teeth into- not just essentially "Bitches will be Bitches".
John Cena Appreciation Day
The Video Package they produced was top draw for this- I've said it time and time again, and I even made a point to highlight it in my awards blog, but the one area in WWE that is synonymous with quality is the Video Package department. The Cena Promo was- well a Cena Promo, although Cena inadvertently sending me on a 10 Minute Chumbawamba trip last night definitely made it worth it. I was happy in a way for the Cena "You Want Some, Come Get Some" type scenario to actually be met- and for Cena to end up on the wrong end of it, whether Cena does lose at Fast Lane is one thing- but if Rusev looks properly strong in the build it shouldn't harm him too much provided they protect Rusev during the match.
Bray Wyatt v Dolph Ziggler
The problem with this RAW as a whole was they didn't give any match the chance to be outstanding- this match wasn't going to be a world beater, but the two styles can mesh quite well. I liked the way they led to the finish- just because Bray taking Dolph's head off before hitting the Sister Abigail made him look like a monster, its good to see a Full-Timer being given a proper build for Taker. Them teasing Bray Abigailing him onto the concrete made him look like a monster- and a psychopath who'll happily destroy someone.
Paul Heyman Promo
Heyman effectively sold us on two matches within the short (by Heyman standard) time period he was allotted. I've said it before- to say a Heyman Promo was good is a formality, I would have preferred for Brock to get physical in some way- even if it meant destroying a jobber or something just because when he is on RAW he should be looking menacing, because if you're just going to have Brock stand in the background while Heyman is cutting a promo- with no consequences its a waste of one of his appearances.
The Dusts v New Day
The end game for this was to tease more tension between the Dusts- so in that respect it delivered, but they could have easily kept it to the backstage segment rather than effectively wasting around 5 Minutes. It did seem last night that WWE valued quantity over quality- and given the fact the Network is free this month they should have done it the other way around to entice people into subscribing.
Triple H/Sting Promo
You know what I was saying about Video Packages? Not only was it a bit creepy- the fake sting was a bit naff but the "I Accept" graphic with HHH in the shadow was a poignant image and something they can build on.
The Uso's v The European Uppercats
Another average match that wasn't given enough time to really develop into anything more than filler.
Sin Cara v Mizdow
The Mizdow/Miz dynamic is actually getting really good. Miz with the exception of Rusev is the most heely heel on the roster in my opinion- and he can make anyone be an over babyface in my opinion, so provided they can work it right Mizdow could be set up for a while by working with Miz; but then again its WWE so there's no guarantees.
Bray Wyatt Promo
I had an idea for the last statement in each of Bray's Promo to tell a story in their own right it started with "Find Me" and then we had "Let Me In" on Smackdown- but that's gone out the window with the repeating of "Find Me" on this RAW, but that said it was still a good promo and it's getting people to anticipate- and building the excitement for the Feud before its even officially begun.
Dean Ambrose v Curtis Axel
Axel has gotten a million times better since the Rumble- he's actually been given a purpose albeit in a comedic(ish) role. It's quite funny really- because although it wasn't ever said that Axel spot was most likely for Justin Gabriel before he quit.
The BNZ Segment was hilarious, if for no other reason than the sliding bar at the bottom- but its good to see them giving the IC Title more of a spotlight with an over talent chasing it forcefully.
Rollins, J&J, Big Show and Kane v Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan
The match was a good angle in all, I wish we'd have seen more of Roman just because we didn't get a proper angle between Rollins and Reigns because of his injury in the Autumn- but the angle they worked with Bryan doing all the work and Reigns getting the credit is a good one to work until Fast Lane; and also to an extent if you really want to get deep into it is a statement on how WWE works.
Overall this RAW was just a bit meh.
Thanks for reading as always, I'm still enjoying making these reviews- so I hope you're still enjoying reading them. I'll be doing a Takeover Review later on in the week- so stay tuned for that, and lets see how much it eclipses this RAW.
Monday, 9 February 2015
Was the End of the Undertaker's Streak a Good Thing?
Hello! This is a different type of blog- but its one I hope you lot enjoy, and whether you agree or disagree I'd appreciate some feedback.
When the Streak ended last April it was met with universal hate and venom from Wrestling Fans. The heat generated from it ending was nuclear- luckily the WWE had the one person on the planet who could channel that heat in Paul Heyman. Heyman was the only guy with the mic skills to make the legitimate hatred toward the decision work within the confines of the "WWE Universe". Giving the Streak to Brock was another hated decision- but the fact is in terms of legitimacy Brock was the only guy who's active that could have ended the streak in my opinion. Before you lot get on to me about it being wrestling- so legitimacy doesn't really matter, Brock ending the streak generated mainstream news attention- it was the first time not involving CM Punk that WWE had gotten mainstream news attention from something that didn't involve someone dying in I don't know how long, and the fact it was a supposed "real" fighter who broke it added to it.
The Title
Brock already had losses to Triple H & Cena under his belt since his return- which I strongly disagreed with when they happened. Brock was starting to lose his "anything can happen" "big fight" feel surrounding every time he stepped into a wrestling ring in his fight shorts. As much as it pains people to admit it- Brock is a one of a kind specimen, everything that Heyman says to hype him is essentially true. Assuming Brock is going to leave WWE after 31- which is what is strongly looks like, he needed the belt to make his last year in WWE mean something; and because of the way he was booked prior to 30 he needed the Streak to get the Title. While his opponent at 31 is essentially confirmed to be Roman Reigns- with an outside chance of it being turned into a Triple Threat with Bryan being added, but we'll still get the same outcome of Roman looking strong; and while Heyman still has effectively 2 Months to build the feud(s) for the last match of Brock's Title Run- which could be a damp squib, every match beforehand has had a really good feel to the match (outcome not necessarily delivering).
Paul Heyman
Heyman is a top draw manager (or advocate) without a doubt, the problem before the Streak was ended was that a lot of what Heyman was saying meant absolutely nothing because Brock didn't deliver during the matches- which affected his standing from a legitimacy standpoint as far as a manager (advocate) goes. In the build to the match, Heyman said (I Can't Remember the exact quote) that Brock winning wasn't a prediction- it was a spoiler. In the build to the match everyone assumed Taker was going to make it 22, and it was another empty statement from Heyman. The fact Brock won- from a casual perspective, which is what it seems WWE lives for; means everything Heyman says suddenly has a meaning behind it. You always see "Superstars" say the good Promos have a degree of truth to them; but the best promos in my opinion are believable from an audience perspective. With respect to Cena and Triple H- Brock would kill them in a "shoot" fight, and that had neutered some of his legitimacy- he was no longer the UFC Champion, he was a Wrestler with an average record since he returned; in fact I think at 1 stage he was 1-2. This meant when either Heyman or the Commentators put over him being an NCAA, UFC, WWE Champion it was meaningless from a casuals perspective because they saw him as a guy who looks like he could kill you but ultimately doesn't deliver. While Brock eventually beat Triple H 2-1, beat Punk and then beat Big Show only one of those matches was a Main Event- which from a casuals standpoint is all that really matters, because that's what WWE have conditioned them to believe.
Bray Wyatt
This is what prompted me to write this- because I was looking at Bray's two "Undertaker Promos" which started me thinking about permutations, and possible stipulations for the Undertaker v Bray Wyatt match at Wrestlemania.
(This is going to look really stupid if it isn't Taker v Wyatt now)
As I've already said the heat generated on whoever ended the Streak would have been nuclear- and I'm sure everyone who follows my Wrestling Blogs knows I'm a Huge Fan of Bray; but his promo style doesn't lend itself to channeling a crowd as Heyman's does- because he has an indirect style. Now onto this years Wrestlemania, again- this is under the assumption that it is in fact Bray v Taker. It seems judging from Bray's 2 Promo's he's done so far his "mission" will be to unleash the monster within The Undertaker, However, I think they should eventually develop it into a "There Can Only be One Monster" type thing- which eventually evolves into a Retirement Stip for their match at Mania. Bray ending The Streak would have been the wrong move, Bray retiring Taker could be a proper "Torch Passing" moment- and crucially it'll work for Bray's character. Bray should go his entire career without winning a title, because his character shouldn't "covet" them and The Streak essentially became a Title of Sorts- a notch on whomever's belt it should eventually land. The career of the legendary Undertaker on the other hand supersedes a title- The Streak became what The Undertaker was about in the latter stages of his career, but his career is so much more than The Streak
Should Bray Wyatt end the career of The Undertaker he'll be set for however long he should continue wrestling, and crucially the heat from the fallout will be manageable from Bray's Point of View- because his promos; like Heyman's will once again have an air of legitimacy about them.
Thanks for reading as always, whether Bray does indeed go over at Mania is another debate; but he's a lot more likely to go over now than he would have been should the Streak still be in tact- because as I've said to an extent already; Current Day Undertaker needed the Streak as much as The Streak needed The Undertaker- so if we are to get one final flourish from Undertaker, with no streak- just a monster it'll be a perfect way to end his established, and prestigious career on his back.
Bolton v Fulham Preview: The Rotation Deliberation
Hello! We're here for another Preview- and this time we're headed up to the Reebok (or Macron- or whatever its called now) to face Neil Lennon's Bolton. We're headed into a run of 6 games in 22 days- and as my title suggests rotation will be key over this run- and with respect to Bolton we can afford to rotate to an extent against them; at least in comparison the run of games we have coming up in the near future with Wolves (A), Derby (H), Watford (A) and Bournemouth (H) in a row coming up- and if we were to pick up no points in that run depending on other results we could end up in the Relegation Battle.
I'm not going to suggest wholesale changes, but I think we have some areas where we can afford to rotate and still remain in the same ballpark with regard to quality. Unfortunately- as far as I can tell Kit hasn't had a Press Conference in preparation for the game tomorrow; so I'm going to be taking a stab in the dark with regard to some selections.
Of course Bettinelli will continue in goal- seeing the Cotterill goal from a "TV" angle it was essentially a perfect free-kick, at the game I thought Bettinelli should have done better- but seeing it on the Football League Show set me right; so Bettinelli had a near perfect game from my revised perspective.
The defence should remain largely the same- I think Richards needs a run of games to properly hit his stride; I think his initial Loan Deal runs out between the Ipswich and Millwall games so we need to give him all the games possible to get an accurate representation on him- and decided whether to extend the deal to the end of the season or not. If you've been reading these for a while you'll know I'm a huge fan of Bodurov- and I think he more than deserves a rest given he's put in the highest number of minutes out of everyone in the squad as a far I can remember. This'd mean bringing Dan Burn back in the team- he hasn't been seen since he was ripped to shreds by Watford roughly 2 Month ago, but he is still a good defender and the combination of Hutchinson and Burn should have enough about them to cope with varied threats Bolton pose. Stafylidis should continue of course- with Amorebieta's fitness still not entirely there as far as I can tell, which basically makes Stafylidis our only proper option for Left-Back as it stands- and I'd argue that even when Amorebieta is fit he should be seen as a Centre-Back.
When I said Stafylidis is our only real option as it stands for Left-Back some of you may have been preparing angry tweets saying "Sean Kavanagh"- but I (and it seems Kit) see Kavanagh as more of a Midfielder judging from where he's played under Kit. I remember seeing something about him needing stitches in his knee- but off the top of my head that was after the Wolves replay, so you have to assume he's had the stitches out and is at least close to full fitness; so I'd be bringing him into the midfield tomorrow. I always work on the assumption we'll be playing the diamond until Kit starts playing another formation so the other two for the midfield three will be interesting for us tomorrow. The midfielder sitting in front of the back 4 is a position we don't really have an ideal fit for- I think Hoogland is the closest we have, but once again I'm not sure what his fitness situation is- as I'm not sure of Parker's. So for the time being I'll assume they're still injured, this means we have Fofana, Tunnicliffe, Christensen and Kacaniklic to fill two spots. Christensen looked a bit off the pace in the Birmingham game- so I'd give him a 30 Minute sub appearance tomorrow, I think we just need to ease him back in rather than throwing him in at the deep end. Tunnicliffe it seems is Kit's choice to play the "Parker" role and I'd have Kacaniklic fill the other spot- being the one who's subbed off for Christensen after roughly 60 Minutes.
The player to fill the #10 Role has hilariously got another twist to it- with the news Bryan Ruiz's proposed transfer to Levante has fallen through (albeit with an appeal still to come) so although Bryan presumably won't be available until the appeal is sorted out the mental image of Bryan getting ready to play against the likes of Real Madrid- with trips to Millwall and Huddersfield still to come for us will get you through some cold nights. Anyway although I'd strongly oppose it on 9 occasions out of 10 I'd have McCormack in the #10 Role tomorrow- just because of the lack of options given I think Kacaniklic should be in the Midfield Three with Christensen's doubtful performance against Birmingham.
Hugo should of course continue up front- he's now gotten 2 from his last 2, and we need to keep playing him to (hopefully) continue his goalscoring run and keep his confidence up. Of course this'll mean Woodrow coming in and especially against a team with good, strong Centre-Backs like Matt Mills and Dervite (who I hope monopolises the Long Shots tomorrow) Woodrow will give us another threat during the game.
I'd give a few "fringe" players a spot on the bench tomorrow- because we might as well give them some experience of being with the matchday squad such as Adam Taggart who depending on how the games going I'd give a cameo appearance.
Team for Bolton
Bettinelli
Richards, Hutchinson, Burn, Stafylidis
Kacaniklic, Tunnicliffe, Kavanagh
McCormack
Rodallega Woodrow
We should be aiming for at the minimum 1 win from the next 2 games given Ipswich's recent bad run of form (they'll thrash Sheff. Wednesday now I've said that). I quoted 46 points in my last blog- but I think we should probably aim for the 50-55 point mark just to be fully secure in the division; that'll mean getting 15-20 Points from 17 Games- which as I've said previously if we can't achieve we deserve to go down.
Thanks for reading as always, tomorrow's team selection will be really interesting from my Point of View because it'll give us a look at how ambitious Kit is in my opinion- if we play a full strength team in the next 3 against Bolton, Ipswich and Millwall it is Kit indirectly saying he doesn't expect us to get much from the 4 following against Wolves, Derby, Watford and Bournemouth. Anyway- thats for tomorrow, and lets hope we're coming away from the Reebok (or Macron- or whatever its called) with something to cheer about.
I'm not going to suggest wholesale changes, but I think we have some areas where we can afford to rotate and still remain in the same ballpark with regard to quality. Unfortunately- as far as I can tell Kit hasn't had a Press Conference in preparation for the game tomorrow; so I'm going to be taking a stab in the dark with regard to some selections.
Of course Bettinelli will continue in goal- seeing the Cotterill goal from a "TV" angle it was essentially a perfect free-kick, at the game I thought Bettinelli should have done better- but seeing it on the Football League Show set me right; so Bettinelli had a near perfect game from my revised perspective.
The defence should remain largely the same- I think Richards needs a run of games to properly hit his stride; I think his initial Loan Deal runs out between the Ipswich and Millwall games so we need to give him all the games possible to get an accurate representation on him- and decided whether to extend the deal to the end of the season or not. If you've been reading these for a while you'll know I'm a huge fan of Bodurov- and I think he more than deserves a rest given he's put in the highest number of minutes out of everyone in the squad as a far I can remember. This'd mean bringing Dan Burn back in the team- he hasn't been seen since he was ripped to shreds by Watford roughly 2 Month ago, but he is still a good defender and the combination of Hutchinson and Burn should have enough about them to cope with varied threats Bolton pose. Stafylidis should continue of course- with Amorebieta's fitness still not entirely there as far as I can tell, which basically makes Stafylidis our only proper option for Left-Back as it stands- and I'd argue that even when Amorebieta is fit he should be seen as a Centre-Back.
When I said Stafylidis is our only real option as it stands for Left-Back some of you may have been preparing angry tweets saying "Sean Kavanagh"- but I (and it seems Kit) see Kavanagh as more of a Midfielder judging from where he's played under Kit. I remember seeing something about him needing stitches in his knee- but off the top of my head that was after the Wolves replay, so you have to assume he's had the stitches out and is at least close to full fitness; so I'd be bringing him into the midfield tomorrow. I always work on the assumption we'll be playing the diamond until Kit starts playing another formation so the other two for the midfield three will be interesting for us tomorrow. The midfielder sitting in front of the back 4 is a position we don't really have an ideal fit for- I think Hoogland is the closest we have, but once again I'm not sure what his fitness situation is- as I'm not sure of Parker's. So for the time being I'll assume they're still injured, this means we have Fofana, Tunnicliffe, Christensen and Kacaniklic to fill two spots. Christensen looked a bit off the pace in the Birmingham game- so I'd give him a 30 Minute sub appearance tomorrow, I think we just need to ease him back in rather than throwing him in at the deep end. Tunnicliffe it seems is Kit's choice to play the "Parker" role and I'd have Kacaniklic fill the other spot- being the one who's subbed off for Christensen after roughly 60 Minutes.
The player to fill the #10 Role has hilariously got another twist to it- with the news Bryan Ruiz's proposed transfer to Levante has fallen through (albeit with an appeal still to come) so although Bryan presumably won't be available until the appeal is sorted out the mental image of Bryan getting ready to play against the likes of Real Madrid- with trips to Millwall and Huddersfield still to come for us will get you through some cold nights. Anyway although I'd strongly oppose it on 9 occasions out of 10 I'd have McCormack in the #10 Role tomorrow- just because of the lack of options given I think Kacaniklic should be in the Midfield Three with Christensen's doubtful performance against Birmingham.
Hugo should of course continue up front- he's now gotten 2 from his last 2, and we need to keep playing him to (hopefully) continue his goalscoring run and keep his confidence up. Of course this'll mean Woodrow coming in and especially against a team with good, strong Centre-Backs like Matt Mills and Dervite (who I hope monopolises the Long Shots tomorrow) Woodrow will give us another threat during the game.
I'd give a few "fringe" players a spot on the bench tomorrow- because we might as well give them some experience of being with the matchday squad such as Adam Taggart who depending on how the games going I'd give a cameo appearance.
Team for Bolton
Bettinelli
Richards, Hutchinson, Burn, Stafylidis
Kacaniklic, Tunnicliffe, Kavanagh
McCormack
Rodallega Woodrow
We should be aiming for at the minimum 1 win from the next 2 games given Ipswich's recent bad run of form (they'll thrash Sheff. Wednesday now I've said that). I quoted 46 points in my last blog- but I think we should probably aim for the 50-55 point mark just to be fully secure in the division; that'll mean getting 15-20 Points from 17 Games- which as I've said previously if we can't achieve we deserve to go down.
Thanks for reading as always, tomorrow's team selection will be really interesting from my Point of View because it'll give us a look at how ambitious Kit is in my opinion- if we play a full strength team in the next 3 against Bolton, Ipswich and Millwall it is Kit indirectly saying he doesn't expect us to get much from the 4 following against Wolves, Derby, Watford and Bournemouth. Anyway- thats for tomorrow, and lets hope we're coming away from the Reebok (or Macron- or whatever its called) with something to cheer about.
Saturday, 7 February 2015
Fulham v Birmingham Review: 1 Point Closer to August
The Battle for 9th is really heating up now. Hello, my Preview blog was mainly focused on the Summer- and building for next season; and judging from the large majority of the game today the players share the same opinion. It was far from a bad performance- it just reminded me of the last 4 or 5 games we would have during the Premier League in the majority of the season we had between The Great Escape and Last Season.
We aren't far removed from the Reading game where the ref was abysmal- so I'd like to balance things up by praising the ref today. This probably won't go down well, but with the exception of a bad 5 Minutes around the 75-80 Minute mark I thought the ref was one of the best we've had this season. He let the game flow- and I think he kept his cards in his pocket with the exception of a booking for either Caddis or Shinnie I couldn't really tell. He also got both penalty- or rather lack of a penalty decisions spot on in my opinion. Because of where I sit I was almost perfectly placed to see the McCormack challenge- and it was a top draw challenge from Davis. Handball is always a hard one to call, Granted I didn't have the best view for it- but it looked to me like he kept his arms pretty close to his body; but that opinion could change once I see the incident from a "TV" angle.
The goals for once came early on- and they were two completely opposite goals. The Rodallega goal was a really well worked move with I think Christensen putting the final pass into Hugo- I've said it in a couple of my more recent blogs where if Hugo gets on a run there's nobody that can stop him and it took a scrappy goal against Sunderland to give Hugo the lift he needed. The Birmingham goal is a hard one to complain about- it was essentially an inch perfect ball that resulted in the goal; cross or shot is another matter. I think Bettinelli slightly lost where he was when Cotterill's ball came in because had he have been in a slightly better position he could have at least got a hand to it- which'd have prevented the goal.
Speaking of Bettinelli- as I've already said I think he could have done slightly better for the Cotterill goal; but he more than made up for it with the number of saves he made from especially Donaldson from a point blank range. It was good to see Bettinelli have a good performance- and especially in the 2nd Half a largely unremarkable game after the unwanted attention he got on Tuesday.
The Defence performed really well today in my opinion, especially Stafylidis. Considering the threat posed by Cotterill the fact Stafylidis had an unremarkable game- is in itself remarkable. Had we have played this game around October/November you can almost guarantee Stafylidis would have given away a penalty up against a winger such as Cotterill. It was Jazz Richards' first game at the Cottage I thought he looked really assured on the ball and really solid from a defensive standpoint- albeit it hardly any of Birmingham's attacks came down their left hand side. The Hutchinson and Bodurov partnership is getting more impressive the more I see it. With the exception of one occasion when someone carved them open to put Donaldson through on goal they didn't let anyone get in behind them- and even in the Donaldson incident Bodurov put him under enough pressure (without doing something stupid) to force his hand and miss- although it still should have been a goal.
Anyone who's been reading these for a while will know I'm a huge fan of Christensen- but he simply wasn't at the races today. He just looked a yard off the pace- and I'm happy he was subbed when he was because he was really struggling by the time he went off; I think his game today was characterised by him misplacing a roughly 5 Yard pass to Richards and putting it out for a throw. With regard to Tunnicliffe the only thing really needed to be said is I hope Parker is back soon- because Tunnicliffe isn't really suited to the role Parker plays as the deepest of the 3 Midfielders and linking the Midfield and Defence. Fofana is a strange player, he shows signs of being a top quality midfielder- but follows up those signs by running the ball aimlessly into a defender. The amount of times he essentially ran the ball away was too many to count- although in the second half it did look like someone had told him to improve because he went from aimless runs to aimless long shots. I'm going to count Kacaniklic in this section- although for large parts of todays game it looked like we were playing a 4-3-3. Kacaniklic had a mixed game- although it is good to see a Fulham player make runs with degree of purpose both on and off the ball, and he always looks capable of making something happen; albeit the end product isn't always there.
As I've already said with regard to Hugo- he's very much a confidence player and you can tell from his body language as much as anything else if he's up for the game. I thought Hugo looked our most likely player to score today, and quite dangerous- You only have to compare Hugo hitting the post from roughly a yard against Reading to him nearly scoring an off balance kind of bicycle kick in the Second Half to see the impact a goal has on him. McCormack had another largely indifferent game- it gets so frustrating that it seems to be either/or with regard to Hugo and McCormack scoring because if both of them could start scoring together we could beat anyone.
The Subs, or rather Sub Kit made today was the wrong one in my opinion- and I'd hate to think he brought on Pat Roberts because the crowd were asking him to. I'll preface this with saying I have no doubt Pat Roberts CAN be a Top Draw player. However in February 2015- he simply isn't good enough from my point of view, and he really wasn't what we needed for the game today. I'd have taken Christensen and Kacaniklic off and brought on George Williams and Cauley Woodrow with McCormack dropping back a bit- because especially in the Second Half we were getting acres of space in the roughly space between the Centre Circle and the Box. This would have added another dimension to our game- and given us an aerial threat that as I've always said that Hugo on his best day doesn't give us, while also adding some more pace on the game from Williams.
Its not really worth nitpicking though- at the end of the day Birmingham have become pretty much draw specialists as of late. We're now sat on 35 Points with 17 Games left- the average points tally for survival in the Championship is 46- and lets be honest, if we can't get 11 Points from 17 Games we deserve to go down.
Thanks for reading as always, the game today was hardly going to set the world alight- and was pretty representative of our season as a whole, in that it was bang average. Anyway we're now headed to the Reebok on Tuesday, and these blogs won't be far behind- so stay tuned for those and lets get that damn 9th Place Finish dammit.
We aren't far removed from the Reading game where the ref was abysmal- so I'd like to balance things up by praising the ref today. This probably won't go down well, but with the exception of a bad 5 Minutes around the 75-80 Minute mark I thought the ref was one of the best we've had this season. He let the game flow- and I think he kept his cards in his pocket with the exception of a booking for either Caddis or Shinnie I couldn't really tell. He also got both penalty- or rather lack of a penalty decisions spot on in my opinion. Because of where I sit I was almost perfectly placed to see the McCormack challenge- and it was a top draw challenge from Davis. Handball is always a hard one to call, Granted I didn't have the best view for it- but it looked to me like he kept his arms pretty close to his body; but that opinion could change once I see the incident from a "TV" angle.
The goals for once came early on- and they were two completely opposite goals. The Rodallega goal was a really well worked move with I think Christensen putting the final pass into Hugo- I've said it in a couple of my more recent blogs where if Hugo gets on a run there's nobody that can stop him and it took a scrappy goal against Sunderland to give Hugo the lift he needed. The Birmingham goal is a hard one to complain about- it was essentially an inch perfect ball that resulted in the goal; cross or shot is another matter. I think Bettinelli slightly lost where he was when Cotterill's ball came in because had he have been in a slightly better position he could have at least got a hand to it- which'd have prevented the goal.
Speaking of Bettinelli- as I've already said I think he could have done slightly better for the Cotterill goal; but he more than made up for it with the number of saves he made from especially Donaldson from a point blank range. It was good to see Bettinelli have a good performance- and especially in the 2nd Half a largely unremarkable game after the unwanted attention he got on Tuesday.
The Defence performed really well today in my opinion, especially Stafylidis. Considering the threat posed by Cotterill the fact Stafylidis had an unremarkable game- is in itself remarkable. Had we have played this game around October/November you can almost guarantee Stafylidis would have given away a penalty up against a winger such as Cotterill. It was Jazz Richards' first game at the Cottage I thought he looked really assured on the ball and really solid from a defensive standpoint- albeit it hardly any of Birmingham's attacks came down their left hand side. The Hutchinson and Bodurov partnership is getting more impressive the more I see it. With the exception of one occasion when someone carved them open to put Donaldson through on goal they didn't let anyone get in behind them- and even in the Donaldson incident Bodurov put him under enough pressure (without doing something stupid) to force his hand and miss- although it still should have been a goal.
Anyone who's been reading these for a while will know I'm a huge fan of Christensen- but he simply wasn't at the races today. He just looked a yard off the pace- and I'm happy he was subbed when he was because he was really struggling by the time he went off; I think his game today was characterised by him misplacing a roughly 5 Yard pass to Richards and putting it out for a throw. With regard to Tunnicliffe the only thing really needed to be said is I hope Parker is back soon- because Tunnicliffe isn't really suited to the role Parker plays as the deepest of the 3 Midfielders and linking the Midfield and Defence. Fofana is a strange player, he shows signs of being a top quality midfielder- but follows up those signs by running the ball aimlessly into a defender. The amount of times he essentially ran the ball away was too many to count- although in the second half it did look like someone had told him to improve because he went from aimless runs to aimless long shots. I'm going to count Kacaniklic in this section- although for large parts of todays game it looked like we were playing a 4-3-3. Kacaniklic had a mixed game- although it is good to see a Fulham player make runs with degree of purpose both on and off the ball, and he always looks capable of making something happen; albeit the end product isn't always there.
As I've already said with regard to Hugo- he's very much a confidence player and you can tell from his body language as much as anything else if he's up for the game. I thought Hugo looked our most likely player to score today, and quite dangerous- You only have to compare Hugo hitting the post from roughly a yard against Reading to him nearly scoring an off balance kind of bicycle kick in the Second Half to see the impact a goal has on him. McCormack had another largely indifferent game- it gets so frustrating that it seems to be either/or with regard to Hugo and McCormack scoring because if both of them could start scoring together we could beat anyone.
The Subs, or rather Sub Kit made today was the wrong one in my opinion- and I'd hate to think he brought on Pat Roberts because the crowd were asking him to. I'll preface this with saying I have no doubt Pat Roberts CAN be a Top Draw player. However in February 2015- he simply isn't good enough from my point of view, and he really wasn't what we needed for the game today. I'd have taken Christensen and Kacaniklic off and brought on George Williams and Cauley Woodrow with McCormack dropping back a bit- because especially in the Second Half we were getting acres of space in the roughly space between the Centre Circle and the Box. This would have added another dimension to our game- and given us an aerial threat that as I've always said that Hugo on his best day doesn't give us, while also adding some more pace on the game from Williams.
Its not really worth nitpicking though- at the end of the day Birmingham have become pretty much draw specialists as of late. We're now sat on 35 Points with 17 Games left- the average points tally for survival in the Championship is 46- and lets be honest, if we can't get 11 Points from 17 Games we deserve to go down.
Thanks for reading as always, the game today was hardly going to set the world alight- and was pretty representative of our season as a whole, in that it was bang average. Anyway we're now headed to the Reebok on Tuesday, and these blogs won't be far behind- so stay tuned for those and lets get that damn 9th Place Finish dammit.
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