‘I should’ve gone to Homebase’
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| Accidental sight-seeing, Sat morn |
I blame Jim Armitage, for not walking into a lamppost. I blame Ian Thomas for not getting so drunk. I blame Loko for not turning up. I blame Norris for not taking up Susan’s offer of a trip to a DIY superstore. I blame the return of Tim to a game. I blame TFL for sending me on a wild goose chase Sat morn (long story). I blame David Flitcroft for clueless negative tactics against feeble opposition. I blame the cock of Gibraltar for doing what no-one else on the park looked capable of and directing an unstoppable header into the corner of his own net, his second ‘winner’ this season.
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| Welcome to Millwall |
Dearie, dearie, me. Apparently we were only near the bottom cos we’d played all the top lot. A month later and we’ve failed to beat Washday, Ipswich, Donny and Millwall, nary a decent side between them. As ever, Flitcroft showed his ambitions by lining up with 5 in midfield and a weak willed lily livered ‘striker’ up front. 0-0 anyone?
An absolutely lacklustre game somehow gave us 3 extremely good chances, 2 to everyone’s favourite stroller. In the 1st half a smart passing move ended with Mellis clean through. From the far end, I thought Mellis had little time and did well to get his shot off. From watching it on telly this morning, it looked a bloody awful finish. All the time in the world to pick his spot, he picked it – straight at the keeper. ‘Class’ to me includes composure. Don’t anyone tell me he’s ‘class’.
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| Beautiful stadium. Boring, but beautiful. |
Early 2nd half, Mellis did well to get to a back post header and only great defending/luck denied him as the ball hit a retreating defender. As for the rest of Mellis’s game, I tried, twice, to watch him for 2 minutes, but honestly, all he does is walk around the pitch. And God help us when a player takes him on – just cut inside him and he’s left for dead, apparently unable to turn around and run after said player. Still, he jogged off very well once he was subbed (again). Why does he get picked? And why do I have to listen to Reds fans every week whining 'he's not a left midfielder' but apparently should be played in the middle. Listen you pr*cks - if he played in the middle, the opposition would STEAMROLLER us. But I didn't fancy having that conversation with the numpties in the toilets at half time. Suffice to say, there's a reason he's not played in CENTRE midfield, despite being (allegedly) a creative player.
The 3rd chance? A Millwall bloke attempts to direct a backpass to the keeper and Wiseman nips in, stabbing it wide from 6 yards. The ref, unable to understand how it could be put wide, did the decent thing and awarded a corner. I remain unconvinced the keeper got anywhere near it.
*** Perkins. Same as ever.
** Crainie. Go on then, let’s allow meeting the Family Crainie to influence my vote. Solid.
* Kennedy. Did no wrong, but shows how average the rest are when he gets a vote.
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| Best view all day |
Despatches:
Flitcroft needs to get a grip. Right now, I don’t see any likelihood of change unless the manager gets the bullet – it’s how we stayed up last season. As ever, I fail to see why he’s tinkered with last season’s (usually) winning formula to create a moribund style of football where watching us relegate ourselves despite the number of poor sides in this division is like the death of a thousand cuts. It reminds me of the last time we were relegated – we knew we had players good enough to keep us up, but we were as unsurprised as anyone to see us slowly melt to the bottom of the division. We are NOT good enough to ‘carry’ two luxury players in Mellis and McCourt, let alone a 3rd in Pedersen.
O’Brien and Dawson got dogs abuse off some Reds fan on the platform afterwards, yet I fail to see why 2 players who’re blatantly putting in some EFFORT should get grief, especially when one was only on the park 10 mins. OK, they might not have hit the heights of last season, but then neither has Etuhu who can’t decide whether to be s*** or very s***. And why did Flitcroft bother giving Cywka a new contract when all he does is sit him on the bench, despite his annoying habit of grabbing the odd goal? Answers ranged from ‘cos he also does a mean bit of plastering’ and ‘he’s cheap’. He’s Polish, you see.
The one player who looked like he wanted to score was of course Scotland, who, sadly, was so isolated when he came on that every time he got the ball he tried to take on 3 players to get a shot off. You know the result. McCourt showed us the other side of his game, the one where he can’t be ar5ed to track back when he's lost the ball, while Pedersen did one thing the entire game, sliding the ball to Mellis for THAT miss. The defence looked solid – in other words, Millwall were so s*** they barely came near our goal. It was an awful, awful game, only Gibraltar international Wiseman standing between this game and a re-run of BFC nil Donny nil last week. Can the football get any WORSE this season? (I think we know the answer to that one.)
The Family Crainie were very nice. I don't know what's happened to the blokes, but there was mum, grandma, girlfriend, sister-in-law. Granny was well informed too, asking why this Bobby Hassell bloke is so popular. (Problies cos he doesn't get chance to play, therefore never makes any mistakes). Everyone agreed that Crainie probably is our best defender and granny said how they thought he'd be playing at a much higher level. Fair dues.
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| 3 generations of Family Crainie (and randoms) |
Drink du jour: a decent few pints of Pilsner Urquell in the Mudlark. Just for a minute I was transported back to my summer holidays, enjoying the break, looking forward to an exciting season, challenging at the other end of the table for a change. Ha ha haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.
Onwards and downwards!
A
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| In widescreen |
