Hard Day's Night!

I don't think that I have been more satisfied in the last month or so... agreed, we lost and I may be abused by a lot of people on here for not minding a loss but the way we played today impressed me.

The team sheet proved my worst fears with Nev and Cars in the centre of midfield...obviously no sign of Arteta or Ossie. Chelsea minus Drogba and Lampard are still more than a handfull and with Malouda, Sheva, etc on the bench.

The game started off with both sides tussling for possession. No real chances to speak of in the opening half hour or so. We were frustrating them with great defensive play... Jags, Yobo, Hibbo, Lescott all looked solid and made great clearences when called to. Chelsea were looking good on the break especially down the right side with Ferreira and SWP.

With just less than 5 mins to go in the half, out of nothing he ball was played into the edge of the box and it was played into Essien who finished with ease.

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We must have got a rollicking at the break because we came out looking even better than we did in the first half. I saw Grav and Vic getting ready to come on and I got excited expecting Hibbo to come off along with AJ with Nev moving into RB. To my shock I see Pienaar coming off! Grav gave the ball up a couple of times but generally looked ok.

Manny was taking shot after shot from long range. We got a couple of free kicks on the edge of their area and Fernandes took both, with the 2nd effort missing by a whisker...with headless wonder(Cech) well and truly beaten. So we lost but not without showing a lot of character.... hope we can play this way with hopefully Arteta and Ossie back against Villa next weekend...COYB.

P.S: Saw Cahill and Ossie watching the game...wish they coulda come on today!

Player assessment is as follows:

Howard: Looked pretty good today..goal kicks were better.
Hibbert: Had his best game in a while.
Jags: very good today..made some amazing challenges to keep the socreline respectable.
Yobo: Was solid...almost cost us when he lost the ball at the centre of the pitch a couple of times.
Lescott: Great bombing forward and at the back.."CAPTAIN".
Cars: Did pretty well breakin up their play today.
Neville: Actually had a better game than usual...passed forwards to our own players.
Fernandes: Took a lot of shots on goal..was unlucky with the 2nd free kick.
Pienaar: Looked lively...why was he taken off??? When is the permanent deal coming? Is the club expecting us to collect money for Pienaar's agent?
AJ: Ran a lot as always but no great chances.
Yak: Was better than the last few weeks..not much service to him but held the line well.

Subs:
Grav: Seeing him...realised that he is slow...but still at least he looks forwards when he gets the ball... important for a midfielder!
Vic: Not much of an impact I feel.

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Colin Grierson
1   Posted 20/04/2008 at 12:59:06

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We wouldn’t have scored if we were still playing now!
Gravesen was useless when he came on. Surely he’s only there to impart a bit of knowledge in training. If we play like that in the next three games we wont get another point this season.


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