Then again I thought Coventry would beat us So that was a bonus 3 points to be fair Maybe tonight wasnt a poor result but I thought we’d not play out a crappy 0-0 draw like we did You can’t have it all and we’re still unbeaten in 5 games
at the game last night i am sat excited ready for what i believed would be a very good performance
my leak at Loftus Road came true for once and Dion Paraded in front of a very decent crowd
i see the team slightly suprised Albert is on the bench but happy enough with the starting XI
bench apart from Albert looked bare (and so it was proved when we needed that something special to grab a goal late on)
a draw was the right result in my eyes first 10 minutes i thought Swansea looked the better team
not much to look back on from either side to be honest
scores on the doors
Marshall 7 (to me especially at the begining he looked shaky with those in front of him and wth the ball at his feet he doesnt look as assured as Dieng all in all by the end of the game he did ok 2nd clean sheet in 3 a plus point Derby didnt look like scoring) Dickie 6 (didnt do anything wrong but didnt do anything exceptional) Dunne 8 (a colossus dominated his position didnt give Swansea a sniff massive contender for MOtM) Barbet 7 (looked shaky at times makes me wonder if we will see that rare time he will miss agame shortly with Sanderson waiting in wings now) Odubajo 8 MOtM (saw his name and was concerned but the efforts he put in last night i think he was brilliant bit rusty with a cross at times but did equally as well on the left ) Field 7 (almost an 8 kept the Swansea midfield quiet) Johansen 7 (looked shaky at times first half couldnt really get his foot on the ball but captained very well last night) Amos 6 (at times forgot he was playing did defensive job well at times jumped out my seat when he hit post with that surging run was suprised he was taken off soon after that would have kept him on 5 more minutes) Wallace 6 (did ok looked a little tired to me was glad hewas taken off when i saw Albert coming on was praying Odubajo got switched to left and was kept on wise decision from MW) Willock 7 (not his best game looked jaded when he was taken off i knew the spark had gone and we wouldnt get more than a point) Austin 6 (suprised he lasted the 90 minutes worked hard missed what proved to be a sitter when he headed straight at keeper when he was called offside...watched the game back when i got home and he wasnt offside) Dykes 5 (groaned when he came on was hoping he would be that dykes that manages to create damage but what came on was the usual headless chicken Lyndon when i groaned the 2 or 3 sat near by me agreed with me and 1 of them in particular said i thought it was just me that didnt like Dykes and i said back to him funny u say that i too thought it was just me me laughed and went on our seperate ways after the game having paid 46 quid for almost a decent game of football) Adomah 6 (not much time def saw his quality when he came on looks the fullback now with his tracking back) Thomas 6 (again a groan from me and others in crowd but he proved me wrong yesterday he worked his little butt off and almst created something out of nothing in the build up to Dykes sitter miss lets face it he could have hit it anywhere except where he hit it and it was a goal that chance was created by Thomas hard work and good lay off for whoever played it thru to Dykes think it was odubajo who played the perfect pass)
be interested to see what WLS give the players ratings
ALL IN ALL this game proves without chair we have little to nothing to give us this spark as in my opinion Willock needs a little help
you cant have a bench like we do and if your MW and your looking down the bench of who u have to get us a goal u need that something extra in my opinion i now think we need that extra striker/number 10 more than ever
just hope Morocco got knocked out last night as before i went to the game i saw they were losing 1-0 we need chair back because if we had him yesterday we would be 2 points better oof on 50 and we would have had 1 game in hand over the over achieving Blackburn who in my opinion were one of the worse teams to have visited Loftus Road
In their defence (and I cannot believe I am saying this), both Austin and Dykes tracked back and chased the ball when in front of them. What is missing their is the creative magic and clinical finishing. We need to bring in someone else up front if we are going to continue playing at least one striker. (Does anyone else feel we should experiment (a la Man City) with no striker? That would mean instead having Chair, Willock and Thomas or Amos up front....) Glad you made it to a game @tomcat75! I think you were a little harsh in your rankings on Dykes (if Austin rated a '6' so did Dykes) and generous towards Wallace and Johansen. Interesting you felt Dunne did so well. I must admit I was watching Barbet and Dickie more, so perhaps that indicates Dunne was doing well alongside them. It is going to be an interesting battle between Dieng and Marshall for the starting place....
Dieng wins that battle just with confidence of having the ball at his feet
Marshall and them in front of him at times looked less than confident and i can see a mistake happening but Marshall is a very good shot stopper has to be said i like him
dont think i was harsh on Dykes that sitter he missed was a shocker yes everyone knows i dont rate him but when he comes off the bench there are now a lot of groans from the crowd
and trust me Dunne was immense
as for having no forward that mya work if we managed to bring in Tom Lawrence and play him with chair and willock but Amos and Thomas are not the answer Thomas because hes just not very good and Amos because hes more a defensive midfielder for me