In tribute to the great Nile Rodgers, will we remember… the 10th afternoon of September? Could this be the turning point of the season? The crowd turned on Monk after the disappointing display against the Top of The Table Chihuahuas, and although I didn’t bother with the radio interview, I believe that was not received well either.
So what can I say? The new boy Pontus Jansson put in a good debut, the Kop needing some prompting to get behind the team in the first half. It was a slow start, but I was pleased that we hadn’t conceded a goal at half time, especially given our recent form. I was surprised with the captaincy going to “back for good” Bridcutt, but I suppose Cooper is out of favour with the Forest shenanigans and granted the choice between our long(er) established players is a little limited. Could giving Mowatt the Captaincy and playing him in the middle of midfield, instead of switching out on the wings with Hadi, which incidentally completely threw me, be the making of Mowatt? I still think that Murphy and/or Big Dave would have made a difference, especially dealing with that Mooy bloke. In fact either of them would have dealt with him quite efficiently, seeing as he was the main cause of concern. The rest of the ankle biters did more nibbling than snapping. Yes, we did keep them restricted, if that was Monk’s game plan, however, once they scored, we didn’t create very much. We had one good deep corner from the young lad, Phillips, the rest of the deliveries unfortunately failed to get past the first defender, so bit more consistency needed there, but there’s potential in him. After the game, all you could hear was negativity, not unfounded of course, but Mowatt did technically have a couple of shots. One that ballooned comfortably into the upper tier of the South Stand in the first half and then the little toe poke at the death. I don’t think he expected the ball to come to him to be fair, and even Kevin Be Bruyne failed to put a similar chance in the back of the net at Salford, so at least he had a try. He also supplied the cross to Woods’ header, which should have been met with more conviction. Antonsson also went down under a challenge in the first half at the other end of the ground, which I couldn’t see properly. However, given that we seem to be burdened with “Premiership” referees, whether it was worth a penalty shout or not, would be here nor there. The tackle by Mooy on Bridcutt in the first half, was waved off by our hard-as-nails captain, but it was clearly a two footed lunge and should have been a sending off. Even the German Huddersfield Head Coach admitted that it would have been a red card in Germany – but alas the rules in Premiership football are obviously different, must be why England haven’t won a tournament since 1966 – we have different rules over here! Probably the same thinking with goalkeepers, ex England international v Silvestri, I know which one I would pick.
So to the game tomorrow… I will be there and so will the other 14,000 season ticket holders – that’s what the stats will say. Come on Garry with two Rs, we are at home, we should be playing a starting 11 who are willing to thrash the opposition 4 -0. If we win and then get a result in the 3rd round next week, we are looking at 4th round in the League/Milk/Rumbelows Cup (deleted as age appropriate) and then we certainly won’t be remembering…
MPO
