| Smash and grab? 18:41 - Feb 11 with 1169 views | Garv |
It may appear that way, can't say I've looked at the stats but they may say so too.
But it wasn't in my eyes. Yes Villa probably had a lot of ball, but most of it was Lanbury playing tidy little passes backwards and sideways.
We always looked capable today, even in the first half. We settled after a potentially disastrous first 5 and our left side started to look dangerous with McGoldrick Lawrence and surprisingly Knudsen. It was a shame we didn't continue that because when it faded Villa started to gain control and we could easily have gone in 1 goal down. Losing Taylor and Berra and not losing that goal is testament to the players who replaced them and Chambers who was the ultimate captain all game. Not watching Berra give away free kicks got rugby tackles was however refreshing.
So we start the second half with a back 5 of Emmanuel Spence Chambers Knudsen Kenlock. Many wouldn't have given us a prayer would they? Well they were all, for the majority, superb. Kenlock and Chambers in particular were crucial. The youngster could have been beaten several times one on one but constantly came out with the ball and was happy to play his way out. And skip made countless blocks and last ditch tackles. Even Knudsen started to look confident as a third CB, made a howler early doors but quickly raced to win it back.
The two front boys were knackered by 60 minutes chasing everything with little support. I was annoyed neither Ward or Huws were really helping them. There must have been 5 occasions I thought Lawrence was certain to come off due to fatigue or a knock, but they both kept plugging away.
And then Huws suddenly did start supporting and latching on to loose balls in midfield and driving at Villa. That made a huge difference. We were still committing few men forward to even when we got to good forward positions we struggled to capitalise. But you always felt with a little oomph we could knick something.
And on '83 (?) it came! Apparently it was a handball by Lawrence but I felt it was a clear foul. If the referee agreed he'd certainly learnt his lesson from the first half and played the advantage. Dids picked up the loose ball and waited for the perfect moment to deliver the perfect ball into the six yard box and who should appear but a midfielder, an apparent goal scoring midfielder (what's one of those?)!
So pleased for Huws, he deserved it for his second half performance. Good signing going by the first two games. Big impact in both.
Special praise also goes to Chambo (already mentioned I know). I feel he's stepped up in recent weeks and it is clear is the one of the only ones with a bit of passion. Diagouraga too I thought had a great second half. There wasn't much of a midfield in the first half I felt, but he mopped up a lot in DM and often turned and got us back on the front foot, much better than Skuse does.
Not perfect, and we might have still conceded an equaliser late on (we dealt with the toothless Villa relatively comfortably though), but all in all a very good day.
Interesting week ahead. COYB. |  |
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| Smash and grab? on 18:45 - Feb 11 with 1129 views | Steve_M |
Good to hear; sounds like that archetypal match to defend well and then hit on the break. Chambers has had a really good last few weeks in my view, despite everything else going on.
Having seen the goal about five times, can't see any sign of handball by Lawrence just a bloody awful foul by the defender. |  |
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| Smash and grab? on 19:01 - Feb 11 with 1055 views | oldbluestu |
Personally i thought Knudsen was out best defender today |  | | |
| Smash and grab? on 19:22 - Feb 11 with 1017 views | wkj |
| Smash and grab? on 19:01 - Feb 11 by oldbluestu |
Personally i thought Knudsen was out best defender today |
How dare you praise one of our scapegoats! |  |
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| Smash and grab? on 19:54 - Feb 11 with 948 views | bournemouthblue |
| Smash and grab? on 19:01 - Feb 11 by oldbluestu |
Personally i thought Knudsen was out best defender today |
Future centre back? |  |
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| Smash and grab? on 22:44 - Feb 11 with 845 views | Guthrum |
Anything but a smash and grab. We certainly matched Villa, the game was end-to-end. We had plenty of attacks, even if "shots on goal" were perhaps lacking (apart from the important one). |  |
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| Smash and grab? on 22:47 - Feb 11 with 828 views | bluewein |
Lansbury is actually a lot worse than I thought. |  |
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| Smash and grab? on 23:07 - Feb 11 with 784 views | ericclacton |
| Smash and grab? on 22:47 - Feb 11 by bluewein |
Lansbury is actually a lot worse than I thought. |
He played well for forest against us a few weeks back.
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| Smash and grab? on 09:50 - Feb 12 with 677 views | southnorfolkblue |
I saw the game with some Villa supporting mates so was up by the Holte end.
I thought that it was a bit smash and grab, but to be honest it was pretty much a perfect away performance. Villa came out of traps quickly and Bart kept us in it early on. After about 10 minutes the game calmed down and apart from them hitting the bar they didn't create anything, although Hogan and Kodija's movement were causing us problems.
I was right in line with the Berra incident. I thought that it was a blatant elbow and a clear penalty and red card. They also looked to gave a fairly good shout for what appeared to be some blatant holding at a penalty.
Ironically the defensive changes worked to our advantage, because Spence and Knudsen's greater mobility made Hogan far less effective in the second half.
We were definitely more in the game in the second half and Villa were just getting worse. The locals around me were getting extremely fed up, but we never tested the keeper, although we did at least have a couple of efforts that went close. But we stuck at it and get a break when Elphick slipped and let us in.
Being brutally honest, I thought that a draw would have been a fair result, but having said that we have been on the wrong end of a number of these games over the season where a defensive mistake has cost us, so I think we were due to a change in fortune. We carried on from last week although we didn't carry much of a threat going forwards.
As has been said elsewhere Knudsen played very well, but Spence was excellent as well.
All in all a fantastic away day and made the awful journey home on the train worth while. |  |
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| Smash and grab? on 10:07 - Feb 12 with 637 views | Dolly2.0 |
Good to hear someone's views who actually watched the game rather than interpreting the stats. |  |
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