... for those of you that care....
MOTM - has to be Walton. Berserk save after 45 seconds onto the bar, and an outstanding save in 2nd half; excellent distribution and good communication - clearly gives his backline confidence; Christ, he gives me confidence. Best keeper we've had since Bart by a country mile, perhaps the best full-stop since Davis. Won us at least 2 points last night.
Backline - Westlake made the point on commentary that this 'short sharp passing football' is how McK wants us to play. I'm a fan of possession football, but this style makes for several nervy moments.
Woolf bloody lucky not to cost us a 2nd half goal with a sloppy pass.. That said, the actual handling of Sauron's orcs last night by the back 3 was quite good. I didn't realise that Ahadme was ex-Budgie; he ended up very frustrated with Woolf and Ed. JD had a very good game, as did Leigh; I think we will see a fair amount of rotation with the wing-backs this year dependent on opposition; what a good place to be.
Morsy had a good 2nd half last night - opposition players bounce off him when he runs, I'd like to see him do more of that. Evans, too, was good 2nd half.
We are seeing a recurring theme of the opposition pressing like hell 1st half, and this midfield 2 seem to be a little overwhelmed by it - I wonder if Ball can assist with this. All well and good weathering the storm if it stays 0-0, and then rinsing a tired opposition late on - as we well know, though, 80% of this league have pop-up sh1thouses ready to erect if they take the lead in a game. We need to have a strategy to deal with this; I'm sure McK is on it.
Aluko played that sublime ball through to Ladapo 1st half, and his retention remains good - but last night wasn't his best; he struggled with Burton's energy; the whole team did.
Jackson - hmmm, lost on the right first half; a little surprised to see him out for the 2nd - but he made me look daft with a quality half full of end-to-end running. I'm not sure if he can play leading the line anymore - but with work on his final ball, he can provide good competition for Burns.
Ladapo - reminded me of Daryl Murphy a little last night; good control and mainly sensible distribution. His worst touch of the night, sadly, was the first touch for his 1-on-1. I like him, but we need competition for him. If not Hirst (as now seems likely), then who? I love Bonne dearly, but not convinced he's a McK player.
Harness - funnily enough, I thought he was the weakest overall performer of the front line - but his goal was very good (not quite sure why their keeper didn't dive). 3 in 3 is obviously a very good return. The backpass that almost let Burton in, though, requires a long walk, and a talk about feelings with each other - it was horrid.
Chaplin was the obvious choice to run at a tired Burton, and they struggled like hell with him. He will start Saturday, I reckon.
Yeah, a scrappy, slightly ugly win, against standard Div 3 fodder. Not quite sure how a player as classy as JFH was, can manage such ugly agricultural football, but there we go. As Rommers says, last year we would do well to have drawn that game.
Another 3 points on Saturday, and sh1t starts to get a little bit real, no? |  |
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