Match Report: It's getting boring as dominant City convert again

[italian dave]

3 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

 

Radio said how poor his corners had been up to then.

Radio was right! And we had a few too. We said, as he prepared to take that corner, how we were missing Eliasson's corners. He must have heard us!

[maxjak]

12 hours ago, Fiale said:

 

Sad deluded Timmy Mallett wannabe,.................Blackburn are ultimately better than us,  Pisano's goal was bumbled [sic] in?, Websters gonna be snapped up by Cardiff!!!.  Unbeliveable.   Thank God we don't have an equivalent fool to embarrase us.  If your going to produce a feature of this nature, you need to respect the fans, and not make sub-blue peter nonsense. [Down Shep!] . Finally.........what a truely awful contribution by the generic City fan?

[italian dave]

1 hour ago, BTRFTG said:

As ever, quality report Ole and Groundhog Day indeed.

I'm not sure we were 80 minutes dominant: first half was easily ours, second I'd say they largely had the more significant possession but with or without the ball we were easily the superior outfit.

If you haven't seen us of late it's difficult to overstate just how good a defensive unit we are,  by that I mean quality individuals who, when combined, are better than the sum of their parts. Magnificent again yesterday and despite allowing them possession near our box that translated to little by way of chances. Fearless is becoming adapt at that 'concentrating spectator' role, making sure on the one or two occasions he is required he's 100% there.

Mids again linked it together nicely, closed down, dug in when necessary. Nothing spectacular to report, hugely effective, just as I like it. 

And to those slow on the uptake, it's about improvement. So despite the fantastic performances and results we deliver despite not having a striker, rather than benefitting from ones services. Didgeridoo turned in a Didgeridoo performance, he huffed, puffed but never looked like troubling their defence or netting. Patterson was a passenger and none of us in discussion on the way back could fathom what he brought to the table at Ewood? A striker would also have meant last ten when the game became stretched and we had the opportunity to pick the final ball and score, we might have done so rather than squander decent opportunities on the break. But there are worse problems to have and my comments are reported more as a case of what might have been?

IMHO Taylor rated higher, not for anything he did with the ball but rather his attitude and movement. At dead ball situations he really, really got under their skin and it became personal. He created distraction causing them to lose focus. Of course little of that will appear on the showreels, the delays where the ref had to intervene, but as any great striker knows ( and I'm not including him here,) it's ultimatley what delivers goals. Shearer is remembered for a shed load of goals, few recall his obnoxious, dirty cheating that created many of them. Taylor nicked us one yesterday.

Big up, too, for the steak pies in the bakery across the road, what quality and at £1.50 a pop bargain of the season.

 

Good points - tho I missed the pies!

Defensive unit is so good right now, and when the individual parts are as good as they are, and the sum is better.....!

Fielding came for (and got) one high ball near the end that I'd swear he'd have messed up in the past - started to go, then stopped etc. It's almost like he's starting to believe in himself too.

But I think Diedhiou troubles defences more than you give him credit for; it's interesting that other teams fans seem to rate him more than we do - and someone posted a Blackburn comment yesterday along the lines of wish we had someone like him. His presence, his physicality, and when it matters his movement all worry defences. I absolutely agree about Taylor, but whereas he achieves it by intelligent running and positioning, and by just being an irritating little scrote, Diedhiou achieves it by just being there! It's just a shame neither of them are natural goal scorers in the Kodjia/Abraham mould. And Diedhiou can be so frustrating - one minute he needs half the pitch and three touches to control it, the next he'll do what he did late on yesterday with that first touch back heel that Messi would have been proud of.

[maxjak]

11 hours ago, slartibartfast said:

Annoying little dipshit.....................is he Timmy Mallet's backward brother?

i only saw this after my contribution...........it was a definite mallett lovechild/incestuous cousin portrayal?

[BTRFTG]

1 hour ago, italian dave said:

His presence, his physicality, and when it matters his movement

We'll have to agree to disagree about Didgeridoo. He's a lump with effort for sure but he nowhere near shows that enough to the opposition. For a bloke his size he rarely lets the centre half know he's been in a game (he should leave them counting their teeth....) His positioning is poor (usually caught the wrong side of the defender,) and though improved a tad of late his aerial ability is woefully lacking , DaSilva leaps higher. As to his movement, he barely has any. Some strikers can get away with it, (we've had some Thorpe,  Pitman and Baldock all of whom we woefully misused,) never move more than a few inches from the penalty spot but will bang home two in three balls that come their way. Didgeridoo's conversion rate is doodoo. Even the 'chance' (sic) yesterday, complete mis-header that their keeper could have let bounce over the bar. Head like a threepenny bit.

[italian dave]

33 minutes ago, BTRFTG said:

We'll have to agree to disagree about Didgeridoo. He's a lump with effort for sure but he nowhere near shows that enough to the opposition. For a bloke his size he rarely lets the centre half know he's been in a game (he should leave them counting their teeth....) His positioning is poor (usually caught the wrong side of the defender,) and though improved a tad of late his aerial ability is woefully lacking , DaSilva leaps higher. As to his movement, he barely has any. Some strikers can get away with it, (we've had some Thorpe,  Pitman and Baldock all of whom we woefully misused,) never move more than a few inches from the penalty spot but will bang home two in three balls that come their way. Didgeridoo's conversion rate is doodoo. Even the 'chance' (sic) yesterday, complete mis-header that their keeper could have let bounce over the bar. Head like a threepenny bit.

We'll disagree on most, but I'm with you on his aerial ability. He reminds me of Wayne Allison - he has no jumping technique whatsoever. If I had to guess I'd say he has always been a big lad and when he was younger never had to learn. Shorter players - DaSilva, (our) Tommy D - had to learn how to jump.

But jumping and heading are two different things, and he has the ability to score goals like the one at Birmingham - and that was no one-off or fluke. 

And his conversion rate, at 1 per 225 minutes, it's similar this season to Bradley Dack, Ollie Watkins, David McGoldrick. I'm not saying it's great (and I acknowledged in my post that he's not a natural like Tammy etc)...but it's not doodoo!

[reddoh]

15 hours ago, Davefevs said:

Disappointing.....

....could t find a stream for SL, bar 15 minutes either side of h-t.

I was really intrigued to se the Pack v Dack match-up. Looks like Pack has a good one....but I can’t base it on 30 minutes viewing on a stuttering stream.

that might be age.

[Chappers]

As ever, an excellent report. Not sure Pisano was intentionally a ‘bullish attacking substitution’, more of a case of sparing Wright a red card.