Na, it was off the ball and not deliberate ... it really is just a case of Le Fondre attempting to block off Paredes who was attempting to get in a position to block the ball. If there was a foul then Le Fondre's came first.
After watching the highlights for the 10th time lol, a few random thoughts In all my years of supporting WFC, I'm struggling to remember the last time a player improved so quickly before our very eyes as Ighalo. Obviously he isn't a youngster, and he did come with a fairly decent CV, but the comparison between him now and back in September is amazing. It's not just his goals either but his work-rate, his discipline (I think he's only been booked for a foul once) and touch wood his fitness and lack of injuries. He's become the perfect club player who seems to have fitted in seemlessly. Credit to Nani..it was almost the last signing he made for us..some leaving present! Please can we wrap Abdi up in cotton wool. Keep him fit for the remaining 15/18 matches and we may have a chance! During his eventful time at Spurs, Gomes had a purple patch where many experts thought he was the best keeper in the PL on current form. Of course, it all went wrong for him after that. But I think, on the evidence of the last 3 matches, he's somewhere near that form for us. Goalscorers get the headlines but I think we probably owe at least 4 of our last 9 points to him.
Dean Austin was certainly the "lead" voice and coach on the touchline at Bolton - many times he was up and reorganising and directing.
I'm sorry but being booked for "Excessive Celebration" following Deeney's goal is setting a bad example...we need to get rid of posiive influences in the club.
I don't think I have! I just re-visited the thread on the day he was appointed and I welcomed him more than just about anybody else. I described him on it as a 'highly rated coach', which drew derision from a few others asking who it was that rated him! I had a fair few moans during the 4 game losing run, when people I trust told me he'd be out had we lost at Fulham. (don't know if that was true or not). And I think it's perfectly valid to have a sensible debate about him here on the back of poor performances such as Wolves and Huddersfield, when obviously our lack of consistency was frustrating. Thank You for the nice comments about enjoying my posts. The feeling's mutual. There should never be a 'bullying' culture on a forum where people round on a poster who disagrees with their views, and I respect you for not falling into that trap. I'm very much behind the team, very encouraged by what I'm seeing of Joka, I believe we'll go up next season under him if we fall short this year, and I hope people will continue to enjoy the stats I post after matches.
Lol yes..far better we revert to the Fessi reaction to a Deeney goal at Fulham, or the Dyer reaction to his own goal at Rotherham!
Just seen the goals, bloody hell some good goals scored by both sides but bad defending. Great result really is, need to get something against Norwich desperately. A cant lose game.
I think Keith Andrews thought Joka was going after the 4 game losing run too. He gave it a bit large on TV about being dropped and then we won 5-0. Bad timing Keith enjoy yourself at MK donks.
Dongs fans are already unimpressed with Andrews. He was playing in defence yesterday, and many of them think that's down to Robinson shoehorning him into the squad to keep Andrews from moaning.
The criticism of Malteser is slighty harsh. After that 4 game streak and the Huddersfield result, it wasn't just the performances that were worrying it was Joka's character and lack of personality. Since then he's shown balls, carved out an identity, performances have improved and so has opinion on him so well done to him. We're not the finished article but the most impressive thing is the team spirit and this knack of winning games we have no right to. To be totally fair not many doubted his tactical nous, his substitutions have always been good, just his personality was in question . Rather have an opinion that just sitting on the fence, to all those who defended him from the start fair play but to say nothing and then just jump on the bandwagon when things go well is silly.
Was a bright spark. Scored two goals on his debut for them. Slipped under the mainstream attention and more importantly the Football Manager radar somehow. £1.5 million now Pozzo's sell him for £10 million in 5 years
I think a lot of my negativity was directed more at the Pozzos for allowing what seemed to be a season of such promise to be apparently put at risk by so much flux off the pitch...sticking with Beppe until 5 games in, the McKinlay situation etc. Of course, none of us have the benefit of hindsight at the time, but after the 4th loss in a row, it seemed right to question the way we were being run. A few months on, I hold my hands up in the air and admit that actually, harsh though it seemed at the time, the decision to replace McKinlay does seem to be bearing fruit and we may yet look back on it as a masterstroke. It didn't feel like that a few weeks in though. I welcomed Joka's appointment because he was a proven winner of leagues, albeit in slightly random countries, but yes I did lose my nerve a few matches in, when we seemed to be going backwards (we were top 3 when McKinlay went). People I know at the club were telling me even the Pozzos had doubts and he was close to the door with Garcia coming back. Fulham saved him, as did Cardiff away. Let's not re-write history on the back of yesterday's euphoria..there were some very poor matches in those early days! Some on here still don't rate him (fair enough) while others (such as the excellent poster Jelboy) backed him from the start and can rightly say 'told you so!'. Ditto others on here wrote off Ighalo, even before he'd scored his first goal. It's natural on a forum, where we all write with our hearts, (as well as our fingers!) we write for the now, we write without the benefit of hindsight. If we lose on a Saturday afternoon, we write with negativity about that loss, rather than a long-term vision. If we win on the next Saturday, it seems madness to even look back and remember the previous week's criticisms. A forum's a reactive place in a world full of instant reactions. As I'm sure a lot of you guys do too, I keep telling myself to see the bigger picture, to count to ten after a loss, not to say anything on the shoutbox during a match we're losing and to give everything and everybody more time to develop, but hey I'm human and to err occasionally is a natural thing. Come on WFC and Well Done Joka for what he's doing in turning us into a real force.
Speak for yourself Malteser. A lot of you made absolute d*cks of yourselves rather than listen to the tiny minority who kept saying give the bloke time. It's not hindsight it's common sense. He's still only been here 5 minutes and doing well so far. We can't even begin to judge him until the season has finished, so when we lose another 3 in a row sometime this season please take a look at your post above.
Remember when Joka came in we were a club in turmoil we had a set of players all individuals who had been managed by previous managers who didn't know their best eleven and didnt know how to handle certain bad influences. Rome wasn't built in a day and The Joka has had to get to grips with sorting out the squad and turning the team (whichever eleven players he picks) into a side capable of winning a football match, at the same time as keeping the team, supporters and more importantly the Ponzzos on his side. This he has managed to do and we are now seeing the results of his extreme hard work Thank you Mr Jokanovic your efforts are much appreciated!
I accidentally liked this when I meant to comment "but we let in three goals." Joker wants a centre-back and I would like to see somebody who concentrates better than Angella and isn't as soft as Ek.
I've always posted that people are too quick to make judgment although I think you're being a a bit too aggressive with the 'absolute ****s' comment and absolutely disagree with your comment that we will lose 3 in a row this season. Watching yesterday's footage and bearing in mind their personalities, I would put Slavs reaction to Deeneys goal on a par with Zolas Leicester celebration.
Yes you're right, although I don't think the forum should deteriorate into a 'who said what' or 'who was right' scrap. We all want the same thing on here, ie our club to be successful. No need for 'witch hunts' , especially as none of us know how the story will end!!! Teide makes a good point when he says 'we were a club in turmoil when Joka came in' but to the casual observer did it seem like that? We had gone 6 unbeaten and were in the Top 3. To those of us not close to the club or in the know, it seemed things were actually going well this season and that all the coaching changes were putting us backwards. A new Head Coach arriving at a club doing badly (Sherwood at Villa to give a topical example) deserves time..you're totally right. But we were in a fairly unusual situation of actually doing well when he arrived, so a run of 4 straight losses was bound to feel like we were going backwards, and unnerve some fans. I have it on good authority that the Pozzos were un-nerved too, and I think those closest to the club on here will back me on that point! This isn't meant as a personal comment because I think you're one of the best and most honest posters on here, but I think it's a little unfair to quote one very short sentence from my last post, when actually it was a fairly balanced attempt at mae culpa! It's been a great week for us, although fine margins (we could easily have lost to Blackburn and won our last two matches with almost the last kick) and people shouldn't be called d-icks for admitting they were wrong.
Really because I think most here are not so rash in their thoughts and quick with their strong opinions about new signings and this includes the appointment of Joka. Most were prepared to see it through and give it time, especially after such a turbulent managerial period, even if were to mean that we maybe not challenging this year. The problem is that no one can see in just a few games the true longevity ability of that person to where they have been employed, hindsight should not even come into it. In my opinion those that shout of the failings after a few short matches or touches are simply idiots! However like most forum nuisances, if it pans out, those that have stuck their necks out early would hail themselves as genius of insight.
All that stuff about "character and lack of personality" is disingenuous. Joka came in and got a couple of good results. Reaction was overwhelmingly positive and the vast majority of posters voting on the poll over his appointment said Gino got it right in replacing McKinlay. Then the bad run came. Suddenly many fans felt Joka was a bad appointment, a clown, a bad coach, had no character/personality and needed to go as soon as possible. Then we went on a good run. Joka magically develops a personality overnight, and now he's good again. Lets not delude ourselves: there are a lot of knee-jerk fans around who judge a manager solely on his latest run of results and nothing more. The coach is immediately judged as bad the moment that form is bad. People then scramble to find negative attributes to assign to the coach to justify the conclusion that he is the problem. Everything else is just a smokescreen. Football fans naturally gravitate to results oriented thinking because we tend to evaluate our own team emotionally rather than logically.
I honestly had no problem with some of his tactical decisions, he made great subs from the start. Except for Anya at CM. Anyway, the team was playing awful and then in press conferences he was so uninspiring. The team looked like that, Huddersfield topped that off. Then came the turning point, the statement he made in the window totally changed my opinion of him.
I laugh at how I seem to be being held up as the anti Joka poster on here, when actually I think I'm somewhere in the middle. There are others on here who have been far more critical than me! Yes I've been critical but I've posted some positives too. On the day he came, my welcome was greater than most. Re-visit the thread if you want to see. While others have remained silent since last night, I've put my head above the parapet to admit I was most probably wrong to panic after those 4 defeats. I'm 'damaged goods' on here anyway in most peoples eyes after my opposition to Beppe. So what? I'm only one poster and my posts aren't the be-all-and-end-all. This forum's full of good people who write sense. I'm not casting aspersions over Diamond or Jel, both of who have been 100% behind Joka and true and loyal supporters. But how many of the rest of us can sit here today after 3 wins in a row and not admit that after 70 mins of Blackburn and 89 minutes at Brentford and Bolton, we were not still having doubts? Truthfully? Yes we should all try to see the bigger picture but then would any of us post anything interesting at all if after every defeat we all just said 'oh never mind, let's try imagine where we'll be in a year's time'?!!!
The whole mood changed after Huddersfield. Prior to that the Joka had kept stum. Then he articulated in public what many of us had been thinking. There was a lack of team spirit and a number of individuals weren't playing for the shirt and putting in a shift on a regular basis. Some were openly disruptive. I doubt that he'd just realised that. The difference was he decided to go public rather than trying to deal with it all behind the scenes himself and with a poker face. A few on here said he shouldn't be washing the dirty linen in public. But for us on this forum the obvious advantage was that we then knew that the Joka was thinking along the same lines as us and doing something about it. Prior to his public statements it was like we were shouting into a vacuum. We, the fans, are an integral part of the club and, in this age of instant and very visible judgements on social media, I reckon keeping us fully informed is the best way to go. Then we're all pulling together. Anyway, the public approach seems to have worked pretty spectacularly so far. And the Joka looks like he's got a weight off his shoulders now he doesn't have to keep it all to himself anymore and can finally show a bit of emotion and character. Plus the photo of the boys on the plane - how could is that? I've got a really good feeling about the Joka, the rest of the coaching staff, the team and the run in now. COYH!
What.....he turned his back on the ball and didn't even block it.......rubbish effort......:]] Seriously, it's great to see Vydra putting his body on the line for the cause. There's nothing wrong with his ability, but sometimes he lets his disappointment show too much. He looks totally motivated right now, running for things and showing a good attitude, even though he doesn't start too often, or is the one we take off. I think he's looked at Ighalo and learnt from him. A Vydra with this attitude and the bit between his teeth is something that can only be of benefit to the side.
IMO he clearly swipes at Le Fondre and takes his legs away, look at the movement of Paredes' right leg. Thank god the ref didn't give it and that Gomes pulled off another stunning save.
you do know that what managers say to the press may not always/ever be the whole truth? therefore it's probably not best to second guess about their character/personality on this.
No, apologies, poor use of words on my part as that implies it was accidental. What I meant to get across was I felt it was two players giving as good as they got.
