He's not a striker whatsoever. He's just a central midfielder. Yes he is out of position, and isn't being helped by people refusing to pass to him. He's always looked a bit too cumbersome and clumsy at every level I've seen him mind.
More gash on display so far today than on a nudist beach Jesus, Mary and Joseph what has Pozzo made us
A home win ! Was probably our worst performance under Cleverley but hey ho . Only decent part of the game was the winner.
Happy Days! Finally a home win after 152 days. A winner scored by one of our own, on his 50th appearance. Our new manager back to having more wins in charge than losses. And we now have company for the unwanted accolade of heaviest ever PL aggregate defeat, as Sheff Utd have lost to Newcastle by 12 goals to equal our two big losses against Man City.
"HOW S^^^ MUST YOU BE, WE BEAT YOU AT HOME" Poor game between two sides with nothing to play for, but credit to Andrews for getting on the end of probably the best flowing move of the game. Sunderland were as poor as we were, and although a bad Pollock mistake almost let them have a free shot at goal they rarely threatened us. Thank god we finally got that home win at last. Decent result in Clev's first full game in charge but let's be honest the game was another snore-fest bar the goal. Sema was poor, Dennis did nothing and was rightly hooked off right after HT. Martins huffed and puffed but came up short. We now go into the final day with a tricky away day at Boro' who thrashed Cardiff today. Chuck the kids on, get the game done and let's move on to what we all hope might be a more pleasant campaign next season. One bit of quality is all you need to break a game, and for once we got that at the Vic. I'll happily take the three points which ends our abysmal home run but it wasn't brilliant.
So that’s 8 matches since Ismael was fired. We’ve scored 8 goals. Conceded 7. And 13 of those 15 goals occurred in only 3 matches, so it’s been a bit of a paucity in the others. 5 clean sheets under TC now, and today’s was the 4th in the last 5 matches. I’d love to think that we were building the foundations, but only time will tell. No idea when it last happened but today we had a substitute replacing a player both of whom have had a relative who’d played for us too.
Our two wins under Cleverley have come in probably our worst performances under him, but when playing against the two worst teams he has faced so far. As with the Birmingham game we rode our luck a fair bit today and the opponents had more clear cut chances than us, but again they lacked the confidence or quality to punish us. Do the worse teams drag us down to their level, or do we raise our game against the better teams?! Anyway, still a relief to finally get another home win, even if the nature of it won't be sending many viewers away with a lot of optimism for the next season. If giving Grieves his debut today was also supposed to be providing the fans with some optimism for the future and the player a bit of a confidence boost then that also didn't really work. It was a bit odd to start an academy player who I doubt will ever really be good enough even in his natural position, and then putting him in an unfavoured position, and to top it all off have no one pass to him. Asprilla in particularly looked like he had some kind of vendetta against Grieves as on multiple occasions he simply refused to pass to him when he was wide open, instead turning away and trying to make a pass that wasn't on. Talking of Asprilla, it looked a bit like a farewell applause to the crowd as he went off the pitch, and an intentional decision by Clevs to sub him towards the end of the game so he can get an ovation. If that is to be his last home game for us it wasn't a sparkling one and hopefully we can get a good fee for him which we are able to reinvest. While Asprilla was mediocre, Dennis was absolutely god-awful. Well done to Clevs for subbing him at half-time at least. He was so poor today that I'd be concerned that even with a proper pre-season he might continue to stink the place out so much that I'd be wary of even taking him on a free transfer. Bayo was also poor again, and Dennis' replacement Martins also continues to underwhelm. To borrow a very good phrase that leighton buzzard horn used last week, our attacking midfielders and strikers continue to be very good at turning chances in to half-chances, with sloppy final balls, poor decision making, or terrible ball control. Our attack will really need a re-vamp over the summer. Fair play again to Kone who despite having another game where he wasn't the most involved, was again one of the few players who managed to find a bit of quality in the final third when it mattered with setting up the goal. Sema also had a decent game and showed why some wing-backs with some attacking verve will be essential if we're not going to succumb to endless tedium while playing 352. Andrews has been another player that has repeatedly drawn my ire for poor end product, but well done him for managing to find a finish and at least giving one good news story for the academy today. The goal was one which was still perhaps saveable for another keeper, but Patterson continued a run of poor keepers against us who provide a reminder that we can do plenty worse than Bachmann at this level. His kicking was atrocious and his shot-stopping seemed little better the few times it was called upon. Plenty of work to be done over the summer if we're not going to have another season of repeatedly flirting with tedious 0-0s.
Started off with a bit more intent, but overall, pretty similar to the Hull game where we had more of the play but they had the better chances, a mixture of some horrendous finishing and some good saves from Bachmann saved us Bachmann--7, kicking not always on point, but made 3 good saves (I think the one which was given as a goal kick might just have been heading in) Grieves--5 thought he did OK, considering RWB isn't his position, odd to start him there and then hook him off, he didn't look happy Pollock--5 could have cost us a few times in the first half Porteous--6 looked a bit tentative at times, against his nature, but solid enough Hoedt--8 very good again, some really important interventions and some lovely forward passes Sema--6 bright start, but didn't really get as involved in the game as we'd have liked Kayembe--5 stupid booking early on, not his best game by any stretch, thought Ekwah had his number Kone--6 delicious ball for the assist, but fairly anonymous otherwise Asprilla--7 not perfect, but decent, done a bit dirty by the forwards as he created two decent opportunities for them, and played a part in the goal Bayo--6 same old same old, pressed well and led the line well, but never really looked like scoring, had one decent opportunity when in space about 35 yards out, but bafflingly decided to try to chip the keeper Dennis--5 similar to Bayo, not knocking his effort, but decision making left a lot to be desired, when he should have shot he passed, and when he should have passed he shot Andrews--7 very well taken goal, he could be a decent source of goals as he's rapid and has a good shot on him Martins--4 nothing came off at all for him, enjoy Serie B buddy
TC has now won both his first match as our interim manager and his first match as our permanent one, but none in between lol,
It would be pretty unfair for Cleverley to have to go into each match knowing his successor was watching and waiting in the wings.
Glad we finally won, but let’s not pretend that wasn’t another slog to get through! Bachmann and Hoedt the best of our lot. Felt bad for Grieves being stuck in an unfamiliar position. Would’ve helped if Asprilla didn’t ignore him over and over again.
Players won’t pass a ball to someone they don’t trust with the ball, and it was noticeable how many times players purposefully avoided passing to Grieves. Dennis was abysmal, I’m surprised TC waited until half time to hook him. Dreadful signing. Andrews looked better than recent showings. Bachmann did very well again.
Bachman made a couple of decent saves coupled with Porteous clearing off the line when he was beaten . Yet again toothless in attack and yet again the back 4 digging the strikers out of a hole through Andrews . It did , to me , look like Asprilla and Kone waiving goodbye .
So glad the season is over (well almost). It's not that we were bad - some of our play was great at times and many of the games were fairly entertaining. But win, lose or draw - there just seemed to be a feeling of utter insignificance about us. Next year will be more of the same, I'm afraid, with Cleverly morphing into Glenn Roeder by October.
That's a fair comment, but if we are involved in a relegation scrap next season dependant on the Window etc. at least it won't be boring midtable mediocre football. It will be stress-inducing panic stations come March with us on our eleventh manager of the season. Fun times ahead.
Good to finally get a first home win since November right at the last attempt Can't shake the feeling that this was just a pathetic season all round though. Second season out of the Prem, still had Parachute payments and will finish somewhere from 13th to 16th
And unnuver fing . This was maybe our worst performance under TC since Brum . Lewis didn't start . But same old same old up top Just sayin'
Typical game this season. We just make the wrong choices every time in possession. Until the goal, where we made a series of correct decisions as if we did have a collective brain. Kone chose the right twist, the right turn, the right run from Andrews and the right weight in the pass, plus a good choice to shoot across the keeper.
