This looked like a consistent kind of performance, but it probably wasn’t. What we can see is that our best games will predictably come against the better sides. Our run in consists of 5 of the top 7, and if you’re taking points off the teams above you…
It’s all very nice to look upwards, but without being too optimistic, it’s fair to say that this win keeps our playoff dream alive and well. This was a poor game of football, but a good result. Newcastle; bring it on!

As said, we set out as we had on Tuesday. The problem wasn’t that we were at home, but that the opposition was away. It soon became obvious that we wouldn’t be allowed to stroke it round. That didn’t stop us trying to, but Anderson struggled heavily for the entire of the first half. Hallfredsson seemed to be afforded more space than the rest of our attack, and the Iceman duly delivered a series of dangerous crosses. Whilst the attack struggled valiantly, the defence simply cruised. Watford were well and truly contained and, aside from a couple of slick Hornet moves, never really found an opening. Having not kept a clean sheet for almost 2 months, they seemed to want this one badly, and got the rich reward.
Although we made attempts to change things around, it wasn’t hugely effective. Certainly, moving the lively, tireless and dangerous Tex centrally on 30 minutes helped in parts, but not many clear cut chances ensued. I agreed with the decision to keep the same formation after half time, because it had allowed Doyle and Colace to control the game well. Robins made another decision I agreed with on 55 minutes, bringing on Rodriguez in the place of the ailing Anderson. This switched us to a standard 4-4-2, with Teixeira drifting in from the right, and Hallfreddo holding onto the left. The effect was instant. Watford didn’t see pressure coming in different areas, and Jay Rod’s great pace, control and vision really started to show, it gave Andy Gray space to work in.
The goal was a set of sublime skills from the powerhouses of our attack. Steele’s kick drifted woefully wide, only for Teixeira to reach it on the line and, with half the ball over, catch it perfectly on the top of his foot. He then turned sharply round his marker, followed by dribbling slickly between a further two potential tacklers. A perfect pass followed, as Tex slid a ball cross field into the feet of Hallfredsson. The Iceman took one touch to control it, then ghosted effortlessly past the right back. One touch to bring it down, then a powerful half volley flew past Scott Loach into the Hornet’s net.
It was one of those goals that you just don’t defend; it was what we needed to grab the lead. Now it was the so far flawless defence’s turn. They did well, particularly Big Dave, who played the invisible wall role. There was definitely more incident post goal than pre. The sending off was in my opinion harsh. It was not violent or even too committed. He was just stretching for the ball and caught the man. I’ve seen yellow cards for a lot more, but I’ve also seen reds for a lot less. Won’t moan though. Watford had the ball in the back of the net, only for it to be disallowed for an inexistent push. The scales balance.
The end of the game was certainly eventful. The Referee gave 5 minutes of injury time. On the high side to start with, but he went on to play 7. Ridiculous. And we would have lost it too. The inconsistency that had defined Mr. Graham’s game awarded Watford a 25 yard free-kick with seconds to go. Henri Lansbury found the far corner, only for a flying Luke Steele to soar across the goal and pull out a 5* save. World class, and he earned us the points with that moment.

A fair word for this would be functional. The defence was great, and Coyle (Colace and Doyle) were brilliant. Again. The attack struggled at times, but Teixeira proved why Baggies fans were shocked to see him go, running the show and at times dragging Anderson through, who made up for his sublimity during the week by becoming baggage today. The defence was solid. Foster played a good game, however he was at times left in Moore’s shadow, as Dazza headed every ball, and bullied every forward. Dickinson and Shotton were determined, hard working and confident, something we have come to expect. Gray played well, despite often receiving average service. He tried hard, and when Rodriguez came on got a lot more space. He appears to be becoming the reliable forward we have been looking for all season.

Watford boss Malkay Mackay claimed that they deserved more. Wrong, we certainly deserved to win. Watford looked like a good side who can go places, but on the day they were out class and out matched. The Hornets are poor away, and I think I can see why. The edge was missing, and that wasn’t the case earlier this season in Watford. A good home side, but they need to work on the away games.
Ratings
Steele: 8
Dickinson: 8
Moore: 9
Foster: 8
Shotton: 8
Colace: 8
Doyle: 9
Anderson: 6
Hallfredsson: 8
Teixeira: 9
Gray: 8
A couple more things:
• I’ve briefly mentioned the Referee, Mr. Graham. He disallowed a good Watford goal, and showed Shotton an unnecessary red. Throughout the game he had given some outrageous decisions against Andy Gray, who he clearly hates, and had been consistently giving throw-ins to the wrong team. A poor, poor display.
• Jay Rod looked good up front, but it didn’t last. When Shotton had to walk, he went to the wing. It’s possible that he has so far spent longer celebrating goals than he has spent on the ball. Certainly we’ve twice scored as soon as he comes on. A lucky charm, or just sublimely brilliant?

So, this was the kind of performance we are going to start regularly producing as we push towards the playoffs. 9th is an amazing league position. If Robin’s average points per game so far continue, we are likely to make the playoffs. Amazing, hey?
It’s a revival, particularly at fortress Oakwell (cliché, I know). Onto Tuesday, and what will be a very tough test. More on this tomorrow, but if we can keep this form going, who can stop us?

“It was poor from start to finish, we have not defended well enough and Reading’s goal was something you see in the playground, although sometimes it is defended better there.

“The ball’s got through Luke Steele’s fingers, we then had another chance to close it down but didn’t and it was a catalogue of errors.

“Everything was poor about our play and this has got to be a one-off.

“Credit to Reading, they worked hard, but we didn’t do any of the things we spoke of before the game. This is very disappointing.

“Our supporters have come down here and they expect more than that. They should be given more than that and usually do.

We began in the vein we would play for 90 minutes. Reading set up a few passes and runs, and we retreated deeper and deeper. Foster was tackling and clearing very well, but Dickinson and Moore were never there when needed, and Ryan Shotton was comical, unable to control the ball or stand up to a man. Hammill and Anderson were playing far too deep, and ended up just passing it to the Reading centre backs.

Doyle and Colace were better, and managed to get some balls into the forwards feet. However these were inevitably wasted. It felt like the two central midfielders were trying to close the Royals down on their own, and couldn’t hold back the tide.

At half time I was amazed to find us still in the game, Reading had totally out played us. Would the second half change? Bogdanovic came on for Macken, and did nothing. His runs were dead, and he just joined Hume in providing no options for the midfield, all of whom looked uninterested and slow anywhere near the Reading half. The defending looked better, but only because Reading attacked less. If a through ball was put over the top or down the channels we still didn’t pick runs up. Whatever Robins has been putting in the half time Lucozade, he must have run out, we looked even less interested or energetic this section.

The final quarter was probably the most painful. At one down we should have been piling on the pressure with accurate balls in. Instead we just consistently failed to control the ball or pass it forwards. I can not remember a shot on target all game, we certainly never had a clear cut chance.

I’m sure you’ve got the picture by now; the right team won. M.R. is trying to get them passing it around well in the oppositions half, and at the moment it’s looking like Davey may have done a better job at that. We can’t put any type of move together in their half. They way our attack is going at the moment leads me to think we should even try some Doncaster tactics. Play it around the half way line. 50 passes there, and once we decide to attack again maybe they will finally have got the idea.

This is the same bunch of players which went 9 games unbeaten, beating Blackpool, Newcastle, West Brom etc. They haven’t become crap overnight. Something’s got to give. I would suggest that something should be some new players coming in. Understandably that may not be this month what with the window closing tomorrow, but loans begin again on the 7th of February. We must strengthen.

The defence was toothless and lackluster; the worst back four performance since we shipped 5 at Loftus Road. Steele was comically bad, leaving me tempted to join in with a gleeful home crowd’s chorus of ‘Dodgy keeper’. He was at fault for the goal, dropping an easy cross. Not totally at fault though. It fell to Sigurdsson. Shotton, Foster and Moore all stepped at the Icelander, all failed to block his layoff to Long, and all failed to mark the recipient and goal scorer; “something you see in the playground, although sometimes it is defended better there.”

Colace and Doyle were actually not all bad. Especially Doyle had as much energy as the rest of the team put together. He tried to be everywhere at once, and didn’t do too bad a job. His passing up to the strikers was low and accurate. The same could partly be said for the slightly anonymous Colace, but neither was going to start an attack on his own. They give the ball to other players to start the attack. Those other players were abysmal. Anderson ran backwards slowly until he was inevitably tackled, Hammill never truly beat a man, and when Hallfredsson came on he delivered just a few average crosses.

Hume was uninterested, unskillful and largely absent. Not the man we know. Macken was useless again. Badly off form, or just past it? Bogdanovic barely touched it, while bringing on Adam was a strange decision. He was never passed the ball, and didn’t know how to get it for himself. Surely a better decision would have been to put Gray on for Hammill and move Bogdanovic or Hume wide?

It beggars belief that those Reading players were second bottom. They were universally skillful lively and committed. Sure, they were less than clinical around the box, but when we let them pin us so, so deep for the whole game, do they need to be? If that is how the Royals play, the bottom of the table is not where they will finish this season.

Ratings

Steele: 4

Dickinson: 5

Moore: 5

Foster: 6

Shotton: 4

Colace: 6

Doyle: MOTM 7

Anderson: 5

Hammill: 5

Hume: 5

Macken: 4

Playing like that at the start of the season got Davey the sack against Reading. Even when we were behind there was no fight, no pressure or effort. Just not acceptable. I leave you to seething on Mark Robins final words:

“We now have to put that right on Tuesday.

Yes, Mark, you have to.

We conceded early, but that was unlucky really. Steele was blocked from reaching the excellent Michael Gray’s corner. I felt at the time that it was heavy obstruction, but have since been informed that the man obstructing may have been Dickinson, so no further comment on that incident until I have seen highlights. That doesn’t change the fact that, as happened for the whole game, we reacted second and were beaten to the ball by Tommy Spur who fired home.
The otherwise woeful attack was good for the first 25 minutes, as was everything about the game. It was an electrifying start, but we still couldn’t really break them down. Luck was the bi-word on 7 minutes, Hallfredsson’s goal was just like Boro’s first three weeks ago, his cross swinging in from 35 yards out wide. Egg on Grant’s face.
Having said that, Steele wasn’t perfect on 20 minutes. Tudgay’s flick was well read by Johnson, who rushed on to fire into the roof of the net past the charging Steele, who really came to collect the ball but didn’t get there in time. Could he have got it if he’d stayed on his line?
I’ve said before that highlighting the officials doesn’t achieve anything, but then, neither does a Benitez style insistence that he was ‘perfect’. We should have had a penalty on 24:00. I’ve heard Wednesday fans admit it, Hammill’s cross fell to Hallfreddo in the box, he jinked past one man, only to be scythed down by Darren Purse. Stone. Wall. But no doing.
That optimized a truly awful refereeing performance. Andy Penn should grow some balls; he was scared to make any big decisions. Those he did make he frequently got wrong, and he had no consistency. It appeared that he was biased against us, but that was only because we had the majority of the appeals, he would no more have given Wednesday a penalty had they had an appeal.
Those last two paragraphs make it sound like I’m dumping the blame on the Ref. I’m not, we got all we deserved. We actually had a plethora of chances that should have been finished, most notably Boggy missing two one-on-one’s. But they all came from Purse’s constant errors or from good set pieces (see Fosters header cleared of the line). We built up nothing. That was because of a complete lack of offensive or creative talent in the middle. Colace and Doyle held well, but never moved into the final third. Hammill was ineffective, even against just a full-back, while Hallfredsson rarely beat a man or got the ball in.
So we went into half time in a game that was open to us scoring more, but only if we could earn them. Robins chance to change things? Nope, he didn’t. For the record, I would have brought on Gray then, and Butterfield and Hume not long after.
Mark Robins has now had his first tactical head banger as our manager. It was painful to watch. Wednesday kept 7 players in their half, and just sent out fast and committed raiding parties. They came a lot closer to scoring that half than we did. We never created a clear cut chance. Not once did the ball move from defence to forwards in 3 or more passes. It was route one all the way. Not good, and not gunna work. Colace and Doyle would collect it, and pass it out wide, usually to a full back. They should have then sprinted 20 yards further up the pitch to receive the ball and try to get a forward some space to shoot. Instead they stood around on the half way line like lemons, leaving me sour.
Throwing balls into the box is all very good with 5 minutes left, but with 30? Really? JCR came on and was crap, running around in circles, thereby holding possession for longer than the rest of the team put together. The only real bright spark in attack was Hume. He came on and actually came up short to the midfield and used his excellent control to receive the array of bad passes, before spraying it wide to Hammill and JCR, who ran backwards. The only thing this proves is that Hume should have started.

Rant not over. It was awful. But how about a break? Anyone who blames the defence didn’t really watch the game. The defended well and held position. Unlucky on the first goal, and the second goal was just a great goal. In particular Moore really bullied Johnson, who was lively against other players. You can easily fault the back four for their distribution to the midfield and attack, but not for their defending.
In midfield, Colace and Doyle both did a job, holding the central areas well. Doyle looked slightly off the pace in parts, but would have paid his transfer fee had there been one with a late block to Johnson’s shot on goal. Hammill was ineffective, never beating a man. Hallfredsson barely did anything, apart from score a total fluke, while JCR did his usual headless chicken impression. No-one ever really passed it around or through the opposition, or got in and around our forwards to support them. The attacking side of midfield was the problem.
The forwards were also very bad. Macken was bullied by Beevers, and when he came on Gray was little better. Bogdanovic was off form, and came up with two horrendous misses. Hume was the bright spark, and only justifies calls for a run of starts.

Back to Mr. Penn. We had about 8 penalty shouts, 3 of them were very serious, whilst at least 2 should have been given. He didn’t even acknowledge us by waving play on. His booking of Shotton was disgraceful for a tackle which clearly got the ball, and if he hadn’t was red. He didn’t seem to realise that using your arm is illegal, and his decisions for which of Moore or Johnson was fouling the other were hugely inconsistent. Not how to referee a game.

I can begrudgingly admit to be impressed by everything Wednesday. The team played to exactly the same level we normally do, and had the passion and ability of a normal Championship team. Irvine is good manager. Having said that, the Wednesday fans getting carried away on BBC Radio Sheffield were hilarious, many claiming they were going to the play-offs based on one match against a badly off form Barnsley side. Not this year, you’re not.
The fans were also noisy through out. Not to take away from the Ponty, who also did fairly well, but we struggled to get up for the game late on when our team couldn’t. Talking of fans, those morons who caused trouble inside or outside the ground should just get out of our sport, ruining what was otherwise a Derby match played in the right spirit.

Ratings
Steele: 5 – Didn’t throw and couldn’t kick, as well as being partly at fault for both goals.
Shotton: 6 – Now he gets a towel for his throw-ins!
Moore: MOTM 8 – Very solid, and may have been given a 9 if I was feeling happier.
Doyle: 6 – Did his job, but will that be enough for us?
Colace 6 – See Doyle.
Bogdanovic: 5 – Just smack it next time, OK?
Hume: 8 – Start, start, start, start.

Saying the referee should have given us much more is true. Saying we had easily the greater share of the chances is true. Saying we were the better team is not, the result was fair.

This performance has served to convince me that we need to get back on form now, and that we also need a new player or 2. Signings are definitely on if we want that top half finish.

Unfortunately, I was too pushed for time to write a match preview this week, but if I had rest assured, I would have used one word a lot. Inevitable. (I would also have predicted a 3-1 loss, Macken to score. Honest.) There’s something about Coventry. A pattern. We will play well, not to our best, just well enough to win or lose. We will also play slightly better than Coventry. We will concede a ridiculous number of goals, and we will lose. It happened again.
But let’s ignore the Curse of Coventry for a minute. What happened? We came out sporting the same team that lost to Scunthorpe with three changes. Macken in for Gray, and Hassell playing the Doyle role instead of Butterfield, Moore slotted into defence. And it worked well. Coventry looked very poor, losing possession often, and with holes appearing in their defence. We could easily have had two in the first 3 minutes. Foster hit the bar, and, here’s the real catch, we were denied a stone wall penalty, when Boggy’s marker decided to come over his shoulders and squeeze his balls two handed, rather than let him get on the end of a loose ball 6 yards out. It’s not that he didn’t see it, he just waved play on.
And that pressure continued. After 20 minutes we were dominating, everyone was doing well. Then in comes a corner, first one, from the Sky Blues. We fail to deal with it twice, but Best fires over from 8 yards. That was when it hit me; how this game was going to work. Every time Cov attacked, they would get a break, and we would get unlucky time and time again. Would that prediction from my, and I guess many other’s, gut come true? Of course. After Colace’s brilliant volley was met with a world-class save by Westwood, the ball goes up the other end. A cross later, and Eastwood rises like a salmon above Foster to direct it in. Inevitable.
We could be defensively blamed for that goal, but nothing we could do about goal two. It fell down from a corner, and a Scissor kick volley from Clingan slashed it into the far corner. It has been compared to that Di Canio goal. I disagree and also a Coventry fan who I know who was sitting directly in line with the shot reassures me it took a heavy deflection. Inevitable.
Half time is M.R.’s chance to change things when it isn’t working, and for the second half of that period, our attacking moves just hadn’t worked. The changes were brilliant. Hume came on for Bogdanovic and instantly injected a creative streak up front, while Hammill came on for the ineffective Anderson. That was the key move, as only one man marked him. That meant five minutes of chaos down that wing left us one goal to the better through Macken onto a Hammill cross. We needed another one though. Robins said that if we’d played all game like we did second half there would be three more points now. We kept the ball a bit better, and passed it more accurately. There were half chances and another wonder save from Westwood, but no goal. Late on Morrison came on with a point to prove. With lots of men forwards, the game was put to bed. Inevitable.

Coventry had two chances and scored three goals. For that reason I don’t think the defence was very bad. Not their best. Shotton looked less intimidating at right back, advantage being he could use his long throws again. Moore and Foster did little seriously wrong, while Dickinson really cared, as always.
The midfield was mixed. Perhaps the problem was there. Colace and Hassell did a great job of blocking midfield up, but something was always missing there. It’s hard to explain, like a link between all the different attacking areas. That’s what’s missing. Butterfield is too out right creative to offer it. Two solutions are (1) get Doyle back. He made us work very, very well. (2) Change the structure in central midfield by bringing in more of a Brian Howard type player to add a new dimension. Perhaps seek the Doyle type player and the Howard type player to bring in more options. Further wide we try to break them down. Anderson is crap in winter. Last year he was being touted around by the press, come January, he was playing so badly to be out of the frame. This year he hasn’t done well since this record cold snap set in. Hallfredsson should be used to cold, but still looked dead beat. He tried, but didn’t achieve a lot. Unusually, his crossing was off. Hammill came on, and was so electric that I think I felt his energy warm me a bit. Great stuff.
Forwards were good, really. Macken played well enough to keep his place, and scored. Bogdanovic looked very, very cold. Hume didn’t, he looked hungry, keen and skillful. I will look at it before the game, but he could start against Wednesday.

Two more notes. I’ve held back (mostly) on the winter jokes. Doesn’t mean it wasn’t cold. It was, literally, freezing. Being one of only 3 Championship games on is great, full marks to the ground staff and stewards who worked through the almost arctic night to make it all safe and playable.
Also the referee. I don’t like to mention officials; it takes away from the game. But frankly, he took away from the game. So inconsistent. Not biased, several free-kicks we were awarded made me chuckle. At times I didn’t know which rule book he was playing by. Clouded judgment.

And Coventry. They weren’t so bad, really. They didn’t play to their best, but looked capable. They will achieve a secure bottom half finish, like usual. Coleman is not a brilliant manager, but he is a functional one.
The support, however, was awful. The announcement of 15,000 attendance is, to be blunt, bollocks. They are known for making up figures/adding on for unused tickets. To have a stadium that size, and a catchment area that size, but have so many empty seats…
Ratings
Shotton: 6 – Weirdly, probably his worst game since his debut. Bad by his high standards, good by normal standards.
Hassell: MOTM 8 – in a game with no stand out players, he achieved well despite being out of position.
Colace; 7 – He’s learning to get stuck in more. Perhaps Dickinson is teaching him.
Macken; 7 – Good, solid performance. As usual.
Hume: 7 – One of the Cov players went for treatment after clashing heads with Iain. He walked away whistling. Looked sharp and lively, a start?

So, back to the core issue. The curse. Don’t deny it, it’s there. We have done it for nearly 100 years now, we can’t win at Coventry. Send him to Coventry has never had such a meaning.
It’s beyond a coincidence. The players can’t be thinking of it, Robins hasn’t encountered it before. At different stadiums against different classes of Cov team. We lose. It makes no sense, there is no reasoning for it.
The solution. Who knows? Just remember, when you believe in things, that you don’t understand, superstition ain’t the way.

There are potential problems. We need to add something, and I’ll try to write about that this week. Be back then.

Playoffs?

Mark Robins has got it right. ‘We didn’t work hard enough today, and Scunthorpe did’. That’s all it came down to. I don’t think anyone, not even the Iron, would argue that Scunny looked more skillful than us, but they did deserve the win. The first half was as dull as you’ll see. Lots of aerial balls and lots of heading. There was little time for class. There were certainly half chances for both teams, notably when Hallfredsson work some space but hit the ball straight at keeper Lillis. Scunthorpe had done exactly what they did last game. Broke down our play, and looked to create flash chances, often against the run of play. If we learnt one thing yesterday, it’s that that particular tactic works.
Perhaps it’s a testament to our lack of motivation that, for the first time, we came out second half looking much the same. We’d had several 5-10 minute surges of pressure first period, and it was during one of those on 70 minutes when Scunthorpe finally pulled out the counter they’d been trying to create all game, catching Foster alone, 3 on 1, and Hayes latches onto Forte’s cross back post to slide home.
It’s not that we didn’t have chances; Boggy broke across the box, only to nearly hit the corner flag, Anderson and Macken both shot straight at Lillis; it’s just that we never had the push. Like we didn’t want it. Every player was missing a yard of pace, nobody made any good runs, and nobody won balls in key areas. Call me a cynic, but this wouldn’t have happened in the league. It’s not that Robins didn’t try to win it, just that nobody really cared.

The defence actually did quite well, catching most attacks up, only letting the one through. Nothing too wrong there. Good to see the Stoke boys back, particularly Shotton played very well. Foster and Hassell too weren’t too bad.
The midfield and forwards were the problem. Butterfield tried, but without runners and options, all of his accurate passing and clever turning gets no where. We didn’t have any trouble holding down the central areas, with Scunthorpe never trying to create sustained pressure, but the service moving forwards was the problem. Anderson and Hallfredsson were as lack luster as each other. Hammill was bright-ish when he came on. The only notable thing here was JCR. He may have made mistakes, but he looked keen, energetic and skillful. It’s difficult to see how to fit another winger into the line-up, but it would be very good if there was some way to give him a chance.
The forwards produced nothing. Boggy had his usual sparkly touches, but without lots of service rarely produces anything, while Gray was dominated by a pair of huge centre backs.

Of course, to make out losing this game is all about us playing badly is wrong, Scunthorpe didn’t do too badly at all. Sure, they aren’t the most skillful team in the league, especially without McCann, but they know how to get a job done well. Playing to your teams strengths is something the best managers can do, and Scunny did it. The crowd was far, far too small. We brought 2/5 of it, and made 5/5 of the noise. But then, the football was sensationally boring, so what do you expect. Just remember, boring football that wins game is better than being Doncaster.

Ratings
Dicko: 7 – He’s back.
Shotton: MOTM 7 – He’s back.
Butterfield: 7 – The problem was getting fluid attacks going, which is, in theory, his job. Yet he did quite well, just looked short of options.
Anderson: 5 – Uninterested, unadventurous and ineffective.
Hallfredsson: 5 – See above.
Gray: 4 – Just one of those games.
Hayes: 10 – That’s not a rating based on his performance, which I’m not going to judge. Instead, it’s based on his lack of a celebration. Always good to see a player simply show respect.

8 games unbeaten and it would have continued. Problem was, we come up against a team who break us up well, in a game that doesn’t get the adrenalin pumping, and this happens. Scunthorpe are turning into a bit of a bogey team this season, we just can’t play against them. Best get used to it though. We are absurdly good against the best teams, in comparison to how we deal with teams in and around us in the table. We weren’t going to continue unbeaten, I’m just happy we can pick up our pride and get on with climbing up the league.
I wanted a cup run as much as the next guy, but fortunately, the alternative is viable still. It’s a horrible cliché, but we need to concentrate on the league. Not because we didn’t want the cup, but because there is no longer an alternative. Statistically though, it gives us hope. It means our unbeaten run has been headed and footed by cup losses.

Other effects of this cup round are variable. Plymouth drew, which means that, as far as I know, the scheduled date of our rematch against them is now OFF, for the cup replay against Newcastle. And in other news, Preston got through, meaning that our rearrangement against them can’t be on the Saturday reserved for the next cup round.

And, talking of Preston, they provide my finishing notes. Note 1, the roads and streets around the ground yesterday were no better than those that saw the Boxing Day game called off, so why did we not play then. Foolery.
And Note 2 if funny. Kayode Odejayi is now officially gone. Forever. He provided some good moments, and plenty of bad ones, as well as providing us a new verb; to Odejayi. E.g. he Odejayi’d that shot, or he Odejayi’s the chance up.

Poor Colchester, they sign him permanently, and two days later, his very presence causes the team to Odejayi a game, losing yesterday 7-0. 7-0. That’s bad. Even worse than us.

Middlesbrough are a good side, with an incapable manager. That showed first half. Our standard model of Doyle and Colace as a solid centre was broken, with Doyle back in Hull. Therefore, a previously hard centre turned into a soft and creamy one. Colace controlled his areas, but Hallfredsson had a very bad 45 minutes, struggling with his ball control. Hammill looked isolated. In reaction to this problem, we switched to the seasonal Christmas tree formation, 4-2-3-1. The 3 was Hammill-Anderson-Bogdanovic, and although there was some good work, Gray got isolated and never turned to face goal.
We had no chances first half. Middlesbrough had some good pressure, but met difficulty penetrating the almost immaculate Steve Foster led defence. The one main danger was, of course Adam Johnson, who once again proved to be far too good for this league, even if he has maturity issues. He was the one danger, but Hassell was only beaten about 4 times, and on many of them Colace covered him, an admirable performance from Bobby. We were unlucky to concede, really, but when a cross swings, curls and dips into the far top corner, you’ve just got to sigh and get on with it.

It didn’t look too bad or good at half time. In step Mark Robins, to deliver his usual dose of half time brilliance. What he says in there must be incredible. But, it wasn’t just motivation today, far from it. He produced sublime tactical chances to over turn the centre of the park, and restore our usual midfield dominance. Butterfield was the unexpected recruit, Hammill going off, with Anderson and Hallfreddo dropping wider, to restore the exact formation which drew with Newcastle. And, like magic, Jacob started us playing again. He controlled everything, I can’t recall a single time he lost the ball or misplaced a pass. Colace would win it, give it to the teenager, who would spray it wide. Hallfredsson then set about making amends for his first half errors. Seconds into the half, his free-kick is nodded on, and cleared off the line. 3 minutes later, and the Iceman’s corner is flicked on by Boggy front post, and Foster rises highest to power it in at the back. Perhaps it looked like our early momentum was fading, but Butterfield continued playing hard, and got Boggy free down the left. He cuts back, waits a second, then lands a perfect cross on Colace’s in rushing head. 2-1.
And really, from there, there was no way back, we were the only team who looked like scoring. Strachan’s team had played two days earlier, and that lack of energy left them totally devoid of all fight. Like they didn’t want to come back on us. Our return to winning form was ensured right from the moment Robins sat them down at half time. The Scots-Man had con answer.

So, the first half didn’t work out, but that wasn’t because the players weren’t trying or weren’t playing well; the formation just wasn’t right. Once Butterfield came onto run the game, everyone clicked. The exception to that is the defence. They always played well. Kozluk was in for Dickinson. He looked poor at times, especially distribution, but somehow it worked, and he let little through. Foster was back to Captain Fantastic, Moore was solid as always. Hassell had the real challenge, dealing with possibly the best player in the league. Sure, he got beaten, but never did any danger come down that side. With Colace’s help, they did better than most other teams in the league will.
I’ve already talked about the battle to gain the midfield dominance which is key to our style of play. Colace had arguably his best game of his 18 months in England, really holding down the area in front of our back four for the whole game, while also helping to hold back Adam Johnson and set up some attacks. Butterfield couldn’t have done it without his help, but he was the main difference. His calm control and touches were reminiscent of many more experienced play makers. He brought Hallfredsson and Anderson into the game second half, albeit that Anderson had done fairly well first half.
The forwards played as well as I would ask. Gray was brilliant as usual, bringing men into attacks with his careful touch and strength. Boggy gave his markers the run around, and began to thrive once Jacob began to deliver accurate passes second half. Good cross for the second goal.

Borough were a good side, but I can’t see them going up. Players like Johnson and Julio Arca looked dangerous (although Arca struggled to overcome Colace); while Marcus Bent was so bad it was comical. The support was good, albeit not quite as good as Newcastle. The problem they have is Strachan. Not only did he fail to produce any type of tactical answer to our strength, but he didn’t install any fight in his team. On top of that, his post match comments are mostly lies.
Unfortunately, his words were, a usual, unintelligible to mono-lingual Englishmen, but the translators assure us that it went along the line of: the first half was good football, and we won that (just about true). The second half, Barnsley broke it down, and stopped anyone playing nice football, winning what he described as a ‘cup-tie’. Utter bollocks. Our football was just as good as yours, sir, and I hope the irony of this from the man who Celtic eventually sacked because the supporters wanted a better brand of football isn’t lost on you. Rant over.

Ratings
Hassell: 8 – Good defending, and good attacking.
Foster: 9 – Got the most important goal, and held us together throughout.
Colace: MOTM 10 – Just about the text-book holding midfield performance. Held back any central attacks, moved the ball forwards quickly, and covered for full-backs. He’s even added late runs in the box to his repertoire. The doubters are silenced.
Boggy: 8 – Good dribbling, good cross, good work rate.
Gray: 8 – He deserves some goals.

So, another come back. 2010 has never really looked so bright. We just need to keep pushing forwards, and keep the tight competition in the team going. No reason not to put a good team out against Scunthorpe, and to see if we can’t keep improving our momentum.

I think that a draw was a fair result. The atmosphere was OK, probably helped along by everyone standing and jumping to keep a little less cold. Statistically, the two sides are as equal as you will find, on possession, shots etc. That is a hallmark of a stifled game.
Our defense rarely melted under the heat of attacks, and stopped dead all players really, apart from Moses. He’s uncontainable when on form, and will surely leave for the Premier League in January. The Steele-Man looked bang on form, making some great saves, most notably one fantastic reaction stop from a close range Clint Hill header, mere minutes before Hill allowed Anderson the ball fro our goal. Moore played very well, and was, surprisingly, the only defenders never beaten by Moses, mostly because he never let the ball be knocked past him.
The midfield struggled fro the second. Colace found it even more difficult than usual to get stuck in, but I don’t blame him for that. Doyle did well beside the Argentine, and we certainly want him back. Anderson and Hallfredsson both produced some good moments, and held some good possession. Anderson looked relieved to go off and get warm.
Who can blame him for that, Boggy was also happy. He played averagely actually, not getting too involved, even though he scored. Gray did some good link up play, but found little space and rarely got to face goal. I think if a department must be blamed for not winning, it is the attack. If there’d been two goals scored in the first half, Warnock couldn’t have frozen all our attacking assets in the second.

Palace looked decent for large spells, although our defence would never have allowed a normal standard goal, and it took a flash of brilliance to get it. A typical Warnock team, honestly. It amazed me that he was happy with a draw, and didn’t push forwards to get another, but maybe our class prevented that. I can see them having a good season, and wouldn’t mind some success from Selhurst. Friendly fans, albeit with slightly too intimate stewards…

Ratings
Steele: MOTM 9- Reaching Bicycle kicks is very hard due to their arc. He saved a lot of great shots, and earned us a point.
Shotton: 7 – Bad, bad news. His booking means that he will be suspended for his final game before loan expiry. Not good, I really need to see him playing for us again.
Hallfredsson: 7- Iceman no feel cold.
Doyle: 7 – Sounding more and more like we are in negotiations about a return for Nathan Doyle, I hope they don’t fall through.
Boggy: 7 – Looked, oh, so cold…

It was a crap game of football, and that’s the truth. By the whistle everyone was relieved to go get warm. But, we’re lucky it happened at all. The ground staff succeeded where those in Plymouth failed, and worked hard to get the game on, despite no under-soil heating. Well done lads, good job. Robins is right, it was an awful game, and we didn’t have the right energy levels. The start was probably more enjoyable than the entire rest put together.

So, the last game before Yule-tide has now come and gone, and it was inevitably going to be a lethargic one. Onto boxing day, and two games with a weakened squad before the January sales.

Newcastle are the best team in the league in terms of manager, personnel and tactics. Drawing with them is the best performance we’ve put in this season, possibly in our entire spell in the Championship. Any other team in the league, West Brom, Cardiff etc. included, and we won by several goals.
Sky and BBC have televised so many games where the Toon overturn pedestrian opposition, but they manage to miss this monument to Championship football. On top of that, the age old ‘Battling Barnsley’ cliché has come crawling back from the woodwork, and haunts us again. Match Report after Match Report is talking of Newcastle’s ‘dominance’ and of Barnsley’s ‘grit’. For instance, this Times one contains sections that bare no resemblance to what I enjoyed watching. I want to know how far the Toon Army agrees with me here, but it’s like only those 20079 people who sat in an electric Oakwell yesterday know what really happened.

7,000 Newcastle fans only revamped their crescendo of support as the opener slid in so early on. 6 minutes is early, and it summed Newcastle main threat. We defended well right from the start, and held strong against all of the good passing football. It’s the season to sing Carroll’s praises, and Andy Carroll became the first man to dominate Moore in air. He’s massive, and both goals came from his accurate knock downs. The first half then broke out into one of the most even matches you could imagine. The Magpies team played good football, and looked very skillful with players like Ryan Taylor, Jonas Guttierez and Jose Enrique on the ball. But, we had two secret weapons. (1) Emil Hallfredsson turned into the Iceman, midfielder fantastico. An incredible display; even while Newcastle were on top he could find chances from no where. (2) Andy Gray bullied Coloccini, and made his Argentina caps look laughable. They secured enough possession to create chances, and hold our own.
At half time the summary is that we’d be beating any other team in the league, but not this lot. The Toon hold firm under our pressure, and it’s obvious an early Tykes goal is essential. Roll on Mark Robins. What did he say at half-time? If the words ‘fast acting steroids’ were involved, I wouldn’t be surprised.
Bang. Second half, we come out, all guns blazing. Only the Man of Ice was going to make the difference, and he nearly broke the net with that one, a close range drive over Steve Harper into the roof of the net via the post. But now what? Well, no let up here, Emil, Gray et ala continue the unrelenting pushing. No let up. The second half was ours, the Toon were stifled. The noise level reflected this. In the battle of the crowds, the team with the momentum on the pitch seized it off. It felt like the Ponty had pushed our goal in.
But, as the Toon Army pointed out, they are top of the league. And Carroll again, this time the substitute Marlon Harewood on hand to half-volley in the goal over a despairing Luke Steele. A great finish, and surely no way back against the best defence in the division? Wrong, Mark ‘last minute goal’ Robins strikes again, remember how we always lost Davey’s games in stoppage time. No more. 87th minute. Hammill just on. His first corner. Hassell gets there first. Oakwell goes wild.
Was I the only person who half expected a 3rd goal to go in?

A performance against a team this good is hard, and this game redefines the words ‘good point’. The BBC’s match report is quite fair, especially with its stats. Want proof we were slightly the best team? Possession; 54:46. Corners; 11:2. Attempts on target; 6:3. All in our favor. I hope you’re watching Championship, ‘cause that’s how to play Newcastle.

The defence was very good, as per usual. OK, so Moore struggled with Carroll, that doesn’t mean he played badly. He did well, just a man that tall is unmanageable. Shotton was good, as was Dickinson. Hassell was partly at fault in the 6th minute, but made up for it with an excellent performance the rest of the game.
The midfield was our key area, dominating for large periods. Colace and Doyle nullified efforts in the centre, particularly the embarrassingly ineffective Alan Smith. Anderson made a lot of good passing, but nothing on Hallfredsson. The Iceman left Toon out in the cold, with constituently Solid tackles, before Flowing through skillful dribbles; defenders Melting away as he rampaged. You get the image. Unlike his first goal for us, this one counts. He did so many things right I can’t really begin. Many say it’s his best performance. I don’t, I think it could actually be the best performance any player has put in this season. He was on fire.
Add onto that Andy Gray, and we’ve got our attacks. He dominated Coloccini, who looked scared for parts. The power was fantastic, and a bit more composure would have added a goal. Boggy got MOTM, begging the question, which joker choose it? He did well, but was surrounded at times, and took to many touches. Not bad, but not the best by a long shot.

I won’t bore you with more detail about how good Newcastle are. I was particularly impressed by Carroll’s aerial ability and Jose Enrique’s dribbling, which was at times sublime.
And a little needs to be said about the Toon support as well. One of the biggest crowds you’ll see at Oakwell, with 7,000+ making the trip from all round the country. Not only did they make a lot of noise, but they supported their team avidly. Post-game the announcer thanked them for the ‘immaculate behavior’. That’s not been done before, but it was true for inside the ground and in town.
The atmosphere was electric. Simply. Electric. The 7,000 strong Toon Army were off-set by the noisiest home crowd this season. Newcastle’s ‘Pogo’ing had a Mexican Wave like quality to it, but didn’t match up to our riotous chorus of ‘You’re not singing anymore’ following Hassell’s header, as the chant swept from East to West stand and more, arms pointing in a universal gesture of belief. Great stuff.
Ratings
Hassell- 8 – In for Kozluk at right back following a good performance at Blackpool, he may have been at fault for the first goal, but more than made up for that.
Moore: 7 – Watch how he celebrates the second goal. He goes, to put it bluntly, ape shit. Didn’t know he had that in him.
Shotton: 8 – Sign him up.
Dickinson: 7 – Sign him up.
Doyle: 7 – Sign him u…you get the picture.
Hallfredsson: 10 – Oh Iceland, what hast thou made. Think Reggina want him back?
Gray: 9 – Great hold up play, paling the centre-backs. More than enough to become first choice.
Robins: 9 – Half time team talks that Fergie would be proud of. Last minute goals too.

I’ve thought about this long and hard, and want to actually make a case for this being the perfect game of football. Think about it. There were piles of class and excitement on the pitch. The stadium was packed to the roof, which got blown off by the noise. Passionate fans, but no violence or crowd trouble. Stewards didn’t interfere. Back on the pitch, the referee had close enough to the perfect game, didn’t wreck anything, while there was passion and commitment from the player, but no violence or cheating. Diving was out, while shacking hands and swapping shirts post game was in. Surely the criteria for a great game of league football are all here?

It’s Palace next. We have a painfully bad record at Selhurst Park. The entire league had a painfully bad record against Newcastle, we didn’t care. We never do anymore. There will always be off-games, see Scunthorpe, but it doesn’t make us a bad team. The question is, where can this stop?