Baby steps

perez celebratingWell that was tense wasn’t it? We all as one wished for one thing today, spirit, and I think by and large we got it, especially in the second half.

The fans played there part turning up in numbers to back the team and for the most part the players responded. Tim Krul was in good form saving us on more than one occasion, Coloccini was getting stuck in much more than previously as did little Vernon which was good to see and Dummett had a good game too. Jonas was putting some smart runs together and most important of all, the heads didn’t drop when we went one goal down. Thankfully Perez had his shooting boots on to level the game.

The big worry for me is our sheer inability to defend set pieces, we cleared off the line and conceded from a free kick again today. I suggest our next signings need to be a couple of strapping ball winning defenders before we even think about a forward. Our defence as been weak as a baby for far too long but they did well today considering they were up against some big lads.

I think we had them rattled second half and truth be told we could of taken the game with a full strength team, and maybe even with what we had out on the pitch.

Big downside today was the Sunderland result, their win takes them above us on goal difference and frankly they can consider themselves mighty lucky. Winning by two deflected goals, the second of which was offside and off Defoe’s hand . Still them’s the breaks and it’s still in our hands, as they say.

Next up, QPR who may well be relegated by the time we play them. It should be an easy game but often relegated teams play without pressure and turn an easy game into hard work. We need to despatch them and then we can enjoy the last game of the season which is the very least our devoted fans deserve. HWTL

By kimtoon

551 thoughts on “Baby steps

  1. Shamrock you don’t want him here forever do you. I bet the Palace fan’s would just be grateful to be in the PL. He would get giving less grief by the fan’s I mean. The odd moan here and there but nothing like Newcastle.

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  2. Georgio – I put Raylor in there coz I’d be telling him to cover that RB position when Janmaat pushed forward. I think Janmaat is a good offensive source down the right but him pushing forward can leave us exposed and that pulls the CBs out of position. I’d have Janmaat, Raylor and Sissoko move around to cover each other – if Janmaat goes, Raylor drops in to cover him and Sissoko drops 10yrds to cover Raylor.
    Abied is a better passer of the ball, and probably a more forward thinking midfielder. But I think Raylor fits better with Janmaat & Sissoko.

    As for staying up. This weekend will give us a much better idea mate. If we can win, we’re stay I reckon. If we draw then our goal difference still worries me. I’m probably about 65% confident we will stay up going into this weekend … ask me in an hour though and that would have probably changed 😕 😆

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  3. 34 million is 2 or 3 quality players. Not a lot really. I’d like to think we will spend more than that, s we need to badly. Cant see even the 30 million being spent though.

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  4. Yes I see what you mean Terry. I think we will stay up. Cant see Hull getting the 2 points to catch us.

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  5. “So Ashley is getting free advertising for his main company hence the loss to our commercial revenue and he benefits as a tax dodge”

    That doesn’t make sense to me

    If Sports Direct aren’t paying for the advertising then that company’s expenditure is reduced and therefore their profits would be higher and they’d end up paying more corporation tax. However, there wouldn’t be a corresponding reduction in the football club’s tax charge because it’s got substantial tax losses brought forward, and therefore isn’t liable to pay any company tax. So purely from the overall tax point of view I would have thought it would make more sense for SD to pay for the advertising.

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  6. Sharpy says @528:

    “As for staying up. This weekend will give us a much better idea mate”

    It bloody well should Sharpy. We only have 2 games to go 🙂

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  7. Chris G: you are assuming that Ashley is only doing maths and tax avoidance. NUFC are his red headed step-child and Sports Direct his beautiful dove that he has nurtured and taken care of since it was an egg – and made him fucking 3.5 billion pounds into the bargain 🙂

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  8. Chris G
    I have business experience and no expert in taxes.
    Clearly.
    Could you tell me the benefits of the deal he has with loan to the club. How I’d it benefiting him and if it is, the fact we don’t get advertising revenue from SD, is Ashley getting a double benefit?

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  9. Eric – well spotted mate 😉 :lol:. But as things stand, depending on how things go this weekend, this could literally go to the last kick of the season.

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  10. Toon survival could depend on some dodgy refereeing decisions / injuries.
    One of my mottos in life is to ignore the phrase “well it can’t get any worse than this”. Because invariably it can….

    We only need to look at 2 recent episodes of irrationality from Janmaat / Willaimson reducing us to ten men, or an injury to Perez / Cisse and we are deep in the pooh….

    Make no bones about it, West Brom were really in flip flops mode, whereas we couldn’t play any beetr than we did at the weekend. That was the toon on full tilt, and to be quite honest it wasn’t very good….

    QPR and West Ham will both be different kettles of fish from a poor and dull defensive West Brom side..

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  11. Troy@540, can’t you fall back on your wing man Brisvegas to help you out ? 😆 😆

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  12. MM: jet lag mate? I thought I was being funny at the time but when I read it back I was being a bit of a **** 🙂

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  13. Munich – I think we lacked the players against WBA and nerves played a huge part of our early performance in that game.
    I think the return of Janmaat, Cisse & Aarons could make a big difference, and if De Jong is on the bench with Cabella and Abied then for the first time in a long time, we have options.

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  14. Eric@546, well said mate, at least you recognise it :-)…. Posting whilst suffering from jetlag, being hungover and still a bit wobbly from the night before, or out of your box on the gargle are 3 no no scenarios for posting mate 🙂 😆 😆

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  15. Eric Sykes, having said that, a few years ago I used to post on another blog where the blog master had the quaint habit of going back onto threads and deleting / modfiying old postings to make certain punters look bad. At the time I thought wtf am I going crazy…I’m sure I read something earlier that was completely different.. It really was a bizzare situation 😆 😆

    Big Dave, Icedog and a few of the other older bloggers will remember this period :-)…… 🙂

    Sometimes it could be nice to go back a dubious post, but hey…what the heck…it’s all part of the “banter”….and what makes this blog the best blog about 🙂

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  16. Sharpy@547, you could be onto something there mate. Throw in the playing at home under extreme pressure scenario, also raises the stakes somewhat….
    Hopefully with a strenghtened team and a full throttle away support we can get the three points we need at the weekend…

    Regarding Aarons, JC is obviously “protecting” Aaarons, I hope someone has told him and Charnley that he only has 2 more games to “protect” him… 🙄 🙄 …you recall how we were all so surprised when JC realised that Sammy could take corners a few months ago … 🙄 🙄

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  17. MM 548: if I waited to post about NUFC and to reply to Troysta when I am sober I would never say a word. NUFC and Troysta are enough to drive us all to drink.

    BTW, I was talking to my nephew when I was home and he told me about these new legal designer drugs that some of his mates take. They keep you awake and high for like 3 days. I asked what do they do at work and he said this is their work, being high for 3 days and then selling the **** for a day and then getting high again. I will have to give me a try of that and see if i can keep up with the Troysta. I wonder if that is what he is on when he is in his trunks and cape?

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