About Me

I have been a Red since I was about 6 or 7. My boyhood hero was Kenny Dalglish and I have an autograph from him while he was still at Celtic. Thanks Gran! As such I gravitated towards the team he played for. So I have been Scottish-South African- Scoucer for about 30 years now! I am extremely passionate about our club, and have felt the need to start this blog in the face of the abject nature of our performaces under Benitez and the Hicks/Gillett ownership.

Sunday 7 August 2011

A Valencia Orange Peeled

A much better performance yesterday. A real tempo and incisiveness to our play. Typified in the 1st 90 seconds by clever interplay between Adam,Aquilani and Downing . Great noises from Kenny this week about Aquilani, he has been our best player in pre-season by far.I think with Stevie G out for a couple of months still and with Joe Cole (thankfully) and Meireles (regretfully) potentially going, keeping him will be essential. Like Downing and Suarez his is quick of thought. He didnt influence the game that much but I think Carroll isn't the type of player who is quick enough to anticipate what he is trying to do.

Carroll had a decent game yesterday, reacting well to Albelda's underhit backpass, he made a bit of a mess of it but got the ball in the net, that is the main thing. We looked sharper than them and tellingly Reina didn't have anything to do the whole game. They are slightly behind us in their preparation and I think all La Liga sides lost to Premier league opposition yesterday.

The positive things for us we kept a clean sheet, used our posession well. Looking for Downing at every opportunity. Adam was in control when we had the ball and did a good job with Spearing in snuffing out anything Valencia try to create. He also didn't give away any freekicks in dangerous positions which he is prone to do in his Blackpool days.

On the down side Glenn Johnson made one raiding run and then pulled up lame ...again. This time hs calf and not a hammy. I wouldn't have started with him anyway next week he is not at the races. Kelly is much more solid defensively and still picks his moments to get forward, he is also an aerial presence in both boxes which we will need against Sunderland.

Also Jordan Henderson didn't really do anything. Not really sure what he is. Out wide he has no pace and not sure about his crossing. We were better in the 2nd half once Dirk came on in that position. Centrally I dont think he is in the same bracket as StevieG,Adam,Meireles,Aquilani . He is only 20'21 so I think he is on the bench like Shelvey.Rememeber he is on a 5 year deal so doesn't have to play every week this season for me. Carroll is the same. Sure thats £55mill on the bench. So what we need to play the team thats going to win most weeks and get us in the top 4 again.

As per my last blog, I think we have a great chance this year.Arsenal,Chelski and Spurs haven't strengthened that much. Wenger continues to phafff over Fabregas and Nasri, if they dont want to be there he should have sold them in June or July, that way everyone knows what the crack is and he plenty time to recruit replacements. I see them going backwards. They were poor against New York Red Bull last week and even worse against Benfica yesterday.

Spurs haven't added however keeping Modric may be their best coup of the season. It shows they want to remain a challenger. Historically they have always sold their best players and therefore not really been taken seriously. But in the Premier League if you stand still you go backwards.

Chelski are in the same boat. They have signed another striker today yet for me its central midfield they lack the necessary players to get them over the line. Mikel and Ramires are rubbish, Meaning everything has to come through Lampard. Kalou seems to be only effective as a sub and Malouda is patchy. Yossi is back and that will help and of course there is the Drogba/Judas debate. Dont get me wrong they are strong but are they strong enough to win it no, can we finish above them Yes.

Report today in the Daily Star suggesting we have finally finalised the deal for Enrique at £5.5.mill. Apparently we have been stalling until we got rid of Jovanovic because of his wages. How much did Rafa pay this clown a week??????? A year after he is sacked and we are still paying for his incompotence. Just need to get the £90k we are pissing away for Joe Cole (PSG) and we are in good shape from a wage perspective.

Still think we need another centreback. That would allow us to release Soty and use Carra in a sparing manner his is 34 this season.Shawcross or Cahill please. With Chelski signing a new striker, might have a sneaky stab at Sturridge if the cash is there. We could move Ngog on then as well.

My starting 11 for Sunderland at this stage.

Reina
Kelly-Carra-Agger-Aurelio - Fab is fit we better use him while we can!
Adam-Spearing
Kuyt-Aquilani-Downing
Carroll

Bench - Jones,Flanno,Soty,Henderson,Lucas,Maxi,Suarez.

Lucas and Suarez are still recovering from their Copa America exploits, plus it will scare the shit out of Sunderalnd that we can bring El Pistolero off the bench!

YNWA

P.S. Another Rafa dud off the books in Danny Sanchez Ayala. Slow, ponderous, poor judgement and positional sense, and that was just in the Reserve and Youth games over the last few years. How he got an extention to his contract is beyond me.

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