So in London there was almost a blizzard. All games called off - even those tomorrow. But one 3 o' clock kick-off went ahead - West Ham at Blackburn. I had my first experience of watching a live game streamed and The Controller had the joy of hearing the abuse hurled at the monitor. At one point in the second half she was moved to make a two-word comment - 'Blood Pressure'. At the end her summary was - 'just bloody juvenile', but far from being juvenile it was very mature, considered and well-crafted abuse.
Where to start? The commentators noted that Spector would be surprised to find himself playing as Behrami was due to start but managed to get injured in the warm-up. I would have been surprised to find him playing if I had, but he was just occupying space on the pitch. Piquionne was beyond awful. He couldn't shoot, couldn't pass and, when given the chance free in the box, couldn't head either. Barrera is not lightweight, he's featherweight. Before their goal he had a chance to clear the ball and was for the umpteenth time brushed off it. Dyer has no notion of looking along the line and was caught offside time and time again. Rigor worked and worked - even teeing up Piquionne to waste a chance - but he's not good enough and is always a rush of blood to the head away from giving away a penalty or getting sent off. This time it was a free kick in the 93rd minute that could have lost the game through a ridiculous lunge. And then the glory that is Big Ben McCarthy. Put through by a glorious ball to win the game against his old club in the 85th minute he fell over the ball. Other than that he couldn't pass accurately from two yards. I hope I never see him again.
But there is always the glory that is Super Scott. He made our equaliser and somehow kept us going forward even when all that was forward was Piquionne, McCarthy or Cole (and so you knew it would come straight back). And Tomkins played as a proper defender. So two of the players had good performances and that was enough for a draw.
The only downside is that may keep Grant in the job, and a point isn't going to help us stay up. We're still three points behind the other teams at the bottom and now have payed a game more. I don't know about The Pornographers, but I think the time for keeping calm is past. Let's panic!
No comments:
Post a Comment