Decent game against WSW B team. But no punch.
JV's dead cert Cunningham ;) is looking more a dead loss at the moment as an import level player, though (I hope) that is still maybe too early to call. Good enough to be on the park, which is a heck of a lot better than many of our previous imports, but he's looking like he's not good enough to be winning games regularly; and his poor card history is starting to show up in his play. Still hope I'm wrong on that one.
Lia again played well enough and I think we are seeing more out of him this year. But he's still another journeyman that we know cannot make anything happen to produce a result. And to be fair you'd say the same of Riera, so far. Happy enough to have in the squad, but ...
Hicks worst game, but he still did a lot of good work, just overplayed his hand and got caught on the ball quite a lot, plus was not quite on the wavelength with those in front of him several few times. Probably hurt us that he had been pulled already before Carlos decided he'd limp about and have a rest - maybe being harsh, but it looked that way to me. Things did look very promising several times but we failed to finish and other times the four up front were on slightly different wavelengths. I'd suggest it's getting better and whoever said that we are overcomplicating it up front - I agree.
Manny just great at LB, Siggy and Dura had great games, as did Fenton, albeit just lacking a bit of final ball quality. It's a bit of a problem that the back four were our best and we have to remember who WSW were missing.
Tyler looked like he took on too much, but got off one decent shot, and he's not had much play. Still young and we needed a goal so probably got sent on to have a crack. Boxall showed some great wheels, but also looked a bit lost - as JV said, understandable playing out of position, but you want to take your chances. Good that they both got a bit of a run.
Despite all the above we played well enough to win the game if only Carlos had his mind on the job and put away one of the two apparent sitters (as they seemed at the game). Clearly Carlos is class but if players don't deliver the runs he wants on a plate he sulks. Clearly showed frustration several times, but I thought it was to some extent his desire to stand and deliver and not take responsibility to take it forward himself. Pretty heavily marked though, so it is probably fair he needs players working off him better. Doloras may have been exaggerating but with a few exceptions his free kicks and corners have been dissapointing this year imho and he's missed a number of game changing chances this season that I would have expected him to nail. And having said Carlos should have scored, WSW wasted one or two as well.
I'd now be thanking Stein and Ifill next year and moving them on - that's a bucketload of cash for a couple of new strikers with younger legs and a bit of pace and quality. If we can find them. Stein has some good touch and along with Carlos was good for maintaining a lot of possession, but he's not threatening. Ifill is an expensive bit player who now (perhaps slight exaggeration, but we are heading this way) looses possession almost as often as not. Yes Ifill is class, and yes he is still the one player who can create a goal from next to nothing; but I don't see him going another year, and certainly not on his current $s
Enjoyed the game, we are playing some good football and we were definitely in the hunt. Donut on the board, just the point on the table. Signs of life but ... not enough punch, ... yet?