WBA QPR 3RD WTF?
Ian Symes - September 28, 2008 @ 3:08 pm
This schedule of seven games in four days, or whatever it is, isn’t just tough on the players – it’s tough on the fledgling fan blogs too. It’s only been a little over a week since our last update, but we’ve got three games to cover. Two of which were very good, and one of which was very bad. Read on, McDuff.
We were great against West Brum. It may be the lesser of our two main derbies, but it’s still played in that tough, unrelenting style we’re so uncomfortably familiar with. Two goals in as many minutes was brilliant, and our triumvirate of Gabby, Carew and Ashley were superb throughout. Carew in particular was unlucky not to have extended our league, hitting the same post twice in quick succession early in the second half. West Brum had some chances, but we were never particularly troubled. It was a little nervy towards the end, but that’s a derby for you. A third away win in six days, into the top four, and life was looking pretty peachy.
And then we played QPR. As with the Stoke game, there was a lot of talk on the official site before the game about how we shouldn’t underestimate our opponents, and how it’ll be a tough game and all the rest of it. Can we not do this in future, please? It makes us lose. That can be the only explanation. Well, that and the six changes, some piss-poor finishing, Gareth Barry uncharacteristically missing a sitter, and the continued existence of Marlon Harewood.
I don’t think you can blame MO’N for changing the team around – they desperately needed a rest, and the players he brought in should have been good enough. But it just highlighted the fact that we still lack a lot of strength in depth, and that despite the vast strides we’ve made towards breaking the Big Four, we’re not quite there yet.
So once again we’ve dropped out of the league cup at a very early stage, and as such squandered possibly our best chance of our first proper silverware in 12 years. It’s a bugger, but there are positives. We’ve got enough fixtures as it is, and if we had to chose one competition to drop out of, it would be this one. But let’s not pretend that getting knocked out was a good thing – it’s a big disappointment.
(As an aside – how interesting it was to see Gareth Barry given the armband in Lausen and Reo-Coker’s absence. What was more interesting, however, was hearing Martin O’Neill emphasise afterwards that Laursen is still the club captain and that Gareth was only standing in. It’s clear that all is not quite forgiven just yet.)
Fortunately, with our regular league line-up back in place, we got a good result against a decent Sunderland side. Going behind was a bugger, and it was symptomatic of there being far too much space in midfield. Our defence seemed a little slow to react, and we paid the price. However, this seemed to fortify our attack, and Ashley Young took over the show to force the equaliser. What a beautifully cheeky move from Laursen to penetrate the Sunderland wall and duck at the last second to give the ball a path through to goal. Carew scored with a beautiful back-heel, which was every bit as good as Ronaldo’s against us at Old Trafford last year, but you can bet that it won’t be shown anywhere near as often as that one.
We sat back a bit during the second half, which was a little worrying at times, but it paid off. Seven games in three seconds, or whatever it is. And thanks to Arsenal hilariously losing at home to Hull, we’re third in the league. This is excellent, albeit only temporary, if we’re honest. But still, if we can stay there or thereabouts for as long as possible, it’s a great statement of intent. If we can continue to make ourselves a nuisance and punch above our weight when the table starts to settle down around Christmas… well, we might not have to bother with the “Europa League” next season.
We now have the relative luxury of a five day break before the return of Litex Lovech in the UEFA Cup. They need to score at least three past us to prevent us getting to the group stage. No Gregory-esque arrogance here, but we should be alright. Then the slightly tougher test of Chelsea away next Sunday. I will quite happily take what we got there last season. And you know what? I believe we could even top that.
I thought Ashley Youngs free kick against Blunderland was as good as any free kick you will see this season. Big Johns back heel was pure cheek aligned with no short amount of skill. I have to agree with Ian (as he so rightly points out) that as good as it was, John’s back heel will be lucky to get a mention outside of the West Midlands.
Victory over the Boing Boing Baggies was made even more sweeter for me, because i collected £10 off a rather deluded friend and Albion follower who thought we were going to be boing boinged all the way back to Villa park.
The less said about QPR the better except to say Randy get your cheque book out in January and buy Martin a striker and a new Gordon Cowans.