Time to map out a plan for Villa's future
- Says blogger Matthew Turvey
Singing in the rain for Albion
Tuesday 24th November 2009, 9:10AM GMT.
Albion blogger Jarrod Hill was a happy man in treacherous conditions at the Hawthorns after seeing the hallmarks of a bright future for the Baggies team.
Saturday was slick and fluid, and that was just the weather. Along with everybody else I got drenched on the way to the Hawthorns, but my fears of a wet and dreary performance to match the weather were quickly forgotten within the first fifteen minutes.
The weekend following international games involving members of our squad has previously resulted in a lacklustre performance, so when I witnessed the awful playing conditions my pessimism quickly took control of my thoughts.
Bristol City arrived on a seven-game unbeaten run and full of confidence, but all that was blown away. Not by the wind, but by our two wing wonders. Jerome Thomas and Chris Brunt relentlessly attacked the City back four and the 4-1 score line certainly didn’t flatter us. Had the officials not have been so sympathetic to the thumping we were giving our opponents, it would have been more.
Our wing play through JT and Brunty just oozes quality and, although each player has differing strengths, they both have that ‘edge of your seat’ factor. They both have the capacity to score goals too, and both of their goals were superb, with Brunt’s goal just edging it for me. Taking into account the conditions his first touch was unbelievable and the finish brilliant.
Simon Cox continues to improve each week and his 100 per cent work rate seems to be rubbing off on Luke Moore. Luke played in a very unselfish way on Saturday and probably hasn’t received the plaudits he deserves.
His hold up play and selfless running was what we have all craved for since he arrived at the Hawthorns, when combined with a confident team display it all gelled together.
I do believe scoring early has been a key factor in our recent results. It’s never a bad thing to score early, but with us it seems to take all the pressure off and we play with a freedom that suits our attacking capabilities.
It also helps that teams can no longer sit back and soak up pressure, not that Bristol City under the management of the impressive Gary Johnson arrived with that game plan. Teams who arrive at the Hawthorns with the intent of outplaying us in this division do so with the high risk of being on the end of a good hiding, and that’s exactly what they got.
Another player I would like to single out for special praise is our goalkeeper and captain Scott Carson. After sticking his head out of the tunnel and seeing the weather he must have been checking the opposition’s team sheet for any Croatians!
But, joking aside, his displays this season have had something he has lacked for the majority of his relatively short career, consistency. Saturday’s conditions were a keeper’s nightmare but, other than the unstoppable thunderbolt that turned out to be nothing more than a consolation goal for our visitors, young Scott looked confident and made some fantastic saves.
The only downside to Saturday’s game was the injury to Joe Mattock, after some unconvincing early displays his recent form has been excellent and i just hope it is nothing to serious.
I don’t want to be over confident and it’s certainly not in my nature, but the way we have played since our wake up call at Barnsley and the fact that we now have no international distractions and two players of the calibre of James Morrison and Ishmael Miller to add to this squad my confidence is rising every week.
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two wing wonders,sound chinese aye boing oing pwawn cwacker
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im pleased we won on saturday especially after the international break, i still think we need 2 add 2 the squad in january another striker and 2 defenders will be enough, id like 2 thank di matteo and newton 4 all the hard work so far i think we av the best squad in the championship but i still think mr PEACE needs 2 spend some money in january, this club as the the capabilities of being a big hit in the prem unfortunately under Mowbray that all went out the window, but under the management of di matteo and newton theres more desire than under mowbray, i hope we continue the good form into christmas which every1 no’s is whos real promotion contenders
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Jarod.
Glad to see you feeling optimistic but even more glad to see your praise of Luke Moore. While driving home I had the Tom Ross phone in on the radio. One caller, can’t remember his name, said ‘it was a great performance considering we played with ten men as Luke Moore did nothing.’
I think some people decide what they’re going to see before they get to the game and no evidence on the pitch is going to affect this view.
Luke Moore can’t tackle. He proved this a couple of seasons ago against Leicester, when trying to please the crowd, he got sent off. The same ones demanding he did this then condemned him for it. I’ve questioned LM’s application before now but he has had a few good games and it wouldn’t hurt a few others to get behind him.
Someone, it may have been you Jarrod, mentioned on here the other day the positive effect RDM seems to have had on some of our ‘wayward’ talents, Moore, Meite, Zuiverloon, feel free to add your own. I was a TM fan but this was one area where he failed, he didn’t always get the best from players. It’s something Sam Alladyce has always done and to a club like us it’s worth it’s weight in gold. I know it’s a big statement but I think we have potentially one of our best ever managers on our hands. Let’s hope we can hang on to him.
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Good day Bomber
Looks like i missed yet another master class, hope i`ll be around for the next one, but who knows, i think Italy calls again.
Anyway…..back in blighty for….err…see above.
If you fancy a pint later, let me know.
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3. Do not agree there. Moore was sent off V Leicester a few seasons back because the guy put in a firm but fair challenge omn him a few minutes earlier and he lost his temper. I have lost faith with him and his attitude he has had numerous chances to put things right but he walks around like he is a top Premiership player.
I would like to see us go on a convincing run away from home and really start to pressure Newcastle. Be good if we can remove some of the dead-wood to enable us to bring in some quality.
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Super blog Jarrod, (probably because I agree with every word), a good gag from our resident Knight, a positive RBH comment with which I also agree and sandwiched in between a bewildering text-type comment that no doubt you young uns can work out but leaves me scratching my various itches. John, you’re obviously articulate and intelligent so why not include old gits like me who couldn’t send a text if the house were on fire. I watched a bit of last night’s match on the computer but it wasn’t a patch on our game so it was off to see Gracie Fields on Beeb4. (Blimey, it’s catching, this ‘numbers’ game).
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I remember a few weeks ago when Bombers’ blog was an early assessment of RDM’s team, formation, tactics etc.
There were a few people on here who were criticising him for playing 4-5-1, for playing Luke Moore and for not being as defined as either an attacking team (like Mowbray’s team) or defensively sound (like Megson’s team).
I wrote then, that it will take time for RDM’s tactics to settle and his formation / team to come to the fore and I believe we’re starting to see this now. As long as we keep players fit and don’t get too carried away or complacent this can be another title winning team.
3 – Bully. Luke Moore and Meite have both been fantastic recently whereas neither of them performed under TM did they?! Is this proof in point of his managerial style bringing out the best in players, or is it because they’re playing against Championship standard players?
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I also was listening to Tom Ross on the way home from the match and the so called baggies supporter who rang in also said the fans were leaving in their thousands because RDM had taken Simon Cox off and left Luke Moore as a lone striker! What a load of old tosh! Nothing to do with the deludge of rain and the comfortable scoreline? Anyway what i want to say is give Luke Moore a break! It’s no coincidence that since Moore and Cox have started up front in the past few games we’ve looked a very good side! Both players seems to be working well off each other and it’s helping the midfield players. Luke Moores performances are getting better so all those doubters out there take your blinkers off and get behind the lad! Boing Boing!!
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5 DLB.
I’m not being funny but have you been to the recent games? If you don’t think LM played well on Saturday I don’t know what you were watching. Earlier in the season, after he’d got the two against P’boro, you were telling us that you were the only one to recognise Luke Moore’s talent. Also with Joe Mattock, earlier in the season you called him a donkey, while more recently you’ve acknowledged that he’s playing well. Mattock is a young lad who has moved up a division and is finding his way. Moore has a bit more experience but still needs people to get behind him. Football isn’t all black and white, sometimes there are reasons players struggle. They don’t change from good to bad or vice versa overnight.
6 Cyril.
Good to hear from you as you’ve been quiet lately. I agree about John at 2. With posts like this in text speak I tend to get fed up halfway through, which is a shame as in this case his message was worth reading.
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7. Nedball, Luke Moore has had a couple of good games but he is lazy, arrogant and selfish with his game, unless he is through on goal he is reluctant to run the channels chase the full backs down and walks around like he is better than everyone else. Meite has been ok because in the Premier league he was out of his depth hence why Meggo got rid but looks good at this level.
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7. Ned.
Good point but Moore played in the CCC for us before and didn’t exactly tear up any trees. But I think I was looking more at the attitude of the players now. In the PL, Meite seemed very airy fairy about whether he played or not. Zoovy seemed to lose his way but nothing was done about it and he, Mattock, Moore and some others seem to be playing better now than they were earlier in the season. It could be chicken and egg, are they playing better because the team is playing better or is the team playing better because they are. Either way, I think you have to give the management at least some credit for the fact that we’re playing cracking football and the squad seem very united.
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5.DLB Moore was sent off against leicester because the person he fouled made a comment that was totally out of order and Moore retaliated a few mins later thats a fact!!
I am not got a great fan of Moore but the last few games he has worked for the team
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Good of the E&S to run a blog reminding us that Newcastle have replaced us at the top. No chance of getting carried away with our local paper behind us.
4 Forever.
Hope all’s well with you and your self imposed exile doesn’t last too long.
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Bully
Thank`s, all is indeed well, save the fact that i think i may have contacted bird flu given the amount of time i spend in the air.
On the subject of DLB. I gave up the ghost of reasoning with him when HE accused me of targeting one of our players for critisizm.
I still **** myself with laughter now when i think about it.
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11 – Bully, as soon as I posted it, I thought that to myself, about how Luke Moore did pretty much nothing in the last 6 months of our Championship winning campaign, so I’m with you……RDM is a genius!! :-)
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Cyrile!
Stop this old cidger talk and sit down with your mobile phone and text to someone you love. Dame Vera?
No way you are that old. You’re on the interweb as well.
Never too old to learn something new!!
Wimped out on Saturday, to my shame.
Looked at the dark grey sky and wind and rain and settled down to watch Wales v Argentina.
Like Jarrrod, I thought that with the weather and Bristols having a good record that WBA would, as in many times past – Bottle It.
Nope!
4-1. Great result.
Just why do Newcastle get loads of these Monday games?
Seems an unfair advantage to me!!
Maybe. Just maybe, I am
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I must admit that I didn’t think that Luke Moore had a particularly good game on Saturday, but there is no doubt that in general terms he has been better over the last few games.
For me, despite us being the top scorers in the League and scoring goals for fun at the moment, our main problem remains the strikers. Moore and Cox will score goals, given the dominance of our play in most games, but they are well short of the threat posed by Miller, Phillips & Bednar the last time we were in the CCC.
I don’t actually think it will prevent us from going up fairly comfortably, but it will lead us to periods of time (as happened a few weeks ago) when we will be scratching our heads wondering where the next goal is coming from. Miller will make a difference provided that he can quickly become match fit and I still rate Bednar as our most likely leading scorer over the season as a whole.
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Bomber: you write “and the fact that we now have no international distractions” Meite is going to Africa cup of nations in January, and thats bad news me think.
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The Real Bully Hoo
Alright mate! Just to let you know that 2 of the
DLB posts isnt me.
I rate Luke Moore very much as people may know.
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19.
Sorry DLB. Looks like Shadrag’s mommy has sent him to his room again. If he wasn’t quite such a little imp she might only send him as far as the naughty step.
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Danish has a good point there. Jeff, the only reason I can handle computers and internet is I taught electronics for 26years at Walsall Tech, but that does NOT mean I can do the fiddly things you kids do. I’ll interpret any spec you have but that doesn’t mean I have the gadget, nor want it. My mobile runs the battery down just by being in its box. I never switch it on unless I MAKE a call. I don’t remember it ever receiving one. Dame Vera is a touch too old, even for me, butI’ll learn to text Jodie! I honestly find reading that stuff MUCH slower than English and that is the language of Shakespeare. He played midfield for Stratford Saddlers in Ye Premyershippe.
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