Young Boys vs. Spurs
Last night I lost about six months of my life and probably gained several grey hairs. Our 'Champions League debut' (which wasn't a debut by the way, as we are not in the Champions League yet, no matter what UEFA say), was probably the least enjoyable night of my life as far as football is concerned.
Where to begin in terms of what went wrong is a difficult one. They hit the post after two minutes, a warning sign admittedly I myself, and clearly the players, did not take seriously enough. Less than fifteen minutes later and we are two goals down. Another fifteen minutes, and it’s 3-0. Our Champions League dream is on the brink before it has even started. Literally. Despite me being quite hardened to us making everything as difficult as it possibly can be, I was seriously struggling to comprehend what was happening.
Our defensive display was shocking. All four of them looked nervous from the off, were clearly not comfortable with the surface and seemed completely unable to adapt to the conditions. Palacios gave his worst display in a Spurs shirt, and if his passing does not improve he surely runs the risk of being demoted to a ‘squad player’, or a player we bring on when trying to defend a lead at best. Thankfully Tommy restored some composure to the middle when he came on and kept the ball exceptionally well, completely changing our play and drastically improving things.
Hudd uses ninja focus to control the middle...
Pavlyuchenko was absolutely diabolical for the first 82 minutes, and I defy anyone to tell me otherwise. His touch was woeful, he was playing far too deep, he wasn’t winning headers and he gave them the ball more readily than their supposed ‘playmaker’ did. However, he scored a vital goal, and a great goal, and many will point out that that is why he is there, and they would have a point. Despite this, I hope I never have to see him play that poorly, and contribute so little, ever again.
"Now Roman, I'm going to say a series of words, and then I want you to show me how you feel. First word - Effort."
Dawson and Corluka were also particularly poor, and I am in hindsight delighted that we are fortunate enough to be taking them to the Lane with two away goals. I also by no means want to take anything away from our Swiss opponents, who played very well, pressing relentlessly, passing the ball well and finishing to devastating effect.
Let’s hope it’s a role reversal at WHL next week.
Submitted by James McManus
18/8/2010
