27 Apr 2002
In the end, going down to a dodgy penalty to one of the best club sides in
the world (even with some absentees) is no disgrace. If we'd tried this hard
in the games which mattered (we've discussed here before that, in our minds,
we should be competing in a theoretical "mini-league" of the bottom ten
teams, and that's the one we have to do well in), this result wouldn't be
that disappointing. ... More...
24 Apr 2002
Well, we made hard work of it against a poor Middlesbrough side, but it's
the points which matter. We'll have to play a lot better to get the points
on Saturday, but there were some big performances tonight, and some big
lessons to be learned too. When the time came for players to stand up and be
counted, several really did so, and they can be very proud of themselves.
The defence took ... More...
21 Apr 2002
I kept reminding myself after the game that I'd said from the outset that if
I could award most of the team 3, or preferably 4, out of 5 for effort this
afternoon, perhaps the result wouldn't matter. Well, they tried. But in the
end, it did matter. At half time the consensus of opinion around us was that
"a draw was of no use to either side". But it was. Chances ... More...
1 Apr 2002
In the Premiership, it's probably possible to get by on commitment alone,
but you've got to do it week in, week out. If we'd played with this amount
of enthusiasm in all or most of our fixtures this season, we'd be as safe as
houses by now. But of course, this afternoon was the exception in that
respect, not the norm, and that's why we're in desperate trouble. And the
match also showed ... More...
2 Mar 2002
Unquestionably a worse performance and worse result than the hammering by
Liverpool, because it puts us right back where we were before Christmas on
every front except league position. Fellow listie Jim, sitting behind me,
commented on the lack of sparkle around the team even as they came out at
the start, and this became apparent from the start of the game. Three weeks
off has not done us any favours. The individual ... More...
9 Feb 2002
If it'd been three or four, we might be holding a big inquest now like Leeds
are. But six? You just have to hold your hands up in despair, hope the
cringe-making embarrassment will give the players enough impetus to retain
the recent form to the end of the season, and put it down to history.
Ever since we got promoted, I think we've all realised that the gap between
the Premiership and ... More...
30 Jan 2002
Just what the doctor ordered, and more ammunition for those of us who think
the aberration on Sunday night wasn't an accident. One of the
hardest-working performances of the season all-round, and what's more, an
excellent game. Whilst we missed four clear chances, and Fulham barely
tested Marshall once, a big Town win would have been unfair on Fulham, who
played their part and really came at us for the last 20 minutes.
A ... More...
27 Jan 2002
Dear oh dear oh dear. What an absolute and utter embarrassment. On the
surface, this was one of those performances we saw quite regularly before
Christmas, half an hour of trying to play football, then it all starts to
come apart and by the end it's more or less a shambles. But there was more
to this one than that. I don't think it was as simple as the cup not being
our ... More...
12 Jan 2002
Not the best we've played all season, but in many ways the most exciting
game. And in the same way, not the most comprehensive victory, but in many
ways the most important. Because it could have gone either way, and at 1-1
you felt we *had* to finish this one off - we wouldn't have done, earlier in
the season, but if we were really on the road to recovery, this was ... More...
29 Dec 2001
I bet Brian didn't get too many correct entries in the prediction
competition today. An extraordinary scoreline largely due to an
extraordinary half-hour when we couldn't seemingly do anything wrong. It'd
be going a bit far to say I felt sorry for Sunderland, but it really wasn't
their day. Couple their luck (or lack of it) with an atrocious defence, and
you have the proverbial drubbing. And how good does it feel?
No radical ... More...
26 Dec 2001
Two wins in two, and the scores might suggest we've sprung back to life, but
it's probably a little more gradual than that: the Newcastle - Villa -
Tottenham - Leicester matches represent a steady progression, with all of
them being in the zone where a few (un)lucky breaks the other way could
still have turned the result on its head. But progression it is, and there
definitely looks to be a little ... More...
9 Dec 2001
I'm started to get irritated as well as a tiny bit scared now. Every time I
think "well that's the low point, the recovery starts here" we come out the
next week and offer nothing new. I can't see where the next goal's coming
from, the defence looks more porous than it has done for years, and the
midfield seems outnumbered 2:1 regardless of how many people we put there.
Today I think ... More...
6 Dec 2001
We came to Milan, we saw a big stadium, and we failed totally to conquer our
own nervousness. The team stood around like they didn't deserve to be there
for eighty minutes, and in the end, it wasn't the occasion or the devotion
to the cause which finally got some of them going, it was getting a little
bit angry after the constant Italian diving, niggling and generally
irritating play had gone just ... More...
22 Nov 2001
What a glorious evening. If ever there was an example of how commitment and
concentration can overcome the odds in football, this was it. Did we
suddenly discover a new formation which worked? No. Did the players all turn
in exceptional performances? No. We really didn't do that much differently
from some of the ordinary performances of late. But we had such a huge dose
of commitment thrown into the mix that the ... More...
18 Nov 2001
This is getting irritating now as well as frustrating. Nothing's going for
us, every loose ball seems to drop to the opposition, and Portman Road is
becoming an unexpected three points for anyone. The players are there, the
skill's there, even the commitment is there, but as a whole, they're simply
a rabble. For those who remember 1994-1995, it's not nearly as bad as that,
yet by this stage in that season we ... More...