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...