The Penguin 0 Posted August 1, 2007 Positives.1, David Marshall, look very good, with 2 or 3 exceptional saves, rushed out a couple of times, but seems very good.2, Chris Brown, looked lively, hungry, and played very well, and was most effective striker last night, i think he looks most likely to partner Cureton.3, Darel Russell looked very good, very energetic, and used ball well.4, Jon Otsemembor, comfortable on the ball, and looked promising going forward, not convinced of his defending yet.Negatives.1, Thought the defence looked very suspect, need a experienced commanding centre half in urgently.2, Not really a negative, but as suspected going to take David Strihavka quite a while to adapt to the english game, showed some nice touches.3, The Youssef Safri situation, I would be very sad to see Youssef go as i believe he is a class above most of the players in the championship, and our best ball player by a mile, however if he does not want to be here, we must let him go, but as Peter Grant said, on our terms not his. All in all, not a bad performance considering key players missing, but i think the need for a new centre half is so very obvious. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
First Jedi 0 Posted August 1, 2007 I agree - Brown especially looked awesome - and fast, too! He showed no pace before... Chadwick, Otsemobor and Cureton all looked good. Croft was enthusiastic but sloppy - but looking very light weight. Hopefully the sloppiness is preseason lack of practice so I''m hoping he''ll come good.I wouldn''t worry about Dave too much - we were up against a team considered a gulf in class above us, and he still showed that he''s got ability. Hopefully it won''t take him too long when hes back to playing Championship level.Also remember - we lacked Huckerby, Brellier and Smith so there is more in the locker. All in all I was proud of our performance in the 2nd half!And there is still an entire month (and supposedly money in the bank) to find that centre back. I hope. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NCFC_Chris 0 Posted August 1, 2007 i thought Otsemobor looked good on the ball but if you watched him closely he left LBM free far too often, he was much better with a proper right winger with him in the 2nd half though Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
huck tastic<IMG src="http:new.pinkun.comforumsimagesline.gif"><BR><FONT face="Comic Sans MS">Bryan Hamilton could turn this around...<BR><FONT> 0 Posted August 1, 2007 [quote user="The Penguin"]Positives.1, David Marshall, look very good, with 2 or 3 exceptional saves, rushed out a couple of times, but seems very good.2, Chris Brown, looked lively, hungry, and played very well, and was most effective striker last night, i think he looks most likely to partner Cureton.3, Darel Russell looked very good, very energetic, and used ball well.4, Jon Otsemembor, comfortable on the ball, and looked promising going forward, not convinced of his defending yet.Negatives.1, Thought the defence looked very suspect, need a experienced commanding centre half in urgently.2, Not really a negative, but as suspected going to take David Strihavka quite a while to adapt to the english game, showed some nice touches.3, The Youssef Safri situation, I would be very sad to see Youssef go as i believe he is a class above most of the players in the championship, and our best ball player by a mile, however if he does not want to be here, we must let him go, but as Peter Grant said, on our terms not his. All in all, not a bad performance considering key players missing, but i think the need for a new centre half is so very obvious.[/quote]Very fair assessment Penguin.Otsemobor could prove to be a fantastic addition and provide a much needed attacking threat down the right at last, so not everything has to go left through Hucks all the time. Croft was lively too, and looked lighter. Brown could be the big revelation of the season. Maybe Chadwick could play as attacking centre-midfield alongside Brelllier, and there is plenty of cover in most areas, except centre back. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites