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Canary02 III

Swansea visit points and Watford thoughts from an optimist

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Swansea - Team Gunn made mistakes in trying to play 4-5-1 to mirror Swansea. They''ve been playing it for the past two years, we have no experience of it, failure was always likely. On the plus side, Gunn realised it wasn''t working and made the switch back to 4-4-2 at a time when it still gave us a chance of getting back into the game, something which Roeder or Grant would never have done. Also, when we went to 4-4-2 we were in the ascendancy, albeit in an open game where either team could have scored, and some of the football was very good. Russell was a huge disappointment and has all the learning potential of Forrest Gump. Whinging himself into a card, exceptionally lucky not to be sent off again for a tackle that was a millisecond away from doing real damage and would have been deserving of a straight red. What goes on in his mind? Croft, Semi, Bertrand and Lee all had extremely good games. Ground and locals very pleasant and were it not such a trek, would definitely be one for a regular visit (should we be in the same division of course).

Watford - Needless to say a must win. What I would say though is that before Sheff Wed, everyone was positive about our chances. Most thought we would escape, and all the game-by-game guesstimates had us losing at Swansea anyway. The problem is that everyone predicted a win against Wednesday and when that didn''t happen the predictions game went out of the window. If the same happens against Watford we will almost certainly be done for. However, there was nothing at Swansea to suggest that the players have given in or are incapable of beating Watford, or Ipswich, or Reading, or Charlton.

We''re still very much in it, and we have the players who can produce, and I believe they will.  

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I also think we have the players capable of keeping us up, but like previous managers Gunn seems desperate to play Russell at all costs.  I fail to see what he adds to the team other than the prospect of getting sent off every match.  We accuse players of being rather slow on the uptake but the same applies to managers. 

My colleague has been a scout for many years and has told me that he will always put comments in his report about certain players who are hot headed, easily wound up, prone to retaliate etc.  You would have to be naive not to think that the opposition managers are not aware of Russell''s weaknesses, and will not try to exploit them.  Although Russell was not sent off on Saturday, having picked up an early yellow card meant he was afraid to make any tackle, and therefore we were virtually playing with ten men. 

 

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For me, Russell is not a good footballer. His skill is in his athleticism and aggression and his willingness to put himself in where it hurts. Whether that''s enough to warrant a place in the team is very much dependant upon your footballing philosophy, but I suspect it''s why he''s never made it beyond the Championship and into the Premiership. In many ways he may be what we need right now in our current situation, but do the risks outweigh the benefits? On the evidence of the past few games I''d be happier with Lappin alongside Clingan, knowing that we trade some running and strength in return for passing ability and a far greater chance of the player still being on the pitch at full time.

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