vs portsmouth

[nycanary 1]

i listened to the portsmouth match on the radio....how i long for our live showings on the telly again.

but, in as much as you can discern about the game when being given the commentary by the opinions of the commentators, it seemed to me that i noticed the following:

a. bentley had his best game as a canary. he kept possession well, and distributed the ball particularly well. i hope to see his contribution continue to improve

b. leon is like a jack russell terrier. he just runs and runs and runs. and while sometimes he doesn''t run or act particularly intelligently, he will at least keep running. good and bad with that.

c. jonson had his best match as a canary but he really seems to dislike running at people and trying to go past them. he''s GOT to do that in his position. if he doesn''t, then mcveigh should have this slot for all our matches.

d. hux is fast. hux is an enigma. he can dazzle. he can infuriate. he can frustrate with his own demonstrations when things dont go his way. and he can''t take a penalty very well. it also seems that one of two things need to happen -- when hux runs, someone (in addition to leon) needs to keep up otherwise it''s always going to be 1 on 1 and prem defenders will cop on to this quickly; OR hux needs to slow down and understand that him running off doesn''t guarantee success. he''s got to develop more of a playmaker''s mindset if he wants to use his dribbling skills. just look at arsenal -- in henry and reyes, they have two exceptionally quick, fast dribblers (like hux) but both know when to slow down and wait for support and deliver the pass. their sprinting stretches the defense and their waiting allows players to move into the spaces they''ve just created thru their running. hux MUST learn how to do that and if he does, things can really start moving for us.

the west brom game is now pivotal for us. as will be the one after that. and the one after that.

[Dr. Jonathan Zizmor 0]

I was at the game and I agree with everything ny canary says, the only let-down is his spelling of the word ''defence'' with an ''s''.

[ZLF 274]

I agree with most of what you say NYcanary. However you and several others have commented on Jonson reluctance of taking on the full back.There are very few wide midfielders who take on players and get to the by line these days. The likes of Giggs and Wright Phillips are truly a dying breed. As Jonson has primarily been a striker I am not sure he is comfortable with that sort of wing play.He has pace to burn and is improving game by game. However with assured passing and decent crossing from any area flank and using his pace to receive the ball behind the defender minimises the risk of losing possession for a player who openly admits he is still finding his feet in the English game.Wing play is about confidence - if he can do it then it will come with time - while I would like to see this (very few more exciting images in football than one in full flow)part of his game grow I dont see it as essential; when did City last have a true winger? Englands best wide man in years puts in superb crosses and very rarely even attempts to beat his full back - if its good enough for Beckham why not Jonson?OTBC