Genuine Concerns

[shropshire canary 0]

It may be the long drive back to hropshire after a dull game (and I was on my own in the car this time), but I had some genuine concerns after last nights "performance".

I am normally a glass half full person, and I fully subscribe to the "professional job done" and "we''re through to the next round" line, but there were for the first time this season some nagging doubts and concerns that won''t go away.

Doherty is just not the answer up front - lots of endeavour but not enough pace and skill. 1 on 1 with the keeper and no finesse: just a blast straight at him.

Francis seems to have gone on a go slow since he signed his new contract - even a Rovers fan outside told me he was taking the p**s for the salary h''s on! Get5 the lazy jog out of your repetoire!

Helveg - sure it takes time to settle to the pace, but surely crossing the ball when you have loads of time/space is the same skill the world over! At least he crossed the half way line though.

Huckerby - has got to learn to have a bit more faith in some of his colleagues - coming back to the halfway line for the ball all the time, and leaving a front line of Holt and Doherty is hardly going to terrify anyone.

All in all it just bothers me that our most attacking midfielder is Holt - when you see him going 1 on 1 you just know what the outcome will be 90% of the time. Even Hucks looked up once, saw Holty on the overlap and thought "I''d better do this myself".

Don''t get me wrong I am pleased with the result, Safri loooks a good buy as does charlton and I will continue to scream myself silly most of the time in our quest (odd atmosphere last night - more like a creche than a football ground), but in the all important Oct/Nov games sides will come to FCR to get a point and we aren''t showing the cut we need to break them down yet. Maybe we are better on the break, hence why our better performance have been away from home, but whatever it is I hope we have at least 3 more gears to find before Anfield.

[Loughborough Canary 0]

i think people need to look on the bright side when it comes to cup matches.  Take Ipswich for instance; they lost 2-0 to a low league team.WBA lost to Colchester! Higher teams always seem to lower their game, and the lower teams always raise theirs. I dont think this will have any relevance to the league.

No need to panic!!

dan

[susie b 0]

To be honest I didn''t think we really broke sweat last night, but that doesn''t mean I don''t share the concerns expressed.  If only we had an out-and-out striker who could run like the wind, be big, strong and athletic, and have a shot on him like a bullet.  Oh well, can but dream...again!  Agree that the Doc doesn''t look like the answer up front.  I don''t doubt his effort but, for me, he lacks the physique to do the job we need and just isn''t a natural goalscorer.  (Their No.9 Agogo looked pretty decent when given some service, especially considering they never really went for it after going a goal behind).