Ricardo's report v Millwall

[ricardo 8,034]

Snowy the cat gave me one of his knowing smiles as I left for the match this evenining. The little feller is seldom wrong so it was a very bouyant Ricardo that headed down to Fortess CR. It''s not been much of a fortress of late and I was not surprised when PL dealt us a different hand of cards with several changes from Saturday. Wes, Whitbread and Chris Martin were benched and Ward, Lappin and Jackson started.For the first dozen minutes it looked like PL had at last landed on a magic formula as City started off at a rate of knots and soon had the Lions on the back foot. Millwall were holding a high line and twice Lansbury put Jackson away only for the keeper to be quickly off his line. It was Lansbury again who put Croft away on the right in the 8th minute and his cross was met by Lappin who should have done better than volley high over the bar. Three minutes later The King of Spain had an even better chance but again leaned well back before side footing over from 8 yards. We saw little of Millwall until the mid point of the half when a speculative 20 yarder was well turned over by Ruddy. Ward almost put through his own goal as he shanked the corner over his own bar. From there on things quickly went downhill as the game descended into a scrappy untidy mess. Whatever formation PL has ordained it certainly wasn''t working and to describe any of the final 20 minutes of the half as "tripe" would be to do a dis-service to cow innards.They say doing the same things and expecting different results is a sign of madness. If this is true then PL is totally off his rocker because apart from a bit more uptempo the second half continued the dismal theme of the first. Millwall were giving as good as they got and after 56 minutes a good break left Robinson in the clear for an easy opener. Lappin, Fox and Jackson were immediately withdrawn and Wes,Wheelie bin and AntMac came on. If anything it became even more disjointed and scrappy and Ricardo was soon contemplating his boots, deciding which one to use to kick Snowy up the backside.The game entered the final quarter hour and Holt won a freekick 22yards out to the right of goal. Lansbury delivered a peach of a shot which struck the inside of the post and Ricardo''s groan turned to joy as Ward stepped in to ram the rebound high into the net. The crowd were now in the game and bayed the boys forward but Millwall were not for folding and whole minutes ticked by without any real flow to the game but bags and bags of endeavour. Holt wasted two chances with poor first touches and as we entered the last minute of time added it was Millwall who looked like snatching it. Ward banged a long clearance upfield which Wheelie headed on to Holt. The big man held it up well with his back to goal and suddenly the Red Sea parted as Lansbury stormed through to slide the ball past the keeper. There was a split second silence of disbelief then 24k throats errupted to acclaim the unlikliest of winners.Now Ricardo is a fairly sceptical kind of guy but sometimes you just have to believe in magic, don''t you, and of course the prescience of a big white cat.

[ron obvious 1,711]

Brilliant! And a special thank you to Snowy the metaphysically motivated moggie!

[Excited Canary 19]

Thanks for that, good read as always. Can''t help but feel you''re being harsh to Wilbraham though, what''s he done to earn the name ''Wheelie bin''? He has had an effect on a lot of our games recently, and got a very, very important header today where he knocked on to Holt.

[Shack Attack 0]

Informative as ever Ricardo. I hate cats but shall make an exception for Snowy [:D]

[Lambo 0]

Great report fella. Agree with all of it.

Would be interested to hear your thoughts on Jackson''s penalty shout?? For me it was nothing more than a blatant dive.

[Rudolph Hucker 0]

Accurate and concise as usual, Ricardo. A few thought of my own.....

 

Before kick off a lot of people were questioning the team set up and I have never seen PL look so despondent in a game - until the final bit. PL stood with his arms folded most of the first half; made three subs and sat on the bench in the second (he usually sits on the bench when making his big decision changes) and finally parked his bum on an advertising hording. I wonder if he was simply exhausted after yesterday, it wouldn''t surprise me if he put an awful lot of work in behind the scenes.

 

I wonder how much the events of yesterday affected supporters and players? The crowd was pitifully silent and unsupportive. I only heard OTBC at 78 minutes and it was as if the Bennett saga had demoralised them. The players looked frustrated and distracted with some noteable exceptions.

 

Lansbury had his best game for us and our early chances were through his clever touches and incisive passes. Millwall obviously paid him greater attention after that and he got some treatment but above all else he showed the passion missing from team-mates, crowd and management. He has looked frustrated at some of his recent performances, perhaps struggling with fitness post injury, but on this form and with this attitude (he genuinely seems to love the Club) he might be key to the rest of our season. I remember him kicking off when we conceeded and he was pumping his fists at his team mates while three subs waited to come on. His goal celebration got him booked and his celebration of Ward''s goal spoke volumes too. Lansbury is no prima donna and tonight he led by example.

 

Ruddy continued his solid form and kicked well. Barnett was an absolute rock. Ward couldn''t help miskick the ball early doors then paradoxically scored the equaliser. Russell Martin was quiet and didn''t have his usual effect going forwards although he did some good defensive work. Tierney looked worryingly slow at times but deserves time although a fit Drury is the automatic choice.

 

Fox showed more appetite for the challenge but had little effect and came off shaking his head - I hope it wasn''t dissent! Crofts kept working made some great early runs down the right and carried the midfield as a competetive unit second half.  Lappin ran hard but missed chances and looked furious with his own performance when he came off.

 

Jackson looked sharp in patchesbut missed his big chance after being fouled in the box.  He got useful match minutes and was a useful outlet early on. Holt is right off form but worked tirelessly; after Millwall scored he worked to unsettle his defenders and it was the fouls on him that turned the game.

 

As for the subs: MacNamee did nothing; Wilbraham made the crucial flick to Holt and Wes buzzed around, made the runs through the centre we were missing and took players on.

 

The referee missed numerous shirt pulls by Millwall and I feared he was going to dismiss PL after a long rant at linesman and 4th official.

 

The Millwall fans made a bit of noise and sang the old drive a tractor song at us which was nice and somewhat flattering in a retro type way.

 

Millwall themselves worked their socks off for their very good manager who like Lambert has his players giving everything for him. They came to have a go and made it very difficult. Fair play to them, but they lost!

 

How we won this game is a mystery, but we did and it will be a game recalled if we go on to success this season.  We have no strikers in form and are struggling with our system but, it seems we never give in.

 

We now require 8 wins and 5 draws from 17 games.

 

 

[Lambo 0]

When did Jackson get fouled in the box?? His touch was too heavy, saw the keeper coming and went down. Dive IMO and the ref called it spot on.

 

Having said that he did OK I though, His runs gave them some food for thought, perhaps with his slightly irregular appearences though the end product wasn''t quite there.

[Rudolph Hucker 0]

Jackson was fouled in the first half but stayed on his feet and took a shot that the keeper saved with his foot (if he''d lifted it, it was in). He took the correct option but missed - a lot of top players would probably have gone down.

[Lambo 0]

[quote user="RUDOLPH HUCKER"]Jackson was fouled in the first half but stayed on his feet and took a shot that the keeper saved with his foot (if he''d lifted it, it was in). He took the correct option but missed - a lot of top players would probably have gone down.[/quote]

 

Apologies mate, I didn''t see that one.

[ricardo 8,034]

[quote user="Lambo"]

Great report fella. Agree with all of it.

Would be interested to hear your thoughts on Jackson''s penalty shout?? For me it was nothing more than a blatant dive.

[/quote]Yeah, it looked a dive from where I sat and a deserved booking. I thought he looked quite lively early on but for me he is a one dimensional player. He''s quick but so often theres no end product.

[ricardo 8,034]

[quote user="RUDOLPH HUCKER"]

Accurate and concise as usual, Ricardo. A few thought of my own.....

 

Before kick off a lot of people were questioning the team set up and I have never seen PL look so despondent in a game - until the final bit. PL stood with his arms folded most of the first half; made three subs and sat on the bench in the second (he usually sits on the bench when making his big decision changes) and finally parked his bum on an advertising hording. I wonder if he was simply exhausted after yesterday, it wouldn''t surprise me if he put an awful lot of work in behind the scenes.

 

We now require 8 wins and 5 draws from 17 games.

 

 

[/quote]Thanks Rudolph. I was a bit worried by all the changes because we do not seem to be able to field a settled line up. It seems that PL is desperately searching for a successful formation to play in home games. Last nights line up worked for about 15 minutes then it all fell apart as Millwall got to grips with the game. We were lucky to come out of that with three points because basically, for a good hour we were as poor as I have seen us in any game this season.

[ron obvious 1,711]

[quote user="RUDOLPH HUCKER"]

....................but, it seems we never give in..............

 

 [/quote]

That''s the one.

[Rudolph Hucker 0]

Henri Lansbury''s late strike sinks Millwall as Norwich maintain second place in Championship

Norwich City’s Henri Lansbury scored the winning goal against Millwall in the fourth minute of stoppage time to keep his promotion-chasing team second in the Championship.

[Rudolph Hucker 0]

This photo from The Telegraph says a lot to me. Somehow, a team in second place has been kept so grounded and so together that they still have a backs to the wall/underdog fighting spirit.

[paul moy 235]

It seems that Jackson had a reasonable game last night as he was involved in a lot of the action. I hope he now gets a few more starts to build his confidence as he looks the most likely forward to score at the mo. 

Thanks for the report, Ricardo.

[Calcio Canary 0]

Ricardo,

I''ve wanted to say this for a long time, many thanks for your excellent match reports. They always seem sensible, balanced and well thought out. Whether I have attended a game or not, they are an excellent read to help reflect on what has actually happened that day.

Keep them coming.......

[city-till-i-die 7]

[quote user="Calcio Canary"]Ricardo, I''ve wanted to say this for a long time, many thanks for your excellent match reports. They always seem sensible, balanced and well thought out. Whether I have attended a game or not, they are an excellent read to help reflect on what has actually happened that day. Keep them coming.......[/quote]^^^this[Y] superb as always R

[ricardo 8,034]

[quote user="city-till-i-die"][quote user="Calcio Canary"]Ricardo, I''ve wanted to say this for a long time, many thanks for your excellent match reports. They always seem sensible, balanced and well thought out. Whether I have attended a game or not, they are an excellent read to help reflect on what has actually happened that day. Keep them coming.......[/quote]^^^this[Y] superb as always R[/quote]Thanks for your comments CC and CTID.I hope it gives an authentic flavour of what goes on for all you exiles.