Jump to content
Sign in to follow this  
swjf50

We rode our luck

Recommended Posts

Thankfully WBA were very poor in front of goal, another day they may scored 3 or 4 because we gave the ball away in dangerous positions too often.

On a positive note our finishing was better. Hooper, Fer and Redmond caused some problems with Hooper and Fer scoring 2 good counter attacking goals.

Olsson had a relatively poor game and needs to sharpen up his defensive play. Fer is more effective in a central position and is wasted when playing wide.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
But there have been plenty of times where we have deserved more from games than we''ve actually got!All this "on another day" rubbish is pointless because "on another day" we could have won far more games than we have done recently!

Just been happy and take the win.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I agree about giving the ball away. The West Brom midfield are big and powerful, and even Fer lost out in tackles from time to time.

My greatest concern is the way defenders backed off and allowed attackers a free passage into our penalty area. Perhaps they lacked the coverage (of Tettey), perhaps they were under instruction. Whatever it was it is a dangerous game to play against a quick and powerful team.

We were lucky to the extent that Baggie strikers had an off-day - how did Sesagnon miss the chance with only Ruddy in front of him? But it was not luck that Ruddy was in fine form. We ourselves have been thwarted once or twice this season because of the super play of opposing goalkeepers.

We had our day on Saturday, and there are still things to put right, but we see more clinical finishing and improvement in the midfield partnership of Fer and Howson. Hooper is looking more like the real goods, and others are learning (slowly) how to feed him.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Yes, we certainly did ride our luck. This result did nothing but paper over the cracks, and so Hoots staggers on to be in charge of yet another boring match. It''s still Hughton out for me I''m afraid.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
On another day we''d have beaten Cardiff by 3 or 4.

On another day we''d have scored a couple against villa, and not let in such a sloppy counter attack goal.

On another day we wouldn''t have made three concesuctive bad mistakes to give Chelsea their second goal against us when we were on the front foot.

On another day we wouldn''t have made a poor mistake first minute against Newcastle.

On another day..... You can keep going. Every side wins, loses and draws games for a variety of reasons. And every weeks you get games that, on another day, would have ended differently. But the fact is they weren''t on another day, the WBA result happened. Like the Cardiff result happened. Dropped 2 points their gained 2 against WBA. Swings in roundabouts. When luck is against us most people are saying we deserve/need some to turn our fortunes around.

Then when we finally get some luck people then use it against us. It''s football. Stuff happens. Get used to it.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

[quote user="Truculent Trucker"]Yes, we certainly did ride our luck. This result did nothing but paper over the cracks, and so Hoots staggers on to be in charge of yet another boring match. It''s still Hughton out for me I''m afraid.[/quote]

 

Anyone who thinks Saturday was boring should go and watch a different sport.  It''s hard to remember a more exciting game of football.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

"Thankfully WBA were very poor in front of goal, another day they may scored 3 or 4 because we gave the ball away in dangerous positions too often."

I''m not suggesting that the OP is implying anything other than what they have typed but this did make me laugh. How many times have people said we are rubbish because we can''t finish or see where the goals were going to come from. I predicted West Brom would struggle this season compared to last. So much of what they had was based upon Lukaku last year and I feel their lofty finishing position flattered them.

There have been a fair few games this season where had our own finishing been better, we would have scored more goals and almost certainly won more points. Even against the big teams and away from home.

"On a positive note our finishing was better. Hooper, Fer and Redmond caused some problems with Hooper and Fer scoring 2 good counter attacking goals.''

Yup. Fer looks like he can create his own chances when given the ball in the right areas and he has one heck of a shot on him. Hooper needs more balls like that. He''ll get plenty in this league if he is given more service like that.

"Fer is more effective in a central position and is wasted when playing wide."

I agree with this. Although it did work, in the second half we started to get outnumbered and pushed about in centre midfield. I really wish that clot Hughton had done something about it . . . . . . oh hang on, he did!

And as some on here like research:

BBC: "Anichebe forced Ruddy into his first meaningful save 11 minutes before the break when the striker collected Mulumbu''s pass and sent a swerving effort goalwards from the corner of the 18-yard box."

" . . . . .as West Brom poured forward, Norwich''s potency on the counter-attack grew."

"The hosts enjoyed vast amounts of possession but found John Ruddy in inspired form."

All from the same article. No luck involved really. Some great keeping by Ruddy kept us in it, that''s not luck, that''s form.

I''d say that it looked like Hughton had a game plan, to play West Brom on the break to expose their lack of pace at the back. It worked. Second half was much tougher because Clark identified where they were losing out to us on the pitch, adjusted it and they started to get a bit more joy. Despite that we still pushed them hard on the counter and ultimately scored the winner.

We defended in numbers and reduced them to trying to scramble it in at times. Did decisions go our way? The claim against Olsson was weak, the replay''s don''t exactly make it clear that it struck his arm and if it did it was by his side and was not moving towards the ball which was struck only a couple of yards away from him. Not clear cut and would have been incredibly harsh on any team. Otherwise I don''t think there were many that were contentious.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
You know the OP is right. It was actually unfair that we won. Very unfair that we have a great goalkeeper who kept the better shots out. Very unfair that Sessignon couldn''t sink a sitter. Very unfair that our defence were trying to stop them scoring. Very unfair that the referee didn''t give a penalty for a handball that was clearly unintentional and unavoidable in the box. Unfair that we have some good players that scored some excellent goals.

Actually, I think we should get in touch with David McNally and ask him to contact the FA to give the three points to West Brom. Seems only fair.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
We did ride our luck quite a bit. The defending was haphazard at best and West Brom failed to convert a series of very very good chances.

But on the positive side, when we did attack on the counter we looked very threatening indeed. Mainly because Snodgrass is out injured, excellent player, but slows our attacks to a snails pace.

The tactics were much better than for our usual away performances. Once we can do what Villa did against us, ie have more shots on the counter than we managed with all the possession, our away form will pick up drastically.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Fair point. All I am saying is that, this time it went for us, but we did the right things in the opposing penalty area. Hopefully this trend will continue.

I''m looking forward to having Hooper and Wolfswinkel playing together and Tettey back from injury.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

would you rather be lucky or good?

 

to get "good" you have to work at it, and then work to maintain it....

if you are lucky you need only be in the right place once and it''s all yours for ever...

I''d be lucky EVERY time..

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yes we did ride our luck, but then again we had plenty of chances ourselves and our finishing was better!

 

Had messrs Howson, Johnson and Murphy taken their chances and Redmond actually put in a decent cross out of the numorous opportunities he had to do it ten we could of easily had 4-5 goals ourselves!

 

Good win but on another day some of our static defending particularly from corners may have been punished!

 

I do feel we''re slowly getting better!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Yes we rode our luck, but it was better that than concede goals. We''ve had plenty of times that luck hasn''t been on our side. We needed it Saturday, and it paid off.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

You could say that yeah of course we rode our luck but that''s just another part of the beautiful game. On Saturday the luck gods were smiling on us but when we played Cardiff they were smiling on them.

However there is a school of thought that says that you make your own luck and i''ve seen quotes on here recently from Gary Player and I think Sam Goldwyn also said ""The harder I work the Luckier I Get""  We put in a great performance away from home which as been severley lacking recently. We set out with the beleif that we could get a result and that''s exactly what happened.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  

×
×
  • Create New...