Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
Welcome to bcfcforum.co.uk. We hope you enjoy your visit.


You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free.


Join our community!


If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features:

Username:   Password:
Add Reply
At 1-1 I Damn Well Knew It
Topic Started: May 23 2011, 01:42 PM (214 Views)
lordnewtown
Geoff Horsfield
[ *  *  *  *  * ]
I thought we played really well in the first half yesterday. Tottenham are better than us and we would obviously have to withstand some pressure and I think the roar that cheered our players off at half time summed it up, we were proud of what they'd done.

Then we went a goal down, partly down to Jerome's laziness, partly down to poor tackling by Larsson, partly down to poor judgement by Gardner and partly down to an excellent strike by Pavluychenko (which, by the way, from where I was at, Foster could have got to but stopped his dive thinking it was going wide).

It dawned on me just how pathetic our situation was when I was talking to people around me and we were saying things like "Well if Man Utd take the lead, and Stoke/Wigan stay as they are, and Wolves stay as they are, then all we have to do is equalise and we're okay." The fact that we were more relying on other results and permutations sums up how desperate our situation was.

But then, Man Utd ran away with it against Blackpool, and despite Wigan taking the lead at Stoke, it didn't matter. Wolves' goal difference was bad enough to mean that us equalising would be good enough AT THAT STAGE.

Then after a good spell of pressure, we got a deserved equaliser and the celebrations of that goal are something I will never forget.

At that moment, Tottenham were not playing well, didn't seem bothered, and we were playing like lions for a little bit with our crowd behind us.

I turned to several people around me and said that even though Wolves were losing 1-3, I just had this horrible sneaky feeling in my stomach that they WOULD score again. And, that WE needed to go for the win, not just be content to get a good draw.

But sadly the attitude (based on what I saw tactically) of McLeish just summed up the season. Here we were with a great opportunity to put our destiny in our own hands and go for the killer goal with Tottenham on the back foot....and what happens? Defensiveness! Contentness with a draw thinking it would be enough!

We need to think of the psychology of all this.

If we had taken the lead at White Hart Lane, Wolves would know about it and feel crestfallen, and the score would probably have remained 1-3. Wigan may well have conceded at Stoke.

But with the score at 1-1 in our game, Wolves still had hope and knew that a goal would keep them up, which they got. And Wigan still had something to hold on to.

And then, and only then, did McLeish suddenly start gesturing for the players to go forward, because we needed to win. And I'm there thinking, "Did you really not know that a point might not be enough Alex?"

What happened in the last minute was predictable as someone said, we were desperate and left ourselves exposed, hence the goal and the end of our season.

But for me, it was the attitude at 1-1 that did it. Yes, coming from behind was great and we were happy to be level, but we all knew from the start that we realistically needed to win this game.

Right there was an opportunity to do just that and we let it slip by playing for the draw and giving the other teams, mainly Wolves, a glimmer of hope to play for.

Sad, very sad.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
dosthill blue
Joe Hart
[ *  * ]
Excellent post mate..... standing there behind the goal I was thinking exactly the same... well said..
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
willvbcfc
Member Avatar
Gil Merrick
[ *  *  *  *  *  *  * ]
This is news to me - Alex McLeish, playing negatively and too content to draw games?

:o

Seen it all season. That's why we got relegated!
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous)
« Previous Topic · Blues Chat · Next Topic »
Add Reply

Forum Design by Hirsty.