22nd February 2005
By
Jody Jamieson
No this isn't a documentary of my latest Saturday night (for the record
I stayed in!) but never has the term "Win Ugly" ever been so appropriate
as it was today. It wasn't pretty, but no-one of a black and white
persuasion will care too much. I was shaking my head, laughing, cringing,
shouting and god knows what else during the second half. But when
the final whistle was blown I erupted only because I was delighted
to make the last eight against the favourites for the cup.
Read my posts on the message board and you'll know I was convinced
we'd win today. There was something about today - and not just the
noises that Mourinho made - that gave me the feeling that it was going
to be our day in the sun (or horrendous snow. Whatever you prefer)
and we'd be advancing. Lady Luck was smiling at us today and we weren't
great, but did we ever look like conceding? Apart from Kezman ghosting
in to hit the crossbar in the first half I was feeling fairly relaxed
(despite the first paragraphs emotions) and we did a great job of
closing down Chelsea. Joe Cole was anonymous. Frank Lampard hardly
touched the ball, I'd forgotten that Gudjohnsen had came on for long
periods, and Damien Duff didn't scare me once.
Let's not kid ourselves though. Have you seen a worse game of football
this season? The conditions were crap which can't have helped, but
there wasn't much to write home about in terms of great football.
At times it resembled a circus and rarely will you see a more bizarre
match! Glen Johnson going in goals and making a very good save, Chelsea
making 3 subs at half time and immediately losing a player to injury,
and then half the Chelsea team ending the game as the walking wounded.
It was unbelievable stuff. I felt we deserved the win, although we'd
have probably struggled if they'd had a full squad to choose from
and weren't visiting the Nou Camp on Wednesday, but don't let that
get in the way of a great result, and if the press try to cheapen
it, you can only beaten what's put in front of you.
Shearer was quiet but clearly not fit. Jenas was poor. Dyer was good
on the ball but was far too central. Shola and Milner came of the
bench and could have stayed home in truth. Robert was frustrating
at times but lively, Kluivert scored the winner and had a good game.
Given had nowt to do. Boumsong and Carr were very good. Babayaro was
dodgy at times but always seemed to get back and make up for his shaky
moments. But regardless of the goalscorer and the man who supplied
the cross this day belonged to one man.
Have we ever seen a better performance from Titus Bramble? He was
absolutely sensational today. It's hard to even think back to some
performances from Woodgate in his time here and find some better than
Bramble's today. He's been in decent form recently but today was his
defining moment. Coming up against Chelsea was daunting regardless
of who played up front but Bramble dealt with it brilliantly and if
he builds on this performance we may finally see the Bramble that
was all know is hiding in him somewhere. He makes mistakes but he's
still learning and is getting there. I hope and pray that this is
the performance that gives him the confidence to erase the "Shiteus
Shambles" jibes. Only time will tell.
I think the most important thing today was that we looked very organised
and that every player (bar Dyer, who came central far too often) knew
what they were meant to do and carried out their tasks. While Jenas
wasn't great he was where he was meant to be for 90 minutes and can't
be faulted for being woefully out of position. I just felt his passing
was poor. The defence looked extremely comfortable for the first time
in ages, and it finally seemed like the team had a clue what they
were meant to be doing. In Heerenveen for an hour the team was all
over the place and were lucky to still be in the game, but no such
problems today. Almost everyone stuck to their tasks and can be pleased
with their contributions.
This is the type of result that can change our season. If we can build
on this and go on a run then perhaps we can salvage something from
what was looking like a terrible season. If we can put in another
performance like that against Heerenveen then hopefully the team will
build a bit of confidence and then everyone will be happy again. It's
been misery and pessimism for too long recently but maybe, just maybe
the tide is turning.
One thing I noticed was when the snow was thick on the park a few
hours before kick off Souness and a few others were pelting snowballs
at each other. I said to my mate at about half 12 that for once it
looked like we were building team spirit in such a simple way. Chucking
snowballs is fun and a giant snowball fight will have relaxed the
squad and brought them together. It sounds stupid but it can be the
simple things in life that make the biggest difference. Did that little
bit of relaxed fun make a difference today? Perhaps, perhaps not,
but it can't have harmed team spirit, which must have been lacking
in recent times, regardless of what has been said.
We had a hell of a lot of luck today, but you need luck. As Mike Bassett
said last night on that daft film luck is one of the most important
things. But I can't take away from what was a very organised efficient
performance from the boys. Long may it continue.
I speculated before the Yeading game I think it was that perhaps our
name was on the cup. Still a long hard road to go down, but surely
we've got to feel that perhaps it's our year at last. Again only time
will tell, but let's enjoy today, and I just hope I'm not cringing
come the draw tomorrow!
Spurs or Forest at home? That'll do me!! |
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