14-12-2014, 13:38
I don't really think that Monday will lift the gloom.
On paper Bradford look a strong side. This is a tough division. strugglers Yeovil, who wouldn't have been one of my relegation picks, got a 0-4 which I don't think was dad's Christmas present at Oldham. We could easily be in the bottom four and still be a decent team .........
Teams do try to stop us playing, and it works. Plan B doesn't really exist.
Like any football fan I don't always agree with our selection policy. It surprises me that Gardner and Boco so rarely get a run. Boco was only on the field ten minutes yesterday and hit the post. Roberts is really good, but I wouldn't play him every game and I'd make sure he knew I was trying to keep him as sharp as possible. Equally Banks wouldn't be out on loan being pulled off after 55 minutes (which was probably quite enjoyable). But Cookie is still a good manager.
Morsy let his team and the fans down by giving the linesman and ref the chance to influence the game.
Refs and linesmen make mistakes and influence games accidentally. And some are pretty poor, but they are honest. Some clubs like Ferguson's Man Utd and Mourinho's Chelsea very deliberately try to influence these decent men and women by both their reputation and a willingness to push arguments and demands for penalties and sendings-off etc. to the very edge. I've never understood why some manager of a small club doesn't adopt the opposite strategy - not committing fouls, never arguing, always being polite to the officials, apologising if you arrive a bit late for the ball, never cheating, not collecting bookings, sendings-off and suspensions. At first you'd suspect you were losing out to the bully boys - but quite soon you might begin to profit. Just as you can tell refs are looking out for known dirty players and divers they'd pretty quickly be off the case of a club famous for doing the very opposite.
Refs and linesmen are part of the data. If you don't adopt a consistent strategy towards officials you're agreeing that they provide a random element in the game. Ferguson's teams were universally aggressive towards officials, because he was a control freak ....... and didn't it work for him?
One last word - real hard men in football don't commit many fouls and don't tend to get sent off. It's only when you are the pretend-version you need to mouth off, swing your arms or your handbag. A tough centre forward takes the stick, never moans and smiles at the centre back when he scores.
On paper Bradford look a strong side. This is a tough division. strugglers Yeovil, who wouldn't have been one of my relegation picks, got a 0-4 which I don't think was dad's Christmas present at Oldham. We could easily be in the bottom four and still be a decent team .........
Teams do try to stop us playing, and it works. Plan B doesn't really exist.
Like any football fan I don't always agree with our selection policy. It surprises me that Gardner and Boco so rarely get a run. Boco was only on the field ten minutes yesterday and hit the post. Roberts is really good, but I wouldn't play him every game and I'd make sure he knew I was trying to keep him as sharp as possible. Equally Banks wouldn't be out on loan being pulled off after 55 minutes (which was probably quite enjoyable). But Cookie is still a good manager.
Morsy let his team and the fans down by giving the linesman and ref the chance to influence the game.
Refs and linesmen make mistakes and influence games accidentally. And some are pretty poor, but they are honest. Some clubs like Ferguson's Man Utd and Mourinho's Chelsea very deliberately try to influence these decent men and women by both their reputation and a willingness to push arguments and demands for penalties and sendings-off etc. to the very edge. I've never understood why some manager of a small club doesn't adopt the opposite strategy - not committing fouls, never arguing, always being polite to the officials, apologising if you arrive a bit late for the ball, never cheating, not collecting bookings, sendings-off and suspensions. At first you'd suspect you were losing out to the bully boys - but quite soon you might begin to profit. Just as you can tell refs are looking out for known dirty players and divers they'd pretty quickly be off the case of a club famous for doing the very opposite.
Refs and linesmen are part of the data. If you don't adopt a consistent strategy towards officials you're agreeing that they provide a random element in the game. Ferguson's teams were universally aggressive towards officials, because he was a control freak ....... and didn't it work for him?
One last word - real hard men in football don't commit many fouls and don't tend to get sent off. It's only when you are the pretend-version you need to mouth off, swing your arms or your handbag. A tough centre forward takes the stick, never moans and smiles at the centre back when he scores.