17-08-2015, 10:49
So we finally get the Alloa monkey off our back and in the process show that Warbuton's side can win convincingly at a) a tricky away ground and b) on an artificial surface.
But predictably the media has been tripping over itself to try to fire in a negative angle - this time new loan player Nathan Oduwa is the target for 'showboating'.
Based on his half hour I think he could be a brilliant acquisition for the season. It could be that he was just up against full backs already exhausted by our play down the flanks, but Oduwa looked like he had bags of pace and the ability to get by a couple of men to hit the byline. He could have enough about him to slaughter Premiership defences so in a way it's maybe a bit of a shame we'll only have him this season.
Of course Scotland doesn't like a flair player, so he's been criticised here for flicking the ball over the head of an Alloa player with a trick that's already had positive coverage worldwide and has spawned an Internet meme. It was a lovely bit of skill that almost came off. I thought he should have had a penalty out of it in the end but apparently the ref didn't approve either. Funny that he didn't blow for any foul until Oduwa had been wiped out and it was either give us a penalty or act like he'd been playing advantage even though there had never been an advantage to be gained by the Alloa player.
So do we approve of this sort of thing or do we have to criticise flair football?
For me he did nothing wrong. He was trying to get past a man in a perfectly legitimate way, demonstrated some nice skill and entertained the fans (haven't we as Scottish fans complained about our game being rubbish to watch for decades?). I'll admit there are times when players pull out a trick purely to embarrass an opponent with no advantage to gain from it, and I generally have a tutting disapproval of that (unless the opponent deserves it because he's a hacking bastard for example), but in this case it's all just a case of sour grapes from the Alloa player. I'd be happy to see more of that from Oduwa.
But predictably the media has been tripping over itself to try to fire in a negative angle - this time new loan player Nathan Oduwa is the target for 'showboating'.
Based on his half hour I think he could be a brilliant acquisition for the season. It could be that he was just up against full backs already exhausted by our play down the flanks, but Oduwa looked like he had bags of pace and the ability to get by a couple of men to hit the byline. He could have enough about him to slaughter Premiership defences so in a way it's maybe a bit of a shame we'll only have him this season.
Of course Scotland doesn't like a flair player, so he's been criticised here for flicking the ball over the head of an Alloa player with a trick that's already had positive coverage worldwide and has spawned an Internet meme. It was a lovely bit of skill that almost came off. I thought he should have had a penalty out of it in the end but apparently the ref didn't approve either. Funny that he didn't blow for any foul until Oduwa had been wiped out and it was either give us a penalty or act like he'd been playing advantage even though there had never been an advantage to be gained by the Alloa player.
So do we approve of this sort of thing or do we have to criticise flair football?
For me he did nothing wrong. He was trying to get past a man in a perfectly legitimate way, demonstrated some nice skill and entertained the fans (haven't we as Scottish fans complained about our game being rubbish to watch for decades?). I'll admit there are times when players pull out a trick purely to embarrass an opponent with no advantage to gain from it, and I generally have a tutting disapproval of that (unless the opponent deserves it because he's a hacking bastard for example), but in this case it's all just a case of sour grapes from the Alloa player. I'd be happy to see more of that from Oduwa.