Cod Almighty | Diary
Diary - Monday 22 August 2011
22 August 2011
Hello you lot. Your Guest Diarist here, deputising for Mardy Diary, who is introducing his progeny to kebab shops and police-swamped motorway service stations while enjoying a well-earned holiday. It's nearly the next Town match already, so the management pair have gambled and appealed against Kempson's plainly unlucky straight red on Saturday. Kempson was picked, the short one said afterwards, because he is a big man, whereas I'Anson was considered too young to take the pressure heaped on Town by their midweek drubbing by a bunch of part-timers. I don't know why, because the lad has still not had a poor game in a Town shirt, has he?
The sort of situation Kempson found himself in was, of course, tailor-made for a quick young mobile centre-back like Charlie: caught on the turn, half-done for pace and then slipping, crashing to the ground and taking the striker with him. Probably a bit of a foul but outside the box and with officer Ridley somewhere in the vicinity to make the 'goalscoring opportunity denied' theory expounded by the linesman seem a bit over the top. Except the assistant may have deduced that Ridley is neither use nor ornament when this type of shout goes up. In which case, perhaps, fair enough for some of you, although I happen to think Ridley does as much right as any of the left-backs in our recent history. I'll let you form your own conclusion from that statement.
If your Town glass is half full you can talk about character, clean sheet, good away point, et cetera. If you are depressed and your Town glass could be emptied in one big swallow then 'tis still no win, still no goal, little creativity and more injuries and a probable suspension. Because they've appealed, Kempson can play tomorrow, of course, but Garner is having a cartiledge operation, Pearson's hamstring is still bothering him quite a lot and Silk is out until next month. Hearn, who limped off early on Saturday, has trained today though, I'm reliably informed. And the managers are probably highly relieved that young Conor Marshall refused to leave the party when Town stopped paying him so is a handy sub to name if necessary.
Eagle(s) wasn't even a substitute on Saturday. Has he been out-surged by that crazy cat Makofo? Or is he on the naughty step? When Town play 4-3-3 it seems to me that they let themselves down on the 4-5-1 they should revert to when they lose the ball. Opponents are finding space in dangerous areas out wide against us. Unless he has upset the Shouty one, I think Eagle ought to get at least a run-out from the bench this week. To me Makofo doesn't exhibit great pace - he's too slow off the mark and the consequence is only his power carries him forward through challenges. So the only positive result is he sucks opposing defences towards him. Without being regularly able to slip an accurate pass at the right time to a teammate running into the space he has created, the move just grinds to a halt.
And I'm grinding to a halt too now, folks. Until Town score, until Town start accruing points and moving off the bottom of the table then all talk of Fenty's tide coming in is risible. He said in the summer that when the tide turns it will turn quickly. The tide is out currently, to continue his daft analogy - completely out, and the fans are being asked to wade ankle-deep through mudflats. Will a goal tomorrow cheer us up? A bit, of course, but so far my assertion still holds true that the squad is weaker than the one Woods assembled to start last season. And hauling in someone to play in midfield half-fit on a non-contract basis just because one midfield player is short-term injured, well, that looks like a poorly balanced squad. Too many similar strikers, still no pace or creativity in midfield. It's early, but the clock is ticking. See yer.