Those who genuinely believed this was going to be a straightforward Project Return were always destined for disappointment.
The Championship isn’t like that. We should know.
And having one of the most, if not the most, technically able squad in the Championship counts for nothing.
We should know that too. Yet we never learn.
The opening 45 yesterday were about as Championship as you could possibly get and were also about as Rotherham as you could possibly get, yet we seemed surprised.
That the Millers didn’t give City even a millisecond on the ball, pressed, harried and generally played as if their lives depended on the outcome was written in the stars. And on Paul Warne’s whiteboard.
While I never kicked a football professionally, I played a lot of amateur football and there were always away-days you dreaded. Certain grounds and pitches where you knew it would be horrible and niggly and uncomfortable, and where you knew, before the game started, it wouldn’t be remotely fun.
I strongly suspect the New York City Stadium is one of those, even when it’s empty.
So for City to have emerged with three points, however ugly the performance and fortuitous the circumstances, was what mattered. To have come away with just a point would have engendered a very different mood this morning (and a very different tone to this piece).
But, somehow, the stars aligned just sufficiently enough for us to scramble home with three of the most welcome points ever.
For once it felt like the fickle finger of fate wasn’t, in our case, the middle finger.
- Tim Krul doesn’t save that penalty, City lose
- Angus MacDonald doesn’t go full Karate Kid on Oli Skipp, City probably draw
- Rotherham take any one of several gilt-edged chances, City lose
- Jordan Hugill remembers he’s a Norwich City penalty taker, City draw
But – and we’re really not used to this – all the major calls and big moments went City’s way; ironic on a day when Liverpool FC suffered its first terrible call from officialdom in its 128-year history.
That City were at least able to make the most out of the good fortune was something in itself. It would hardly have been the first time a gift horse had been looked in the mouth by folk wearing canary yellow and green.
Yet, there is clearly much work still to be done and it’s only right that questions are asked of the players around how they had clearly been fore-Warned of Rotherham’s approach by Team Farke, yet for 45 minutes looked wholly incapable of doing anything about it.
Going toe-to-toe with teams who, like us, try to get the ball down and pass it through the thirds is one thing, but Rotherham are far from alone in the Championship in using muscle, pace and strength as their go-to weapons.
Those teams will be analyse the life out of yesterday’s first half in Rotherham and will be buoyed by what they see. Don’t expect, for example, Wycombe to retreat and watch our pretty passing patterns next Saturday. Not happening.
In the words of Mark Rivers, “we have to be better” at imposing our passing game on those whose modus operandi is to not let us settle into any sort of rhythm.
We got away with it yesterday. We may not be as lucky next time.
The deficiency of being too lightweight in the areas where it’s important to not be lightweight hasn’t been addressed either. Identified but not addressed.
Both Stuart Webber and Daniel Farke spoke of this over the summer months and I guess they’ll point to the additions of Jacob Sørensen and Hugill as mitigation, but with the former yet to feature and the latter only really able to use said presence when defending set-pieces – which he does well – the current engine room is too easily outpowered.
That’s not an intended slight on either Skipp or Lukas Rupp – both are able technicians in their own right – but as a pairing, without the ball, they remain susceptible to being out-muscled too often and so unable to offer that layer of protection to the back four.
In a nutshell, the team as a whole still appears fragile when other teams put it up ’em and so, along with the obvious centre-back issue, this looks to be another hangover from the Premier League campaign.
But, there were positives to emerge from yesterday and also Friday, which saw that bloody window finally slam shut with Emi Buendia and Max Aarons still in the house.
Both were prominent yesterday, especially in the equalising goal, and with Emi earning the match-winning penalty, we were reminded how invaluable they both are in the space of 45 second-half minutes.
What now needs to happen is for this team to kick on so when the January window opens Webber can use the ‘give us to the end of the season and see where that takes us’ line while discussing the inevitable offers with the pair.
Todd Cantwell too would be well advised to throw himself into the task at hand.
Now’s the time to push on. Two home games incoming offer an opportunity to put the first few tricky weeks of the season behind us and start to develop a style that suits the makeup of this new-look squad.
There were flashes of Farkeball yesterday, both early on and then in the creation of the equaliser, but the dynamic of this re-shaped group feels different to the older version and so needs to discover its own identity. Right now that battle is ongoing but I’m hoping a pattern will emerge which will fit the key personnel.
We’ll see.
But, crucially, we have a win to talk about, one borne of an early disaster that, for once, was overcome. We scored a late winner and everyone loves a late winner. We came from behind. And we have the best goalkeeper in the league.
Things are not so bad. At least not until 10pm on Tuesday 🙂
The last time we came from behind to win was Bristol at home Spring 2019. For an away match I believe it was Forest 2018 so it is good to break that spell. The next 4 matches are key to set the season going. What looked important was the body language after the match. The players appeared lifted by the result and hopefully that translates into confidence in the next two matches, good results in those would set us up for 2 tricky away matches. We need to avoid injuries and I am a little concerned about how many fixtures we have each week until January with certain positions lacking cover but our first 11 plus a couple of others look fine. Regarding Cantwell, I can’t see a reconciliation. Many years ago I worked for a building company, if the MD stated that a bricklayer was so bad that he could have got the same results from asking the painter to build the walls then I would not see a way of resolving that breakdown in relationship. It will be interesting to see what happens next
It was a strange game in some ways. The statisticians can point to the fact that we had 21 attempts on goal to their 14, 7 on target to their 3, and. 63% of the possession,. We also committed less fouls than them. Yet all the reports and the dreaded Pink’un forum seem to indicate we were poor. Not having seen anything of the game apart from the highlights on Quest last night, I don’t know what to make of it.
However the pluses are three points, Krul showing his amazing ability at penalties, and a determination to keep going to the bitter end. If that instills the confidence and fight in the players, then great.
(I did also see a few mentions of how their keeper played out of his skin to keep us out, and if it hadn’t have been for their defender’s excellent own goal, Hugil was diving in behind him, and would have certainly scored).
Onwards and upwards!
At half time Chris Goreham said it could have been 4-4 the defending was so bad.
There were times when we pummelled then but Gary is spot on – we are too lightweight, still. If Cantwell is to comeback then that will only exacerbate the fact, despite his talent. Steipi has too much to do with so little behind him – and when those around him up front give up the ball so easily we are always going to be chasing the counter.
With Onel injured,the pace to defeat this strategy is likely to come from Aarons but especially Placheta.He could be the game-changer.
It’s funny how games can turn on such small moments. It’s a shame you can’t sign Luck. Perhaps he’s on loan?
Hi Gary
It has been a strange week and LIVARPOOL and ManU wanting to reinvent the premiership, then Saturday LIVARPOOL hit all the headlines again wanting clarification on the VAR decision that didn’t go their way and Klopp saying that all the suggested changes to the premiership he was in favor of.
To the American owners and any manager that doesn’t like our English football you know where the airports are so just go and I will not be polite P@@@ Off.
Yesterdays game according to the pinkun in game reports was a classic championship game lots of effort from both sides and a draw would possibly have been a fair result, to me we don’t need fair results we need more wins how ever that happens.
Pre match Farke said he needed a CB after Godfrey was sold so why let Klose leave till you got one in, then he said Webber had been trying for weeks, well Swansea got 3 in on the last day of the transfer window and 2 of them were in cities sights the young lad from ManC and our ex Ryan Bennett who sign on a free transfer and then Carter Vickers to Bournemouth on a season loan.
IMHO I think Webber had concentrated so much on who was available in Europe for a cheap price he lost out on possibly British recruits and who will pay the price if it all goes tits up.
Tuesday hopefully we will be able to just fot ourselves how this team is progressing live on Sky and another win will be very welcome
Onwards and upwards
OTBC
Stay safe and stay healthy
I suppose the only way to have any degree of positivity is to try to forget the last two seasons ever happened. In which case we are in the same position that we were in back in September 2018, and we all know what happened then. We may have lost Godfrey, Lewis, Rhodes, Srbeny and Trybull, but we have gained a whole host of players. Farke’s job is to find the best eleven, just like in 2018, but I don’t think he has found it yet. Therefore we can’t make any hasty judgments on one or two results.
Good read as usual Gary.
I was surprised we haven’t upsized the midfield during the summer as it was obvious last season that we couldn’t match the power of the premiership.
It was also a little disconcerting to read that we couldn’t afford to bring in a championship centre half despite the income from Godfrey, Lewis and premier league parachute payments.
Makes you wonder whether our future plans are about the promotion or finding a comfortable position in the lower leagues. There must come a time when Webber and Farke get fed up with one step forward and two back.
Hi John
To be blunt I reckon Webber & Farke will see this season out, but thereafter? I’m not so sure. It was good [for me at least] to see a couple of positive signs yesterday. Beat Brum and we could really kick on as I’ll elucidate tomorrow.
It’s so difficult for anybody in a senior functional role to operate at full tilt within this Club for obvious reasons. I’d be so much happier if the joint majority shareholders actually knew anything about football itself.
As Gary said, even if you’ve only played at amateur level [I’m in that boat too] there were places you hated to go and sometimes felt you were beaten before you started. Too true.
I’d love to know who Michael W-J ever played for 🙂
They didn’t say they “couldn’t afford” to bring in a championship centre half. They simply felt that the players they were interested in weren’t worth the fees (and probably wages) that were being quoted.
It’s hardly surprising. Everyone knows we’ve had a windfall with the Godfrey and Lewis money so it’s inevitable potential sellers will try to drive the price up. Likewise the player’s agent when it comes to wages.
Not all Webber’s deals have worked out, but one thing he hasn’t done is paid the sort of inflated price that we did for people like Becchio, Naismith, the Wolf and Wildschutt.