Well, it's another 3 points on the road, so can't really complain, despite the fact that for the majority of the game we were well below par, yet again. Fair play to Blackpool though, who for a good hour/70 minutes ran us close, and you could even say looked good for a point. Neil Adams said before the game that their results weren't perhaps particularly reflective of how they actually perform in games, and that was evident here. It's also slightly surprising that perhaps they hadn't scored in about a month before this game, as they do have some decent attacking players, and that front 3 of Delfouneso, Miller, and Zoko did cause us a few problems. Like the Birmingham and Cardiff game, we were poor in the first half. The only real clear cut chance we had was when Hoolahan sent Grabban clear on goal towards the end of the half, and he smashed it well wide. It's unclear whether he was actually shooting, or whether he was trying to square the ball to Jerome, but however you look at it it was a waste. When we conceded I really feared the worst. We were carved wide open, and god knows where our central defenders were. But a huge stroke of luck got us back into the game, through an own goal by Donervan Daniels. We then though didn't really take the initiative until we took the lead 10 minutes from time. Again, there was a huge element of luck about it, as Lewis Grabbans shot looked to be relatively weak before taking a big deflection off of Daniels once again, and looping just out of the reach of Lewis in goal. Murphy's goal was the only real one of quality we scored in the whole game, and it showed what an excellent prospect he is. But all in all, despite another uninspiring performance, it's another great 3 points, that puts us top of the table. No complaints about that.
Our Top 5 Players:
1. Nathan Redmond (8/10)
2. Cameron Jerome (7/10)
3. Michael Turner (7/10)
4. Jos Hooiveld (7/10)
5. Bradley Johnson (7/10)
Other Players:
6. John Ruddy (7/10)
7. Alexander Tettey (6/10)
8. Josh Murphy (6/10)
9. Russell Martin (6/10)
10. Martin Olsson (6/10)
11. Lewis Grabban (5/10)
12. Wes Hoolahan (5/10)
Nathan Redmond was absolutely superb for the second week in a row. Had his critics early on in the season after a slow start, but he's certainly showing what a great player he is now. His delivery is definitely improving, as shown when he swung in the corner that lead to our first goal. Whilst he was kept relatively quiet in the first half by a solid Blackpool defence, he came to life in the second half and absolutely destroyed the Blackpool left back. He looks so much more threatening on the right hand side, and I'm sure it's only a matter of time before he scores. Cameron Jerome was excellent again. £1.5m is looking better and better every week. Whilst he didn't really have a clear cut opportunity in this game (with the possible exception of when Redmond's shot deflected into his path, and he couldn't adjust his feet quick enough),but he worked his socks off as usual, and got an assist for Josh Murphy's goal. He's strong and powerful, and posed a real threat to the Blackpool back line. Whilst Michael Turner had a couple of dodgy moments, like his back pass to Ruddy that went out for a corner, and when he failed to clear a header which nearly lead to Miller putting Blackpool back in front, but on the whole he had another solid game. Hooiveld was much improved on last weeks performance against Birmingham. He was good with the ball at his feet, and although he has a distinct lack of pace, on a couple of occasions he made an excellent challenge, for example, when Miller looked as if he was about to put Blackpool 2-1 up, and he slid in to deny him at the last minute. He looks as if his fitness is gradually getting better, and as his fitness improves, he looks as if his overall play is improving. Bradley Johnson had a slightly inconsistant game. Some of his short passing was truly atrocious, but his long passing was often very good, and like most of our team, he picked up significantly in the second half. He made a lot of key interceptions in midfield, and overall had a decent game. John Ruddy didn't have an awful lot to do. Made a good save from Miller before Delfouneso pounced to convert the re-bound. Apart from that he didn't really have anything to do, but everything he did have to do he did well. I thought Alex Tettey was slightly below par compared to how we've seen him in recent weeks. He was pretty calm on the ball, and intercepted a number of passes, but apart from that didn't really do anything. Josh Murphy had another telling impact off the bench. After coming on and changing the game against Birmingham last week, he didn't really threaten the Blackpool defence as much as he did the previous week. However, it was his superbly taken goal that effectively killed the game off for us, and he's certainly maturing into an excellent player. Russell Martin had an ok game. That said though he did struggle against Zoko at times. But made some good challenges, and had a relatively easy second half. Martin Olsson was a bit anonymous throughout the game. Mainly due to the fact that Hoolahan came inside to collect the ball, meaning that we weren't using the left hand side at all, hence why we didn't really see him going forward. But he was comfortable defensively against Nile Ranger. Despite scoring what turned out to be the winning goal, Lewis Grabban was very poor. He would often come far too deep to try and collect the ball, meaning that he wasn't in the box when we got the opportunity to swing it in. He lost possession on several occasions, and missed a great chance at 0-0 to put us in front just before half time. Tbh if I was manager I would've taken him off much earlier, and would've dropped him against Charlton, but after creating something out of nothing, and winning us the game, he proved why he kept his place in the team, and why he deserves to be in the starting team for Tuesday. For the second week running Wes Hoolahan was our worst player. Showed a couple of glimpses of the Hoolahan we know he can be, for example when he put Grabban through on goal, but on the whole he was very poor. He's completely wasted playing on the wing, and if we're not going to play him through the middle, then he shouldn't be playing at all.
As I said before, we can't continue to start games so slowly. Against Brentford it was obvious that we deployed the tactic of soaking up the pressure and then picking them off at the end, however against Birmingham, and yesterday, it was clear that we weren't doing that, and that we were just slow off the mark. If we continue to do this then we will end up being 3-0 down to someone at half time and we won't be able to get it back. Charlton on Tuesday will be another difficult game. They're undefeated so far in the league, and they will be very difficult to break down, especially if we play how we did yesterday. We might see a bit of squad rotation for this one, and at the very least I expect to see Hoolahan drop out. That game will undoubtedly be more difficult than this one.
But anyway, I think I've come across as quite negative in this, which I'm really not. I'm over the moon with our start to the season, and that we've managed to win 3-1 away from home, and are therefore top of the league. So far, so good.
