From Martin : most enjoyable game of week
Hi Myles,
Game that enjoyed most this week was not the obvious but the Villa -WBA game and whatever you think of Tim Sherwood overall, he is the right manager for Villa at this time.
The game was high paced, and Villa were direct with two decent front men looking always to get beyond the defence, it was high tempo and frenetic and the crowd that for months were starved of excitement were right behind them,
Raw and basic tactics maybe, but the right ones to not just energise the team but crowd to as they have the players to make it work.
Will not last over the long term but really enjoyed seeing the Villa fans and players passion and then their anxiety as energy levels dropped, it was good theatre
WBA are not a mug team, well organised with some decent talent too, so it was a hard and competitive game and though you maybe can criticise the overall quality of Premier League against other leagues elite, the Premier League is competitive top to bottom and not so top-heavy as those leagues.
Thought Arsenal played really well in last hour vs QPR.
Once we took control, it was total and not as tippy-tappy as sometimes used to, led by Sanchez there was plenty of quick passes and driving runs, and though Ozil in 2nd half was superb and should have had a goal/penalty.
The one blip was Charlie Austin goal, what was Gibbs doing? in that moment you saw that he is not a natural defender, a natural defender is closing the gap now covering the winger especially as you know Austin’s capability.
You wonder how they can implode so much like against Monaco when for 90% of last nights game they were organised and in total control.
Having said that QPR are poor overall and be amazed if not in first division next year
Austin is a little throwback, hardly mobile but much of running is done in his head as one of players who just seems to stand in right places and has the composure to finish when sees the sticks.
Micky Quinn? Just a name sprung to mind.
Always wondered how he scored any goals with physique and pace, yet he was pretty prolific, though these days he would not appear on anyone’s scouting laptop due to physical measurables, just his goals!
Myles says :
Can’t imagine Micky in a GPS vest.
He was instinctive, like Austin today. These guys score because they believe they were born to score. When Micky scored a hat-trick on at Highbury on the first day of the season, Ian Wright told him it was the best finishing he’d ever seen. Micky told me that himself and he’s very proud of that endorsement.
Gibbs ran away from Austin as if he was radioactive.
But he’s not as bad as Clichy was at Arsenal.