A partnership needs time to grow- sometimes it is hard to give it the games it needs if you are at the top of the table and are there to be shot down if you slip up at all. Kermit and BWP looked for the first time the real deal yesterday - ability wise they are both at a different level to this league so you can see what Chrissy was thinking. He did allude to the fact in his interview that a lot of time was spent working on it. Also, Hayes' levels have dipped recently although we were still getting the results -same could be said of Waggy and Stephens (I know Stephens wasn't technically dropped yesterday). Very pleased we have a player of Hayes' quality in reserve btw- he still has a big part to play as do Waggy and Stephens. But when things are going a little off the boil, do you carry on and hope it fixes itself or tinker a bit? Sometimes the medicine takes a while to work but Chrissy is a brave manager and a clever manager - I'm happy to trust him. Think if this season has taught us anything, trusting the Legend who is Sir Chris should be at the top of the list.
When Stephens became unavailable, Powell has obviously looked within the squad for the player who has not only shown a great proffessional attitute but who has kept themselves up to speed fitness wise.
Is that right that Stephens was unavailable? Personally I think he's been our weak link in the last few matches and was hoping that it was a more proactive decision by Powell than one forced upon him. Either way, he got it right though :-)
I was impressed that he took BWP of for Hughes and not Kermit. Taking Kermorgant off might have been the more obvious decision, but taking BWP off had a lot of benefits:
- BWP got an ovation.
- Kermit still had the chance to get a hat trick.
- Our greatest asset gets a bit of a rest and no-injuries.
- We get to see how Hughes and Kermorgant can work together - something that will probably be needed at some stage before the season's out.
Stephens' missus gave birth in the early hours. Congratulations to him and his family btw. Think taking BWP off was a no brainer- game won -precious commodity must be protected.
Where does all this leave Alonso? To my mind, he and Stephens are similar players with an extra bit of quality, whereas Hughes is an old-fashioned workhorse. I know Alonso was shocking against Brentford, but surely he's going to get a chance in the first team at some point?
I'm not having a dig at Hughes here, he did everything we needed him to yesterday, just wondering.
All this criticism of Powell shows a lack of confidence - between him and the new owners they have stopped the slide and got us back to where we should have been two years back. Powell (like Curbishley before him) is late making substitutions but then he wants to build confidence and a squad mentality - not just make "impact" double substitutions after 1 hour. He has to build an outfit for 46 games that takes 4 points every two games so he's not going to rip players off the pitch and basically tell them they're not good enough!
IMHO Kermorgant is in this division by accident (Leicester connection) and should be given every chance - him and BWP must be the best two strikers we've seen for a long while... this time next year we might be pushing for Championship play-off place - as a mate of mine said who hasn't been to the valley for 6 months "don't know what all the fuss was about, Kermorgant was always the man for the job" !!!
All this criticism of Powell shows a lack of confidence - between him and the new owners they have stopped the slide and got us back to where we should have been two years back. Powell (like Curbishley before him) is late making substitutions but then he wants to build confidence and a squad mentality - not just make "impact" double substitutions after 1 hour.
To be fair, very few people are criticising Powell, or at least are admitting that a blip, which is all it was, was overreacted to, as was natural when a good run came to a very unpleasant and frankly surprising stop - Stevenage are not the kind of side we'd expect grief from.
Where does all this leave Alonso? To my mind, he and Stephens are similar players with an extra bit of quality, whereas Hughes is an old-fashioned workhorse. I know Alonso was shocking against Brentford, but surely he's going to get a chance in the first team at some point?
I'm not having a dig at Hughes here, he did everything we needed him to yesterday, just wondering.
He wasn't on the bench so I presume that he wasn't considered fit enough - Euell was the attacking midfield option on the bench. I'll presume that CP made the decision to go with Hughes as he was the fittest/strongest of either Euell, Alonso or himself and therefore the most likely to last 90 minutes if needs be.
Watched Hughes warm up last week against Stevenage he was the last one out there even though he wasn't even on the bench. Obviously keeps himself fit and ready for whenever he's needed.
Alonso probably isn't fully up to speed or maybe just isn't doing enough in training at the moment to deserve a look in. He'll get a chance in the Fa cup I imagine.
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He wasn't on the bench so I presume that he wasn't considered fit enough - Euell was the attacking midfield option on the bench. I'll presume that CP made the decision to go with Hughes as he was the fittest/strongest of either Euell, Alonso or himself and therefore the most likely to last 90 minutes if needs be.
Alonso probably isn't fully up to speed or maybe just isn't doing enough in training at the moment to deserve a look in. He'll get a chance in the Fa cup I imagine.