Two matches for the price of one. Crystal Palace and Cardiff. Two games, equally disappointing as we contrived not to get anyone sent off. It's frankly unacceptable.
Otherwise it was tricky to tell the games apart. Obviously the latter fixture resulted in a surplus of two goals and two extra points, but otherwise it was remarkably similar to the first. A lot of huff and puff, but little in the way of tactics or direction or football to admire. The Cardiff game did, I have to concede, feature a spell of pressure from the Irons in the second half where it almost looked like we knew what we were doing. Passes were strung together, and we seemed to be performing as a unit rather than a flat back 9 lofting it up to the too-short-to-win-headers Maynard. I feel for Maynard, poor bugger. This guy looks a handful. A bundle of energy, with a nice first touch, good control, bags of pace, and a refreshingly attacking instinct. I like him. A lot. Goals or no goals he adds a dimension to the team that we've lacked since Bellamy really. A succession of loanees up front, punctuated by the arrival of the revelatory Ba (until we dragged him down to the levels of performance expected by Avram), almost made me forget how forwards were supposed to play. Maynard has reminded me. Sadly, sparse opportunities to see West Ham on the television means that I've seen Baldock play for about 10 minutes in total. He looked sharp too. For those 10 minutes.
I'd like to comment on how Vaz Te looks up front, but he's stuck out on the wings, making a strong case for himself as someone who doesn't really play very well stuck out on the wings. I expect to see a lot of him stuck out on the wings. His enthusiasm and effort are not to be sniffed at, but, he's just not a winger to my eyes. God forbid Big Fat Sam should alter the system so that we're not reliant on wide men up front in his 4-5-1 / 4-3-3 / whatever it is formation. Yes, I know we're missing Taylor, and that Faubert isn't a long term solution on the right, but...oh, what's the point. You know Sam will stick stubbornly to the formation that only succeeds in isolating a front man who clearly loves the ball at his feet, rather than at his throat.
The Cardiff game at least had us in control, if only because Cardiff looked so wretched. We didn't look like we'd lose the game. The Palace game was just two teams bereft of ideas, or any kind of spark, doing their mediocre best not to concede. It was a hateful 90 minutes. Plenty of effort, and certainly not worth booing, not that I'd ever boo, seeing as I'd look silly doing it from the sofa, but it was still a game lacking in any entertainment value whatsoever. Rob Green emerged dignity intact with his usual couple of valuable saves.
Cardiff looked like a team still playing extra time in a Carling Cup Final. We should have been three goals to the good before people had even settled into their seats. Some defensive cock-ups on the home teams behalf forced their goalkeeper into action as Maynard carried on his 'he looks lively' streak. Nolan, back in the team after his....ummm...welcome(?) suspension was completely anonymous until he scored a peach of a goal. I guess that, right there, is his value in the team. Our other midfielders aren't netting, and he does. What do I know. Whatever my merits in being able to accurately discern what is taking place on a football pitch, Nolan did eventually become more of a factor in the game. Encouraged to push forward from what started out as a deep central midfield position, he did start to influence our attacking play, and filled the gaping void between everyone else and Maynard.
McCartney deserved his right footed goal after a lung-busting, never-say-die, bundling run down the left flank. There was no denying we deserved to be two goals up, if only because we'd fluffed earlier opportunities. That said, it didn't smack of a two - nil performance. The back four looked solid, and Faye is the perfect foil to Tomkins. Tomkins is now a classy centre half, and no denying it. Faye is a no-nonsense, get the job done, none shall pass, centre half. I wish we'd had him from the moment the club decided to whisk James Collins off from under the nose of Gianfranco. Noble put in another everywhere all at once performance, but like the game itself, it was all effort and little reward. Vaz Te looked marginally more effective on the wing...and then the other wing. It was bitty and patchy and fragmented stuff though, like my rambling writing. Doing a lot of stuff, but a lot of stuff rather ineffectually.
I shouldn't sniff at 4 points over two games, especially when an away fixture at Cardiff looks tricky on paper. I will sniff though. And I do sniff. Watching football shouldn't be this boring or unrewarding, even if the ultimate reward is the Premiership again.
