30th January 2003: Oh dear, oh
dear, oh dear. Our Great Escape plans are in tatters. No sooner had
we dug the first few feet of our tunnel with the point at Leeds, the
roof has collapsed, the guards have discovered it and we're all in
solitary confinement. The whistling is decidedly off-tune.
You can argue that we deserved more from the Charlton game and perhaps
we did. You can also argue that there are still 14 games and 42 points
to play for, and you'd be right. You can also say that the performance
was a marked improvement on the showing at Vicarage Road, and once
again I would agree. But the feeling in my bones is one of despair
- I can't see where the goals are coming from.
Charlton were very poor - the deflected header that gave them the
points was their only effort on target all evening, but although Albion
battled and fought hard, they created precious few chances considering
the amount of possession they had due to a lack of creativity and
movement in the Charlton half.
Perhaps I'm being a little premature in giving up hope now; after
all, with the exception of West Ham, the results went our way this
week. The part of me that is a graduate of the school of blind optimism
can still see a way out, but that part has reduced in size dramatically
in the last few hours.
The simple fact is that the players aren't good enough.
One plus point was Udeze who certainly offered more attacking options
than Clement has done this season - he spent more time in the attacking
third in the first ten minutes against Charlton than Clement has done
all season. The only note of caution is to say that he was never really
tested defensively this evening.
Come on lads, prove me wrong!!!!
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