Thursday, August 08, 2013

Monday August 5th clubgowi newsletter

Monday August 5th
 

Internacional finished the match with nine men, so we probably have to be happy with the draw, but there were a lot of debatable decisions made in favour of the hosts by the match officials.


New England gave away a goal ( and it was a complete gift) in the opening two minutes and dominated the other 92 minutes or so, but couldn't put the ball in the net, on another evening they would have scored 3-4, they are a handful going forward as you can see from the highlights below and we will get this money back in the next week or two.


I could find nothing to interest me today, but the Capital One Cup games tomorrow look full of promise and personally I will be getting quite heavily involved in those and probably the Champions League matches too. I am going to send the email at the later time of 11.00 (UK) as at least two of the matches involve fixtures where the team I want to back will be rotating their squad and I am hoping that the oddsmakers/general public will misread this as weakness and I want to let any early betting exchanges take effect.

As we have a little time, I can say a few words about each of how long term selections performed over the weekend....

Bolton Wanderers

Wanderers got a hard earned point at Turf Moor in what was a typical North West derby. Hosts had the better of the first half, but after the break, I felt if either was going to win it was Bolton and Freedman introduced Ngog and Davies to try and take all three points, but it was not to be. Beckford (especially), Lee and Wheater looked a little off the pace, we did not see Moritz, improvement to come.

Brentford

Brentford took the lead and then gifted an equaliser shortly after. The Bees dominated the game and had a lot of chances after the break, being denied by the woodwork and some good defending, if they play like this on the road all season, they will probably be champions. Easiest way to describe the performance is by these comments from the Port Vale fans forum...

Those who say there is no difference between Leagues 1 and 2 should have been there. Brentford kept the ball well and had two outstanding attackers.

Very impressed with Brentford and don't think we'll see many better teams at VP in the league.

Brentford really impressed me. They were organised, always seemed one step in front of us at times and were very dangerous on the break.

Good learning curve today against very good opposition and can definitely see the improvement in quality in the division.

Very pleased with a point. Brentford were a crossbar away from playing in the Championship this season and it showed. Their ball retention was excellent - something which we must learn from them.

Got to be happy with that, against a very good team who will be there or thereabouts at the end of the season.

How many times did they run in behind us into threatening positions?

They were much better than us. A point gained.

Overall a very good point against a very good side .

Those are from about the first 30 or so write ups from home supporters who had been at the game, if the opposition supporters praise a team, you know they have done well, when it is universal, it is obvious that the quality has stood out. More to come from the Bees.

Colchester United

United started with a 1-0 win at newly promoted Gillingham. This was impressive as neither Pappoe ,Olefumi or Watt started, the hosts had chances to have won, but Dickson looked very accomplished on his debut and could be a huge signing and in goal, Walker was never going to be beaten and along with Eastmond, the trio looked a class apart. With tired legs on both teams, United introduced pace off the bench ( which they have in abundance... see the pre season preview) and Drey Wright ( who provided the winner) and Gilbey changed the game. Good win, two exciting players on the bench and another three who did not take part at all (Watt was injured), incredibly promising, win or lose 5.50 to finish top half and I know a lot of you got on (which was a big surprise to me), was a joke price !

Fleetwood Town

Coasted into an early 2-0 lead and then stepped off the gas and allowed Daggers back into things at the end of the first half and the home boss felt his team were being disrespectful to the visitors and allowing them too much space, he gave his team a hard time out the break and they were much more disciplined in the second half. Maybe he was a little hard as seven players and the entire backline were making their debuts and they are only going to get better. Jon Parkin was injured and did not feature.

Oxford United

United won 4-1 at Portsmouth and sent their huge travelling support ( maybe as many as 2,800) home very happy. Alfie Potter had two goals and two assists, Dave Kitson, David Hunt and Tom Newey all made their competitive debuts for the club.Potter was said to be "unplayable", but the overall contribution from Kitson, who worked incredibly hard, might say more for the future and he has clearly "bought into" the project, he was switched to go man on man with Simon Ferry and marked him out of the game. Portsmouth were poor, a bit of a shambles at the back and lacking creativity, so I would not read too much into this just yet, but Chris Wilder won the tactical battle by an even bigger margin that his own team and the signs are good for both of them, less so for Pompey and Guy Whittingham.

Good Luck.

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