Four calamitous goals conceded in two games. As I said last week, we have to tighten up at the back or we are going to struggle, despite a number of positives.
Facing the winning machine that is Bournemouth, Christian Walton’s early horror show was definitely not what the doctor ordered, and the visitors’ second goal was pretty awful too.
I don’t agree with the Town fans who said we were terrible. I thought in general play we pretty much matched the Cherries, but after those two gift-wrapped early Christmas presents we were always chasing the game.
Walton has never been good with his feet. Bambi On Ice is probably a tad unfair, but he’s certainly all arms and legs.
It’s a real dilemma. If he hoofs it long we’ll probably lose possession and the ball will come straight back.
Should we give Kjell Scherpen another go? What about Alex Palmer? He’s never let us down, but seems a Championship keeper to me.
Perhaps a new Number One should be on our January shopping list.
Bournemouth actually disappointed me. Yes, they played some decent passing football, but they didn’t look like a team on their way to an eighth consecutive victory.
That’s why it was so frustrating that we gave them such a huge helping hand. What I hadn’t expected was their liberal use of the dark arts.
As the clock ticked down, any physical contact saw a Bournemouth player rolling around as if they were seriously injured.
They weren’t, of course. Weak refereeing from Simon Hooper let them get away with their time-wasting antics.
I thought he was really poor, reminiscent of some of those awful refs we used to see in the League One days.
Mind you, I wasn’t complaining when Mr. Hooper pointed to the penalty spot after what looked to me like a pretty innocuous challenge.
It was right in front of me, and I thought it was 50-50. I’ll take it, though!
Of course, we can learn a great deal from Bournemouth’s progression as a football club. Only five seasons ago they were in the Championship.
Since their return to the top flight, they have improved their league position each season. They’re in Europe this season, and have realistic aspirations of a Champions League spot this time round.
And all that on home crowds of only 12,000!
I heard Mark Ashton being asked this week if Town would follow Bournemouth’s example. He said we would do it our own way.
I understand that response, of course, but there is an awful lot we can learn from the high-flying Cherries.
So, here we are. Another slightly irritating international break.
Maybe it’s a good opportunity to draw breath and assess the first quarter of the season. Not bad, I would say, but could have been better without letting in awful goals.
11 points from the first ten games keeps us just ahead of my survival benchmark of a point a game. Just about!
If the remaining three-quarters of the season replicates the first quarter, then we’ll get 42 points, which is pretty much guaranteed to keep us afloat in the Premier League, even without help from Man City being condemned to the naughty corner.
But the margins are wafer-thin. We can’t afford injuries to key players. We’ve missed Sasa Lukic in the last few games. I really hope he doesn’t get injured playing for Serbia...
Spurs away next. That will be a much tougher challenge than it would have been a month or so ago. But we really do need to pick up a result there.
Finally, did you see the Liam Delap show on Saturday night? It was like turning the clock back two seasons to his time at Ipswich.
Rampaging and swashbuckling centre-forward play. Looks like he’s got his mojo back.
Shame he’s not wearing blue and white!
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