This Goal...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Pwnjie8-xM[/youtube]

...needs, is required, is begging to happen, this year.

With the dire situation the club faces, I can't watch this goal enough. That pile of happy folks post-goal was brilliant - Murphy, McBride, Nevland, Kamara, Davies, Bullard.

Add to it Roy's stoic demeanor.

Love it.

COYW

 

I cant watch. Those happy days are gone and it's painful. I don't know how to handle it other than ignore it all. I'll continue to watch Fulham's unraveling this season and then maybe once we're in the Championship I can enjoy the past again. Sidwell, as much as I appreciate him, is not Danny Murphy. Metroglue is not Brian McBride OR Eric Nevland OR Kamara. Peter Lorre is not Roy Hodgson. I'm not even sure Hangeland is Hangeland anymore. :sad-fever: :sad-pacing: :sad-suicidepills:

I'm looking westward to America, MLS and Portlandia. Anyone want to join me?

 

Yeah, I'm having trouble reveling in the past at the moment as well. I find Europe and the Great Escape make our current situation more depressing.

Thing about that goal though. We were nil-nil going into the 76th minute and kept a clean sheet to secure the victory. Does anyone believe for a second we are capable of that this season?

I can't remember if it was in the chat room or the resulting match thread, but I do remember we were saying the Bengals needed to call McBride in for a tryout after that tackle.

I've seen a number of folks point out that it took Roy time to get results when comparing to our current plight. That's fair, to a point. The difference in the Great Escape and this season is that Roy showed almost immediate results in improving the defense. Our goals against per match was 1.79/g under Sanchez and steadily declined under Roy, ending at 1.37/g for his 19 games in charge. This didn't translate to points in the table initially though b/c Roy neutered our offense while drilling in defensive discipline. We only scored 7 goals in Hodgon's first 12 matches and we'd averaged 1.05/g under Sanchez (although, in fairness, we ended Lawrie's run with a meager 4 goals from 7). As a result, we went 2-3-7 for 9 pts in those first dozen matches under Roy. But he opened it up and we scored 11 in the final 7 games while maintaining an improved goals against of 1.29. We went 4-1-2 in those final 7 for a total of 13 pts and one goal that will live in our minds forever.

Worth noting, our first win under Roy came against Villa in the match where McBride made his return from injury as a sub. He came on in the 70th minute, right after an Aaron Hughes own goal put Villa up 1-0. Simon Davies scored 3 minutes later to level and Bullard netted the winner in the 86th minute.

Also worth noting, we only carried 5 on the bench back then. I'd forgotten that the rule change wasn't that long ago.

How does all of that compare to today? Who knows. It's still too early to judge Magath, but seeing him experiment with the lineup so much makes me think he's not going to get it done (or may simply not have enough time). I'm disconcerted to hear him mention that he's not watched previous tape of us and is using training pitch results and matches to figure his team out. I understand it, but given the short time frame, I think he's made a mistake there. Of course, I question whether anyone could have saved us with this group of players anyway.

 

Thanks Nev, seeing the Captain rise up and actually head the ball :shock: Never gets old (and it always warrants a couple 'replays'), and this year's disastrous season won't get in the way of enjoying it.

Mo, you know there is at least one person here that is looking west (or in my case north ) with you. Going to visit my Mom in the summer who lives in central Oregon and hoping to sneak over to Portland and see my first Timbers match live since '76 or '77 when I was just a wee lad. I do like the new sponsor for what used to be Jeld-Wen field, the new name Providence Park,