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*Ok here goes my first attempt at a challenge story, doing the Bobby Robson Challenge, playing with FM2007 with the 7.02 update with English leagues to L2, Portugese, Spanish and Dutch leages with their 2nd divisions, large database as well
“So how’s it coming along uncle” I asked the most famous person associated in my family
“Not to bad lad” he replied “Not to bad at all”
“That’s great, so what’s next for the great Sir Bobby Robson?” I asked cheekily
“Nothing much lad” he said with a smile “just continuing on with Ireland, you think you’ll get the job at Palace, now that lying mug Dowie has left?” he asked
“I hope so I replied, I’ll be able to concentrate on the full aspect of management now that I'm out again for the year with my knee”
“You plan on playing again then?”
“We’ll see a lot depends on if I get this job I suppose or the other one’s at Bradford or Swansea, but who knows what lies in the future”
Sir Bobby nodded his head in agreement and then with a wry smile said “who knows one day your name may even overshadow mine”
“Hahaha” I chuckled “That statue at Portman Road will be look like a dwarf next to the one that shall be made in my honour” I said jokingly
He feigned mock anger and his best fake stern voice he said “You would have to do really well to emulate my feats on the football pitch young man, you didn’t even earn a cap for your country” scoffing at the end as he got up from his chair and ruffled my hair, something he had done since I was a kid.
“Why uncle” I said “Is that a challenge?”
He took a second to answer “Yes Jason I believe it is” he said smiling “It’s not an easy feat though, I admit it was a little easier back in my day to get Ipswich into the top league and do well, with reputations and money these days you’ll do well to just get a team into Europe” he paused again for a second in thought “I could probably pull a few strings and get you the job at Ipswich if you want it?”
It set me back a little but I thought it over “No thanks uncle, not much of a challenge is it if you help me out to much there”
“True, true” he responded “Well I’ll guess we will see if you share any thing in common with me than just a name and a birthday then.” Once again he ruffled my hair.
That was the conversation we had a week ago, and now here I was sitting at my desk in London as the new manager of Crystal Palace, a lot was expected of me, the Palace fans were hoping of a good era under my control and Chairman Simon Jordan said he hoped I could bring success to Palace like my uncle did with Ipswich, I thought it was a strange comment to make and I asked him if my uncle had made any phone calls on my behalf, Mr Jordan just laughed and said “No lad, we think you are the best man for the job and it was I who rang your uncle to see if he thought you had the metal to be a good manager, lets just say he thinks you have admirable aspirations and so do I”
09-15-2007, 07:21 PM
Another Robson legend, only time will tell (BRC) Post #2
One of the conditions that Simon gave me the job was that I consulted him on all staffing decisions, he was fine with me hiring whomever as long as they brought something to the team and it was within the confines of the budget.
Assitant Manager Kit Symons brought a wealth of knowledge to the team, he was a Palace favourite and as such he was a required staff member according to Simon, I liked Kit though so there was no need to be getting rid of him, he also played 37 games and scored 2 goals for Wales.
Tony Burns was our goalkeeping coach and he knew his stuff and was pretty highly recommended while the only other senior coaching member was fitness coach Simon Davidson the 29 year old was unproven at this level but he was highly respected around the London circuit.
It was pretty clear we needed one or two more senior coaches.
We had 4 youth team coaches which was really one to many for me so Simon said he would be willing to terminate the contract Paul Lowe was the unlucky one to have his contract terminated while Simon Davidson, Gary Issott and Micky Hazzard all kept their roles at the club.
Physio’s Paul Timson and Paul Caton would head up that department and both men were professional and well known for their field of expertise.
We had a lot of scouts, 6 in fact, I found it strange we had so many and Simon just said it was a legacy of the past management and said I could chop and change that aspect where I liked. On my first day of the job though Fulham made an offer to Louis Langdown, as I wanted to see the numbers reduced I wished him all the best with his new club, the 30k fee we received was a nice bonus.
Wayne Turner accepted a mutual termination while we kept on Peter Mead who was in Holland scouting potential players there, Dereck Mardell was assigned to League one division. Ray Lowes was in charge of scouting England as a whole while Gary Seward would be scouting our opposition from game to game.
A couple days down the track seen Lee Hunt and David Green join the staff as senior coaches, Lee was a renowned tactician and good with helping out the more technical side of the game for players while David came in as the Forwards coach.
09-15-2007, 07:24 PM
Another Robson legend, only time will tell (BRC) Post #3
One of the many folders that littered my desk was the current first team squad, it wasn’t actually the full team squad as apparently there were some current reserve team members that should be up there as well, but this was the initial list that was given to me
Our keepers looked pretty solid with experienced Hungarian international Gábor Király retaining the number one spot, this would be the 30 year old veterans 3 year at Palace, and while his kicking was a little suspect he was pretty well rounded in all other areas, his backup this year was 20 year old Scott Flinders who had just signed from Barnsley, definitely an up and coming talent who at an early age looked to have the goods of an experienced keeper.
Defence was another area we looked solid in with a couple good youngsters, Arron Fray looked pretty good and versatile for a full back who could play either side, a good turn of pace and didn’t mind getting up the pitch would serve him well. Gary Borrowdale was another youngster with good prospects, a predominately left sided player with silky skills who could also play in the centre would be getting a fair bit of game time this year, he would share the left back duties with Palace veteran Danny Granville who at 31 was a little slower than Gary but was probably a little more polished, plus he added great experience to the back 4. Right back Danny Butterfield would be the starter in that position, but he needed to perform to keep out young Fray, Danny lacked a little of Fray’s pace but he made up for that with creativity and a great crossing ability.
Our centre backs were a little thinner but they all had pretty good technical skills, were maybe just a little slow if anything which means we will probably have to defend a bit deeper than I would of liked, but there’s no point in playing tactics that the players are not capable of doing. Darren Ward was the pick of the bunch the ex Millwall player was in his second season here, also coming from Millwall the 32 year old veteran Matt Lawrence was a new acquisition this year and his versatility will come in very handy, his ability to play anywhere in the back 4 or even just in front will make him a valuable team member this year. Leon Cort was another new player this year, he hails from Hull, most likely will play a back up role this year.
Our midfield stocks looked pretty good as well with a great blend of youth and experience wily old veteran Mark Kennedy had joined us from Wolves this year and his experience and know how would do the team well, with fantastic on the ball skills and still possessed a good turn of pace his would be an important player in the coming campaign. We also possessed the talents of the highly rated England under 21 international Tom Soares, good speed and technical skills were nothing compared to his sheer determination and work ethic, if he wasn’t a future England star then I’d be very surprised. Ben Watson was another youngster with a bit of talent a better passer of the ball than Tom but he didn’t have the same worth ethic, still a good prospect for the future. Carl Fletcher was another of our central midfielders and the Welshman had represented his country 15 times already in his 26 years, he was just one of those players that worked hard and went about his business.
Our more attacking midfielders included Stuart Green a technically gifted player who could play any where in the midfield, just lacked a little intensity and speed, 26 year old Paul Ifill was a right sided attacking midfielder who possessed plenty of pace, he had just moved here from the Blades, a decent talent and solid player at this level. Jobi McAnuff was a attacking winger with spent and talent in abundance he looked like being a fabulous player and I thought it was misprint when it said the 24 year old had already retired from international football, assistant manager Kit Symons confirmed that later though.
With only 3 strikers to choose from in the first team at the moment we were a little bare, 30 year old James Scowcroft was the hard working strong type who would make a good target man, he had a lean season at Coventry last year and was trying to resurrect his career here. Dougie Freedman had played 2 caps for his native Scotland and was a decent enough player I was hoping he would be able to capture his 2001/02 form he would most likely be the first choice in partnering 29 year old Finnish striker Shefki Kuqi who had joined from Blackburn this year, Shefki had a great turn of pace and was very good in the air.
Judging on the first team squad we had in front of me it was going to be a difficult task I think to win promotion this year, we needed another quality Centre Back and definitely a quality centre forward who could score goals.
The Reserve Team
Our only reserve keeper was Argentine Julián Speroni from what I can see he looked a decent talent and I was surprised to see the 27 year old languishing in our reserve team, I suppose with the signing of young Flinders he would again take a back seat, I would give him chance in the friendlies and see what he can do. David Wilkinson was on loan at Welling but I didn’t think he would see too much first team action.
The reserve team defenders looked promising with Phil Starkey, Mark Hudson both looking like promising centre backs in the future, young Welshman Rhoys Wiggins was touted as being a player of the future if he could overcome his knee injury, he was out for another 5 to 6 months with an acl injury
The midfielders here again showed a little bit of talent with young 18 year old Lewwis Spence looking a decent talent, languishing down here in the reserves was Northern Ireland legend Michael Hughes, the Irishman possessed all the mental skills you would expect of a veteran of his renown, he even still had the skills, he just lacked a little pace and stamina these days. Tommy Black and David Martin were the other two in the squad David was a little lacking in most departments and might be better suited to a lower division while Tommy was a good back up player.
Up front in the reserves two names stood out Charlie Sheringham was the son of famous English footballer Teddy and while only at 18 years old he shared a few of his old mans finishing skills, if he matured in to the player his old man was he would be a great asset to the club in the future. 27 year old Clinton Morrison was the other the Ireland player had already scored 9 times for his country in the 34 appearances, a good ability to finish and good movement off the ball would seen me add him back into the first team, I was surprised he wasn’t there in the first place.
09-15-2007, 11:03 PM
Another Robson legend, only time will tell (BRC) Post #4
We secured young centre back David Wheater from Middlesbrough on loan for the year, he looked a promising sort and maybe with a bit of luck we could sign him on a more permanent basis but we would have a year to weigh up those options and actually see how he gelled into the team.
Belgian Floribert N’Galula a 19 year old defensive midfielder from Man United signed a more permanent deal, we got the youngster for half a mil but the real steal was the wages he was willing to sign for, with our wage budget high and Steve Jordan wanting me to cut costs first before signing any new players we managed to get the youngster on £250 per week deal but with a higher bonus appearance fee and a decent hike in wages per year. I was pretty impressed with the youngster and his willingness to sign a reduced deal with the promise of better things ahead.
The 7th of July seen me travel up to the east coast to see Bobby receive an award and get named as a honorary president of the Ipswich club, I sat down with him again later and we discussed a few things including my appointment as manager of Palace and he gave a few good bits of advice that ill keep secret for now, as always he was in good spirits and told me that he wouldn’t add becoming honorary president of a club to the list of challenges that were before me.
Back at the club and it was time for our first friendly game which took us out to Madejski Stadium to take on Reading who won promotion to the Premiership last year by winning the Championship Division. We played a good solid game against Steve Coppell’s men and after 90 minutes we were probably a little unlucky to only have drawn the game 1-1. Reading scored first in the 50th minute when Danny Granville unluckily clipped the ball into the back of his own net but a good build up by us 5 minutes later seen some good pressure applied and as a result Jobi McAnuff was brought down unfairly in the box, Clinton Morrison had no problem with the spot kick to level the game.
21 year old Dong Fangzhuo joined the club from Manchester on a season long loan after a conditional work permit was granted for the move, with him and Wheater in the squad now we probably looked alright on paper for at worst a top half finish, the Blades put in an enquiry for Jamaican McAnuff we replied we would accept £2 mil for him even though I didn’t real want him to leave with his wages gone it put us back under the wage budget which was always good when trying to impress a new chairman!
Scottish team Hearts travelled to Selhurt Park for our second friendly game and after a slow opening 15 minutes by the team we stepped it up a gear and were never really troubled, Morrison scored his second goal in two games this time from open play after some good passing by the team, Mark Kennedy was credited with the assist. In truth we should of won by a lot more but it was the heroics of Scottish international and Hearts captain Craig Gordon that denied us any more additions to the score sheet, he was simply fantastic in the game and you can see a bright future for the 23 year old in years to come, he was probably a little hard done by when our centre back Darren Ward received the man of the match honours, Darren had a brilliant game though so don’t get me wrong.
The 15th seen us send in the paper work on the squad numbers for the season while we also received notification of the upcoming games that were picked for TV, all of them were home games for us with the season opener against QPR the first, then the game on the 10th of September against Roy Keane’s Sunderland followed by the game on the 2nd of December against Sheffield Wednesday.
The 17th seen us make the trip to Conference side Grays it was a horrible day where it was blowing a gale which was going to make good flowing play tough but it was also a chance to give some of the lesser likes a game and Charlie Sheringham made the most of his chances when he slotted one home in the 6th minute, a nice placed shot just out of reach of the keeper. Stuart Green made it 2-0 on the half hour when Arron Frays cross found him unmarked at the back post, with enough time to take a steadying touch and grab a cup of tea he made no mistake and so he shouldn’t of. Sheringham was dragged down in the box in the 67th minute and Stuart Green slotted home his second of the night from the spot kick to give us a 3-0 lead Grays scored a late consolation goal in the 88th minute to see the final score of 3-1. It was a pretty good game for us with the young side with Sheringham, Soares, N’Gualula and Arron Fray all playing very good games, but it was 25 year old Stuart Green who picked up the man of the match award for his two goals and silky passing.
Friendly number 4 seen us take the 4 hour trip North to play Huddersfield and in an entertaining game we managed to grab a 2-1 win, Jobi McAnuff showed his class with our first goal on 22 minutes, a first time volley from Glass’s cross would of left a premier division keeper with out chance, needless to say that the Terriers goalkeeper Matt Glennon never even got near it. Despite quite a few good chances to go further infront it was Huddersfield who levelled the scores in the 75th minute when they capitalised on a Darren Ward mistake, a great through ball by Ben Watson though released Dougie Freedman and he scored the eventual winner.
Off to Kidderminster for the 5th friendly game of the pre season and once it was again time to give a few of the fringe players are run, Sheringham once again starting to see what he could do. Soares took an early knock in the game so he came off in the 22 minute, just after Freedman put us ahead from his assist. Freedman grabbed his second on the half time whistle to give us a 2-0 lead at the break but in truth he should have had a hattrick by then or even maybe 4 with the amount of good chances he had. After the break Kennedy’s freekick from 30 yards gave us a 3-0 lead when his shot hit the woodwork and went in, then it was N’Galula who headed in a good cross from Ifill to make it 4 zip. James Snowcroft scored his first in the pre season campaign to make it 5-0 with 20 to play and it was becoming a rout. The scores seen no more additions and the final score was 5-0, it was a great performance by the lads, but you have to take into account the opposition, still I was pretty happy with the performance especially Mark Kennedy’s game in which he was awarded a well deserved man of the match.
Wednesday the 26th seen managing director Phil Alexander stop by, we had quite a few players coming out of contract at the end of the year and I was pretty keen to get a few signed up pretty quickly so I asked him over to my office, while discussing the contracts it became quite apparent that there wasn’t going to be any reasonable deals to be made that any of the players would accept that was until I got the wage budget back under what was expected. We talked about that for a bit, but I couldn’t really see any one I wanted to get rid off or move on that was going to make a dent in the £4000 we were over.
Our last game for the pre-season seen the team travel to Ireland to take on Galway United and I had a bit of paperwork to catch up on a upcoming games to look at so I handed the reins over to Kit Symons for the match, I also didn’t really feel like risking any of the first team squad so he took mostly an under 18’s team with only Scott Flinders and Charlie Sheringham making it from the first team. The team won 3-1 but apparently two of the goals were pretty much a total fluke, Charlie Sheringham’s goal for instance was from a freekick, their goal keeper kicked it out and hit it a bit low, Charlie turned his head trying to get out of the way but it hit him fair and square in the back of the head, the ricochet though went back over the head of the keeper and into the back of the net, I guess you take them any way you can get them really!
A pretty good pre-season for the team and hopefully we can build on the confidence that the performances have given us, a good season is expected from everyone including the chairman, fans and the majority of the press, I expect us to compete for atleast a playoff spot, we will be aiming for top 6 or better this year and with total bets odds of 3/1 the bookies thing we are a good chance aswell. Leeds and Birmingham are the favourites at 7/4 with West Brom at 2’s and Sunderland joining us at 3/1 while Wolves round out the best of the other teams at 5/1.
09-16-2007, 06:09 AM
Another Robson legend, only time will tell (BRC) Post #8
With the friendlies now out of the way it time for the important stuff, I had just finished my monthly column for the Club’s website and basically said no one here is getting excited over the pre-season form, we realise we didn’t play the best of competition in the lead up but we were happy with how that team was gelling so far, and with a lot of hard work we should achieve our aims of making a playoff spot this year.
Friday the 4th seen the League Cup first round drawn and we would be heading up towards Birmingham to the Bescot Stadium to take on League Two side Walsall, we had also seen huge interest in a few of our scouts with Fulham signing another of ours Dereck Mardell, he left to join Langdown at the Cottagers, another premiership side Bolton signed Peter Mead. With only two scouts now it made me wish I hadn’t jumped the gun and terminated Turner’s contract, but then again from all reports he wasn’t going to be missed anyway.
Before our first competitive game for the year we also had the first official club function it was more a supporter’s day really where we unveiled the team for the supporters did the Guernsey presentation and announced the captains, this year it was Veteran Michael Hughes while Darren Ward became Vice and then we had Matt Lawrence as the deputy.
The season opener was going to be a big game for the club as we took on London rivals QPR, the hoops were picked to struggle this season so it was no surprise we went into the game 5/4 favourites, the game being televised also added some pressure.
Well the pressure showed on our players in the first half as we failed to capitalise on some good early play, we took to long on the ball and as a result we didn’t get a shot away until the 36th minute but by then our less fancied rivals were running all over us, capitalizing on stupid mistakes. Captain Michael Hughes had made two shocking passes in the first 40 minutes which put the team under enormous pressure and it was the latter that let the Hoops get in and score the first goal, Gareth Ainsworth intercepted the pass if you can call having the ball knocked straight at him an interception and released Ray Jones in on goal, with only our keeper Király to beat he did it easily with a placed shot into the right corner.
I was less than flattering at the break with our performances up to the half and Hughes copped the fair brunt of my scathing attack, he was suppose to be the captain after all and lead from example, he was brought off and Tom Soars would take his place for the second half, the captains armband was passed to Ward.
A much improved second half seen the team sustain some good pressure on the hoops in their back half and we had a few good early chances with Kennedy and Morrision coming close early on. It was Shefki Kuqi who scored the equaliser for us in the 58th minute in his debut, he converted the spot kick which was given after N’Galula was hacked down in the box. The rest of the game seen both teams have some good chances the best of them went to QPR’s Gareth Ainsworth who intercepted another pass and went one on one with our keeper, Király was equal to the task though and made a fantastic save to keep us on level terms.
1-1 was the final score, I was pleased with our second half performance but not the overall game, Tom Soares was fantastic when he came on completing 20 of his 21 passes and working hard through the midfield and was probably the best of our players although N’Galula was good in his debut. No real surprise to the man of the match award and that went to QPR’s Gareth Ainsworth who had caused us a few problems all game, the 33 year old veteran played extremely well.
With no major injuries from the game and the players still reasonably fresh, it was the start of the season after all! We took virtually the same team up to Birmingham to take on Steve Bruce’s men, the only change was Tom Soares would start in stead of captain Michael Hughes who had fallen out of the squad altogether and was replaced by Ben Watson.
I was screaming at Granville in the first 2 minutes of the game after a stupid pass back in board gave the Blues their first chance for the game, thankfully nothing much came of it and we didn’t have an early goal scored against us. 10 minutes in seen me make a forced change as Kuqi had to come off the ground injured, Dougie Freedman his replacement.
At the break we were very very lucky to come in with a 1-0 lead we had been outplayed in similar circumstances to first half last game against QPR, still we could only improve so it bode well for us. It was another penalty that seen us go ahead this time it was Freedman who converted it, it was the only real chance we had in the first half and was scored very much against the run of play.
We started the second half a lot better and Freedman forced a good save from the Blues keeper but just before the hour we were a bit under siege and a few holes were beginning to appear, I made 2 subs with 25 to play, bringing on Ben Watson for Tom Soares and Gary Borrowdale for Danny Granville, N’Galula was also moved in front of the back four in an attempt to stop them running at us through the middle.
72 minutes seen the move pay off as N’Galula intercepted a great ball and set Morrision of on a quick counter, a good turn when he received the ball seen him past the last defender and on goal with only the keeper to beat, a powerful shot low and left as the keeper came out to close him down seen us take a shock 2-0 lead. 83 minutes seen us take a 3 goal lead when we hit Birmingham again on the break, Freedman the provider this time with a cross from the left wing and Morrison with a clinical strike to give him his second of the afternoon, the Blues pulled one back in the 89th minute when a long ball from the back allowed Bendtner to get in behind the defence and score a little to easily, but I can’t fault the teams endeavour through out the second half. Clint Morrison was awarded man of the match for his brace but it could of easily went to our keeper Gábor Király who also had a great game and kept us in the match early.
The 3-1 win moved us into 6th place but after 2 games you can’t read to much into that, Kuqi injury was only minor according to physio Paul Timson and he should only miss the one game.
Thursday the 10th seen Király called up to the Hungarian side for the friendly against Austria on the 16th, I was happy to see him picked but even happier that we wouldn’t lose him for any games.
09-16-2007, 07:39 AM
Another Robson legend, only time will tell (BRC) Post #9
The 12th seen struggling Plymouth come to Selhurst Park, they were picked to come in the lower echelon of league this year and 5-1 loss to Southend in the season opener and then a 1-0 home loss to Norwich suggested the pundits might be right, we were overwhelming favourites for the game but we still had to work hard and that was the message I gave to the team who ran out onto the pitch. The only changes were Dong Fangzhuo coming into the squad for the injured Kuqi while Freedman got the starting spot and Gary Borrowdale started at left back in place of Danny Granville.
Bookend goals for Dougie in the first half seen us take a convincing lead into the break but we still had some work to do and I didn’t want the players to slack off, we had enjoyed a 60 percent domination of possession and I wanted that to continue in the second half. I breathed a sigh of relief when Tom Soares scored his first goal for the year, a good cross by McAnuff was headed back across goal by N’Galula and Tom was there to coolly slot it into the bottom right corner. Fangzhou was given his first run in a competitive game and did ok although he didn’t manage to get a shot on goal. Plymouth scored a goal in the 70th minute when Wheater failed to get to a ball that he should of, it was one of those mistakes that irritate you and he seemed to make one every game although this was the first time that someone had capitalised on it. No surprises to see Dougie Freedman earn the man of the match.
With Saturday’s results we slipped in to first place with 7 points from our first 3 games.
Sunday seen Birmingham score their first win for the year with a good win over Preston in Preston, but the day also seen the launch of the Premier league with Liverpool overcoming a determined Chelsea 2-1 in the Community Shield.
Burnley manager Steve Cotterill put in a bid for young right back Arron Fray but with the initial bid under what he was valued with only a 25% sell on clause I just rejected the offer, the £50000 and £350 a week we gained from selling him wasn’t worth it.
Clinton Morrison was selected in the first team of the week, good reward from a good start to the season for the Irish striker.
Kit Symons reported that Gábor Király played in Hungary’s 2-0 loss to Austria, in which he had an average game, he wasn’t to blame for the two goals but he could have done a little better.
Friday night seen me thumbing through previous match reports and talking to scout Gary Seward and assistant Kit Symons for our Saturday match up against Cardiff we discovered that although they were in 9th place after three games they were in some pretty good form, a good 3-0 home win over Southend was the sole win for the year but the thing to take note of was that they still had not conceded a goal in the 3 games. They did have influential players Kevin Campbell and midfielder Stephen McPhail out injured so that would help, but it was still going to be a difficult game and that’s what I expressed in my pre match talk to the media, “I just wanted a good performance from the lads”.
Mark Kennedy was left out of the squad for the game so McAnuff moved over to the left wing while Paul Ifill came in for his first game for the year, Dong Fangzhuo also retained his spot on the bench as we let Shefki have another game to recover from his arm injury.
Cardiff off to a great start as Chopra scores in the first minute and we have further problems as Wheater is forced from the ground in the 7th minute with suspected broken ribs, Lawrence comes on for his first game of the year. A good break by Dougie down the right seen the ball passed to him by Ifill, Dougie cut back pass found Soares in good position and he forced the keeper to make a great save. Chopra netted another goal a minute later but thankfully he was flagged for offside and if that wasn’t lucky enough Darren Purse was sent off 30 seconds later for a dangerous tackle just outside the box, the ref had no choice but to send him off after the two footed challenge from behind.
Much to my disgust 3 minutes after the card a 10 men Cardiff scored their second when Chopra found him self unmarked from a Flood cross and he made the simplest of headers. After the lads battled on and we had a few good chances and finally we were rewarded just before the break when McAnuff’s nice little touch found Freedman who cannoned home his fourth goal for the season.
My instructions at half were clear, we can go for the win here although we are one behind, keep the pressure on, moving the ball around and make them chase us they will tire and it will make it easier to score, don’t rush things, and for farks sake Wardy keep a tight leash on Chopra in the second half.
51 minutes down seen the equaliser some great movement and play resulted in an opening down the left wing, Borrowdale and McAnuff combining well down there, McAnuff swung in the curling cross in which Morrison and defender Kevin McNaughton both jumped for, the ball glanced of McNaughtons head and went into the back of the net 2-2 now. Despite some good play we couldn’t crack the Welsh side’s defence again and the game ended up in a 2-2 draw which all in all was a good result for the team.
I was a bit surprised when Grimsby put in a offer to loan N’Galula for 5 months, the young man had been good for us so far this season with 3 assists and had played in our first four games, so I politely declined the offer saying at the moment he was doing well in our first team and I seen no reason in moving him down a couple divisions at the moment.
We took a different look team to Bescott Stadium for our league cup clash with Walsall, Flinders made his debut for the club starting in goal while Arron Fray at right back, Stuart Green at left wing and James Scowcroft striker also made their debuts by starting on the pitch, Leon Cort was also picked on the subs bench so there was every chance he too would make his first appearance for the club.
Although I had started a different looking team I expected the player to win against this sort of opposition Fangzhuo was given a start and I told him I expected a good performance from him in the match and his first half was exceptional he scored his first goal for the club after Michael Hughes played him in. He was lively causing all sorts of problems for their back 4 and he was clean through on goal when he had his jumper pulled and fouled in the 21st minute and Ian Roper was given a straight red for the infraction, the Walsall players complained but it was a pretty straight forward decision for the ref.
The game finished with us winning 1-0 and we should have won by more but the players got a bit intimidated by the dirty Walsall side.
Quote:
An angry Crystal Palace manager Jason Robson launched a scathing attack on the Walsall club after his sides 1-0 victory in the League Cup 1st round, Robson was far from happy with a lot of the tackles and general play from the Walsall players which seen two of the players sent off and another 2 with yellow cards for dangerous tackles.
Robson was quoted in the post match talks as saying “It was a pretty disgusting effort from them today and I think their manager Richard Money will have his work cut out getting that bunch of thugs promoted this year, unless he can curb that sort of crap they pulled today”
The Walsall manager refused to comment on Robson’s comments after the game.
On a brighter note Manchester United player Dong Fangzhuo looked lively and scored the winning goal and his first for the club in his man of the match performance he probably should of scored a few more but noticeably dropped of his workload at the end when he became the victim of a few nasty tackles.
09-16-2007, 07:39 AM
Another Robson legend, only time will tell (BRC) Post #10
The Champions league draw seen England represented in 4 different groups with Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United all there, Chelsea probably hard the hardest group with Real Madrid and Sporting CP in Group E, all 4 teams would be expected to progress though to the next stage.
Pre Match interview, Saturday 26th August
“Should be an easy win for your team today with a struggling Hull coming to town?”
“Not at all” I replied “Hull have the ability to cause us a few problems and we will take nothing for granted, if the lads play to my tactics and we play a good game then we should win”
“Fangzhuo had a good game last start but couldn’t force his way into the team today”
“Dong played well against Walsall and with a bit of hard work in training he will get some more game time in the league but Shefki is back to full fitness now so he’s been included in the squad for today’s game, while Kennedy also comes back in on the left and McAnuff goes back to the right.”
“Good luck for the game”
“Thanks” I said.
Post Match
“How would you describe today’s match?”
“A bit of a battle really which we expected from Hull, they’re a proud team and really took it to us today. We played well in the first half and Freed’s two goals gave us a good cushion, but in the second half I think we let Hull dictate play a little too much so I’m a little disappointed in that aspect, still we held on to win 2-1 so to get the 3 points is always pleasing”
“Freedman is playing well for you at the moment and again had a great match, surprised that he didn’t get man of the match?”
“Freed’s did have a great game but I think man of the match Ray Parlour deserved the award today, he was great all day and worked hard for his team and capped it off with a great goal, if it hadn’t been for a great save by Gábor he would have had two, so no I think Ray fully deserved the award today”
“End of the month and your team sits top of the table although Leeds have a chance tomorrow at the Owls to take top spot you must be happy with the start?”
“Yeah its great to get off to a good start, but we can’t get ahead of ourselves, after all it is only 5 games into the season, still it’s pleasing and the team is gelling well, all things going well and we should hopefully be able to maintain the good performances”
“Hopefully?”
“Well anything can happen, a few key injuries here and there can have an affect on the team, but even so we have enough depth I think to cope with just about anything”
“Thanks Jason and good luck for the rest of the Season”
Another Robson legend, only time will tell (BRC) 
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