Sunderland? Muamba on TV? New goalkeeping coach? SKD player of the month? December is weird.
Afternoon all. It seems like about a week when I wrote a normal article rather than a match preview and, looking down, it turns out it is. How time flies.
In fact, I had to look to see that it was Tuesday. Overtime and shift work, all at your expense, has seen me have one day off in eighteen days and the days are blending into one. Still, it will pay for that Best of Brookside DVD that Mrs X is getting from Christmas.
Saturday saw me having to keep up with Twitter to see how we were doing and by the end I wished I hadn’t. Sunday saw me having to see on Twitter who we had drawn in the FA Cup. The draw saw us play a team that is about as exciting as rubbing cream into your piles. And about half as sexy. Sunderland. If we were to get a Premier League team, why did it have to be Sunderland? A poll taken directly after the draw saw 95% of Bolton fans saying that they were doing their hair that day. It doesn’t exactly bring in the New Year with a bang. And who wants to see Martin O’Neill jumping up and down the touchline like a spasmodic jack in the box whilst your still getting over your hangover? No thanks.
It was good to see reports that Fab was at the ground on Saturday, actually doing something about hearts rather than being a media tart. And he has said that he believes that overtraining may have led to his arrest. Which is a good enough reason for me to stop that cycling to work I was thinking about doing in the New Year.
‘I think I pushed myself very, very far to the point where, maybe I went too far with it. I was fit but I wanted to be even fitter. I wanted to come back even fitter than the other guys.‘
Having looked at what happened last season, you could say that he didn’t really need to try that hard, and a specialist disagrees, although does confirm that there was a possibilty that overtraining may have brought forward the inevitable. Anyway, Fab says this on ITV4 tonight at 10pm as his media whoredom continues.
Elsewhere, in the merry go round of football, with Crystal Palace bringing in a new goalkeeping coach, it looks very much like Dougie’s backroom staff will soon be joined by Lee Turner, which may well see the end of the unwanted Phil Hughes, the man who makes goalkeepers parry balls. Probably.
Having joined Wanderers from Burnley with OC, who then tried to get rid of Fred Barber before Jussi pulled his lip out, since Jussi’s departure in the summer, Hughes has had sole control of the goalkeeping coaching. And, whilst Bogdan has made some eye catching saves, he has also shown some gullibility in coming for the ball and also, yes, parrying shots. I always found it strange how Jussi went from being a good shop stopper, one of the best in the league, to having real issues. Age may have had something to do with it, but eyes may now be raised at the small renaissance he is enjoying at West Ham. Meanwhile, Bogdan stagnates.
As a goalkeeper, albeit not a very good one (Sheffield University 2nd XI), I know the virtue of having a coach you can trust. And if Jussi trusted Barber, and passed that trust onto Bogdan, you can understand that the younger keeper would have some issues. Which is why he needs a new goalkeeping coach.
Elsewhere, to put some people’s teeth on edge, SKD has won player of the month. A pretty fairly deserved award in my opinion. He may polarise opinion now more than ever, but last month he did the job that he is paid to do. Relegation may have done him some good as last season’s struggles are behind him and he would never have been able to put in the performances that he has been doing in the higher league. Legend? Possibly. But don’t kid yourself that he would be banging them in against the top teams anymore.
And with that I will bid you goodbye. I dare say that Al will be along tomorrow with another one of his nocturnal mutterings. And I will be back on Thursday. Now I have a machine gun. Ho-Ho-Ho.