Tyrone Shoelaces

Good free kick, ours went in row z.

Dembele or Hedges, let me think about that for a millisecond !

A really, really tired performance. We played like we’d been made to walk it from Blackburn to Oxford before the game. Out enthused again, much too static, much too deep, too much walking football, second to too many 50/50 balls, lost too many headed challenges etc. etc. We played for about 15 minutes at the end of the first half and 10 minutes at the end of the second half, other than that Oxford ran the show. I’m more than disappointed, for large parts of the game it was like having teeth pulled. I wouldn’t have started with ACD and Gueye. One is a boy playing against men and the other one is much better coming on for the last half an hour. Scores Pears 6, bsck to the shaky Pears of old. Palming balls back into the danger area. How did that free kick go through the wall ? Brittain 6, did his best but only got forward right at the death. Hyam 6, a decent performance. Baath 6, ditto Beck 6, kept their winger reasonably quiet and showed him the running track a few times. Could only get forward at the death like Brittain. ACD 5, I’m sorry but he’s out of his depth. Got out muscled all the time and was giving the ball away for fun before he got subbed. Tronstad 6, too busy firefighting, which led to his injury. Buckley7, MOM, our best player.he looked really dangerous playing higher up the pitch. Dare I say it - better than Cantwell in that advanced position. Cantwell 6, worked hard but he was another who kept losing possession. Weimann, 5, another who is playing from memory. He shouldn’t be starting. Last 20 minutes player. Gueye 6, did his best and held the ball up well. Our attacking threat went when he went off. Stupid booking. Subs, Forshaw 5, another 20 minute player being asked to play 60. His poor pas led directly to their free kick. Dolan 5, did nothing. Hedges 5, see Dolan. JRC, 6, tried his best. Leonard 5, absolutely no service but the lad has no presence what so ever. Did he actually touch the ball, Going out for a pint now but more later.

Although he wasn’t very big you kicked him at your peril. He could look after himself.

When he came at first and was playing a slightly deeper role he was pretty ordinary. It was only when we pushed him further forward to the left of the front line that he became the goal scoring machine we all loved.

Yep, Ronnie moving in to block the shot.

That’s ok by me. Just another quick player who’ll always be troubled by muscle injuries.

Don’t forget the agents filling their boots. All money going out of the game. They don’t put a penny back.

There’s a good photo of him playing against England in 1960 in today’s “ Guardian “. Ronnie Clayton, who was captaining England that day, is blocking a Law shot with Jimmy Armfield looking on. 130,000 on Hampden Park that day. An interesting fact regarding the game - Bobby Charlton, who had already scored an equalising penalty, was given another penalty very late in the game. The keeper ( Frank Haffey, remember “ What time is it ? “ - “ 9 past Haffey “ ) saved the first pen but the ref ordered it to be re-taken. Charlton put that attempt wide, becoming the only England player ever to take three penalties in a game.

We had to start with Weimann up front. That tells me we need a striker asap.

I have three vivid memories of him as a player. The first was him leaping like a salmon to head in a corner for Scotland against England. He got up so high it looked like he was heading the ball down into the top corner. For a relatively small guy he could really jump. The second is they were playing Wolves at Molineux in the FA Cup. Law had been sprinting away when he was brought down about 30 yards out from goal. Without really getting fully stood up again he spotted the Wolves keeper off his line and he chipped him from 30 yards out from a crouching position ! The other one was in a European Cup game at Old Trafford. He’d chased a through ball up to the opposing keeper. The ball bounced off the keeper back towards the penalty spot. Law set off running after the ball with his back to goal. There were other Utd players coming into the box and 99 out of 100:players would have laid the ball off so they could have a shot at goal. Law reached the ball and calmly back heeled it into the far corner. A truly brilliant player on his day. I can’t think of a similar player playing today. He was unique.

And all the while the “ winnable “ games are going by.

I wouldn’t exactly say that but for a player his height he was very, very good. He had a really tremendous spring. He was a constant threat whenever Rovers played Utd back then. Bobby Charlton had off days, George Best had off days, but Denis never seemed to have an off day. On his day a truly brilliant player. He played for The Rest Of The World when they played England. Thanks for the memories Denis.

Under Mowbray they needed two months to “ Get used to our way of playing “.

Because they aren’t looking.

Get Beck to have a word with him. He’s thrived at Ewood.

We should have had our ducks in a row as soon as we knew Ohashi was going to be out for a while. No excuses. They just couldn’t care less.

And then get fired in the following January when we are bottom of the Prem ? Err, no. Let’s hang around a bit longer at Ewood.

Do a swap deal with Dolan or Hedges ?

The doubts set in for me right at the end of the promotion season and the following close season. Up until then I had been a fan of his. He showed minimal ambition to kick on when the club was briefly on the crest of a wave. After that I was just waiting for him to leave. It turned out to be a long wait !

He won’t come here if Stoke are interested. He won’t have to move house or spend hours driving back and forth if he signs for them. The days of us paying well over the odds to make it worth his while are long gone.

Stealers Wheel - Stuck In The Middle With You

That’s a very short team height wise. Given we’re the away team they should be getting a few corners and free kicks.

I’ve watched it from lots of different angles. It seems he misjudged the flight of the ball early on but manages to get his head in the right place at the last second. There was a lot of bend and dip on the cross so that’s understandable. He did really well to direct it past the keeper.

At least he was smart enough to come in from behind the far post where he’ll always be jumping with full backs. Only one winner there.