VIEW FROM THE GALLOWGATE
HAVE you ever been watching a TV programme or a film, and you see someone in it who you recognise but can’t quite place?
Well, this was the case when viewing highlights and reading about the match at Palace. I was thinking, “Wasn’t that the team who hammered PSG and soundly beat top-four, free-scoring Spurs? I could have sworn it was them.”
Frankly, it was yet another away game where we’ve stunk the place out, even allowing for Palace’s new-manager bounce.
It was made worse by the heightened expectation from the aforementioned Spurs game, you would have thought we could at least muster a shot on target before second-half injury time.
We had players returning from injury, 10 days to prepare and the prize of a top-six finish, but not for the first time it was a mini-false dawn.
Saturday was the ideal chance at redemption. Home to hapless Sheffield United. Watching the first half was like going back to the dull days of Bruce and McClaren. It was, to be charitable, ponderous.
The Blades manager was correct – we could have been three down at halftime. I shudder to think what Howe said at the interval, but it worked. The transformation was astonishing, and we looked like scoring every time we attacked.
I was even afforded the luxury of an early bail-out on injury time to catch a train. I couldn’t see that at half-time, well maybe, but it might have been for a different reason if we hadn’t pulled our collective socks up.
All in all, job done and we move on to Burnley this weekend, hopefully to continue the secondhalf performance.
I’ll end with an observation/ whinge, which in the great scheme of things is probably equitable to winning an expenses paid date with Kaley Cuoco and moaning about the colour of her shoes.
Sheffield’s goal came from a corner, which came about because, as is the way in the modern game, when in a tight spot near the corner flag you must pass it between yourselves at least five times.
Just boot the damned thing clear and re-group – you don’t get extra league points for artistic impression.