Weekend review

Its been a busy old weekend of football, with many talking points and stand out action.  Here is my take on just a bit of it.

All the talk leading up to this weekend was all about the "biggest rivalry" in English football history the big match between Liverpool and Manchester United at Anfield.

Brendan Rodgers

Liverpool were coming into this game unbeaten this year, their opponents had been on a decent run of form themselves so it had all the makings of an absolute classic, lets face it the Liverpool fans were up for it, the Man Utd fans were up for it, even the Sky sports presenters couldn't contain their excitement but probably the person who was most up for it more than any other person was Steven Gerrard.  Unfortunately for Stevie G his manager Brendan Rodgers wasn't as up for it and decided that in such a big game, which undoubtedly would have suited a player like Gerrard, Rodger's however decided that a better option would be Joe Allen,  Joe Allen that amazing midfielder that has waved his magic wand in so many crucial games in the past, Joe Allen who has scored so many important goals in so many big games in the past.  So in his last ever game against Manchester United for Liverpool Stevie G starts on the bench.  After trailing by a goal to nil at half time and being bullied at home as they were by their arch rivals Rodgers realised he needed another leader on the pitch and at half time he decided to release his skipper.  Now whether it was the frustration of being dropped or whether it was just the  pent up disappointment of being dropped Gerrard cam on the pitch at the restart and promptly lasted less than a minute after he decided to stamp on Ander Herrera's leg in front of the ref and got himself sent off..  Gerrard came out after the game and apologised for his actions, Liverpool went down 2-1 and the game was won by a fantastic scissor kick effort by Juan Mata.  The thing is even if Gerarrd had started the game there is no guarantee that Liverpool would have won but I reckon the whole reason The reds had to play with 10 men for basically a whole half is down to the poor decision making of the manager more sop than the poor decision making of his high profile skipper, don't get me wrong what Stevie G did was awful but I think Brendan Rodgers should shoulder at least half the blame.

Stevie G is dismissed after less than 60 seconds

Just before the other Super Sunday game between Hull and Chelsea, Mr charisma Steve Bruce said in his interview that he was looking forward to the game and that it was great to play against the big teams and that at the moment Chelsea were one of the best in Europe.  Yep that's right Steve Bruce only just behind the last eight left in the Champions league.

Steve "Mr Charisma" Bruce

In the game between Spurs and Leicester this weekend something cropped up that my mate has been saying is wrong for many a year with the offside rule.  My mate has always said that if your offside you should be offside or one day somebody, more than likely a goalkeeper will get injured because he will come out for a ball that he didn't need to come for.  Saturday afternoon at White Hart Lane this warning that wasn't headed came true when Hugo Lloris came out and got injured  whilst closing down a Leicester striker who wasn't flagged offside until he touched the ball, the FA will say the rule was brought in to make sure there are more goals, for me it's bollocks more goals is one thing but more injuries? is that really a good thing.  It looks as though the Spurs keeper could be out for upto 6 weeks now, it's great news for reserve keeper Michel Vorm but what if Lloris's injury costs Spurs a Champions league place, oh well at least there is more goals.

Lloris should have just let it in!!

After the game Nigel Pearson the Leicester boss described the referee of this game Mike Dean as one of the most arrogant men he had ever met, and in a weekend when so many refereeing decisions were made wrong again and when there has been an outcry from all quarters about help from referee's it was interesting to hear a manager talking about how unapproachable and non- human some of these officials really are.  It has to be saiud though that Dean's decision to give a penalty for a coming together in the area between David Nugent and Danny Rose was laughable and although Pearson does like a moan I have a lot of sympathy with him after his team put in such a hard working performance and came away with nothing.

The best refereeing cock up though has to be Neil Swarbrick's mistaken identity when he sent off Gareth McAuley instead of Craig Dawson for West Brom against Man City, it was an easy mistake to make as one of the players has 23 on his shirt and one had 25.  The thing is couldn't somebody have told him.  Unlucky Mr Smallbridge.

A case of mistaken identity for referee Oliver Smallbridge.

https://youtu.be/963rvvmHdtg Nigel Pearson describes Mike Dean as arrogant.

Talking of Danny Rose, the former under 21 international has been drafted in to the England squad for their upcoming games between Lithuania and Italy due to injury to Manchester United's Luke Shaw.  I have said it before that we ate going to qualify for the European championships ayt a canter and it would have been a perfect time to try out new players who maybe haven't had a call up before and are in form for their club at the moment, instead Hodgson decides to pick the same old names so when we get to the major tournaments and we get an injury to a first choice player in a certain position we replace with someone who has either not played much for his club or has played pretty poorly for his club when he could have used the opportunity to blood in a better option in qualifying.  In the end it will be the same story we will qualify with ease and then come home after the group stages, and the FA will be scratching their heads about what is wrong with the English national team.  This is what is wrong the fact that you wont hire a manager with a pair of bollocks, and instead settle for a yes man who is a safe choice.  The FA might say well he picked Harry Kane, that was quite brave, A deaf, dumb and blind person couldn't have failed to notice what Harry Kane has done this season so he shouldn't get the credit for that.  The fact that he refuses to call up players in form like Aaron Cresswel and Ryan Bertrand, and to continue to pick the likes of  Andros Townsend and Kyle Walker and to call up Danny Rose shows his lack of ambition as an England coach.  England will not win a major tournament as long as they keep picking managers like this, this country needs a Venables type or even better a Cloughie type and until that happens we are just going to be shit.

Even Danny Rose was shocked at getting called up for England

Saturday saw what would have been Brian Clough's 80th birthaday.

This man was an absolute master when it came to management and he should have been given the England job after winning the European cup with Nottingham Forrest for the second time in 1980.  Alas he wasn't and yet still today we wonder why we haven't won anything since 1966.  In a time when it is ok apparantly to crowd referees and put pressure on them, Brian Clough will be turning in his grave.  Clough was a manager who wanted to win things the right way and within the rules of the game, unfortunately the game nowadays is more about winning at any cost, and anything goes, grown men throwing themselves to the floor and international team-mates trying to get one another sent off, football is becoming a laughing stock all round the world and it is such a shame that as a football fan I have to endure the game I love lose it's dignity.  It's such a shame that the world of football has too many overpaid, mollycoddled, spoilt, cheating players, arrogant referees and one dimensional managers.

Legend!

Even the governing bodies don't give a shit about the football, the FA do nothing too improve the game in this country because they can't, because money talks and the Premier League are what rule football in this country.  The FA don't give a fuck about grass roots football either, if they did they wouldn't have suggested such rubbish as Premier league B teams playing in the lower leagues.  The FA remind me of a business that was once run by a family and then taken over by someone who has no clue about the business they are walking into, all they have is money making ideas, when the ideas fail some other money man comes in and so it continues on and on.  The more clueless people who take over the further away becomes the solution.

The FA should be run by football people, who have been successful in the game, people who care about the sport and who want English football to succeed at all levels of the game.

The game has gone and I don't see it getting any better anytime soon.

RIP Brian Clough!!

RIP English football!!  

Abu inspires sharp Daggers!!

Two great wins against Tranmere away and Plymouth at home last night sandwiched a slightly disappointing defeat at Victoria Road  to Southend on Saturday.

Not that I was expecting the Daggers to really get anything against their high flying Essex rivals, but it was just the manner in which we lost the game that left a bad taste in the mouth.

The truth is we were always in the game on Saturday until that fateful moment in the second half when Damien Batt decided he would forget everything he learned and was taught as a kid and blatantly handle the ball in the area and give away a stupid spot kick.  The penalty was converted and the game was basically dead and gone from that moment.

Handball!!

It's so true what people say in the game about thin margins and big decisions changing games, well Saturday's game was certainly proof of that fact.  Even though we conceded on the verge of half time to trail 2-1, I still believed we could get back into the game second half, mainly because the last thing that Southend needed was the break after scoring so late in the half.  If we had come out and scored in the second half,  Batt hadn't decided to to become a cross between a kung fu fighter and a fucking ballerina and if Wayne had decided to put Jodi Jones on about 15 minutes earlier, we may have salvaged something from this game.

Don't mess with Damien Batt's Tutu!!

At the end of the day there is a lot of if's and but's in that last paragraph but as I stated at the start I wasn't expecting anything from this game anyway but the disappointment stems from seeing how it all could have been so much different.  Oh well Southend were good value for their win and did what teams at the top of the league have to do to give themselves a chance of automatic promotion and that is to come to places like ours and get a win.

Last night however we were up against a team just outside the play-off places who came to our gaff hoping to not get beaten, Plymouth although they are in good form at the moment were always coming to Victoria Road to get a point or try and knick a 1-0 win but unfortunately for the Pilgrims they came up against a Daggers side who were hungry for victory.

Last night the Daggers did themselves justice and put in a dominant performance in a game they controlled for the majority of the 90+ minutes against a team who it had to be said didn't offer much of a threat in the attacking third, and any danger they did pose was dealt with professionally by our boys in red.  It was a very pleasing performance all round, it was also very pleasing to see captain Abu Ogogo back and showing everyone what a fantastic right back he is, I have said it so many times not only is he the best right back this club has ever had, he is without doubt the best right sided full back in the league, in that position he is good enough to play in the championship.  Abs was rightly given man of the match last night and he showed fantastic awareness and desire to get on the end of the chance in the first half to claim his 4th goal of the season.

Abs, best right back in the league

I would also like to give a mention to Luke Howell who I think after a shakey start has started to get used to his role in the team, he put in a good shift last night and even started taking up wide positions to support his team mates.  Whilst I am given players credit I must mention the legend that is Jamie Cureton, you just knew last night after he missed that chance when he took the ball down so well, that if he was to get another chance he was going to bury it.  Absolute class from this years player of the season elect, I really hope he has a contract extension clause that will keep him here for another year, the fact he has scored 15 goals this term at the age of 39 is incredible, long may it continue and hopefully he will reach 20 goals mark.

 Dr Monkatron and I were discussing Cureton last night at the  game and we likened his capture in the summer to that of the signing of Mark Stein, in a way though the signing of Jamie may have been a better signing as Steino was slightly younger and scored his goals in the conference, JC is still doing it in the league.

The only downside to last night in my opinion was the performance of Ashley Chambers, don't get me wrong I am not one to pick on our players but really, what was he doing last night.  If he only he had the impact that he did at the start of the season in the number 10 role I wouldn't mind, but too many times last night he was hiding.  When I was a kid and playing football with the school or whatever I remember there were games where I was just not up for it and would literally go hiding behind the opposition, Chambers was never showing for the ball and never supporting his team mates, the only time he looked threatening was when he somehow managed to pick the ball up and run at people, if he could have only made a decision instead of holding the ball for far too long and then losing  it or playing a pass to nobody we may have won last nights game by a lot more.  Even for Abu's goal he should have scored himself but he decided to come over all Forrest Gump and keep running, as for his attempt (and I use that term loosely) at goal in the second half it was so poor, but maybe we shouldn't be too surprised given his appalling miss against Stevenage on Boxing Day I think it was.  I hope Ashley can turn it round and re-learn and recapture the way he played in the role of number 10 in the early part of the season, he does have pace and he does have control of the ball when he is running with it, I just wish he would do fucking something with it, we would be such a better team if he could.

It was also nice to see Jodi Jones sign his first professional contract on Saturday and I really hope we confirm our safety soon so that boy can get a proper go at it, he is gonna scare the life out of defenders in the future.

Last night also so the return of the alternative stadium announcer, although his claims of liquid football may have been a bit far fetched it was a breathe of fresh air to have someone who is positive about things and really gets into the whole thing, fair play to you mate and I hope you are more of a regular fixture over Viccy Road in the future.  And whilst we are on the subject I wonder if the Daggers player commentator at the weekend is the Northern one who always seems to put a positive spin on the game and how we are playing and paints a picture so you don't have to think too hard about what is happening.  No offence to Stuart Smith who is a well respected commentator in his own right but I just find his commentary so negative and it seems that he always just wants to offer his opinion, don't get me wrong I know he is a fan of the club but sometimes I wish he would just give me the details of the game so I can just make my own mind up about things instead of being told we are shit all the time.

Anyway on to the next one and it is Stevenage away it is obviously going to be another toughy but hopefully it will be back to back wins and another step toward safety, although I would take a draw right now.

Come on you Daggers!!

Up the Daggers!!

Daggers do enough to deflate Pools.

Since my last post about the Daggers which was after the home game against Portsmouth, Wayne Burnett's men pulled out a fantastic away win against Morecambe only to follow it up with 2 defeats against Burton at home and Mansfield away.

To be fair I didn't expect us to get anything against the Brewers even though we took the lead in that game, but I was quite hopeful of at least a point at Mansfield, so to lose there was a bit disappointment.  Last night however was the perfect chance for us to get back to winning ways.

Hartlepool United currently lie rock bottom of the league 2 table and it is starting to look desperate for them even despite coming into last nights game on the back of a brilliant victory at home to AFC Wimbledon at the weekend.

Jeff Stelling and his mate were rumoured to be in attendance last night.

According to the bookies before last nights game the Daggers were only slight favourites to win based basically upon home advantage, but there weren't much in it, which I felt was a bit strange considering the gap of ten points and 4 places between us and them in the league.

I had mentioned in my last post about how I was looking forward to playing Hartlepool at home and that I was expecting us to do a number on someone soon and win by a large scoreline.  Having said this I was aware that last night was not going to be that night after Saturday's result.  As I walked to the ground I was confident of the win but my hopes of a big win from a few weeks ago had all but diminished.  If we had got a positive result on Saturday I think the momentum would have carried through and the Monkey Hangers could have been on the end of a good pasting, unfortunately the defeat against the Stags made it clear to me that there would be no 5 or 6 goal trouncing come the end of 90 minutes last night.

The game itself wasn't much of a spectacle at times but in the end the better and stronger team which were the Daggers won through with a deserved 2-0 victory.

New loan signing from Brighton Shamir Fenelon made his first start for his new team, he wore the recently vacated number 9 shirt which was going spare since Rhys Murphy's move to Oldham.  The new boy started quite brightly and looked quite comfortable on the ball, he played one fantastically weighted pass to Ashley Hemmings in the first half that ultimately set up our first goal.  As the game wore on though he began to tire a bit and looked to fading out of the game, which is understandable as it takes a bit of time to settle in.  What I saw of him though was quite good and but for a couple of inches he could of opened his goalscoring account when his second half header flashed by the post with the Pools goalkeeper stranded.  All in all it wasn't a bad home debut and hopefully he will make a telling contribution up front with Jamie Cureton during his time here.

New loan signing Fenelon

The game was won from the Daggers man of the match Billy Bingham on 66 minutes when he curled a powerful left footed free kick into the top corner in off the woodwork.  Me and mate discussed the fact that if that goal was scored in the Premier league it would be shown time and time again from every angle, unfortunately at Victoria Road there is only the one camera and it is on the wrong side of the pitch to truly do this goal justice, even so take a bow son, you should be very proud of your effort.

Daggers celebrate Bingham's great strike.

Before the game Abu Ogogo had been replaced in the starting line up by Damien Batt for what must have been an injury in the warm up.  Batt was brought in and Ian Gayle was promoted to the bench.  It would have been nice if someone had told the Stadium announcer though before the game as he was still under the impression that Abs was in the team and wearing the armband even though Scott Doe lead the team out.

Batt didn't put in a bad shift at right back in the captains place, and although Scott Doe didn't have his best performance in a Daggers shirt last night I am always pleased to see him as skipper.  Personally I have always been a believer that he should be this teams captain and that the only reason Abs got the armband was to keep him at the club.  Doey for me epitomises what a lot of people have been saying has been missing from the club lately, the closeness of the players and fans, the roll your sleeves up and get stuck in and the "what it is to be a Dagger" spirit.  As I walked out of the ground last night, there was Scotty at the front of the players clapping the supporters just like he is every week, at one point he ran over to the Bury Road End to sign a few programmes for a few young fans.  Scott's attitude is the same week in and week out, he is a throw back to the days of Lee Matthews and Timmy Cole and in my opinion as long as he is at the club it will still have that " Old Dagenham" feel to it.

Doe has the Daggers spirit.

Saturday sees us on the road again and a tough encounter with Tranmere Rovers.  Tranmere are 22nd in the league and 6 points behind the Daggers so hopefully we can take the momentum and a bit more confidence into this game and get revenge for the 1-0 defeat they inflicted on us back in December.

I'm going for a win for us and with the upcoming fixtures in March if we can pick up some points and not drop too many then come the start of a very tough April we could be all but safe and hopefully playing with a bit more release.

You never know if we have nothing to play for come 14th April and the visit of John Still and his happy Hatters, we may just put a hefty dent in his promotion dreams and give our own fans a performance to cheer for.

Up the Daggers!!!