r00fie1
Well-known member
It's that time again>>>>
Michael Carrick admitted he found it hard to sleep after Tuesday night's brilliant performance against Chelsea in the first leg of the Semi-final of the Caraboa Cup. It is certainly a night that was up there amongst the best. The atmosphere, a capacity crowd, an air of expectation and excitement, the TV camera's and a crisp cool night at The Riverside. It was a tough call, with two of the boys being replaced within the first twenty minutes. Certainly, the game-plan had to be changed, and the formation tweaked slightly. Nevertheless, with Josh Coburn dragging players out of position, Jones keeping a few £80+M`s players in his pocket and a superb overall effort - the noise when Hackney slotted the ball into that net was deafening! There was an earthquake which originated in TS3 6RS and went around the world on TV and radio. As Carrick said in his Media Conference Thursday:
It was a special night for everybody. A lot of people will remember that night for a long time, and rightly so, because it was a big achievement in itself from the boys to beat a team like that.
It was terrific to see all four stands “rocking”! The scarves held aloft made up a sea of red an white from the pitch side to the back of the stands. The singing and vocal support was off the scale, and the lads on the pitch seemed to thrive off it. Enthusiasm is infectious, and it was important for those younger fans to experience what being in a major cup competition is like. The Villa game was an significant one-off occasion for the lads to test themselves, but Chelsea was different. Physically, it was a difficult second half and the players were absolutely knackered by the final whistle. Said Carick:
The noise, the energy, the boys needed it at times. The second half especially, and that was when it was almost…..it was vital that they felt that and give them the boost to get through it. Certainly, from the start, you could feel it, you could feel a sense of something a little bit different around the stadium and that's what those nights are for. That's what I've said about cup runs and special nights. You got to take them, you got to embrace them, you got to enjoy them and, we certainly did that.
But, there are no assumptions to be made about the challenge of our game this weekend against Millwall. We can forget all about Chelsea and the Cup for now. It's back to the Championship and the battle to get up that league table. Millwall are a tough cookie, and we've had some tricky games against the Lions from The Den. No time now to take the foot off the pedal.
Millwall have Joe Edwards in charge, whose talent and ability is not to be under-estimated. He took up his first coaching post at the age of 17 (!) having just been released from the Chelsea youth team. He worked his way up and eventually became Assistant Manager to Frank Lampard in the 2019 - 2020 season. He remained at Chelsea after Lampard was sacked and eventually rejoined him at Everton. The day after Guido Fawkes Night in 2023 he took over at Millwall and has done a sterling job in rebuilding the team and taking it forward.
Carrick is in no doubt about what we are facing on Saturday:
We know what it's like down there, and it's a tough place to play, but the same point, it's a great place to play. I love those type of atmospheres when there's a bit of an edge to it, and it's noisy and it's lively. You got to find a way of playing your best football, so we look forward to it.
…..they're playing well at the moment, they've had some really, really, good results and they're a really good team and Joe [Edwards] has done a good job. We know what we're facing.
There are some positive signs with players coming back into the frame from injury:
Lewis O`Brien is ready to return, Hackney slotted straight back into role, Marcus Forss is back in training, Anfernee Dijksteel isn't expected to be out too long, Luke Ayling has joined the group, alongside Azaz Finn.
Paddy McNair is “not quite ready”, but there are the lads to come back from International duty and a few more besides. Carrick has said previously that he won't just sign players to provide temporary cover and, it's a testament to him and his staff's skills and belief in the players, that they have pulled through the busy Christmas period.
Said Carrick:
If we get Lewis, Marcus, obviously Finns added to the group, and Luke, so I feel like we've had a bit of a boost. I know we've lost a couple in Bangura and Latte Lath, but nevertheless, it feels good to have the boys in and around the training group and they trained well today. Anfernee….shouldn't be too long. Hopefully, in the next week or so, may be ten days, we'll get him back around it. Finn has settled in really well. I think in some ways it's been good for him to have a few days settling in, getting used to the surroundings, used to the boys. He's the same as Luke [Ayling] as you can imagine: he's fit, he's raring to go. We've got some good options to choose from, so we'll see what kind of direction we go with.
There is also a conundrum about whom to play across the middle (?) with Howson, Hackney and Barlaser all fit and performing well. Barlaser has improved in leaps and bounds during recent times when the squad has been squeezed by injuries and the weight of expectation has been placed, sometimes by force of circumstances, upon his shoulders. Hackney played a little higher up the pitch on Tuesday, which appeared to suit his game. He is definitely a class lad, and there's been scouts and media all over him this season. But that shouldn't detract from the job we have to do. It's good to have the choice at last and it must surely give Carrick and the staff less of a headache. It will also enable a degree of flexibility and rotation and the opportunity to `mamange` players to get the best out of them.
The boss seemed relaxed at the end of a busy week, preparing for the third game in 8 days:
It's nice to have good players to choose from, I'll tell ya. We've got that [choice] in a few positions to be honest and, flexibility and good options. It's great to see Dan [Bolaser] and Johnny [Howson] have done an unbelievable job over….seem to be playing every game now for six weeks and one of the busiest periods of the season. You can see that in terms of their kind of connections and wavelength and the confidence that they're playing with. Obviously, Hayden [Hackney], we know what [he's] capable of and he stepped back straight into the game last week and looked like he'd never been away. That's not easy. So, we've got good options and Hayden can play a bit higher up at times. So, we can be a little bit flexible with that. It's great to have the options you know. We've got games coming up, where we'll have to pick and choose a little bit, but the boys work well together whoever plays.
Here we go again on the football roller-coaster. It may have been far back in October since we had back-to-back wins in the league, but we can do it. Our players have experienced more in a few months, in terms of being adaptable, playing in different positions, filling in for injured players, facing top Premier sides and hearing the Riverside Roar.
For our young lads, it's a steep learning curve.
Let's keep the momentum going and get behind the lads like we've done every game, home and away.
UTMB!
r00fie1 12/01/2024
It was a special night for everybody. A lot of people will remember that night for a long time, and rightly so, because it was a big achievement in itself from the boys to beat a team like that.
It was terrific to see all four stands “rocking”! The scarves held aloft made up a sea of red an white from the pitch side to the back of the stands. The singing and vocal support was off the scale, and the lads on the pitch seemed to thrive off it. Enthusiasm is infectious, and it was important for those younger fans to experience what being in a major cup competition is like. The Villa game was an significant one-off occasion for the lads to test themselves, but Chelsea was different. Physically, it was a difficult second half and the players were absolutely knackered by the final whistle. Said Carick:
The noise, the energy, the boys needed it at times. The second half especially, and that was when it was almost…..it was vital that they felt that and give them the boost to get through it. Certainly, from the start, you could feel it, you could feel a sense of something a little bit different around the stadium and that's what those nights are for. That's what I've said about cup runs and special nights. You got to take them, you got to embrace them, you got to enjoy them and, we certainly did that.
But, there are no assumptions to be made about the challenge of our game this weekend against Millwall. We can forget all about Chelsea and the Cup for now. It's back to the Championship and the battle to get up that league table. Millwall are a tough cookie, and we've had some tricky games against the Lions from The Den. No time now to take the foot off the pedal.
Millwall have Joe Edwards in charge, whose talent and ability is not to be under-estimated. He took up his first coaching post at the age of 17 (!) having just been released from the Chelsea youth team. He worked his way up and eventually became Assistant Manager to Frank Lampard in the 2019 - 2020 season. He remained at Chelsea after Lampard was sacked and eventually rejoined him at Everton. The day after Guido Fawkes Night in 2023 he took over at Millwall and has done a sterling job in rebuilding the team and taking it forward.
Carrick is in no doubt about what we are facing on Saturday:
We know what it's like down there, and it's a tough place to play, but the same point, it's a great place to play. I love those type of atmospheres when there's a bit of an edge to it, and it's noisy and it's lively. You got to find a way of playing your best football, so we look forward to it.
…..they're playing well at the moment, they've had some really, really, good results and they're a really good team and Joe [Edwards] has done a good job. We know what we're facing.
There are some positive signs with players coming back into the frame from injury:
Lewis O`Brien is ready to return, Hackney slotted straight back into role, Marcus Forss is back in training, Anfernee Dijksteel isn't expected to be out too long, Luke Ayling has joined the group, alongside Azaz Finn.
Paddy McNair is “not quite ready”, but there are the lads to come back from International duty and a few more besides. Carrick has said previously that he won't just sign players to provide temporary cover and, it's a testament to him and his staff's skills and belief in the players, that they have pulled through the busy Christmas period.
Said Carrick:
If we get Lewis, Marcus, obviously Finns added to the group, and Luke, so I feel like we've had a bit of a boost. I know we've lost a couple in Bangura and Latte Lath, but nevertheless, it feels good to have the boys in and around the training group and they trained well today. Anfernee….shouldn't be too long. Hopefully, in the next week or so, may be ten days, we'll get him back around it. Finn has settled in really well. I think in some ways it's been good for him to have a few days settling in, getting used to the surroundings, used to the boys. He's the same as Luke [Ayling] as you can imagine: he's fit, he's raring to go. We've got some good options to choose from, so we'll see what kind of direction we go with.
There is also a conundrum about whom to play across the middle (?) with Howson, Hackney and Barlaser all fit and performing well. Barlaser has improved in leaps and bounds during recent times when the squad has been squeezed by injuries and the weight of expectation has been placed, sometimes by force of circumstances, upon his shoulders. Hackney played a little higher up the pitch on Tuesday, which appeared to suit his game. He is definitely a class lad, and there's been scouts and media all over him this season. But that shouldn't detract from the job we have to do. It's good to have the choice at last and it must surely give Carrick and the staff less of a headache. It will also enable a degree of flexibility and rotation and the opportunity to `mamange` players to get the best out of them.
The boss seemed relaxed at the end of a busy week, preparing for the third game in 8 days:
It's nice to have good players to choose from, I'll tell ya. We've got that [choice] in a few positions to be honest and, flexibility and good options. It's great to see Dan [Bolaser] and Johnny [Howson] have done an unbelievable job over….seem to be playing every game now for six weeks and one of the busiest periods of the season. You can see that in terms of their kind of connections and wavelength and the confidence that they're playing with. Obviously, Hayden [Hackney], we know what [he's] capable of and he stepped back straight into the game last week and looked like he'd never been away. That's not easy. So, we've got good options and Hayden can play a bit higher up at times. So, we can be a little bit flexible with that. It's great to have the options you know. We've got games coming up, where we'll have to pick and choose a little bit, but the boys work well together whoever plays.
Here we go again on the football roller-coaster. It may have been far back in October since we had back-to-back wins in the league, but we can do it. Our players have experienced more in a few months, in terms of being adaptable, playing in different positions, filling in for injured players, facing top Premier sides and hearing the Riverside Roar.
For our young lads, it's a steep learning curve.
Let's keep the momentum going and get behind the lads like we've done every game, home and away.
UTMB!
r00fie1 12/01/2024
