Wednesday 5 March 2008
Leroy Lita makes 88
Building contractors are busy down at Sparrows Lane this afternoon adding an extension to the dressing rooms. Word has it that Homebase has sold right out of coat hooks.
From a positive point of view, Leroy Lita is a decent player and although he has had some off-field problems and one on, when he nearly 'killed' El Khak by moving his head in the Moroccan's general direction, he scored 14 goals last season and should, with the right service, be able to score goals in the next level down.
Also, clearly we are going to go for it. The board has backed Pardew yet again, and they should be applauded. A roster of Lita, Sinclair, Varney, Iwelumo, Gray, Sam, Thomas, Cook, Ambrose and Zheng should without any use of the imagination score and create goals in this division.
My concern is that Pardew does simply not have a clue who his best 11 are, it would be hard frankly to pick 22 let alone 11. We now have 9 1st team players out on loan, and have 5 in, all from Premiership clubs. Our squad on paper must be by far and away the most talented and costly in the division, yet we have rarely proven it.
The signing of Lee Cook doesn't make any sense. It was probably a panic move to appease some after selling Reid, although Cook does not play in the same position and as for Andy Gray, well the signing of Lita tells me that Pards may have got that one wrong too, albeit unlike Curbishley where we would suffer a players incompetence for seasons, Pards does nip these in the bud and is known for his big churn of playing staff.
Something else that perturbs me, although the train has well and truly left the station, is that of team spirit and togetherness. Just as I felt Pardew had found some consistency within the group of players that he had established, he has added or released something like 12 players since January. A subsequent period in which we have won just 4 games.
One thing is for sure, we need to start Sinclair and Lita both on Saturday, if we have a bench that includes Gray, Cook, Sinclair and Lita then I might not even go. Okay I will really. ¶ 10:15
From a positive point of view, Leroy Lita is a decent player and although he has had some off-field problems and one on, when he nearly 'killed' El Khak by moving his head in the Moroccan's general direction, he scored 14 goals last season and should, with the right service, be able to score goals in the next level down.
Also, clearly we are going to go for it. The board has backed Pardew yet again, and they should be applauded. A roster of Lita, Sinclair, Varney, Iwelumo, Gray, Sam, Thomas, Cook, Ambrose and Zheng should without any use of the imagination score and create goals in this division.
My concern is that Pardew does simply not have a clue who his best 11 are, it would be hard frankly to pick 22 let alone 11. We now have 9 1st team players out on loan, and have 5 in, all from Premiership clubs. Our squad on paper must be by far and away the most talented and costly in the division, yet we have rarely proven it.
The signing of Lee Cook doesn't make any sense. It was probably a panic move to appease some after selling Reid, although Cook does not play in the same position and as for Andy Gray, well the signing of Lita tells me that Pards may have got that one wrong too, albeit unlike Curbishley where we would suffer a players incompetence for seasons, Pards does nip these in the bud and is known for his big churn of playing staff.
Something else that perturbs me, although the train has well and truly left the station, is that of team spirit and togetherness. Just as I felt Pardew had found some consistency within the group of players that he had established, he has added or released something like 12 players since January. A subsequent period in which we have won just 4 games.
One thing is for sure, we need to start Sinclair and Lita both on Saturday, if we have a bench that includes Gray, Cook, Sinclair and Lita then I might not even go. Okay I will really. ¶ 10:15
