what you've got. The title of a chapter and a recurrent theme throughout Curbs' book.
Curbs always did that even if it wasn't pretty and frustrating at times. He coped with the loss through injury or throwing the toys of Parker, Jensen, Stuart, Di Canio, Rufus Rowett and then two of his midfield replacements Murphy and Smertin. Possibly unfair to include Graham Stuart on reflection but he still had to be replaced.
I know that I would far rather see Curbs grinding it out rather than what we have at the moment. One thing we've had reinforced in the worst possible way is just what a great manager Curbs was.
Reed offers us the best (slight) chance of escape. He will have seen what went on yesterday and noted the comments of people like Steve Brown who said that there was no passion out there.
Next week, fitness permitting, Kish will be back. Before you all moan we in a relegation battle you need players who want to play for the shirt. For all his perceived weaknesses Kish is one of those. Kish and Faye in midfield will hopefully allow the nancy boys like Romm and Thomas / Ambrose to get up and help out our Darren.
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The only thing he could have done different was play Ashton at left back, move HH to the middle and then stick El K in midfield. However with no Diawara he had the defence to consider too.
A gamble though so I think he was reasonable, in his first match, to do what he did.
Elk was awful yesterday though. Lucky not to have given away a penalty at the least.
Reid and Holland are not a central midfield partner ship in my view.
We are going to have to try something like this:
Carson
Young Fortune Diawara HH
Thomas (for 60 mins) Kish Faye Holland Reid
D Bent
And give it a sustained go for a few games.
If (big if..) Sorondo and Traore are as close to returning as I hope they are, then I'd go with something along these lines..
Carson
Young - Sorondo - Diawara - Traore
Ambrose - Kishishev - Faye - Reid - Thomas
D.Bent
I've had enough of Romm, HH, El Kak, Holland and Fortune = They're all past it or never had it in the 1st place.
Not only do we have Faye, Kish & Diawara to come in - all hungry players - but the likes of Sorondo, Traore & Gibbs
at the back plus the mysterious Pouso (if he's up to it),
And the abrasive Walton in January, earning rave reviews at Ipswich.
They'll be like fresh signings - and hopefully all with a point to prove.
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But i can't help but think we've all got to really get out of the habit of referring back to Curbs. We're never going to move forwards or even sideways while we do.
The sad thing is i can see this going on for a long, long time.
Reed was somewhat limited by circumstances, Faye was suspended and Kish injured. Playing Hughes, Holland and Reid might just have worked with Romm and Thomas out wide, in hindsight he should have gone for that option with M Bent on the bench.
Hopefully, for the Everton game, he'll have Faye, Kish, Diawara and maybe even Traore and Sicknote Sorondo to choose from.
Should we report Pouso as a missing person - any news, anyone?
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