SkyDaz Match Preview

Last updated : 24 August 2006 By Darren Porter

Convinced? Hmm why not? Unbeaten, including some away points, surely that should be enough. For some reason it isn't though is it? And if you doubt me or think I am talking rubbish (as if?) look at the attendances.

Bruce is probably wondering what he has to do to please us, well some of us anyway. He is sitting pretty at the top of the league, through to the next round of the cup and has recruited some exciting players. If we were fickle then surely we would be flooding back to the ground and fighting for tickets. The truth is that for most of us something is still not right.

No one would dispute that come the reckoning up in May, Crystal Palace will not be too far away and so a victory over them should be regarded as significant. However, exactly how many ‘Get out of Jail Free' cards are there in one pack to use in a season? Surely by the start of the match the team knows precisely how it is going to approach the match and in what manner the tactics will unveil themselves. Ranieri spent a season tinkering with his Chelsea team before the match, Bruce experiments during it with the end result that players seem to drift in and out of effectiveness. We all know what happened to the Tinkerman.

There were some bright points though before we all get carted away on a wagon of pessimism. Nafti's pass to Bendtner and the subsequent finish were very special. Forssell's pass to Dunn, followed by an exquisite turn and cross along with Larsson's clinical strike were good enough to win any game. Thank the Lord.

Ok enough of the bright points, I don't want you to get delusions. Damien Johnson behaved strangely didn't he? Last season it took me half an hour to get him to collect a Player of the Year Award from the side of the pitch because apparently he doesn't like the limelight or to show any emotion! Blimey, the captain's armband certainly changes people!

We all know what DJ is about, hustle and bustle and a destructive role with very little creativity. He is a hard worker and probably feels that he is best out on the pitch even if things are going wrong, at least out there he can still change things. It's a little like asking Trescothick if he wants to open the batting. No one can score runs from the pavilion. DJ knew that it wasn't his game and desperately, as captain, wanted to influence the end result. Bruce, also wanting to effect a result, saw things differently and removed his captain and threw on a player with the potential to score. To be fair to DJ, Heather McCartney has got more chance of scoring than him!

It is time to draw a line under the incident though and move on. Looking back DJ himself will accept it wasn't his finest moment. I don't understand why his first thought was to remove the armband! I would have still been kicking things round the changing room before I realised why the blood flow was stemmed in my arm.

It is important in cup competitions that the big boys show the minnows where the door is. Bye bye Shrewsbury, accept your spanking and carry on playing little league soccer. Another Larsson strike, aren't Arsenal ‘B' doing well?

And so the promotion marathons stutters into the Welsh capital. There's always a welcome in the valleys from our Cymru cousins. Don't forget to tell your loved ones where the will is before you leave.

Keep right on. And then hurry back. Stay on the road, keep off the moor and beware the moon.