Gino 1959 wrote:Redknapp holds up his hands and says his side were crap.
Hockaday?
Can't ask any more of his players.
Fitness levels were super.
Team shape and work ethic excellent.
And lost.
Again.
Totally clueless and taking the bloody mick.
Redknapp is a teflon manager, nothing sticks. He has taken Southampton and QPR down, left Portsmouth in a mess and at best did an average to good job at Spurs. The blame always lies elsewhere, the chairman, the players etc - never good ol' Harry.
The side, barring Murphy deserve a lot of credit. When you look around and see that 6 Premiership sides have crashed out it tells you something about how lower teams raise their games, MK Dons beating MU, Villa and QPR losing etc. Our players worked their socks off after the dismissal and in my opinion only dropped their levels after thinking we'd won. Compare that to tame defeats v Histon, Rochdale and many other poor cup performaces of recent years.
Yes I was disappointed that the team picked contained 7 of last year's squad. I want to see the new boys, especiially Benandicic but I guess Hockaday was wary of doing a MU and he wanted to pick players who knew that the opoosition would be up for it and players that wouldn't see it as a glorified friendly.
Am I disappointed by the result, of course I am. Were all the teams that Bradford beat on their route to the final disappointed? This is a funny competition and I am more concerned about performance and ultimately that was hard to judge due to the Murphy sending off. Before that I thought we were the better side and looked cmfortable.
Is there any need for the over the top wailing? Were MU derailed when York beat them 3-0 many moons ago? I see signs in this team of character, maybe too much desire at times and I am behind them 100%. WIll they win ever game, no, will they lose stupidly, yes, but hey ho this is the start of something, not the finished article.