A day at the office

We all know Paul Robinson has a fiercely good shot. Perhaps a bit too good. Often have I lamented the fact that his distribution of the ball in 97,3 percent of goal-kicks are balls so long and hard that they end up with opposition defenders or even opposition goal keepers. I habitually comment that if there was an Olympic sport in kicking a ball as far and fast as possible, Paul would be up for a medal. Sometimes it works, of course, a long ball hitting the right head or foot – twice in one game against Fulham recently – and it shuts me up for a while. And I think I’ll be quiet again now. When he went for the free kick and it looked for a split second as if it had been taken too hard to hit anything but the far post I nearly sighed, only to see it go into the net. A freak goal or the outcome of a very cunning plan well executed? Probably the former, and quite entertaining at that. Even Ben Foster looked more amused than annoyed. What fun the lads will have in the England camp…

We really are scoring “from all angles”, as Jol jokingly put it. Despite having a diminished squad because of injuries and having a tight fixture schedule the lads have really come together as a team and are full of confidence. The ability was always there, but the team spirit seemed to be missing at times. Finally, however, it all seems to fit and we are getting results. And getting results of course boosts confidence and inspires new wins. It was a novel and lovely feeling to be able to afford having the star strike force waiting in the wings, just in case. And very nice, of course, that they were not needed in what must be considered a “routine” day at the office amidst all the cup games. Bringing Lennon on for Malbranque was a rewarded tactical choice because of Lennon’s contribution in the final goal, but it mainly seemed wise in testing Lennon’s knee and forcing Malbranque to rest a little – he was highly energetic throughout and will be needed tomorrow.

Jol’s team selections over the past weeks have paid off in the way that seems to be the intended one, we have a reasonably fresh team of key players to field against Chelsea tomorrow. It is tempting to speculate that only the injuries to Berbatov and Lennon, forcing them off in what were not tactical substitutions, lost us the win against Chelsea a week ago. Then again, perhaps not, and perhaps the cup will be lost tomorrow with John Terry back to sort out his defence colleagues and a rested Drogba hungry for action. We are suffering from defensive weakness at the moment, with Rocha as the only available partner for Dawson – on whose health and reliability all our hopes rest. Ricardo is doing quite well and had a great game against Chelsea last week, all considering that he has hardly had time to settle into the English game, but tomorrow will be tough. Only clumsiness allowed Watford to score yesterday; Chelsea are a threat even against more astute defending. Until Rocha and Dawson are completely settled with each other, or, even better, Ledley King comes back, our best hopes to win the upcoming games will be scoring more goals than the opposition. Attack as defence. And looking back over the last few weeks that does not seem impossible.