December 5 2010

Danns: Got our only goal

Jamesey didn't really expect that we might actually win our second away game of the season at Leeds (Dec 4). He was right.

As I mournfully sipped a pint of my usual poison in my Wandsworth local on Saturday evening, I reflected on what might have been.

For starters I might have been sitting in a bar in Budapest where we had hoped to be for a long weekend. Due to the closure of Gatwick because of ice and snow there had been no planes heading for Hungary. This can be a serious disadvantage to international air travel.

I could have been visiting the memorial to Ferenc Puskas at St Stephen's Basilica and honouring the memory of the game's greatest player so far (much better than Cruyff, Maradona, Pele and all the other usual suspects).

As the cornerstone of the Mighty Magyars, Puskas helped inflict England's first defeat 6-3, by a non-UK nation at Wembley in 1953. Then to prove it wasn't a fluke they humiliated England 7-1 in Budapest the following year. The world was changing but English football hadn't. Does that ring any bells?

Anyhow, there I was, ruminating about our fourth away defeat in a row. Neil Danns raised our hopes with his first half strike but almost inevitably we folded near the end and conceded two goals.

To add to my misery, as I ordered a second pint, I became aware of a couple of verminous-looking youths bellowing and swearing at a football game on TV. I realised that they were, of course, Millwall supporters, taking great delight in beating Scunthorpe 3-0. Pity they couldn't have taken their miserable carcasses a few miles up the road to the New Den and boosted the paltry sub-9000 attendance.

There is famous quote attributable to Napoleon to the effect that he had no preference for courageous or brilliant generals, he just wanted lucky ones.

I could scream at the number of times I have seen the words "unlucky" or "bad luck" applied to Palace performances this season.

Yes, naturally, luck plays its part in sport but "bad luck" is too often used as an excuse for "not good enough". When the ball hits the crossbar to deny the striker a goal, is it really "bad luck" or inaccurate shooting? That's only one example of when "bad luck" really means "not up to scratch" or "tactically inept".

I was also perplexed to see comments about Leeds having four strikers on the field towards the end of the second period as though they were taking unfair advantage.

If it was that easy to win football matches with four strikers, every manager in the country would be doing it.

It is looking more and more likely that George Burley is an "unlucky" manager. Let's hope that he can change that situation as the second half of the season approaches.

Email Jamesey with your comments to jevans3704@aol.com

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