I was going to use a seven-days reference here, but realised the only one I could find was by Craig David…
So, as it says on the tin – a most excellent seven day period. And if you’re being totally honest, one you didn’t expect before we went to Cheltenham.
Come to think of it, I bet a fair number of people didn’t expect us to get anything at Whaddon Road…
While all the focus may still be about beating Ipswich, yesterday may be the most impressive result of the lot.
It didn’t sound the best game (I was at Peterborough v Wrecsam and following from afar) and when people highlight Piggy’s defensive qualities it says a lot.
But as the soldier said to the nurse – never mind the quality, feel the width.
I can’t be arsed to check out whether this has been the best August since we re-entered the EFL, but considering we’ve only lost once** this month and won the rest I guess it must be.
** – and it might be a good thing that losing at Bromley *still* annoys me.
What’s become clear is that we’re starting to gel more. The three-at-the-back is something our players are starting to figure out, for example.
We’ve had two clean sheets in three, and that’s a good stat no matter how you line up.
I’ll leave others to talk about the midfield, although if Stevens had scored a 1-on-1 it might have been more comfortable.
Decent goal by Ninetowns, by the way. Hopefully he can do that more often.
But we would have probably lost this game last season, or indeed perhaps if it was the first game at PL in 2024/25.
The best thing this week may well be that we get at least seven more days to enjoy it.
Our next game is either Newcastle or Franchise, I genuinely forget which, although I consider playing the Geordies a much bigger game now.
Why? Because we earned the right to play the Toon. Franchise had to earn the right to play us.
I’m quite glad Tranmere next weekend got cancelled, although those with train tickets and non-refundable hotels may disagree.
We can sort-of wind down a bit, refocus again, and give Owen Goodman some catching-the-ball-above-his-head practice.
Despite being the ultimate hero against Ipswich, a lot of people remain unsure about him (your editor included), and his name got mentioned a couple of times yesterday.
Palace seem to highly rate him though, and I assume there must be something there that just needs bringing out.
He’ll clearly pull off some world class saves, then in the same game drop an absolute clanger that costs us points.
He is 20 years old though, which is a toddler in terms of goalkeeping, so maybe we should just be patient with him.
The thing is, do we have enough time to be…?
Finally, I generally keep out of this side of things, because avoiding most some of the non-football side of AFCW is a very wise idea.
It’s a shame that the Wombles Had A Dream podcast is “cancelling indefinitely” their Sunday Debrief.
For those who don’t know, it was an 8pm Sunday live discussion thingy on Twatter that your editor was able to catch whilst driving for my usual errands at that time.
Some of it wasn’t interesting to listen to, but some of it was.
Anyway, I’m not quite sure why it’s been cancelled (it’s either that or suspended indefinitely) but there seemed to some sort of “discussion” about whether fans should have clapped the Iraqi Scouser not celebrating when he scored last Wednesday.
Which is something I didn’t notice at all.
Let’s be honest here – some of our fans are a bit “special”. They do tend to get vexed by things that most normal human beings aren’t.
While dealing with some of our high-maintenance and needy supporters is draining (which is a major reason SW19 rarely if ever ventures into it), it did seem a camel’s back got broken.
It’s no doubt time consuming to do, moving from weekly to fortnightly was a sign, and as your editor can testify – sometimes you just don’t want to do something like this.
That said, the last time I listened, it seemed to just be the host talking for a lot of it with people not really engaging.
Even when it did have people contributing, it seemed to be the same three or four people doing the talking, so it de facto became a podcast rather than a discussion.
It’ll still be a shame not to have it on via the SW19 mobile phone on Sundays, unless somebody steps into the void.
It’s the only AFCW audio related thing I ever listened to anyway, I otherwise have zero interest in podcasts generally.
So I hope it (or a replacement) does come back in some way, shape or form, although if it does they’ll need a thick skin.
Writing all this has made me glad SW19 never went down the Podcast route. Not only do I have a voice for print, I’m not sure how long I’d last without calling somebody a cunt…