Great summary as usual. A few thoughts from someone stuck watching on TV:
They looked pretty good, on the whole. A few lapses of the sort that produced three straight losses, but some good recoveries to shut down opportunities, a little bit of luck, and a great game from Kitson. He showed exactly what was has been missing - the instinct to pounce on the first goal and a brilliant throughball for the second.
Doyle still looks a step off where he was last year, but he had some very nice moments. If he can regain the touch and the pace, it could be a major difference-maker for the future. Especially since I'm a big fan of the Kitson/Doyle combination.
People complain a lot about referees when they get things wrong, but it's rare for someone to say "y'know, the ref really had a great game this afternoon." Today, the ref deserves full accolades. He rightly deferred to the linesman on the offside call, made a spot-on call for the Hahnemann non-foul on the breakaway toward the end, and for the whole game exerted a deft touch.
On the larger scale, it's hard to get too worked up about beating Wigan at home, but still, after a string of terrible results it's very nice to get the three points regardless of who or where. And the most promising thing, to me, was watching the developing teamwork on the offense. This is the first game where they've really seemed dangerous. For a team with many good players but no superstars, the connections are absolutely essential and if they're starting to gel it could be a good sign.
I'll wait and see how they do in the next two matches against stiffer competition before making any serious judgments, though.
They looked pretty good, on the whole. A few lapses of the sort that produced three straight losses, but some good recoveries to shut down opportunities, a little bit of luck, and a great game from Kitson. He showed exactly what was has been missing - the instinct to pounce on the first goal and a brilliant throughball for the second.
Doyle still looks a step off where he was last year, but he had some very nice moments. If he can regain the touch and the pace, it could be a major difference-maker for the future. Especially since I'm a big fan of the Kitson/Doyle combination.
People complain a lot about referees when they get things wrong, but it's rare for someone to say "y'know, the ref really had a great game this afternoon." Today, the ref deserves full accolades. He rightly deferred to the linesman on the offside call, made a spot-on call for the Hahnemann non-foul on the breakaway toward the end, and for the whole game exerted a deft touch.
On the larger scale, it's hard to get too worked up about beating Wigan at home, but still, after a string of terrible results it's very nice to get the three points regardless of who or where. And the most promising thing, to me, was watching the developing teamwork on the offense. This is the first game where they've really seemed dangerous. For a team with many good players but no superstars, the connections are absolutely essential and if they're starting to gel it could be a good sign.
I'll wait and see how they do in the next two matches against stiffer competition before making any serious judgments, though.
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