7 Days After 7 Goals

By: Rob | October 6th, 2007

So I apologize for not addressing last weekend’s goalfest in a more timely manner; I wasn’t paralyzed by shock at the abysmal performance of our back line and keeper, I was merely busy with dull non-soccer duties. At this point, there’s little left to say…obviously it would’ve been much more fun to blog about had I been the Portsmouth Offsider. Let’s just say Marcus Hahnemann was uncharacteristically woeful, the central defense can’t welcome Ibrahima Sonko back soon enough, Nicky Shorey should probably not be taking penalty kicks (his miss was the big momentum swing, I thought), and focus on the fact that, hey, we scored 4 away goals against a very tough team, and 8 goals total last week.

So now both halves of our game are present and accounted for, we just can’t seem to score goals and keep goals out at the same time. That could very well change this weekend, where we can happily refresh ourselves at the oasis of the Premier League: Derby County. Given the state of Derby’s defense this season, it wouldn’t be a huge surprise to see last week’s record broken again, but I’m hoping they tighten up with Sonko possibly finally back in the lineup. It’s no great analysis to say that this is a game we need all three points from; Derby may be helpfully occupying one of the relegation spots we’ll be trying to avoid all season, but securing the maximum point reward from a fixture with them is essential to staying up.

(I should mention here that I actually feel sort of bad for Derby, as there’s a bit of small club kinship between them and Reading. Plus, in my shameless USA bias, it’s hard to root against a team with such a neat logo, and with Benny Feilhaber on the roster, he of the Gold Cup Wonder Goal. Never gets old.)

Some other news:

- Some good Coppell quotes this week, as you might expect. Turns out his seemingly invulnerable veneer can be cracked by giving up 7 goals in a game, as he uncharacteristically went off on reporters at a Monday press conference. Witness:

“I’ve had 17 million questions about second-season syndrome,” Coppell told reporters. “I’m fed up with the f****** thing. Shove it up where ever.”

“It’s just f****** hard whether it’s the first season, second season or third season.”

Do they have those edited coach press conference Coors Light commercials in England? Playoffs?!?

Saying “nobody died, nobody was mortally wounded,” isn’t exactly a shrug either. I kind of wish Coppell & Co. would’ve treated the Pompey game as the anomaly it clearly was rather than blushing all week long, but oh well. Things are reaching a panic state over there, and the team should probably concentrate on settling down and regaining their form.

- Glen Little had surgery for his achilles heel injury, which should keep him out for at least four months. All reports from earlier in the season had pretty much written him off for this year (if not for his career, sadly), so it wasn’t much of a shock. Still, it perpetuates our right midfield woes. Both John Oster and Bobby Convey remain questionable for tomorrow’s game.

- Nicky Shorey called up again for England, but I imagine he won’t see much play with Ashley Cole fit. Maybe vs. the powerhouse of Estonia.

- What?!? You’re telling me the 17th place team vs. the 20th place team isn’t worthy of American television? Come on! I’ll come back with some thoughts on the game cobbled together from highlights and text recaps. Hopefully sooner than 7 days after the game. Go Royals!