[b said:
Quote[/b] (BENFLEET BLUE! @ April 13 2004,10:18)]
[b said:
Quote[/b] (Napster @ April 13 2004,10:01)]
[b said:
Quote[/b] (wiggy @ April 13 2004,00:14)]please not little gazette favourite Broughton!
You couldn't be more wrong if you tried- I was defending Drewe to Rob Craven before the match yesterday.
Why would you do that?
. And why was'nt Craven doing Newsround?
I'll report games as I see them. If a player gives 100% for 90 minutes then I think he deserves much more praise than a goalkeeper who had a mediocre game at best. Looking back I may have been a bit harsh on Flavs for the bobble, but other than that, any criticism I gave to him was fair in my opinion. If we want to go up, then I think we at least need someone to challenge him.
However, having said that, I do believe that he has improved incredibly since the end of last season, when I though that he should be the first name on Wignall's out list. I certainly don't want to see him leave Roots Hall in the summer, as he will be the best second-choice shotstopper in the division at the least.
As for Broughton, I don't think anyone can really criticise him for his role since the turn of the year. In that time he has scored seven goals and set up numerous others, despite missing his quota of chances. But given a straight choice between him and Bramble, I'm astounded that anyone would choose the latter.
IMHO Dudfield and Broughton offer the best partnership (that being the key word) for next season, with Constantine unfortunately, despite his goals, offering little else. If Connie keeps scoring, then he has to stay in, and one of the others has to miss out. Without his goals, then we would have been relegated this season, no question. But I doubt that he will reproduce next season. That is a personal opinion.
That said, if we have Dudfield, Broughton, Constantine and Corbett as back up next season then I believe we have enough ammunition to get into the play-offs at the very least. Keep the bulk of the rest of the squad and it would be looking very rosy indeed.
Rob
P.S. My mandate for TLG in terms of reporting is to report on a game as I see it. Hence I give ratings in a relative manner - Bentley's 10 yesterday was a reflection of his driving performance when others weren't fussed - had I been doing the 'official' report then it would not have been as high. Broughton was 7 and Flahavan 5 - there's not a great deal of difference there really.
P.P.S. Flahavan is well on the way to being TLG's Player-of-the-Season in terms of average rating gleaned. I hardly think that you can say that we are always slating him!!!