posted Sep 11, 2008

Evans didn't really do much wrong (again!)

Try watching the winning goal again. When the cross came in he was marking the goalscorer, infact they were wrestling each other but the russian span away leaving Evans doing a great impression of a statue.

I am all for Toshack being manager as we are moving in the right direction but he should have left things as they were with Evans sat on his back-side in the dug-out as we were heading for at least a 1-1 with the extra man in mid-field!

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posted Sep 11, 2008

Flynn deserves a 10 out of 10 for his achievement with the u21's. Welsh Sports Personality of the Year, if the Olympics hadn't fallen this year! Toshack has also had a good week :8/10.
Gutted about 0 points from Russia for the players.
For me it was Robinson who disappointed on the night - a careless tackle leading to the penalty which gave us the mountain to climb, which they almost managed.
I remember him being at fault for Holland's opener in the summer friendly, too. Time to be put to pasture and thanked for his loyal service.

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posted Sep 11, 2008

yeah thats what i mean toshack put steve evans on for the last 5 minutes why when we were pressuring russia theres no need to put a defender on

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posted Sep 12, 2008

well said about robinson. you can't criticise the bloke. he was a loyal occasional squad member under hughes, never complained when never played and now thru the tough years in tosh's reign, he has been a loyal proud servant!
i am still gutted about the result! that was a 6 pointer! if we could have grabbed the point, beaten lichteinstein, we could have been going to germany top of the group! fine margins at this level, but would love to see a better support for the lads come october! there really are no excuses!

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posted Sep 12, 2008

Everyone's a great manager with the benefit of hindsight!

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posted Sep 12, 2008

exactly!
taking robinson off and putting on a full back and moving bale forward and putting ledley in the middle to have more influence on the game, made a huge difference!

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posted Sep 12, 2008

In response to Dragon Phil above, I am glad to see that I am not the only Welsh fan who thought the Evans substitution was a crazy decision from Toshack.

Having watched Wales since I was a teenager (in the 1980s), I am sick of people saying "Toshack is doing the right thing with the youth side, just be patient."

I and many other Welsh fans have waited for DECADES for us to qualify for a major tournament, and had to sit an listen to Toshack as pundit on BBC Wales in the past telling us how great he would make things.

Things have improved under Tosh - although it was Mark Hughes who took us the furthest 'within living memory.'

But Wales will simply not qualify for World Cups fielding non-league players in crucial away games.

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posted Sep 12, 2008

Everyone's a great manager with the benefit of hindsight!

No need for hindsight, I knew Tosh was making a mistake as soon as I saw Evans standing on the touchline, if it ain't broken don't fix it!!!!

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posted Sep 12, 2008

Things have improved under Tosh - although it was Mark Hughes who took us the furthest 'within living memory.'

But Wales will simply not qualify for World Cups fielding non-league players in crucial away games.
---------------

Yes and no. Yes Hughes got us to within an illegally fielded players hairs width, but remember the team? Full of old players, not much finesse, and you can't honestly say they would have fared well if they had qualified?

I'm much more excited about the prospect of having a solid team, full of improving players, which will then be a base to built on. The team he's building now isn't just for the present, it's for the next 10 or 15 years, and I think it's important to remember that.

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posted Sep 13, 2008

Am I the only one who can actually see a sound reason for putting Evans on against Russia? They'd just put a sub on who was much taller than the centre backs we had on the pitch at the time! As for Evans standing like a statue when the Russian turned to score. You seem to have seen what you wanted to see there. They were tussling for the ball when the cross origianlly came over, Evo was knocked 1 way by the collision, whilst the Russian was knocked the other! IE in the direction of the ball! Granted it's not ideal to play non league player in crucial away games. But then it's not ideal to have players from premiership reserve teams or the championship either! Toshack can only put out the players who are available!

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