It was a long time ago, in a land far away. The locals often spoke about winter and the harshness that was to come, visitors feared what the local spoke of, but that was why they visited.
I wanted to write something you hadn't read here before, because what follows is the same. Sort of and by that I mean that I started to write this post on Sunday and got bored, so I'm now editing.
And on Saturday, some things happened that haven't really surprised; home supporters are getting some of the blame now. Booing a player when they are brought on, is basically disgraceful. I'm not saying everyone booed or that you can't if you pay your money. You can do what you want, it's your choice. It's your way of helping.
But this isn't news. But it's hardly going to get them the extra enthusiasm to run for the last five minutes also. Yes, the players are not at 100% and yes, there are people to blame for that, but if you were after that bit of encouragement from the twelfth man, it's not going to come at Villa Park at the moment is it.
Me, I can't really comment on this and I prefer not to but it was the managers first match and some seemed to think he was going to perform miracles. When you have someone at the top acting as the CEO but the real CEO unable to make decisions, then things tend to get missed. And yes, I might have that wrong, but think about it if I have.
My point is, we all knew it was Steve Bruce. It should have been Steve Bruce instead of Di Matteo, if it was just those two to pick from. Why did we wait until two days before the match to appoint him? Did we think he was going to come in and miraculously change things and don't you think had he had longer he might have noticed some of the frailties in the team.
None of this matters though and if fitness is our main concern and I think it probably is, then it's not such a big thing, but it wont be fixed by tonight. And it's not going to help Bruce and his style of play, but at the same time, it will probably mean more use of substitutes and we will soon see who wants it. And for those that think we're too far away, we're not. We've still got more than a good enough chance and with Bruce, I still think we can do it.
At Reading
And just because the manager has had another three days, we shouldn't think it means an instant win, but we can hope. And Reading will be tough. Or as tough as Reading can be in the Championship. Bottom line is we have better players throughout the squad and tonight I suspect will come down to who wants it more.
You see, that is what Bruce has to get across; desire. Positioning and tactics is important for sure, but we need our players to really look like they want it and not just act like they want it.
I'll be back an hour before kick off, back soon.