Confidence is a preference of the habitual voyeur of what is known as...Parklife! No I have no idea what Damon Albarn was warbling on about in that Blur song either, but that's all a long time in the past (unless you frequent the same nightclubs as I do). I want to focus on the present situation, which is that we've got a bit of bounce to us! That's right, it was back to winning ways on Saturday. We played some good stuff and, importantly, bossed the possession. A fair comment might be that it probably wasn't the best we've played but far from the worst we've played this season as well. The mojo was put back in at the weekend and once we settled down the confidence flowed back in like a regenerative, restorative, fluid being drip-fed into the sides circulation. The passing was back and the hard-work was all-round. That level of confidence comes from, I believe, a faith and trust in not just the system we play put also in the team mates around us. Last week that faith was tested and came up lacking, this week we stood up tall and gave praise and offerings to the lords of Hockey, and lo did the Lords shine upon us, and lo did we victor, and lo were we three points clear once again.
One little personal milestone was passed this week by myself. I have now scored more goals this season than last. Not bad after 7 games, although in truth it may just be more of a testament to my poor strike-rate last time out. The next goal, for the small number of you following my progress through the season (which I'm guessing is a crowd of 1... me), is to get into double figures. I think Neil is probably going to beat me there seeing as he only needs one, after his fantastic individual effort in scoring our third at the weekend (which if you're wondering Dave, is the closest you're getting to a mention this week). It might sound a bit harsh but I think all of the forwards feel we could be scoring more goals and really putting teams to bed, my hope is that this weekend we can do so. I think the first step we can take to achieving this is to win more short corners and making sure our conversion rate gets back to the level it has been in the past.
The second part of the title this time has nothing whatsoever to do with britpop or Blur. It is instead a little bit of a warning shot, one that I feel I can fire now we've bounced back from a loss. Simply put, the only thing that put us in the place where we lost was us. It was the complacency and the lethargy that dropped the guard and the arrogance that allowed the sucker punch to land. There's no use shouting about it, nor whinging about it, when you take a hit like that it's not the arrogance that saves you but the confidence that gets you up, starts you fighting and make you change what you need to in order to get the upper hand. Confidence we want. Confidence is getting out on the pitch and proving what you know, that you are the better team. Arrogance is getting out on the pitch and thinking it is already proven. There's an old football saying (one which City fans should be employing), you're only as good as your last game. Very true.
Next week has us on the road again taking on a team that I thought would be second this week, instead they lost a close game to the team who took that second from then, which means another big game for us, it could be the hardest place to go all season, they could be hurting and wanting to scalp us. I'm confident we can prevent that happening.
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