Thought Southampton were great, really great – wasn’t expecting that at all. Ward-Prowse, Wanyama, Tadic, Clyne – regardless of who they’ve lost they’ve still got some super talent in there/ That Ward-Prowse really does look sensational.
And Koeman got their tactics right; midfield diamond mostly, with Wanyama on Coutinho detail. Wanyama was super – barely allowed Coutinho in the hole once. I thought a change should have been made earlier really – either push Coutinho wide to load-up with Raheem meaning Wanyama could have been dragged out of place and giving Hendo the chance to run into it, or to go 4-3-3 and stretch the pitch wider. We played into their hands pretty easily, and but for the Lambert sub to stretch the pitch, we’d have probably got done.
Mignolet was man of the match. For us anyway. Not as glamorous, but that performance yesterday was the goalkeeping equivalent of Suarez’s performances last year. The tip onto the bar was as good a save as you’ll see all year. I’m not Mig’s greatest advocate, but that won us the game.
Contrary to opinion; I thought Lucas did alright. Certainly he was no worse than Gerrard, who looked completely off the pace. Taking Lucas off allowed us to spring forward a bit quicker, but it also gave Ward-Proswe the opportunity to constantly pick the ball up in the 10 spot, because a) Lucas had that covered previously, and b) Gerrard doesn’t see it as his job to track midfielders.
It’s true; Gerrard thinks his job is to dictate the play, keep the ball, and maraud after fast counter attacking breaks from the opposition. That’s about 50% of the job really. The other 50% is the dirty constant tracking of players, and not conceding space in front of your back 4. Kinda like what Wanyama did yesterday. Gerrard got real lucky on several occasions yesterday; better sides will put you away.
Liked Lovren’s game, but you can see the challenge he’s got. The amount of times he di what any great CB should do – wait for the opposition to play a ball back or square, and chanrge forward arms out spread – only to see Skrtel, Manquillo, and to a greater extent Glenjo flagging metres behind him was fucking amazing. He’s doing what he should, but 2 members of that back 4 – Skrtel and Glenjo – don’t know anything about high defensive lines, so Lovren’s pissing into the wind for the most part. Still, he’s solid on the ball, commanding in the air, and I’d bet we’re only a brief honeymoon period away from him giving one of those afore-mentioned 2 a severe bollocking. Which I’ll pay to fucking see.
As others have mentioned, we lacked fluidity between midfield and attack. Allen made a big difference there when he came on (but as mentioned, inverting the midfield 2-1 to 1-2 brings it’s defensive risks) and we’ll be a far better side when Lallana gets in there. That midfield 3 yesterday are all passers and runners – Lucas, Hendo, Gerrard – great at playing the perfectly weighted pass, great at running. But none of them can run with it from midfield. Take the ball, move 10-15 yards with it, evade a player and link with the forwards – kinda like what Barkley does so well. That’s what Lallana brings. Opposition midfields can setup to negate passing patterns, it’s not as easy to negate someone running with it – you invariably get dragged out of position trying to go to him.
And finally, we looked leggy. Heavy, slow, slow pitch, slow movement. The World Cup guys especially – Gerrard’s not match sharp, even Studge and Sterling barely bothered to link in the second half so conserved energy for the counter. Really lucky to get a win, but then so were Arsenal, so were Spurs, etc.
Take the 3 points and sharpen the fuck up quickly.
