Yeah, 3 points. I get people are critical of the performance, and sure there were plenty of worrying signs, but 1st game of the season, heck – first months of the season are always notoriously hard to judge. Chelsea drew at home. United were awful. Arsenal lost at home. Everton drew at home, and Spurs lost. We won away from home and have 3 points in the bag. You take that.
What I liked;
- So solid across the back four. Really we were. Played a high line to narrow the gap to midfield, allowed the full backs forward, and helf shape really well. You xould see at certain points – set pieces, when we were under pressure – that there was a concerted effort to talk and organise as a back four. Good. They’ve obviously worked on it.
- The Full backs are fantastic. Just really really good footballers. Gomez has never played a minute of premier league football before yesterday, and he looked outstanding.
- Lovren was very good. I made a point last week that I didn’t really get the drama over not including Sakho. I don’t think Sakho’s that fucking great to be honest, and I don’t think Brodge does either. I think there’s better upside in Lovren than there is in Sakho.
- Milner keeps the ball so well. He’s really very good at doing the simple things.
- The sub’s worked well so credit to Brodge.
- A marvellous goal, just a truly fantastic strike. What a talent that kid is.
What I didn’t:
- The midfield was poor, and Milner aside I thought we never had any form of assurance or control.
- Henderson’s feet and close control aren’t good enough for that deep-lying role. He takes too many touches to get it under control. I’m not sure what happened with Lucas, but I can’t see Henderson working as a deep lying midfielder. Good number 10’s will destroy him there.
- Slow pitch didn’t help.
- Coutinho gave the ball away the entire game. This isn’t picking on someone, it’s just pointing out the truth. He did.
- We created very little, but I think there’s a reason for that...
Noticeably Coutinho, Lallana and Ibe all found it hard to create. Ibe looked exciting, but for all his nice work he barely got near the box (he also takes far too many touches but anyway, he’s young). The 3 of them were just crowded out and our lopsided midfield gave little support. Stoke stuck 10 behind the ball and played two close lines of midfielders and defenders so it all became so hard to create anything. We ended up just doing triangles between full-back and midfielders and going nowhere. But then, that’s what happens when you go away to sides in the upper-middle of the table – they make it difficult for you and stay compact. So it takes a bit of magic or a fluke to change the game, and we got one of them.
Lastly, credit to the manager. He played for a 0-0 at half-time, and got it. He’s got (on limited evidence) a better organised back four, and he has bought two excellent full-backs, and trusted one of them to play his first ever top flight game. With the game under control after 60 minutes, he made good subs, kept the back four holding a high line and kept us pressing forward.
A small, but important start. Confidence is a big thing for an under pressure manager and a relatively new side. Beat Bournemouth next weekend and we’ve 6 points from 6. I’ve no issue with that.
