by Scottbot » Mon Dec 31, 2007 2:58 am
Funny game today and tbh I would have been fairly happy with a draw at 4pm. I think the lads and the manager probably paid City a little too much respect the first half and maybe expected them to come out a bit more than they did. I was chuffed to see Mascher in the middle for this one but as the game wore on you felt it was more a game for a (fit and firing) Alonso to get on the ball and make something happen. I thought we were a bit sluggish first half, we didn't move the ball quickly enough and to be fair to City they had an excellent gameplan and executed it perfectly, denying Torres any space to run into. I see Richard Dunne is getting plenty of credit for his performance but not enough in my book, that was as good a performance from a centre-half as you will see this season, VERY impressive. Second half was much better and we carved out umpteen half-chances but nothing clear-cut. I thought Mascher was superb, Carra ran him a close second and Aurelio and Kewell look like our most promising partnership down the left side. Arebeloa had a tough time at CB and i think his inclusion shows that the manager does not believe Hobbs is ready (i agree with him, i don't think the lad is strong enough). Kuyt is getting stick again but i thought he did ok today, he saw a lot of the ball, some of his link-up was good and if Torres had finished the chance just after half-time we'd all be praising Kuyt for the clever dummy to play him in. We're a very good side, powerful, very functional, well organised, we have too special players in Carra and Reina, and two very special players in Gerrard and Tores BUT the truth is in games like this we lack that the guile and cleverness to open up a well drilled side like City. Usually Crouch is an option off the bench if the manager wants to change the point of attack but today's game was crying out for little Luis or someone of his ilk. We haven't come close to replacing him, Bennayoun is a decent player but he is a poor man's Garcia for me and Kuyt (for all his effort) is no game-breaker in the 2nd striker's role.
Saying all that, i thought the team played well today, they worked hard, kept passing the ball, played out from the back, played through the midfield and kept probing for the goal. Beat Wigan at Anfield and that's 10 points from a possible 12. No shame in that.
Last edited by
Scottbot on Mon Dec 31, 2007 3:02 am, edited 1 time in total.