My God, was I disgusted after last week's display at Blackburn. But I was very pleased with today's performance. I missed most of the first half as I was at work this morning, but the 65 minutes I did see were very encouraging. A couple of the match reports I've read give the impression that we bungled our way through the match and managed a lucky winner, but that's not what I saw. We opened them up on several occasions and, in my mind, were unlucky to still be scoreless after 80 minutes.
I know it's Fulham, but I think we played some very good football today. What was different, in my mind? A lot of things...
Of course, having a guy like Torres come on against a tiring Fulham defense can't hurt.
Also, Rafa's team selection was much better today. After the game against Blackburn, I'm starting to think that it wasn't so much a matter of Rafa's rotation policy as it was one of him getting the team selection and tactics wrong. We simply weren't going to play any decent football with two defensive midfielders, Kuyt up front on his own, and Riise and Finnan at left and right back. I think having Aurelio and Arbeloa in, who offer considerably more going forward (in my opinion) than the aforementioned two made a big difference in terms of our play. Especially when we put the likes of Babel and Benayoun out wide, both of whom like to cut inside, it makes a big difference for us to have fullbacks who are more adept at pushing forward...Finnan's not bad in that respect, but Arbeloa does a better job at it. Overall, I thought we looked like scoring the entire second half, which I can't say about our performance at Ewood Park, and I would have been hapy with our effort even if they had managed to hold us.
And, our form as a team is improving. Stevie looked better today and Voronin looked like a different player. Crouch is also looking like he deserves a run in the starting lineup...would definitely pick him ahead of Kuyt for the time being.
Let's hope for some good results tomorrow...Rovers and Everton should present a challenge for Utd and Chelsea.
I know it's Fulham, but I think we played some very good football today. What was different, in my mind? A lot of things...
Of course, having a guy like Torres come on against a tiring Fulham defense can't hurt.
Also, Rafa's team selection was much better today. After the game against Blackburn, I'm starting to think that it wasn't so much a matter of Rafa's rotation policy as it was one of him getting the team selection and tactics wrong. We simply weren't going to play any decent football with two defensive midfielders, Kuyt up front on his own, and Riise and Finnan at left and right back. I think having Aurelio and Arbeloa in, who offer considerably more going forward (in my opinion) than the aforementioned two made a big difference in terms of our play. Especially when we put the likes of Babel and Benayoun out wide, both of whom like to cut inside, it makes a big difference for us to have fullbacks who are more adept at pushing forward...Finnan's not bad in that respect, but Arbeloa does a better job at it. Overall, I thought we looked like scoring the entire second half, which I can't say about our performance at Ewood Park, and I would have been hapy with our effort even if they had managed to hold us.
And, our form as a team is improving. Stevie looked better today and Voronin looked like a different player. Crouch is also looking like he deserves a run in the starting lineup...would definitely pick him ahead of Kuyt for the time being.
Let's hope for some good results tomorrow...Rovers and Everton should present a challenge for Utd and Chelsea.
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