Yeah, it crossed my mind too. Especially the second half was dire indeed. But at least, we were solid at the back and didn’t commit a fatal mistake. And as always, it’s not easy to play against a bus-parking team. With that set-up, it was never going to be a pretty game. Still should have found a way to break them down.
But we should have had a pen which would have changed the game, let’s not forget that. First half, clear foul on Ekitike. Fleeced by freaking Kavanagh once again, and that other cunt at VAR.
That’s very kind. To my eyes, he looked completely off. Fist half was horribly dire already, and the second half was catastrophic until he was rightly pulled off by Slot.
I don’t care how he is playing, he has to be on the field. We have no other source of creativity. He’s the kind of player who can put in a 1/10 for 89 minutes then win you the game in a moment. We were shocking after he went off.
Not perfect but we were the better side and ultimately deserved another fine margin win, but it’s another point on the board and now 3 clear
of Chelsea. We would’ve absolutely taken that 2 months ago.
A disappointing goalless game. Leeds with all behind the ball, which is what we probably trained for. Yet, the ponderous slow side to side passes continued.
Would’ve got a pen had Hugo gone down, which is an indictment of Prem ref style that encourages going down (which teh Leeds defenders did with aplomb). VVD had the best chance off a corner, with a strong header bu the line was wide of the post.
Hugo had a bright start, but faded in the second. He looked gassed to me from the 60th min, and while we actually utilized all our subs today, he remained on. The was a 10 minute period in the first half where we fizzed in several dangerous crosses, and we needed HUgo to attack the ball more then (the one time he did, the ball was fast and he couldn’t get the right contact.
Wirtz had a poor start to the second half, so subbing him was not unexpected, though I would’ve liked him to have been moved into the middle.
Still a work in progress. The game plan from Leeds was obvious to all, keep it tight for 60 minutes, then unleash DCL and Okafor. We needed to be more braver on the ball.
One of those where the desire to be more solid and give up less at the back negates our threat going forward.
Two months ago we probably lose a game like that from their first half decent chance. Should be winning games like this but we’ve lost enough of them this season already.
Feels like the ship has been steadied but yet to be full turned around. Season is all about top four now and it’s only those ahead of us on a better run of form so whilst that’s a disappointing result it’s still keeping us on pace to where we need to be.
Do wonder when we’ll see some actual belief and confidence come back but I’m also petrified what a loss against someone other than City or Arsenal might do to us.
