by adamnbarrett » Sat Sep 23, 2006 7:34 pm
I'm pleased with the 3 points today but or performance was nothing special. In the first half I thought it was going to be one of those games where we couldn't score. We were waiting for Spurs to make a defensive error rather than try and break their defence. The football wasn't as good either. One of our main problems was that Gerrard and Gonzalez kept on coming inside and that made us far too narrow, we had no width and was trying to force it through the middle of a crowded centre of the pitch and we couldn't get past Spurs' well organised defence.
We picked up second half. Gerrard and Gonzalez stuck to the wings and we started to play better football, on the ground and getting crosses in. Then Spurs had the chance to make it 1-0 and didn't take it. By our performance up until that point, I thiught that if Spurs had of scored that chance then we wouldn't be able to come back. We were playing poorly and to conceed would just make our heads drop.
Jenas' miss gave us a kick up the arse and was a real wake-up call. We stepped up our game hugely and created our first goal from the wide right position. When we scored, Spurs' heads dropped and there was no way back for them. Then Kuy made it 2-0 with a well deserved goal and a great finish. Then later on Riise made it 3 with that fabulous trademark Riise piledriver from distance.
We certainly looked more solid at the back with Riise, not only does he give us options going forward such as shooting, crossing etc but he can defend well and I think while he has been injured we have missed him. What was going on with Sissoko today? It was his worst game in a while. He gave the ball away alot and just looked out of sorts. Maybe in need of a rest? Agger was solid again today but was quite wasteful with possession in the first half, but so were more of the team. Luis Garcia was good when he came on, was involved in Kuyt's goal and what he did he did well.
As for Bellamy, I think it's only a matter of time before he is banging in the goals for us. Again he ran his socks off today and should have scored the opportunity which led the Gonzalez's goal. His partnership with Kuyt is stil looking good. These seem to be Rafa's favourite strike partnership at the moment. It makes me wonder when Fowler or Crouch will next start. But I think it's good that he has a selection problem now. We have 4 very good strikers.
I can't grumble with a 3-0 win but I think although we lost against Chelsea, we played better against chelsea than aginst newcastle and Spurs. But we must be doing something good if we don't play particulary well and win 3-0. Imagine what we can do when we do play well.
Last edited by
adamnbarrett on Sat Sep 23, 2006 7:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
andy gray eh!
x
! Man Utd equalised!