I thought we were excellent on Sunday. Here's
To start at the back -
Lloris was one of our worst players on the day. He looked vulnerable from corners, and of course gave away the penalty, which was without doubt a penalty, but I felt needless. Welbeck was running away from goal and you just knew he was looking for it. Given Dawson was 'with him', Hugo should've stayed between the posts. The fact he wasn't sent off was confirmation he wasn't the last man, so why take the risk?
Bad decision making, cost us 2 points I feel.
Defensively we were generally sound, but we seem to be making a habit of fannying around at the back under pressure and causing ourselves some real headaches unnecessarily. This needs to stop, or we're going to give away some really silly goals, and we know that without the ball, we are hard to break down, so don't make it easy!!
I don't buy that Dawson was culpable for the second goal, though I do agree with the general consensus that he should not be starting when all our CB's are fit. Walker should take responsibility for both goals I feel.
The first - his lack of anticipation. To watch the ball float over players' heads but fail to anticipate and react was not good enough.
The second - the ball breaks around the Utd box, and Walker feels that, 40 yards away, he has a 50/50 chance of getting to the ball, which is probably true, BUT, we are 2-1 up. He doesn't need to go marauding up the pitch to try and win that ball. The risk outweighed the gain. He lost the ball, left us short at the back, and they won a penalty.
That said, I do think Walker is an excellent right back, but he needs to cut out these mistakes.
The midfield was far different in this game. You could see the freedom Dembélé and Paulinho had, and they supported the attack well, leaving Sandro to sit in front of the defence should Utd break. This worked really well I thought. We were more direct, moving the ball forwards, making runs, finding space, using decoys. Lennon was excellent in the first half on the right. He was refreshing to watch. Chadli was a safe bet on the left, nothing spectacular, but nothing silly either. He's comfortable in possession and keeps the ball moving.
The more attacking and free-flowing midfield was great to see, but definitely left us more open at the back. It was disappointing to concede two goals at home.
Finally, Soldado. Everyone I speak to seems to focus purely on his goal tally, which simply doesn't offer a fair assessment of the boys' contribution. He was dropping into space and slipping in the wingers, leaving space behind him for Paulo and Moose, linking up play, getting involved, 1 and 2 touch passes. As long as he isn't a passenger, he can stay up top as far as I'm concerned.
Play like that against Fulham - 3 points.