In the first half, it felt like we were pushing the FBs up too far up the line with the ball at the back, and allowing them to get in behind us on the wings. Advocated for O’Reilly to come off, Gvardiol to slide over, and Khusanov to give us some speed at the back.
Second half, the early goal changed the game even more than the two goals in the first half, because it knocked the stuffing out of them.
From there, we started passing things around, stopped taking chances at the back, and kept pushing forward.
Was very surprised how well Gonzales, Kova & Gundo moved the ball through the midfield, and coupled with KDB dropping in and out as needed, we looked like we were dangerous in and around the box…for a change.
Disappointed McAtee didn’t get 4, but in getting the 4th, he finished the game off as a contest.
Little disappointed in Lewis positioning and his defending, but did better going forward.
Everyone else looked like they were up for it once KDB woke them all up. With a bit of luck, that could have been 9 or 10, but then with a bit of luck for them, it could have been 0-4 before we woke up!!
5-2 looks far more comfortable than it was for the first 22 minutes, but the quality of the players and their combinations made it a very enjoyable watch for an hour or so…and that has been missing for a month of two.
With the Forest loss, if everyone wins their game(s) in hand, we are 6th by a point, so there’s still plenty of work to do, with some very good, and some decent, teams yet to play.
If we play anything like that last 60mins for the rest of the season, we will have no problems making the CL positions. The only question is, “Can we?”