Millwallawayveteran1988
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 23 Sep 2010
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- 38,497
I thought this was the post-Barcelona performance par excellence. The lads huffed and puffed but couldn't raise tired limbs and exhausted minds high enought to clinch the three points. The first half was as one sided as anyone can imagine and in the second half we kept firm control of the match, so that 'boro created one decent chance early in the half before stoppage time and that really frustrating goal. We could and should have been sitting on a comfortable lead by that time but we weren't, and if Pep is concerned about anything it must be our conversion rate. Ironically, but understandably, it was Sergio and KdB, two of our real heroes from Tuesday, who missed gilt-edged chances late on. The consolation is that at this stage in the 2013-4 season we were in a far worse position than this in the table and we won the title by 2 points. Pep will sort it.
These post CL games are hurting us at the minute and much of that is due to the squad not being good enough when the main players don't play.
Ideally we should have been able to make a number of changes today and not compromise performance but the only players to come in are Clichy who let's face it is limited and Navas who played well. The other options are 4 kids, Nolito (not sure why he isn't getting in at home) and Kompany who clearly isn't fit enough to start games yet after his "tired" performance in the EFL.
I am assuming that Otamendi and Sterling were injured.
I thought Sane would have been offering a lot more than he is but he perhaps needs a season to get going and other than that who would really change things?
We are lacking quality full backs, a striker who can play alongside Kun or in his place when needs be and a younger version of Silva who I thought was poor today.
I think it is going to take a year and 2 more windows to get this sorted. We will still have our good days like Tuesday but I think there will also be more days like Southampton and today.