What a wonderful game of football, credit to the Elephant man for setting his side up so well and working the counters, maybe he had spoke to the swamp child manger.
In what was a meaningless game we played with as much freedom as i have seen for a while, our centre halves were regularly joining in the attack. Which of course gave them the space to counter. It did lead to an entertaining game though that i really enjoyed watching although maybe it was helped by the fact it is the first game for months where there has been no pressure.
It was a nice touch giving Carson a game, also quite clever, because if one of Eddy or Zack picks up an injury he could well be needed in the CL Final and having a game under his belt will do him no harm at all and as he is the only member of our squad to actually have a CL winners medal his experience could be vital.
We didn't play with the same intensity we have of late, which is understandable with the title in the bag, but that unfortunately shines a light on the back four and for the first time in a long time we didn't look as solid as we have done and made some basic errors. I am loath to criticise anyone for last night, but I did feel a little sorry for Ake, i personally rate him as a defender, he is a proper centre half and has been unlucky this season with injuries, so i am not going to go overboard on him at all, he will be disappointed, but move on and next season he can play apart I am certain, he is too good a player not too. I can see why Pep rates Garcia, he is a lovely footballer who uses the ball so well but he is moving on and he should really, we have 4 better centre halves than him, although I do believe he will develop into a top class centre half in time.
Our ball retention was superb and we passed it very well, we always do when Gundogan is pulling the strings, he makes the game look so simple and he kept us ticking over, whilst Rodri recycled the ball and kept us going forward.
Raheem and Jesus both worked very hard as always, both know they need to step up and impress to get a CL Final start and neither did their chances any harm because I am sure Pep is looking at players attitudes and willingness to keep going in these games when it could be easy to relax and take your foot off the pedal so to speak.
Young Torres was exceptional, all three of his goals were finishes of the highest class with his first being a goal of the season contender, it was quite magnificent. It does make me smile when i see things written like "he was bought AS A WINGER" by now we should know that traditional positions are meaningless to Pep. He looks an absolute steal at the moment and there is far more to come, his finishing is instinct, not many forwards have that natural ability and he has it in spades. The Sergio replacement possibly? I wouldn't bet against it on last nights showing.
Another record broken as well, this is an incredible era to be a Blue, we are truly blessed, not even the great sides in history are achieving the sort of things we are and the scary thing is, I think we are getting to get better and better,