Excellent result. First half we looked good, maybe didn’t create as much as you’d expect but looked solid and in complete control. Second half we can’t really judge after about 60 minutes as we were clearly completely knackered, have to give credit to the likes of kdb, Jesus and Foden for finding a third wind in those last 10 minutes though to ease the pressure.
No idea why Pep didn’t use more subs, if he can’t trust mahrez to run around more for 10 minutes than Foden/Jesus who were puffing hard then what’s the point?
Fernandinho was absolutely vintage tonight, Rodri did well enough and had a good game but dinho showed exactly what we missed in the middle last season. defensively he’s quicker both in body and in thought, always picking up lose balls, stopping attacks building and negating counters, they barely got a chance to gain possession in our half during the first 45 and in possession he plays first time balls forward and with purpose whereas Rodri plays too many sideways easy balls, that side of his game needs to improve a lot. Not a bash at Rodri before somebody takes it that way, he played well he’s just played alongside the master tonight. Hopefully Rodri learns from that to see how to properly do the role.
Those that wrote off dinho in midfield of which there were many need to hang their head in shame.
