Yeah, it was a much improved performance, but let's not go fellating ourselves. Dreamy's crowing over Salah is, well, typical Dreamy. He was better. But still not great. Let's see if he can improve and do it consistently before we start trying to dish out the "I told you so's".
The second half was more impressive than the first. First half we were cut open a few times, the press was disjointed, we didn't really create anything and we looked nervy at the back. Then we were gifted a goal just before half time. I bet Emery was furious with that as it absolutely changed the game and the respective half time team talks. Had they gone in at the break level, having had a good few chances, then they may have grown in confidence after the break. We might have been nervy and jittery without the comfort of a goal...
Instead it was us that grew in confidence, and we largely controlled the second half. It was like the first half of last season all over again, but it's not like we were peppering them with efforts or carving them open. The second goal came from some good fast interplay, but there was still an element of luck with the deflection. So, a gift and a deflection. A couple of other half chances, particularly Szoboszlai's chance in the first half stands out. But besides that, did we create much?
That said, we looked much more solid. That has to be our first choice defence. I haven't completely written off Kerkez yet, but it's no surprise we look significantly better with Robertson there. I'd like to see Wirtz come in for Gakpoo and see how he does off the left. When Isak is fit, play around with Ekitike starting out there too and Isak through the middle, as we need to get both of them firing soon.
Overall, much improved. A low bar, though. Let's see how we do in the next couple of games. As someone else said, their style of play suited us. Madrid and City may do also. It's when we face the direct long balls again that we will see if Slot has turned the corner. A good start, but we're not out of the woods yet.
