Much, much, MUCH better... Not a bad performance anywhere on the pitch today. When's the last time we could say that?
We're still shaky at the back, but that said, we did look far more organized, more disciplined and far more committed to defending today... For starters, I thought Kerkez was very solid today, against a very dangerous direct opponent. He really defended well, held his ground and got forward a lot as well - Easily his best game for us. Hopefully, it's a turning point.
I also thought that VVD and Ibou were different players today... Far more committed, more aggressive and much sharper from the get-go. Ibou did a lot of very effective shepparding of their attackers on potentially dangerous brakes, and he blocked a lot of shots, too. Much better stuff (though he did scare the bollox off me, when he went to ground to win that ball, late on - That's an inch from a red card). Virgil was a far better leader today, too - No whining and waving his arms and blaming everybody else... it was all encouragement, all positivity and he was especially focused on cheering on everything good that Kerkez did. Just much better all-around back there.
Oh, and Ali's still the best around. He just is.
Midfield was also far more organized, I thought, and though we were still carved through a few times (still worrying, of course), it was far less than we've seen these past three months. Gravvy was back to his quiet but brilliant best for much of the match, and I thought Wirtz was outstanding, both on and off the ball... His work rate, fighting back to put in challenges and win the ball back throughout the game. Macca was in and out of things... I thought he looked annoyed throughout the first half, not on the same page as Wirtz, maybe, but though he's still far from last season's form, he's showing more, in longer spells. And Curtis remains Curtis. Always involved, always willing, but always seems to take too long, take too many touches, and seems to be why a lot of our promising breaks slow down and cut back... He plays like we did on the streets with our mate, when step-overs and dummies were the goals, so we could point and laugh when they fell on their arses.
Up front, it seemed like bizarro world today... Hugo turned into Mo, looking to shoot almost every time, costing us several chances by doing that, but scoring two, so the greed is overlooked, and also passing once when he really should have scored himself. But the boy's a star and me and my brother agreed that we really should be building around him, not Isak. he and Wirtz are the future.
Mo was everything I'd love him to be every day today... Worked his bollox off, up and down the pitch. Passed more in 60 minutes than he has in 3 years (and often, when he actually should have shot himself!!! 🙂 ), and got back and helped out when we didn't have the ball. He still can't beat his man anymore, but I'm glad he played, I'm glad he contributed, and if this is what he's willing to do with / for us now, I really hope he fixes things with Slot and comes back and stays. He does need to practice his passing though! A few times, he's why we didn't carve them open and race clean through.
First time in ages - maybe the Spurs clincher last season - that I've actually enjoyed watching us play a full match. I saw something I haven't seen in ages... A defined shape, a style of football, players playing for each other and fighting like hell, and our two main superstars playing like they're actually part of a team, and not just there for themselves. If we can return to this being our norm, rather than the exception it is right now, we'll comfortably finish in the top 4. We're still a bloody good team.
Shame about the annual JoGo injury, of course, and I really, really hope Szobo's ok... he asked for that switch at the end. Hope it's just 'coz he's knackered.
Oh, and wasn't it wonderful to see Milner get the biggest cheer of the day, when he came on? I'll always love that bloke. Legend.
Have a great weekend, lads. Happy Christmas or whatever you celebrate.