A whole new world....

…(because my youngest daughter has been watching Aladdin OK?)

Article by Mark French

Last Wednesday against Fulham after 56 minutes I had the beginnings of a different article taking shape in my head. At that moment I could not see us coming back and winning and maybe even not getting a point. Previous games had shown that when the opposition score first, they shut up shop, park the bus and we don’t have enough guile, width or pace to score. When Chiriches scored on 73m I reckoned we’d at least get a point. Less than 10 minutes later the foundations of my article and argument was in ruins.

Thank heavens.

I saw a team fired up to win. A midfield determined to boss the game, an attacking line ready to take on players and deliver into the box and a defence ready to lay it on the line to maintain the lead. OK at times it wasn’t pretty, the goals were scored from distance (do we really care?) and the last 10 minutes were fraught – to say the least. BUT it looked like a whole new world. Coming back to win showed the team and us, that, to quote the great Yogi Berra “It ain’t over ‘til it’s over”.

Yesterday against the Mackems showed that the team had learned the lesson from Wednesday. This time it seemed a little easier and coming back from a goal down (again) always seemed likely (despite JD’s misses) and we got the rub of the green with the penalty shout – justice for Sunday against United maybe?

My observations: The Plus Points

Dembele is up to his best and was immense. Chadli appears to be finally showing us what he can do. Lennon is better without the beard. Dawson seems to prepared to die for the cause again. Paulinho has got over his aches and pains. Holtby is clearly improving as well.

The Minus Points

Lloris, despite his amazing ability, has taken to making mad decisions and someone (Dawson perhaps) needs to let him know his defence will deal with it! JD…well, I know a lot of you may disagree, but to me he is not the man. I know he got into positions to score and could be described as unlucky not to, but he didn’t - and as Gus Poyet said about his own team ‘luck’s got nothing to do with it’ (OK I’ve paraphrased). Missing 3 chances is at least one too many and one of them would have killed the game off. Sorry but I do not think Soldado would have had the same return as zero.

On that point I don’t see how putting Roberto on the bench is giving him the confidence boost he needs.

If we miss 3+ chances against Liverpool next weekend we’ll lose. Simple.

Which brings me neatly to Sunday’s game. I hope AVB has a plan to deal with Suarez. Shackle him and we’ve dealt with 75% of their goal scoring threat. I suggest Sandro has a Norman Hunter style approach (short of actually biting his legs!) and if we set out to dominate the midfield we can limit their possession and chances. Cut off the supply is what we need to do. We have the midfield to do it. We also have to attack down the flanks and scare Skrtel into making mistakes. The issue then is putting the ball into the back of the net.

I confess to being anxious about this game. If we win it nails our credentials firmly to the goal posts. If we draw, well we’re playing one of the ‘in form’ teams aren’t we? If we lose, no it’s not the end of the world or the season but….yet again it would be another missed opportunity.

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