My take on the pen yesterday was that it was called correctly IMO, the Aguero trip by Fonte was 100% a pen the Chelsea one was not a pen either. But for people to say we are lucky with pen decisions? I say we are unlucky just off the top of my head....Shane Long against Everton ...Pelle at old Trafford having his shirt pulled all over the place by Chris Smalling.
He's been like that before. When he arrived he sounded like he had been rescued from a hell hole. He's grateful for a fresh start and seems to have huge admiration for Koeman. Koeman said in his press conference that he didn't expect any trouble from Elia as he knew him and knew his family. I didn't expect him to slot in so quickly...bravo to him and the coaching staff. It is strange, but now we have him, I have forgotten all about Mane...he'd better get better soon and compete for his place. How lucky are we to have such talent.
It's a blatant penalty, but I believe you should always go into a game expecting at least one piece of misfortune. Fact is, the rest of the game they weren't good enough in defence or attack. Their goal was a fluke anyway.
Another big bonus which not many people have picked up on was how well the long-awaited return of Jack Cork went. He was so good that you didn't really notice him, in a good way. He just slotted straight back in, linking up and defending like he hadn't been out for several weeks. We were all worried before yesterday at the loss of Morgan and Victor, but with Cork, Reed, and Davis we have very able backups in that DM role.
We keep worrying about our lack of depth, but player versatility makes up for that. We only have Pelle as the out and out striker, though he seems to be more of a supplier at the moment. We have good CB cover when we get Toby and Maya back....I am particularly pleased how Gardos and Maya have stepped up. Forster, Pelle and Fonte have been ever presents...would worry if we lost one of them.
It's been incredible this season the way players just slot straight in, whether it be returning from an injury, new signings or youngsters making their debut. Every player seems to know exactly what's expected of them, and what they can expect from the players around them. That has to be down to the manager and his coaching staff.
Cheers FLT, forgot about that one. Skysports just seem to report on the ones that could go against us.....never the ones we should have had.
In that dodgy December period we were saying how we couldn't buy any good luck, what has changed? Are we creating our own good luck? It seems very strange how different things have become. Funny Old game.
When I see the replay (from the goal looking out especially) Forster should have shouted so loud the away fans heard him and claimed that, taking out anything in his path. I reckon Gardos didn't hear any communication from Forster so tried to handle it on his own, with the unfortunate end result. I can't see how Gardos can be blamed, but that's just me. It's not that important anyway, we won. One thing we seem to be able to do better than under any other manager in recent times is see a game out and hold on for three points. Under Pardew, Adkins and Pochettino a goal-lead in stoppage time was a far from sure thing but under Koeman and this season the resilience is incredible. The stand-out performance was against Chelsea but there have been others, Man United, Newcastle yesterday, uncomfortable viewing yes but Forster wasn't really troubled. They had a lot of corners and we were lacking in height but you couldn't tell. Different kind of performances the last couple of weeks, away performances that aren't as easy on the eye (or the blood pressure) but we are handling the pressure immensely well and putting pressure on the teams around us.
If we do get into Europe next season (and one way or another it's very likely) we'll be facing this problem week after week. Vin
