Really proud of the lads today. Solid at the back. Great passing of the ball. What I really love is the way we know how to ACTUALLY CALM DOWN AND CLOSE DOWN A GAME!!! We finally don't look like headless chickens and know how to pass the ball around at 2-0 up and see out a team. Ratings - Sels - 7 - Not way too much to do, but looked a bit better in the air, and made some good saves. Anita - 7 - Solid. Lascelles - 8.5 - Captain fantastic. Looks way more comfortable now and fantastic header!!! Mbemba - 7.5 - Solid performance and some good running. Dummett - 7 - MUCH better today. He made some early mistakes but grew into the game and put some half decent balls in. Good physical defending. Shelvey - 8 - Not amazing but some good passing and looked a lot more composed in front of goal. Fantastic goal also! Hayden - 7.5 - Good strong work at DM. Mo Diame - 7 - Some great moments of hold of play, skill and running. He's starting to look a good threat at this level. Ritchie - 7.5 - Good work rate and great deliveries into the box at times. Gouffran - 7 - Good work rate, good passing and movement and unlucky not to have a goal. Perez - 7 - Good work rate, could have done better with some touches, but did quite well. Gamez - n/a - Decent but will take time to adjust to the league. Yedlin - n/a Benitez - 8 - We set up well for the game and he commanded well from the sidelines, barking orders and helping us see out the game. MOTM - I'll give to Lascelles.
Comfortable win, defensively solid, and we snuffed out their danger man Knockeart well, apart from the shot that hit the bar, he was policed very well. Not sold on Sels yet, but a few okay saves and a second clean sheet in a row. Hayden continues to look very impressive, and Shelvey finally showing that he could dominate this division. Our week link was Diame imo, didn't look a threat up front and made quote a few misplaced passes.
aye hayden looks a hard working honest player .. perez for me is not a lone striker , he gets bullied .poor lad is tiny ..but he tried
For me the change is one Rafa's realised he can afford to make in this league - instead of 2 DM's he now only starts with 1, Hayden. Think he's realised how limited Colback is (decent back up) and how much potential Shelvey has if he's not pushed too far back. We were more like 4-1-4-1 against Brighton, and it's little changes like that which puts Rafa apart. We then go to any range of 4-5-1, 4-2-3-1 or even 5 at the back to close games out, but we've realised we can and should beat every team in this league. This little run has been very important so we can now strike fear in the opposition. We'll see who's left Thursday; if we're bringing Lazaar, Atsu, McCarthy and Murphy in, then I fully expect all four of Gouff, Riviere, Sissoko and Tiote to be gone.
Delusion starting to set in. We beat the team sitting second in the table comfortably with out whole strike force absent. The two early losses were to the teams sitting first and thrid, were during our bedding in period and were games in which we largely dominated possession. Grounds to be optimisitic enouugh to think we can try to win every game, including the cups (sorry CC)
My bet for the record points may still prove shrewd! Table starting to evolve already, was a bit of an off day for Brighton, they'll still definitely be around the top for the duration, I think Huddersfield may fall away, but Fulham could be the dark horses this year, very decent unsung manager and looked defensively very strong when we played them.
Hayden and Perez were excellent. I have been very critical of Perez but that was as selfless a performance as you will see. Hayden ran the game from start to finish.
He does look very assured. A lot of Arsenal fans were surprised at the decision to sell him as they thought he had potential. We're getting to see that.
I'd be fairly disappointed if we let Gouff go. We wont get much for him so should certainly be keeping him for the final year of his contract. He's already shown he can be a useful option for us in this league.
thing is lads we have to play well away from home ...thats the key .. as for fullham they were nowt special ..i thought .. if that ref had dome his job proper and had no suspensions ..we would of had a point at least .brighton will not be far away if they keep there players
This....and This. Got to be a bit braver away from home - but as I said above, I think it's clicked with Rafa that we're better on what I believe Sir Alan of Pardew called "the front foot". Fulham - very average, but they have discipline and do have the odd real talent; the lad Lasse Vigen Christensen is going to be sensational one day. We were really rubbish but could have easily won if we'd got one of two stonewall penalties. Huddersfield another that just won't stay the course. Thing about the Championship is some teams like Derby have been top in Feb and then finished 8th (Schteve, where are you now buddy)!! It can get so tight - I seem to recall a stat that Cardiff didn't win one of their final 8 games and finished top? However, I think we have by far and away the most formidable squad, Rafa's quickly getting to terms with it and I think we could roll through the next few fixtures. I also thought we'd benefit playing the bigger teams; the smaller ones will always try to park the bus.
I think we'll be braver away from home now that our defenders have settled in and that we have our newer defenders in. We were shakier than a ****ting dog at the back at the beginning of the season. We look progressively more solid as we go on.
Was Shelvey looking a lot slimmer or is it just me? I don't think he was fat before but he was a lot bigger muscle wise
