Weird game for me sitting up at 5am. Much more considered, slower paced, conservative approach. Had me pissed off to be honest. Got absolutely tired of Alonso and Reece James stopping like they'd been shot as soon as they reached the Lille back 4, and then passing backwards. Whatever happened to wing backs bombing down the touch lines?? Still we controlled the game , sort of, but hardly created anything. Then Tomori and Tammy combined in the kind of way Lampard and Drogba did, fabulous ,up there goal. Whoops, another appalling zonal marking balls up, and in go Lille. Too easy, happening too often, no matter who is in the defence. From then on it was a slog with little real craft or creative play from either side. Briefly Lille showed their speed and attack could hurt us, but having repelled that, Frank made some changes and bingo CHO and Willian produce a killer goal. On reflection we got what we wanted, with a minimum of heart flutters, but without our usual flair. In defence of our defenders, they all did really well despite 2 brain fades from Tomori. Kepa silenced his recent critics with 3 fantastic saves, the midfield was ,at best OK, but lacked power and creativity, Kante was ordinary, Alonso terrific, and Zouma a rock. Exactly the result we wanted, but a strange flat performance.
Can’t be critical of tactics or effort really, it was a must win game that got won against a tricky team with pace galore.
