First half I really enjoyed. Thought we looked good at times, but was generally pretty even.
Second half. **** me. What the **** was that?
The central defensive pair were an absolute shambles. Fatawu demonstrated why he hasn’t been started matches, and I’m a bit annoyed at the cowardice for starting both him and Mavididi together to appease the fans, when Cooper has said they can’t play together in his system (and tonight showed he might just be right about that).
And the Soumare substitution was just plain baffling.
Bad day at the office for sure, but we’re still in a decent position. Three wins on the trot for a newly promoted team doesn’t exactly happen too often. Onwards and (hopefully) upwards.
The Mavididi, Fatawu thing wasn't a problem in the first half. Fatawu was getting a little bit of stick but he was a nuisance, he won corners, he got us moving forward and generally, he was okay. Not his best, but not bad. Mavididi was quiet but again, didn't do much wrong and played some decent balls forward. He also made some good challenges. Again, not his best but not his worst.
Then came the second half.
Both of them went to complete shit as did Winks who had been superb in the first. We absolutely should have gone to five at the back as soon as we saw that's what they had done because it completely nullified us and we couldn't match them. When we did use our substitutions they were bizarre.
Like I say, although Cooper only gets a 4 out of 10 for today because he couldn't adapt, it's absolutely not all on him. He got it right in the first half. Winks and Buonanotte simply cannot make such stupid, simple errors. They were just inexplicable and our CBs, who were already playing shite, were thrown under a massive great bus. The worrying thing was just how wrong he got it in the second half.
We have to find a way to play football for a full 90 minutes. It just can't go on like it is because we are mostly either having to rescue points or we lose. There will come a time when there just isn't enough in the tank to rescue anything and it's all downhill from there.
) but they should have been prevented by them. I’d have been gutted to have conceded any of those playing 5 a side with my geriatric friends so god only knows how we managed to concede 3 such piss poor goals. The second - everyone going on about the finish from Wood - how any defender would ever consider letting him get a shot off is beyond me!
