Defensive: Robbo didnt have much to do, couldnt do anything with the goal. seems solid, more confident than before.
Dawson was by far the best defender, followed by Lee. Chimbo let Petrov make too many crosses, Kaboul was decent defensively.
Zokora and Jenas did not work good together, and especially in the first half their was an enormous gap in the middle. Zoko keeps making wrong choices about which balls to chase, and is actually very slow at running home from time to time.
Malbranque shows great character and made a lot of tackles and interceptions. Think the main reason for us attacking twice as much on the left side is that Malbranque and Lee make a lot more interceptions and tackles than Lennon/Chimbo.
Offensively: dreadful first half. Kaboul's passing awful.
But the worst thing was the movement. Now, I watch it on the telly, so anyone that was there feel free to correct me, but I saw literally no movement at all in the first half. And when Jenas and Zoko are sitting deep we really struggle with creating chances.
Malbranque was good, very solid display. Gets good support by Lee, who then spoils everything cos hes got no offensive abilities. Lennon looked a threath all night. berba was looking sharp, Bent has no confidence at all, but at least he made some good runs (until he fell over..)
Defoe and Boateng both played really good after they came on - especially Boateng. Many of the players looked off the pace and low on confidence, but he really seems to have the right attitude. Looked very, very promising - will be a hit in the premiership!
Ramos: was shocked when he took of Lennon, but it really paid off!
neither did I mate. It was woeful - as bad as England under Eriksson and McLaren. Static players, no options - leading to long ball after long ball. Thank goodness for Berbatov (and to a lesser extent Steed) - he was the only player with ideas early on (it scares me to think about what we will do if he goes). Hearteningly, the off the ball movement did improve as the game went on.
Interestingly, I watched Football First and it's amazing how this problem hardly came across or got mentioned in the programme. I guess the 30 minutes they cut out was our players standing around static looking clueless.