A big win but let’s not kid ourselves all is well
Relieved, yes pleased, yes! But when you find yourself holding your breath and praying for the final whistle you know there’s something still very wrong against a team who in reality had little to offer until the last half an hour.
And that is as familiar a story as you can get given the events of last Monday night when Arsenal had individual players who could hurt us. Southampton didn’t.
There was much to admire from the Irons as they took a firm grip on the game particularly in the first 45 minutes but with the arrivals of Yarmolenko and Sanchez the wheels could so easily have fallen off.
Ok Fab may well be back for Palace and Lanzini is apparently not too far behind him and despite his lack of real form he is a player who can make things happen at his best.
This is a team which still has problems and doubts about the manager’s abilities to sort things simply won’t go away. There’s room for massive improvement and if that doesn’t happen he is in big trouble.
One things is for absolute certain. If he decides to play that sad one up system again we have real problems and how significant is it that Antonio is a player who has never been a Pellegrini favourite.
Yes, thank heavens for the win but the worries still linger.