All that mattered was the result – ok a cliche but never truer than this afternoon.
And as usual the manager summed up the performance to perfection declaring that without the creative players it was all down to guts, determination, aggresion and team spirit.
To grind out a one niller with so many of our regulars missing was a fine achievement and it means that tonight we sit in a healthy tenth place – we’d all have settled for that at 4pm.
It’s hard to take too much from the game but Sam Byram, Mark Noble,Cheik Kouyate and Adrian were all right on top of things. Gokhan Tore grew ito it and that was one fabulous cross for the goal.
By this time next week we may well have a new striker on board with the big shout of course being Wilfried Bony but if we take the manager at his word then both Dimi and Manu will be back and that will be enough to have Pep Guardiola thinking hard.
It’s been a fraught start but after this afternoon things looked a whole lot brightr with the squad giving 100 per cent, looking fit and seeing out a difficult game with a patched up team.
It was a huge relief to wave goodbye to all the negativity which has surrounded recent performances. We’re okay and it’s going to get a whole lot better.
COYI
I thought Fuka looks very good,decent defensively.For 6 million he was good business from my immediate impressions.
Yep, happy and a bit relieved to get the points. It was a bit of a struggle with so much creativity missing but we just about deserved it. Gotta love Antonio, cult hero already.
However, we must have better than Collins (we’ll maybe need him to throw himself in front of Aguero next weekend, admittedly) and Valencia. Can’t fault either for effort but it does worry me if they are first choice for us – maybe the squad is not as deep as we like to think?
PS I love the stadium and atmosphere, even from way back in the Sir Trev stand.
Glad you appreciate Antonio like I do, RH: “cult hero already”! Someone else called him “Legend in the making”….Fantastic talent. Made history now at both the Boleyn and LS. Within a short time of playing on the right today he had produced a superb cross which everyone missed, but was picked up by Tore (now playing on HIS more comfortable left) whch led to Antonio’s headed goal.
To me, RH, the answer is simple; play him in his position, and he will deliver; play him out of position and it is a waste of his incredible talents.
I don’t worry about anything else. We have great players who can do a job, even if we are depleted. We might get smacked next week, esp if we don’t have Payet or Lanzini, but we could hurt them big time too instead if Antonio is played on the R wing. Personally, I’d love to see Fletch to get more mins on the pitch as well.
We weren’t nearly as good as we could be today, but we did enough; great spirit. We can keep doing that, and when the big players return, we can punish anyone….
This is a ‘rose coloured spectacles’ piece. Sure we got the points but how much of that was down to us and how much was down to Bournmouth shooting themselves in the foot is a bit questionable.
As I see it we are a mid table team without Payet and Lanzini
And my biggest fear is, with every team already knowing that, getting a red card would be a cheap price to pay to put either out of action.
If we could get a Bony or Zaza, it would change the whole picture but I don’t see Pep letting us field Bony against him, so we might have to wait.
Every team is a mid table team without their two best players. As it is we are playing without about five. Get a grip.
Canchaz. JUST ONE BIG SIGH!
Nesta you can’t get canchaz to be happy and you can’t just keep putting 3 liners telling us we are all wrong,
Every one can knock others but you need to give us your views when contradicting ours,
Every team is not a mid table team without there best 2 players 3/4 most are relegation fodder,
The top 6 teams have enough depth to cope and still play entertaining football,
canchaz great to see you in a happy mood again
I doubt really fancy writing an incoherent essay contradicting others. We are without most of our best oldies and have 3 points after two games and an away goal in the Europa Cup play off. We aren’t playing well but are improving. Is that good enough for you?
Has Canchaz ever been known to be positive about anything?.Admittedly I haven’t been here long but I confess I’m yet to see him write anything without a negative spin to it.
Tore was my man of the match today. I wonder why he didn’t play on the left from the beginning. Masuaku looks top notch to me. As for Antonio he appears to be able to play in any advanced position. He looks as if he has the assets to be a very good central striker. With all the wingers we seem to have acquired, I wonder if that’s where he will end up.
Take Prog & Zlat out of manure what have you got?
last two games for chelski f##k all without Costa
We could have stole a point at SB on monday if he got the red he should have & watford again yesterday.
we are missing half a team but we do really need a goal scorer. AC isn’t & never will be the striker we needed him to be. Once we get a few back we will be show our true class
Agree Essex and the football will be entertaining again,
Sorry Nesta it’s the only way I can write,incoherent no grammar lots of spelling mistakes,
But with my heart on my sleeve and never sitting on the fence,
Would we still be having the same conversation if Adrien had not made those 2 great saves ?
He did and we won. My point is any team outside maybe top 4 would struggle without their best players and we are no different. We won after a difficult week and are in the same position as this time last year so it’s not as bad as some think it is.
Hugh, surprised you never gave a shout out to Masuaku, for me he was the most accomplished player on the pitch, considering it was his first PL outing… Cress will have to earn his place back if Mas continues in similar vein
agreed BB.. Cresswell should be concerned about his starting place, for 2 years, he has been unchallenged for the LB position.. we could always use Cresswell as another winger since we are short in that department ;-p
I prefer not to make excuses like injuries or the pitch or the weather or the officials,
The difference is not the points it’s that silly little thing of entertainment,
Just got used to being spoilt last year and don’t think until Antonio went to right back late in the season we played anyone out of Position,
Masuaka looks a great buy as does Byram
For what it’s worth I thought we were lucky, it was a poor game and increasingly looked like ending 0-0. Bournemouth getting Arter sent off made a big difference and stopped dead any ambition that Bournemouth had – it was a great goal after about the only bit of concerted attacking in the whole match. A great cross by Tore and a briliant header from Antonio, we’ve seen him score quite a few like this now and he is a real threat on the far post.
Our attack looked toothless with the useless Valencia at the centre of it – if anyone shows any interest in taking Him we should snatch their hands off – he is really hopeless, I know we’re a bit short of bodies, but how he gets anywhere near the first team is beyond me.
A lucky 3 points but welcome nevertheless!
COYI