Much like the Fulham game, no point in pretending we did well, did we do enough to win the game though, probably yes. They offered practically nothing (as you might expect from a team rooted to the bottom with their goalscoring record), wish the comms would have shut up about them "deserving" something, on what basis? We know where we are, play three centre halves and we're broadly speaking very hard to score against but create very little ourselves, a back four and it's like a basketball game.
Chalk it off, another game down, then we can forget this season.
Rui: Safe under the high ball and one good save.
Saiss: Solid defensively, a bit lax in possession at times. Denied a goal by a good save.
Coady: Not much of note, was in the right place when it mattered a couple of times.
Boly: No secret that we're always going to look more secure when he's in the team. Nearly scored with an audacious effort.
Semedo: Fairly low bar but my MOTM, defensively untroubled, critical block before we scored, carried the ball well.
Ait-Nouri: Again defended fine...was lucky not to be sent off though, let's just say I've seen them given. Set pieces weren't too bad.
Moutinho: Mopped stuff up well as he always does, didn't offer much creatively.
Dendoncker: Unremarkable stuff for the most part but set Adama away for the goal.
Podence: It's not quite happening for him at the moment (though again he did play his part in the goal), he's trying a lot with a low success rate. He clearly is way off being fully fit but needs must.
Adama: Finishing is rickety, we already know that. Great work on the goal though. Keeping it simple as he did there is always best for him.
José: Basically the same as the Fulham game without VAR sticking its beak in. Not a difficult chance by any means but you still need to stick them away, some glimpses of decent link play, even won the odd header....but there's still nothing like enough involvement. Still, nice for him to not end up with a 0 goals record when he leaves us in a few weeks.
Vitinha: Not much involvement, we couldn't get him on the ball much.
Fabio: As we know, much more dynamic than José. Don't think his chance was a particularly strong one, going away from goal and hitting across the keeper from that range isn't a great opportunity.
41 points, a mark we never managed in any of our four pre-Nuno PL seasons and still six games to go. It's been a difficult season but on the whole, it's just unremarkable more than anything. Take our best players out for long spells and we'll perform like a mid-table side, we are as mid-table as it gets right now. Which in the circumstances, fine.
