Well I thought that was all rather stellar. A few observations from watching iFollow:
+ when I saw the starting line up I confess I liked it. It allowed us to play more physical players in our last third whilst still having the ability to play football and counter attack with the wing back
+ It also meant that when the marauding Stevenage kept pumping in cross after cross, long ball after long ball, the three center backs didn’t get physically or mentally drained as they were on rotation and they could mop up huge numbers of second balls
+ we look so well prepared for every eventuality. Their corners I loved how our big guys were all free to own space and the little guys were there merely as disruptive blockers . I like how we take our time to ready ourselves when we need to
+ I don’t ever recall seeing such a direct team . They apparently have approx less than two passes on average for each attack that creates a chance which is lowest in division . I can see why. I can also see how it’s effective. I’m baffled that they don’t have a massive bulldozer up top. My memory of kane h is that he was a fox in the box.
+ a few folks pre match say evans teams can play football. I’m going to contest that. Horrible to watch. But the mastery of the blocking off the ball is impressive. The referee literally appeared to think that was too hard to manage so let them get on with it
+ the strength in depth of our squad is great. But mannings coaching, despite our big budget, shouldn’t be underestimated. I realise nobody is underestimating it but ….. 7 out of 10 outfield starters were on last seasons squad. Two of the subs were too
+ our general sense of calm as a squad. We seem to be very immune to shithousery. Moore is incredibly calm as a leader. Sometimes it annoys me we don’t get more aggro…but boy today if I’d have been playing my mindset would have been way off as I reacted to everything. Our guys just suck it all up. We won’t get huge numbers of suspensions this year. Who wants to be suspended on a squad where it’s so hard to win a place on the team . Only Tyler looked properly agitated today
+ the togetherness of that squad is obvious. I watched the fifa video (which was good fun) and I was drawn to the fact that four new boys were all clearly enjoying each others company and knew their team mates so well. End of game today you could see buckets of it