Obviously a goal might have changed my mind entirely on this, but today felt like one of those backs to the wall performances/periods in a game where you can tell how well the team is being coached, rather than being a heroic, last ditch type of showing where it’s all based upon the desire of the players and, at times, luck. There was plenty of that, too, but mostly it was being where they should and not getting isolated.
The system today looked predictable. In a good way. You knew what would happen, by and large, when the ball went into the channel between the centre half and the full back. The player defending the back post was doing so while goal side and in touch with his centre half. There seemed to be a lot of talking out there. As soon as we were overloaded down each side you could see the midfielder try to close off that channel and everyone move one across. This might seem like basic stuff for some top teams, but we haven’t seen it in a long time. Players know what their job is and how it affects the players around them.
Famous last words and all that, but I think we might be on to something here.