It's not the first time we've done it with 10 men, the Derby last season followed a similar pattern, get the goal and then defend deep and don't get caught out down the middle. If the oppo wanna whip crosses in from wide then Carra and Skrtel/Agger are more than happy to deal with it all day. We seem happy with this kind of game, almost an attack v defence training exercise. Defend deep, play on the break and try to nick one. It suits us, reminds me a lot of the Houiller days in europe (and the league, for the most part)
Contrast this with the City debacle. The minute Javier decided to throw his toys out the pram (losing all respect from most I'd imagine) I worried would we have the same intensity, the desire to press and hassle. The answer was a resounding no. The last 18 months have shown us to be consistently inconsistent and capable of beating anyone on our day, (and losing to anyone else when it isnt, Portsmouth away)
Is it too simplistic to carry on about how much we miss Xabi? Would Javier have made that much difference? Ultimately 99 times out of 100 you get what you deserve in a game, if you approach it well and put the effort in then the rewards will come.
If you can't retain possesion, look clueless going forward, have zero outlets and resort to lumping it forward (sorry but Carra is as bad as anyone at doing this, and granted it may be down to a lack of movement) then ultimately you're gonna come unstuck.
The heads went down after the first, and yet 5 mins before HT we seemed to wake up, started having a go, a couple of Gerrard long rangers gave a bit of optimism that it would be a different story after the break. A few well placed words from Roy and surely we'd be firing again and getting back into it?
Not to be, anytime Adam Johnson is made to look like Lionel Messi you know you're gonna be in trouble. Agger and Jova looked decidely clueless on how to handle him, even doubling up wasn't stopping him.
The manner of the 2nd wasn't suprising. Against Arsenal we looked shaky defending corners, and it didn't improve against City ... funny how Sky didn't mention anything about Man to Man marking being to blame for the goal ... reminded me of one we conceeded at Arsenal a couple of seasons back where Gallas got free (think it was JAR) who got the blame that day for letting him wander off.
As far as Andy Gray and co were concerned it was the marking system at fault, 'never seen a zone score a goal' is often heard when one of these rare occurrences happen ... conveniently forgetting Pepe's record of golden gloves and clean sheets. Much ado about nothing really, zonal or man to man, if you don't defend properly then you'll conceed.
Anyway, onward and upward, I'm sure a thumping victory on Sunday against the Baggies and everything in the garden will look rosy again ... I'm just starting to wonder if we've got a load of homers who are incapable of taking their desire on the road. Lets hope not eh? Talk about this on the forum