I noticed the difference in pre-season between us, Man United, Chelsea and Arsenal. While Rafa was experimenting with the likes of Mikel San Jose Dominguez, Daniel Ayala, Daniel Pacheco, Krisztian Nemeth, Jay Spearing, Martin Kelly, Stephen Darby and such, I noticed Chelsea and Man United when the both came to Malaysia, neither one of them played their youngsters. Not even Stoch, Wellbeck, Possebon or anyone came over. In fact, they used their strongest teams.
I love what Rafa is doing, I.E. giving the youngsters a run out with the senior players but has this made a difference in our form compared to Man United or Chelsea? I'm not too sure, myself.
Well, August wasn't the best of months for us. 2 wins and 2 losses. As much as I love Xabi Alonso, his departure doesn't mean it's all over for us. Xabi Alonso brought composure, creativity and his passing range for us. IMO, we did not only miss that, we also miss his presence as a senior player, someone who we can depend on to run our midfield and also his influence. But as I said above, it doesn't mean it's all over. Rafa wasted no time in bringing in his replacement - Alberto Aquilani. He seems like a sound player but we'll have to judge him by the end of the season.
White Hart Lane isn't the easiest of places to play. Take nothing from Spurs, they played well and deserved the win. They have a good squad that are capable of taking points off the big guns. I know Assou-Ekotto was involved in a penalty and handball decision but we shouldn't need to depend on a referee to help is change a game. Our lads didn't play well enough to score let alone win the game.
It was a better match against Stoke City. We had 2 dreadful draws that cost us the title against them last season and the key to winning this game was scoring early like what Fernando Torres did. We also saw a moment of brilliance by Steven Gerrard to set up Dirk Kuyt and we also saw Glen Johnson at his best in attacking.
Aston Villa at home was a very funny match. We could have score twice in the first 15 minutes and that definitely would have had a different outcome on the final result. We failed to take our chances and we let in 2 goals that came from set pieces. When Fernando Torres pulled one back, I had hope but it wasn't meant to be when Stevie conceded a penalty. He knew his timing was off as he didn't protest. One thing though, Villa didn't overrun us nor dominate the game. We actually were, by far the better team in the 2nd half, IMO, but the Aston Villa defence was very,very organised and disciplined. They were also helped by a Brad Friedel on form. So, 3-1 to Aston Villa didn't really reflect the game as Aston Villa managed to get 3 in without attacking too much.
We didn't have the best of games against Bolton as well but a win is a win. Again, we conceded from a corner. Glen Johnson , smashed from outside the box with his wearker foot and hope was rekindled. It wasn't a good sight when we were 2-1 down but Dirk Kuyt did really well to chest the ball to Fernando Torres to equalise. And as usual, captain marvel will produce the goods when we need it most.
One thing that worries me at the moment is the defence. We've leaked in 7 goals in 4 games, with 6 of those goals coming from set pieces and a penalty. It was like the time we conceded 8 goals in 2 games against Arsenal and Chelsea last season. However, I have faith in Rafa and the players to turn the tide around and lead us to where we belong - top. I know some are panicking that we've already lost as many games in 4 games as we did the whole of last season but bear in mind, we are still in the race and the title can still be won even if we lose another 4 games. We just have to draw less and I'm sure that's something that can be achieved.
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