Good on Wolves for giving it a go, but let's not miss the real standout performance here. A team that lost its best forward, on the road, in a classic letdown game after beating its main rival, looks to be on the ropes after surrendering an equalizer, gets off the canvas, brushes off, gets control of the match again and scores yet another late winner to claim all three points and go up 16 points with a game in hand. Magnificent.
Billy is the only one I've seen mention it but Fabinho made a big impact tonight. He looked out of sorts in the brief stint vs. United last week but he's got his legs back now and I thought him coming in and Hendo going a bit forward and wide gave us control of the midfield again. We don't win otherwise.
It's been mentioned that Robbo struggled for part of tonight, but he also dug deep toward the end and made a vital contribution. Virgil was immense again, but so was Joe Gomez, my 2nd choice for MOTM after Henderson.
I was surprised Jürgen went with Minamino when Sadio went off. I thought Takumi was a bit outmatched physically, to be honest. I believe he can get up to speed eventually, but it might be a while.
If it is really a hamstring I suspect it will be the beginning of March before we see Sadio again. I don't think it will hurt us in the league race but he would be a major loss for the Atletico matches. We will need Divock, or Shaq, or Ox, or Adam or Curtis or Takumi or someone to step in and perform well.
I expect not "some of the first team rested" but rather "11 changes" for the FA Cup match Sunday.
Anyway, great win for us (again) and let's stretch it to 19 next Wednesday.
« Last Edit: Jan 24, 2020 03:08:56 am by Robby The Z »
Logged