last night really did prove how much we lack a striker, or at least a goal source when Stevie, Carroll and Suarez are not in the team. I know Kuyt scored but other than that header, did he really offer a goal threat? N'gog wasted chance after chance, as did Meireles and Cole.
Our finishing really did let us down. We should have won that by 3 or 4, rather than a nervous 1-0 where bringing on a defender in the final few minutes was celebrated. The defence as a whole did well and was impressed by all, our 2 hard men at the back really did prove it in Soto and Agger.
To be honest, overall I wasen't impressed with Joe Cole at all. I thought in the first half he was shocking, wayward passes going all over the place, headers on goal actually going nowhere near the goal and ducking out of challenges in which we scored. He offered very little creativity when on the ball in the middle of the park. He had a decent end to the game with a few runs when we were catching them on the break. But that is how he impressed. He was left with the space and exploited it. It still took him an hour to get going, that is very bad for a player we were relying on to fill Stevie's boots. This was supposed to be his big break and it still took him that long to get going and really have an influence in the game. He had a good second half but his touch and finish were awful to kill off the game.
A good second half in the whole game is not good enough for a player we were expecting a big big game from.
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