It was in short, just one of those frustrating games. We've seen so many at the Lane over the years where the opposition just come and pack the defence, which we, as do many others find difficult to break down. Their goalkeeper also had a great day, again as we've seen before, with several opposition keepers, I remember Tim Krul for Newcastle especially one year.
But we won and there were a lot of positives - the new additions of Wanyama, Sissoko and Janssen in key positions have given us more quality strength in depth, and leave us less vulnerable to injuries. Dier's versatility is also a massive bonus.
We created an awful lot of chances that on another day would have resulted in a lot of goals.
Son was my man of the match, it has taken him a season to really gel and based on his performances against Stoke and yesterday, he could have a very good season. Mousa looked great on his return.
We know have a real opportunity to 'rest' or give players a kick up the bum if they are not performing - Eriksen (who played well at Stoke) and Lamela yesterday for example.
I think my only slight concern was the niggles we picked up and the potential fatigue towards the end of the game when Sunderland gave it a go for 10 minutes. This is probably a result of playing at Wembley on Wednesday, a notoriously tiring pitch. Poch will have to work out a plan for that...I'm sure he will.
So we're third in the league, with 11 points, above Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United. This time last year having played a similar spread of games in terms of opposition, we were 12th with 6 points......what's not to like?? early days but we're up there again, with a stronger squad and winning games rather than drawing them. Poch will need a few more weeks to work out his best team and then we'll be ready for an assault on the top places.
Happy days....although you'd never know if you looked at some other forums!! Ha ha ha.
