It may have been against ten man Bruges, but I was seriously impressed by that performance. Bruno alongside McTominay in that midfield and then with Fred in the form he's in too... And Ighalo was great too. Lukaku might be a better finisher, probably a much better finisher, but ighalo looks so much better with his back to goal and linking the play than Romelu ever did. There was a sense of spirit too and feeling of early stages of a team coming together, which I have to admit was really promising. I haven't seen every game post SAF but this one sticks out in my mind as one of the most encouraging I've seen.
That being said, ten man Bruges away are the definition of 'cannon fodder' and we need to see how the season goes before making evaluations. Signs are good at the moment you have to say.
To all those getting high and mighty because they've always backed Ole, I would refer you to the league position and also the fact that going into the season with Lingard and Pereira in the AM and no replacement for Lukaku was basically managerial suicide. There is really no excuse for any crowing given how bad some of the performances have been, which have been as bad as I can remember.
There are definitely more than a few promising signs though and might well be the case that Bruno is the missing link that allows us to venture beyond counter attacking. In short if this is kept up for the rest of the season and we qualify for CL then it would be hard, very hard, to argue that Ole doesn't deserve more time. Sterner tests than 10 man Bruges await though.
I've been a staunch Ole in guy since he was appointed almost to the point of tiresome. But just like the
some of the Ole out crowd would be genuinely happy that we lose games since that means a glimmer of hope that they can see Pochettino at the helm, I too will take some glee from the fact that we're winning games, and have become the stingiest defense in Europe over the past 20 games. I will however refrain from gloating on the forums, Im quite happy with winning games and seeing our youngsters thrive as they continue to take strides this season. Everyone knew this was going to be a bumpy ride, where we are is completely as expected going into the season. The absence of key players for various long stretches have an obvious impact.
Considering that the club tried (and failed) to add to both our attack and midfied before the season, you can't actually accuse the manager of willingly going into the season with Lingard and Pereira. Lukaku went to Ole and said he wanted out. The managers position is that he does not want anyone around that doesn't want to be here, so he was let go. Removing a disruptive presence from the player group is just smart. Contrary to popular belief, by all accounts Pogba himself has not been disruptive at all, so there goes that argument.
Pereira being left out of the squad entirely is a relatively clear indication that the almost comical level of chances given has come to an abrupt end. I've seen a lot of people being upset that the manager does not call out publicly.. but that is entirely in tune with his old manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, who always took his grievances behind closed doors. There is never any reason to give the press reason to write negative pieces about the club outside of footballing results.
With regard to yesterdays game. Yes we did indeed play v10 men for most of the game, but in all fairness the period leading up to the penalty was exactly the same, a 1 way steamrolling train. The only time Brugge came close was after a massive mistake by Romero. That's his second in consective games now. A little bit concerning considering how solid he has been leading up to this. An absolutely fantastic backup goaltender.
This entire season has been a rollercoaster with injuries on Pogba early on that destabilized our midfield and we had to rely on lower-tier squadmembers stepping up. Fred was struggling as he had been all his tenure here for a long time. Lingard has been this team worst player this season, just completely unforgivable form.
I'd appreciate if both the Ole in and Ole out crowd can appreciate that this team performs better with the right players available. Yes injuries happen all the time, but no teams in the EPL has had to deal with the injury problems we have this season. Then we can debate why that is, but it is what it is.
The only thing we know is that we have been through a very solid period. 12 clean sheets in the last 17 games. 1 goals allowed in the last 7. 5 wins 2draws in that time.
Marcus Rashford, Brandon Williams, Aaron-Wan Bissaka, Axel Tuanzebe, Mason Greenwood are all well on pace to take great strides in their development. Scott McTominay has established himself. Fred the past 20 games has been nothing hort of outstanding.
We've missed the locksmith in midfield all season with Pogba gone, and Bruno Fernandes is it. Even though we are without our by far biggest scoring threat, probably for rest of the season, there's a lof going on in this team that gives you reason to be very optimistic about the season that follows the current one.