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David Ellis
1 Posted 26/02/2017 at 08:36:35
Funny to think that neither Schneiderlin or Gana started in our 4-0 win over Man City. They were both excellent today and Schneiderlin makes it possible for us to play 4 at the back – which gives us a slightly more attacking bent.
Great match report as always. Good result but slightly underwhelming performance. Hopefully we start to click again soon.
Dave Abrahams
2 Posted 26/02/2017 at 09:00:46
You saw the match exactly as I did. We deserved to win but much too complacent in the second half, you have got to beat these teams with goals before any slacking off is even thought about.

Great result; not much entertainment.

Terry Underwood
4 Posted 26/02/2017 at 11:38:27
Only saw MotD but Gana looks like a master of anticipation. He just seems able to arrive at the same time as an opposition pass, his brain seems to be working just as hard and just as fast as his legs. A real bargain buy.
Bob Parrington
5 Posted 26/02/2017 at 11:58:45
How does one pick the MotM today? Gana? Barkley? Schneiderlin? Coleman?

Difficult decision, eh?

John Raftery
6 Posted 26/02/2017 at 12:59:02
I would add Williams to the list of good performers. He has often looked shaky this season but yesterday he kept close tabs on Defoe, organised the back line and made a couple of vital blocks. He will need to maintain that level in the coming weeks – especially away from home.

Although Valencia missed a great chance, his introduction gave the Sunderland defence something else to worry about, allowing Lukaku to get into the game.

As Ken says, it will be interesting to see how many games Lookman starts in the rest of the season. I would expect Mirallas to start at White Hart Lane where he has scored a couple of great goals in past visits.

Derek Knox
7 Posted 26/02/2017 at 13:34:32
Good summation of the game again, Ken, for which I thank you.

While not being a spectacle by any stretch of the imagination, it was mostly looking that anything other than a win, would have been astonishing.

I truly admire Koeman for the team he is building, with strength on the bench too. I also hope we can extend this run to the end of the campaign, which is highly possible, or even probable, provided we don't do anything stupid. Even the harder games to come, we are more than capable of drawing, even Chelsea. Qualification for Europe would make such a difference, to players wanting to stay, not to mention the financial benefit.

If, and it would be a big if, we could beat Spurs away next week, not only would we gain more valuable points, but taking 3 off them would be massive, towards our final target.

Tony Hill
8 Posted 26/02/2017 at 13:50:10
Terry (#4), and with apologies to anyone else who's already mentioned this elsewhere on TW, Gueye is the first to 100 successful tackles in any of the top European leagues, even though he was away at the African tournament. I don't generally like stats but that tells us something pretty important about the player.
Jeff Armstrong
9 Posted 26/02/2017 at 14:22:09
Terry (#4) spot on with Gueye thinking ahead in his game. Rather like Pirlo plotting his next pass before he receives the ball, Gueye is planning his next tackle before the opposing player has passed it!
Jim Bennings
10 Posted 26/02/2017 at 19:04:26
Another good routine home win in a competent if not spectacular win.

Schneiderlin was MotM for me with Gueye and Coleman running him close. Special mention for Ross Barkley who seems to finally be taking games by the scruff of the neck a bit more since Koeman's harsh words.

I think next Sunday though at Tottenham is going to be a real measure of where we are as a team.

We get carried away maybe rightly so after what has been a really positive run of results since Christmas which has included a comprehensive drubbing of Manchester City. But I have always said since the David Moyes era the one glass ceiling for us is going away to these types of top sides and putting in the kind of performance we are capable of.

We must have one of the worst win ratio records away to the top sides (the likes of Tottenham, Arsenal, Chelsea etc) in the Premier League. Yet we have toppled these sides at home on a regular basis.

I'd love to see us put in a performance next Sunday that actually does justice to this good run we are on and not a meek defensive-minded surrendering job. We have more than a few players that can hurt Spurs but they need to turn up.

Jamie Sweet
11 Posted 26/02/2017 at 19:55:32
Gana's contribution to our second goal shouldn't be underestimated. It shows exactly what Terry #4 is talking about. Two wonderful interceptions in quick succession showing his anticipation and precision in the tackle.

In a situation where many would have conceded a foul in a dangerous position and put us under real pressure, he dealt with it immaculately.

Love the way all the team celebrated his goal too. Obviously well liked within the squad.

Jeff Armstrong
12 Posted 26/02/2017 at 19:58:10
My problem with Koeman is that we will probably see a Moyes type performance at Spurs: tentative start, 1-0 down before we actually begin playing – rather than going for it and putting them on the back foot from the off.
Dave Abrahams
13 Posted 26/02/2017 at 20:07:57
Jeff (#9), I like your summing up of Gueye's style, spot on.
Everton Wint
14 Posted 26/02/2017 at 20:40:45
Gana is too good. Did any one notice his block on Defoe's shot which actually is the reason it hit the post.
Vinny Garstrokes
15 Posted 26/02/2017 at 22:43:34
Surely Koeman has got to get Manager of the Month for February...
Paul Thompson
16 Posted 27/02/2017 at 10:23:51
You can't really complain about nine league games unbeaten, so I won't, There is a solidity there now, especially with Schneiderlin and gana in the deeper roles. It's a pleasure watching both of them. We are still not creating enough going forward. Davies and Barkley are playing well, but we need more from them. It's interesting that a lot of our best chances are being created by Coleman. I think we are missing Bolasie. Lookman (who I like) looks a little lost at the moment and should be used (as Ken says) as an impact sub for a while. The problem is that Mirallas isn't much more impactful and though Valencia is a trier I just don't think he's that good. We have to muddle through with this gap until the transfer window opens.
Brian Furey
17 Posted 27/02/2017 at 11:00:38
Our last away defeat was on 10th Dec to Watford which is quite good but we've had a lot of draws in our away games and not really played any of the top 6 away yet bar Chelsea.
Spurs have beaten both Stoke and West Brom 4-0 at home and had a 1-0 win over Boro. They also beat Chelsea 2-0 at home but their poor performance against Gent gives us some hope.
Koeman likes to play it tight at the back away from home and so I will expect the back 5 again with maybe Gana, Shneids and McCarthy starting.

It felt strange wanting Utd to win the cup yesterday for our Europa hopes but I'm still worried West Brom could catch us. They seem to be matching us stride for stride and they have a similar run of fixtures to us as well.

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