Got the sense during first half that it was somewhat part of the plan, not to play so poorly, but to allow Leeds to exert maximum effort in the first half and try to pick them off on the counter, then to really come out and try to play in the second. Obviously won't have intended to concede, but you could see the way we were trying to launch quick attacks through Lucas and keeping our two midfielders behind the ball to remain safe when these counters went pear-shaped.
Leeds energy levels contributed, but our defence kept a high intensity for the whole second half and played as close as possible to the halfway line and gave Winks the breathing space to play his way into the game. The more video Conte and his staff have of us playing in his system the more solutions they'll provide the players to help make it work consistently over 90mins. We have a real lucky break in that Leeds were missing their best players and we have a nice run of fixtures now to work out the issues. May as well be honest, yesterday's performance was poor for a period of the game, but it's encouraging that it really felt like we'd win the game from about minute 50-90.
You have to be fairly positive, seeing as we're 7th in the table and from here I can't see him not managing to improve nearly every aspect of our team performance (attack, midfield, distribution from defence, wing-back play, fitness, desire to win). Players must be buzzing, any that aren't should be shown the door in January.
Leeds energy levels contributed, but our defence kept a high intensity for the whole second half and played as close as possible to the halfway line and gave Winks the breathing space to play his way into the game. The more video Conte and his staff have of us playing in his system the more solutions they'll provide the players to help make it work consistently over 90mins. We have a real lucky break in that Leeds were missing their best players and we have a nice run of fixtures now to work out the issues. May as well be honest, yesterday's performance was poor for a period of the game, but it's encouraging that it really felt like we'd win the game from about minute 50-90.
You have to be fairly positive, seeing as we're 7th in the table and from here I can't see him not managing to improve nearly every aspect of our team performance (attack, midfield, distribution from defence, wing-back play, fitness, desire to win). Players must be buzzing, any that aren't should be shown the door in January.
