Ange probably feels falsely rewarded after this daylight robbery of a win, but I’ll take it. Even putting our dire situation aside, they have always been a poor matchup for us. So colour me pleasantly surprised.
That being said, it’s hard to believe how open we are even with a double pivot. I assume that’s an indicator of how much we’re lacking in the fundamentals of pressing. According to data we have no problem running around a bit, as we lead the league in sprinting both in and out of possession. But I guess there’s nothing else to our pressing, as each player looks like he is instructed to tackle/disturb whoever is in his immediate promixity. Cohesion is truly lacking. Relying on individual heroics to keep clean sheets is a dangerous game.
Gray and Spence particularly stood out to me, especially the former who singlehandedly kept us from conceding a goal or two with his vital interceptions/blocks/tackles. The latter also deserves great credit for keeping Mbeumo in check for the most part, it was reminiscent of the clinic he put up against Salah in the first leg. Well done.