An interesting match. As the saying goes, it was a game of two halves. If the first half saw a glipse of life under Rafa, with the team playing on instinct, then the second half represented a team playing from memory.
A 1-1 draw. On the balance of the two halves its probably a fair result and one that you have to be happy with. A new manager with new ideas probably raised expecations to unrealistic heights, but the realisation that he is working with a lightweight squad and a team shorn of a player thats been a focal point for the last half a decade should have brought people down to earth! An opening game in London, at a place where we more often than not come away with little, this was always going to be a tough opening match.
For 45 mins you could not fault what you were seeing. Bar the obvious (and known) issue of a lack of right sided midfielders we looked every inch a team that would defend as a unit but also look to break as a team too. It was good to see Riise looking to get forward and suplement the midfield options, as well as Gerrard and Hamann playing as equals rather than one being pideon-holed into just playing a holding role (Have long been an advocate of two mobile centre mids). Kewell saw plenty of the ball too, so the left side of the team is looking comfortable at this early stage of the season, even if the final ball needs to improve. Not much point on dwelling on the right hand side though. Guess we all know that Finnan is only a stop gap out there on the right,
If I'm honest I have to admit that the second half gave more more to worry about than to look forward to. A lack of cohession and balance (esp on the right) manifesting itself in a team that spent most of the half on the back foot. When you add to this the subsitution of both Cisse and Baros we were left with a team with little cutting edge and one that was always going to struggle to repeat the postitive efforts of the first 45 mins. As much as I rate Pongolle as a linking type of forward, I dont think he's the type of player to lead the line in a PL game! Still, we're short of options up front, so make do and mend as they say. Fitness comes with games, so I expect one or both of Milan and Cisse to play out 90 mins within a few weeks.
Being realistic though, was today anything more than we expected? If I'm honest my frame of mind this morning was not positive at all, I thought we could quite possibly come home empty handed. If anything, the match highlights the work that Rafa needs to carry out on the training ground, but we always knew this would be the case so theres no need to worry too much. I think Gerrards post match comments, where he suggested the manager would be disappointed with the team sitting back in the second half kind, gives an indictation as to the mentality Rafa is trying to instill in the players. He should be given the time to turn a mentality and way of thinking into a team and a way of playing.
So, in summary, a 1-1 draw was not a bad result and should give Rafa a good clue as to what he has to work with and what its like to play in the PL. If we play like we did in the first 45 minutes today in our first home game against City, then we should be in good shape to pick up 3 points. AS Rafa says.....one game at a time
