I have to say I was a bit apprehensive after seeing the team sheets today. But fucking hell was I wrong. Sissoko- desrvedly the man of the match today, he was the pick of the bunch (a bunch which consists of Gerrard, Alonso, Ballack, Lampard, Essien and even Mikel (the one they blew £16m on). Great tackling, good passing and loved the way he was so damn calm. An Arsenal supporter mate of mine said that whenever he went to the game he'd always be impressed by the way Veira was so cool- on the pitch and even in the way he walked. Well lately I've been noticing that about Sissoko, he just 'floats' about- and suddenly steamrollers into players with the pace of a freight train. It really is a case of 'float like a butterfly, sting like a bee'
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Nice work from our wingers today- and Agger, who came up against the best attack in the Premiership last season, and did very well. I thought Garcia was great again- it seems to me that his footwork has really improved over the summer- I noticed that he was giving away the ball a bit less, and pulling off those flicks and tricks more. If only he had that extra yard of pace, he'd truly be unbeatable- but his positional sense is brilliant, so he doesn't need that much pace to be a success- which he's proved.
On the goals. Well what a goal by Riise! Fucking hell if that run wasn't enough, he just smashed it in from about 30 yards! Well played by Pennant for taking Essien out of the equation. Maybe a bit lucky- but it was a powerful shot, which dipped, and it was very much deserved. The Shevchenko goal... well they paid £30m+ for him, so it's expected. Finnan maybe could have done better- but it was a good run and pass, and there's no problem as it's so early on in our campaign. The Crouch goal was brilliant. Aurelio- who I thought did well when he came on, with a great ball over to Bellamy, who then proceeds to calmly look for the movement of Crouch, and plays a brilliant cross to set up the easiest goal Crouch will score with his head. Bellamy's pace was a great problem down the right today- and with the likes of Alonso and Gerrard playing those defence splitting passes through the middle, I'd fancy him to score quite a few goals this season.
I just can't believe that we did them with 3 of our best players out of the starting line up- Alonso, Gerrard and Hyypia all benched. Shows just how much strength in depth we now have, and what a great team Rafa's putting together. Well in Reds- let's take this into the new season and win that trophy.
