Phew… nerve-wrecking in the end as usual.
With the domination that we had, we should’ve won comfortably, but rather chose to complicate things with the stupid goal that we conceded. Rico made a good save from their free kick but made it up by screwing up in their goal, and lots of late coming out.
Kjaer was a GOD in the defense and Lenglet played well also.
Nolito wasted literally every chance and lost countless balls, while his only positive sign tonight is tracking back to defense to help Escudero.
WBY also did well defensively but couldn’t do shit in the job that he is paid for, to score goals. That chance he had where the ball almost crossed the line (with too much luck since the shot was very poor), should’ve been buried easily and even a Segunda striker could have done it. Those kind of chances should not be missed or it costs you all kinds of things in football.
An important win with a golazo from Banega, but still in overall, not quite convincing and I’m not sure this strategy just works at all against sides that can attack. Our individual defense is good and with N’Zonzi the midfield is a bit more stable, but we really need to make use of the counter and also need to have way more efficiency in the final third. If not, I don’t really see the point of using 4-4-3, rather stick to 4-2-3-1 and hope for the best.
The CL job is still not finished as it will depend on what us and Spartak do vs. Liverpool. With at least 1 point vs. Liverpool we can more or less seal the qualification, otherwise we will have to depend on Liverpool beating Spartak if they beat us after the international break.
Now on to Barcelona, arguably the best team in the world as of now. A real test for Berizzo to see how he will set up the zonal defense for this one, and if he’ll make good use of the counters and bring us back to the Emery era.