It had to be Eduardo didn’t it? Our former Crazilian hit the winner in a lackluster Champions League display from the rip-roaring Reds (or yellows, rather) last night against Shakhtar Donetsk.
In a 2-1 defeat we lacked our usual assured touch and gave the ball away to the Ukrainians at an alarming rate. And what was Gael Clichy doing losing possession so easily for their second goal? Poor for a player of his experience.
Theo took his goal superbly well but was largely anonymous other than that. I thought we looked a little bit weak in the middle of midfield with Craig Eastmond and Jack Wilshere finding it difficult to get a partnership going, although the latter still managed to show flashes of his undoubted brilliance.
Bendy looked off the pace and perhaps we can forgive him this after such a long spell out injured. A game in the bank for him is the bestwe can take out of his performance. Overall we lacked the cohesiveness we normally display in abundance and it means we have extra pressure on us for the remaining two games in the group at Braga and at home to Belgrade. You would still like to think we will qualify though but top spot isn’t guaranteed.
AW had his say after the game: “We had a good start but after that lost our urgency and let Donetsk come into the game too much. We lost concentration in the duels and you could see what was coming. I felt it was more of a team problem, a complacency problem more than an individual problem.
“In the second half we came back into the game and gave a lot, you cannot fault the team, and we were a bit unlucky. We have learned the lesson that, at this level, you cannot lose focus at any moment and that is why we were punished. It is a missed opportunity. It was good to score the first goal but we were not completely sharp. We dropped our urgency. But we are still in a strong position in the group.”
Roll on Sunday, eh?
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