Before I begin this week, I would like to outline some minor adjustments but also clear up some misunderstandings from my first article. Firstly, I would like to make it clear that I am not personally awarding any points; the points system that I will be using throughout the season is generated by players achieving highly in different statistical categories. It is not out of anything (like 5/10) it is simply a points tally based on the numbers of their performance and the league becomes more interesting in the later stages of the season. The only adjustments from last week are that I have decreased the points deductions for the highest loss of possession and offsides to 0.5 instead of 1. This means that both Carroll and Valencia had gone up from scores of 1 to 1.5 before the Bournemouth game.
After a spate of injuries had severely depleted our first team options, I found myself feeling pretty nervous ahead of the visit of Bournemouth but following a slowly ground out victory against their well-organised defensive unit, we can look to the future feeling more confident. I think it’s a pretty wonderful indicator of our strength in depth that despite seven significant senior absentees that we are still able to name an 11 man squad without anyone playing wildly out of position.
The long drama of the right back Antonio situation might finally be over as we got to see him playing on the wing again with Byram starting at right back. Although it was disappointing to see him shifted out to the left for most of the game, it was good to see his attacking intent and genuine dynamism being used to greater effect higher up the pitch. Masuaku put in another impressive shift on the left side of the defense whilst Kouyate was back to his powerful self in the centre. The main disappointment from the game was another rather abject performance from Valencia who won only one header from 10 attempts. His slowness to leave the pitch incensed everyone but I haven’t seen it said anywhere that Bilic was hurriedly trying to give instructions to Masuaku at the time and he looked to appreciate the extra time that Valencia gave him.
In terms of the league table, it is Antonio that has gained the most points. He gets 10.5 because of his goal, his four successful dribbles from five attempts and bonus points for the clean sheet and the WhoScored MOTM award. Antonio did win us the game but he wasn’t at his sparkling best; he fluffed two good chances in fact, one from a Tore through ball which he took on quickly but saw his shot fly wide and one from a Calleri chip which he didn’t get his foot round at all. I think he struggled to make a huge impact from the left but we looked miles better once Bilic swapped the wings; a decision that led to a Tore cross from the byline and an Antonio back-post header, something that wouldn’t have happened without that tactical switch.
In truth, the game was pretty turgid and we lacked any real spark. The main reason I can see for this lack of impetus to our play is that we are desperately missing creativity from the middle of the park. Noble was forced into playing more of a leading advanced playmaker role than he is perhaps used to and his lack of pace meant that we struggled to drive forward quickly and the ball was often held up deeper in midfield. This often forced us into playing more long balls from deep and Valencia was not winning any of his aerial duels. Yes, the red card changed the game hugely in our favour but the decision to bring Fletcher on when this happened also allowed us to push for a winner because Fletcher and Calleri’s combined pace and hunger drove us up another gear.
The league table after two games:
Name: Total Points (Points change from latest game)
Collins: 13 (^5)
Adrian: 10.5 (^7.5)
Antonio: 8.5 (^10.5)
Kouyate: 7 (^4)
Noble: 6 (^5)
Masuaku: 6 (^4)
Reid: 6 (^5)
Tore: 5.5 (^5)
Nordtveit: 5 (^4)
Byram: 4 (^3)
Valencia: 3 (^1.5)
Carroll: 1.5
Fletcher: 1.5 (^1.5)
Obiang: 1.5 (^1.5)
Calleri: 1.5 (^1.5)
Ayew: 1
Payet: 0.5
Coming away from the game the thing I feel most happy about is seeing the genuine delight among the players for Antonio; watching him and Noble celebrating at the end was a joy. This is surely a good sign as we look to have some serious togetherness and fight and this is going to be integral if we have to continually deal with injury crises like we have had to recently.