View attachment 124130September - The month of big games
Well, after a kind start to the season, and one we took full advantage of, it was time for the real tests this month. Games against Man Utd, Arsenal and Liverpool awaited us, as well as a cup game vs Burnley.
We started off against Man Utd at home. A Man Utd without record signing Pogba, but still an incredibly strong side. For us, Peruzzi made his debut, despite Bardsley's fine form, and Bojan was given a start over Ayoze.
The game started off at a frantic pace, with both teams creating chances. However, both teams struggled at hitting the target. Still, we seemed to be taking charge of the game, and after 28 minutes, we won the ball high up the pitch, thanks to a great tackle from Peruzzi. Shaqiri raced down the right and floated a great cross to the back post. Arnautovic came flying in and headed the ball past De Gea. 1-0!
The match turned quite rough at this point, with Bailly, Imbula and Fellaini picking up early bookings. And despite our relative control, United were getting into the game. In the 38th minute, Martial found Mata with a delicate through pass, and Mata hammered it past Given to make it 1-1.
As the teams were about to head into the break, we got a corner. Shaqiri didn't cross it well, but from the clearance, Bony slid in Bojan, who hammered a thunderbolt of a left shot into the top corner. We took a 2-1 lead into the break!
In the second half, Mourinho had clearly motivated his side to show a bit more effort, but unfortunately for Fellaini, his efforts were a bit mistimed. He brought down Imbula on a counter, and picked up his second yellow. 2-1 up and 11 vs 10, things looked good. We brought on Tiote and Whelan to sure things up in the middle, and it worked a treat. United couldn't find a way through, and our perfect start to the season continued! 3 points in the bag!
In our next game, we headed to the Emirates, to face high-flying Arsenal. Because of our recent success in closing out the game vs Man Utd, I decided to bring in Tiote as a CDM, to try to cope with Arsenal's offense (he did not play AMC, as shown in the formation). Arnautovic was dropped to the bench in an otherwise unchanged formation.
It turns out, the middle of the park is not where we needed strengthening. Ozil kept drifting out to the left, to combine with Sanchez, who absolutely destroyed Peruzzi. It got to the point where I brought on Bardsley and ordered him to bring down Sanchez with any means possible, only to have Sanchez skin him 30 seconds later to complete his hat-trick. A late consolation from Imbula, who was our only player to perform acceptably, was little comfort as Arsenal crushed us 4-1.
After that reality check at the Emirates, we welcomed Klopp's Liverpool to the Britannia. The formation change from the Arsenal game was reverted, and we were back to our normal style. Funes Mori returned from his suspension, to put us at almost full strength. Grant got the nod over Given in goal, and Cameron replaced Peruzzi at right back.
View attachment 124125In this game, it was obvious that the lads wanted revenge for the beating they took at Arsenal. They gave it absolutely everything, to the point where the referee had to calm the whole team down. Still, it meant that we won control of the game, despite 4 first half bookings. We created several great chances, but struggled at beating Mignolet. Thus, it came as a big blow when Firmino scored on their first big chance, after a great pass from Lallana. We shifted all focus to attack, and only 5 minutes later, Cameron came down the right flank, to lay a terrific cross onto the head of Bony. 1-1, and all to play for. We continued our attacking approach, but once again didn't manage to convert our chances. In the end, a draw is still a decent result, and 4 points from these three matches is not too shabby. However, we had to face a fine after the game, due to our kamikaze-players picking up 6 bookings
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In the cup, our second string side once again did well, to beat Burnley 2-1. Walters and Adam scored the goals to take us into the next round.
October is a busy month with 4 league games, and a cup game away at Leicester. Hopefully we can continue our great start!
