I do not think there is any kind of coincidence in that Hazard was MIA for the first 15-20 minutes and they controlled the tempo/game. Since then the more he has gotten involved the better we have been. Also if Baka can harness some of the spastic energy/nerves he will be one hell of a player. Speaking of MIA.... Lukaku.
Lukaku played? Weird, I thought he was the greatest striker of all time and Morata was a bum? Though he should have done a lot better with that perfect through ball from Willian at the death. Kante is so important for us. Herrara such a cowardly POS for them.
Christensen with another very good performance. Cahill with a surprise throughback solid game. Kante is key. Hazard and Morata were fantastic. Morata's linking ability has been immense. Zappacosta with a very good showing as well. I think we will see a 3-5-2 a lot more. Baka isn't as positionally disciplined as Matic was so the balance of the 3-4-3 is thrown off. Adding that extra mid solves that's issue.
This team, one game looking decidedly 'ordinary' and then another looking 'promising', thank god this one was a 'looking promising' one! Thoroughly deserved win, much more solid at the back, seems dropping Luiz was a good call. Sections of the press unbelievably STILL going on about Conte and the sack! As far as I can tell the players are going through a sticky period by trying for the man in charge and that as far as I can see is whats important, (no 'downing tools' the way they did when Mourinho was in charge).
Nail biting final 10 minutes. Just thrilled to have won and we were decidedly the better squad. Utterly wasteful, which has become the norm, but we won so who cares.
No idea why Conte made such a big deal. Shake his hand and walk away. Why field 100 questions after that?
If anything goes to show how desperately we need Kante to function effectively against top sides, looking at this match next to Roma away is it. Utterly terrifying how much the team relies on his presence. Hope the plan is for Ampadu to model his game off of Kante's - his continued inclusion in the first team along with his performances so far are very positive things to me in this regard. Would love to see Conte trust him the way he trusted Pogba at Juventus eventually. Not saying he is ready right now to be thrown into the big matches, but he is clearly the most similar player to Kante we have at the moment. Anywho, that was our most complete performance since Atletico away. Hope this means business as usual has resumed. Kante is not in the France squad for the international break, and Morata is the only one of the Spanish contingent in their team - hope everyone who needs it can catch a breather over the next week.
Needs to be said, but I will be surprised if Christensen doesn’t lock up a starting spot by season’s end. He’s been immense.
We looked so good today...assuming a little of it was MU sitting back and letting us come on to them. Regardless, as others have said, we are night and day with Kante on the pitch. I like the second half Drinkwater for Fab sub with a lead. Herrera and many others today were so cheap and grabby and pathetic. Maybe I haven’t been a fan long enough, but shouldn’t MU be above it? To me a dive is straight cheating. It’s cowardly. It’s as bad as drawing charges in basketball. Hate it all. P.S. I can’t really tell if all the Conte hot seat talk is serious or bull$#!t, but it should be the latter. Someone suggested that a top 4 finish and a quarterfinal exit from the CL would get you sacked. Ridiculous. You don’t win every year. If he failed to make the CL with this team (even if he didn’t get every thing he wanted), then I get it.