Results And Expectations
I haven't trusted myself before to write about the Derby result and I still don't, so I won't.
Last night's Champions League fixture away against PSV was a source of some concern. PSV have an excellent home record in European competition. Koeman fancied himself to get a result for them after guiding Benfica past Liverpool 3-0 on aggregate last season, and to top it all Rafa started the game with a largely second string outfit.
I was pleased in a way to see him so obviously focussing on the league this season, with a huge away game at Stamford Bridge coming up which could shape our season's expectations. But to the extent that you're only as good as your last game, there was a worry that we could turn in another poor result and leave ourselves short of confidence for an important fixture.
An away point then, in possibly our toughest tie of the group, represented a good, if not an outstanding result. If you can win your home games in Europe and draw your away games, you're going to the final. We likely won't manage that feat this season, and frankly I would rather improve our league performance anyway, but it's a good start to a campaign which has value in terms of a good run bringing in some cash to improve the squad in January or next summer.
A clean sheet was vital going into next weekend's game, and another outstanding performance from Agger, along with the makings of a partnership between Kuyt and Bellamy stand us in good stead, as well as the fact that our first team for the Chelsea fixture will have had a longer rest than our opponents.
Seasons are rarely made or broken in the first few fixtures, but with the Reds misfiring in our opening games, we need a good result on Sunday to galvanise our form.
I'm not going to try too hard to predict the exact lineup, except to say that the fittest players should probably start. Happily these will also likely be our better players, and if we can start to click against a side we've already had a decent result against this season, we might be able to put them on the back foot and sneak it.
A draw would be an acceptable result at this stage, but obviously a win would turn our slow start on it's head and could fire us on a charge up the table. Let's hope Benitez and the lads are up for showing the world what they're made of and re-igniting our pre-season title-challenging hopes.
Last night's Champions League fixture away against PSV was a source of some concern. PSV have an excellent home record in European competition. Koeman fancied himself to get a result for them after guiding Benfica past Liverpool 3-0 on aggregate last season, and to top it all Rafa started the game with a largely second string outfit.
I was pleased in a way to see him so obviously focussing on the league this season, with a huge away game at Stamford Bridge coming up which could shape our season's expectations. But to the extent that you're only as good as your last game, there was a worry that we could turn in another poor result and leave ourselves short of confidence for an important fixture.
An away point then, in possibly our toughest tie of the group, represented a good, if not an outstanding result. If you can win your home games in Europe and draw your away games, you're going to the final. We likely won't manage that feat this season, and frankly I would rather improve our league performance anyway, but it's a good start to a campaign which has value in terms of a good run bringing in some cash to improve the squad in January or next summer.
A clean sheet was vital going into next weekend's game, and another outstanding performance from Agger, along with the makings of a partnership between Kuyt and Bellamy stand us in good stead, as well as the fact that our first team for the Chelsea fixture will have had a longer rest than our opponents.
Seasons are rarely made or broken in the first few fixtures, but with the Reds misfiring in our opening games, we need a good result on Sunday to galvanise our form.
I'm not going to try too hard to predict the exact lineup, except to say that the fittest players should probably start. Happily these will also likely be our better players, and if we can start to click against a side we've already had a decent result against this season, we might be able to put them on the back foot and sneak it.
A draw would be an acceptable result at this stage, but obviously a win would turn our slow start on it's head and could fire us on a charge up the table. Let's hope Benitez and the lads are up for showing the world what they're made of and re-igniting our pre-season title-challenging hopes.
posted by zigackly at 11:11 pm
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