itsbeautifuloutside

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Match Report

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Introduction:

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Difficult one this, not much I can say. We were, all bar about 10 minutes, completely dominant and all of our players, with one exception, were excellent for the entire game.

I'll just get on with player observations.

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Player Observations:

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Boruc : can't say much about him, did what he needed to do with class but was very rarely challenged and stood no chance with the goal they scored. Good solid game.

Clyne: Wingback today. Looked excellent. How he has remained under the radar and is not going with England, albeit possibly as an alternative to whoever Roy fancies more, I don't know? He is very good and showed it today.

Fonte: Solid, confident and I suspect may be about to be called up by Portugal on this form. Well deserved if it does happen. Excellent game and still amazing considering he was possibly the one voted by all of us "least likely to succeed in the premiership" last year. Well done and thanks very much José.

Lovren: Looks like a great buy doesn't he? Certainly knocks a lot of other teams purchases into a cocked hat for this year. Still looking like he needs to work on his aerial prowess, but excellent again. I think he might be getting faster. Now for the big tests.

Shaw: Starting to show progress again. Looked very good and mostly comfortable, if a little in the shade of Nathaniel from the other side. Excellent game from him really and let's hope his injury and sickness problems are behind him and he can kick on from this good performance.

Wanyama: Was clearly injured, holding his back from about 10 minutes in and I don't think should have been playing. Always easy to be omniscient after the fact, so I guess we can just say that he had a very bad game. Considering he has been putting in some very solid performances of late it's been disappointing, but I'm sure he'll come back from the international break stronger and wanting to atone for that ridiculous goal he gave away.

Schneiderlin: Why don't the French play this guy? Was immense today and would have been my man of the match, if Lallana hadn't had such an excellent game. Did very little wrong and massive amounts right. Awesome game from him today.

Ward-Prowse: Good solid game. Excellent set pieces and that lovely young energy all over the pitch. Great performance.

Lallana: Everybody has said it and so will I, he was absolutely fantastic today. No ifs, buts or maybes, he was fecking brilliant and he scored an absolutely fabulous goal as well. Roy Hodgson was sat not far behind me and I have to say after the game I did see his face. He looked like the cat that got the cream, a very happy man and I think Adam may have just played his little backside into a starting position in that 1st friendly. Man of the Match, no doubt and no challenger. Absolutely fabulous.

Rodriguez: Seemed to not quite relish the attention as much as Adam. Certainly didn't play quite as well has he has been, but saying that, still had a good game. Still improving, which is all good and he can only go further with the international attention he's going to receive now.

Lambert: Played very well and scored his penalty with "Lambert like" usual brilliance. Excellent set up of the 1st goal as well, looking very good and is deserving of all the praise and success he currently has. Still looks better playing without Dani, as does Dani playing without him, but I think that's just something that will come with time, or maybe a good way of preserving both of them and kicking on our excellent start to the season?

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Substitutes

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Osvaldo: Came on and looked full of energy and unfortunately didn't get given the ball very much in areas where it would count. Anyway, it's all good at the moment and looks like he's going to come back strong again. Nice little cameo

Davis: Came on and changed our slump, albeit a very mini slump. Scored a great goal and had a very good performance. Can't ask for more than that, excellent.

Cork: Looked like he needs games, but still slotted in quite nicely into that midfield. Hopefully we will see more of him this year and I think he's still got something we need, albeit not so often as we used to. Good little performance and good to see him.

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Conclusion

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Don't really need to say much do I?

We were brilliant and I certainly hope the TV edits do us justice, because we were staggeringly dominant for most of this game and nearly every player had a blinder. It was just wonderful to behold.

Victor was not as dominant as usual but, if indeed he is carrying a back injury, I'm not all that surprised, as it must be bloody difficult to play a game of football that way.

The only potential fly in the ointment is that somebody did mention that Morgan might have received his 5th yellow card*, if that that's the case we will really see what we've got in reserve against Arsenal… But that's for another day, today we were AWESOME!

*seems from what I've been able to gather from the Internet that that assertion from someone after the game is complete bollocks… I am SO relieved that's the case…

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