Cardiff pretty much sat back and allowed us to keep possession. More than the possession, it' what we did with it which was the more exciting part for me. The passing was less ponderous and quick. The off the ball movement was fantastic; even the much maligned Martial was buzzing around. There was intensity to win the ball up field and play the game in the midfield & attack rather than sit back and put our defense under pressure. Like all good teams we defended from the front. Had been dying to see that from Manchester United for years. There were a lot of good things in that game to be excited about.
However, I still found a few issues that we need to deal with it. Despite all the possession we looked devoid of creativity at times. Felt like we were missing a Silva or Eriksen type player to stitch it all together. I don't know if that kind of player is available in January or if Mata can step up, but that needs to be taken care of moving forward. Also, due to the new manager bounce and a lot of positivity after Jose's dull regime, there was a lot of intensity in our game which Cardiff had trouble with and forced them into mistakes. Going forward it would be interesting to see if we can maintain the same intensity on a consistent basis. I think we have a big squad to do it for the rest of the season, I am not sold on their mentality, yet.