Great things yesterday:
1) Bruno. Total team player. And that first goal has to be goal of the week, goal of the month, heck, maybe even goal of the season... Amazingly beautiful.
2) Shaw. Two games in a row he's found a head on a cross from the corner. Don't remember which foot it came off of Tuesday, but that was a left-footed cross yesterday.
3) Maguire. Seven clearances, most of them with his head. Anchored the back line.
4) Starting on the front foot. Yeah, we gave up a goal first (and quite a good one, I thought) but we drove the attack from the start and had more possession in the first half.
5) All-around defensive play. We MADE Everton look garbage. They only had seven shots and only one on target.
6) Lineup. This is the lineup of players that Ole trusts most. Period. There should never be question of "why?" when this group is out there.
7) Cavani. Good to see his efforts on the field as a sub, and to score the goal. Made the most of his minutes, for sure. He'll get starts, I'm sure, but I hope he embraces this role.
8) Tuanzebe. He's now played three of the four back line positions and puts in a shift every time.
9) Ole. No way he's lost the dressing room. He trusts his defense and with a lead going into the second half, he rode with it.
10) 3-1 win puts me on top of the score prediction league.
Bruno laid down a very firm case for the captain's armband yesterday. Dude's on a yellow and still does what he does defensively.
This isn't to say everything was great. It wasn't. Martial's offensive play is a concern, but I thought he did well pressing defensively and Ole appreciates that. Same to a lesser degree with Rashford. Pass selection is the biggest issue with both. As long as wins come, he trusts them, they trust him, and things will continue.
Mata looks so painfully slow in the EPL. Love his footwork and decision making, but he just cannot contribute enough defensively. His play is much better suited to European games and he should remain a fixture in the group stage. His only saving grace is how well he stays on Bruno's wavelength.
Pogba is doing fine as a sub, but I still don't see him viable as a starter. His effort level is at a base "professional" level, and not at the level of "for the badge" that Ole wants. That won't win games in the league. On the other hand, Paul wants to showcase, so I think he's perfectly fine starting in CL games. Then we can offload him for value at the end of the season. Paul is a great looking puzzle piece, but not for this puzzle. The idea of Paul Pogba is great, the execution of Paul Pogba (no, not that kind of execution!) not so much.
Van de Beek hasn't earned Ole's total trust yet. I think he can and will, but watching him play with Bruno, they have to sort each other out without getting into each other's way. Against Besaksehir, they wasted a lot of effort and time moving into the same areas, catching it, and moving back out. Ole couldn't risk such breaks in continuity in such an important league game, so Donny didn't see the field. By our next game, after the break, they should have it fixed.
The officiating was fairly terrible. Possibly the worst I've seen this year, but terrible for both sides equally, so it was fair. I swear Everton had a couple of our jerseys after the match, as many handfulls as they grabbed yesterday.