Bit of what we've come to expect from us lately.
Some good moments, some great, some piss poor defending, individual errors, sloppy with the ball, nervy as hell.
But we got there in the end.
Magic from Ronaldo, 3 superb goals. Literally dragged us from another mundane performance to a win.
Positives:
Ronaldo - break has done him good. The man is superb - give him chances he scores. End of
Fred - Full of energy, great on the ball, drove forward well. Works well with Matic and playing a bit higher up
Sancho - Starting to look a threat in very game. Growing in confidence. Can be a bit cute with the ball when deep but starting to come into his own
FB's - A year or so ago it was unthinkable that Shaw and AWB wouldnt be starters. AWB looks like he's never kicked a ball in his life these days. Dalot and Telles proving that competition for places is vital.
Negatives.
Rashford - Lost his confidence completely. So frustrating to see him playing so within himself. His strengths are his directeness, his pace, his finishing. Looks a shell of himself. If you wanna whinge about your future and playing time - earn your place and work hard. Simple.
Pogba - Slow on the ball, lazy tracking. Didnt influence anything. Bit of a passer by all game.
A big aspect of this game for me was central midfield. We arent blessed with quality there and have struggled for years to find the right combination there.
Matic and Fred done well. Fred in particular was superb. But the combination seemed to work for me. If Mctominey plays, Fred doesnt push on like he does and we're back to our usual style. Fred was a much more attacking player for Shakthar and his strengths we're driving forward with the ball. We've not really seen that for us as we are shoe-shorned into playing him deeper as we have no other options. Matic is our ONLY deep lying midfielder.
Mctominey at best does ok there, Pogba is useless deep and when Fred and McTominey play deep together, it's almost as if theyre both there to do one persons job which leaves the rest of midfield lacking.
I'm derailing from the match performance, but central midfield is so vital and the one area we've really been lacking for years.
I'll take the win all day, but it was much the same old. Kane and Son we're poor and we still let them have chances.