Happy enough to see that French/Moroccan lad go off. Think heās been decent.
Brilliant tackle from Brown there.
As repetitive as Sutton has been, he is right in terms of that Griffiths threat. He was nearly away there.
And thatās drinks.
Commons for GMS. Interesting. Will Johansen go wider? Could be switching to a 4-4-2.
Commons is playing wide right. Heās had a few half sloppy touches, needs to get sharper.
Good to see ref saying no pen when absolutely nothing happened to suggest there was even slightest inkling of a foul. FFS sake
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Fuck. Terrific chance for Johansen. Excellent from Armstrong. Pitch did Johansen no favours at all - think heād no option but to smash it.
Forrest coming on for Armstrong.
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Was about to say as much. Ref waving away a non-existent appeal. Worrying attitude.
Commons left now and Forrest right.
Super run from Forrest. Hard to pick someone out with a pull back on this pitch.
Forrest had to go himself there, keeper had his angles all wrong if he lifted his head up.
In hindsight yep. Wouldnāt be too harsh though, it all came very quickly.
5 minutes added
Full time 0-0. Phew.
Professional job in the 2nd half, very comfortable.
Brown was immense.
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Surprised the likes of Man City arenāt looking at Boyata. Immense in last 15 mins
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I thought that was an impressive second half performance.
It wasnāt fantastic or anything but it was never going to be with everything at stake, with a slender lead and with that horrific pitch.
Thought the fitness showed up really well at the end. Even during injury time we were pressing them and preventing them from even lumping it forward. Johansen in particular was excellent over the last 10 minutes.
Pity we werenāt sharper on the counter attack because we had a few chances to kill the game off but we didnāt choose the right options and struggled to play passes on the ground anyway.
Ratings:
Gordon 8: A bit iffy on one cross but that was a world class save in the first half from their only threat of note and he dealt with one awkward spinning ball well too.
Lustig: 8 Caught upfield for that Almeda shot but otherwise he was rock solid. Covered well, showed great energy and played it comfortably every time. Really impressive.
Boyata: 7 One or two nervous enough moments in the first half but grew into the game. Got a few good clearing headers in during the second half and was very comfortable following men wide or into a bit of space.
Van Dijk 9: Classy. Covered well when it was open early on and never troubled by anything they threw at him. One ill-advised solo run in the second half aside, he strolled it.
Izaguirre 7: Some good interceptions in the first half and read the game really well. A couple of sloppy moments on the ball and he really needs to be able to do something on his right foot but much better.
Brown: 7 Quiet in the first half. Got much better as it went on. Leading the press near the end and still kept the shape and didnāt overpress it.
Bitton: 8 The opposite of Brown in that he was much more involved in the first half. Did everything right then and had a decent effort from distance. Wasnāt as involved in the second half, probably because we had less defensive screening work to do but still kept hassling them and was strong in the tackle ever time.
Mackay Steven: 6 Worked really hard but unfortunately kept giving it away. One nice run that ended with a slip to Armstrong for a curler but he got nothing from the ref and probably needed to stay wider when the ball couldnāt be played on the ground centrally.
Johansen: 8 Very involved in the second half. A constant threat to them and led our defensive effort. Pity the ball slowed up on him for his chance.
Armstrong: 7 Tidy on the ball, couple of nice passes and touches. Game wasnāt really for him because it was more about energy than guile but he showed up well and kept the ball when he had it. Lovely pass for Johansen chance.
Ciftci: 6 Ran hard and kept them honest but never looked like scoring and couldnāt really get much of a hold of the ball. No faulting his effort but he has great control but his touch just isnāt consistent enough yet.
SUBS:
Forrest - One excellent run, probably should have been released by Commons during injury time. Caused them a few problems.
Griffiths - Looked like he might get a chance in behind but it never materialised.
Commons - To be honest he looked off the pace.
The roar tonight:
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Scott Brown might be a fiery competitor but heās a real sportsman when he wins:
https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/628995732423446528/pu/vid/720x720/y0L4fmvnyZjYXVhq.mp4
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weirdo