I would have took a point before the game so I'm not going to grumble about dropping further behind Arsenal. Tottenham away was always going to be a hard game, but after the dicking they got at City, it just got tougher.
The performance was so so, despite a central midfield devoid of any creative quality, we did manage to have periods of the game where we managed to get on top. But of course with no creative outlet behind Kagawa we struggled to really open them up. We seemed to put all the onus on Valencia to try and work his magic on the right. This might have worked, as at times he was having great joy beting his man, alas, once he'd beaten him, he failed to deliver much in the way of a telling cross.
I couldn't moan too much at the team selected, with no Carrick and Gigs having played in midweek, Cleverley and Jones was about as good an option open to Moyes, a damning indictment of course. I liked the look of Kagawa behind Rooney with Welbeck on the left. But it only really worked in the sense that Tottenham never really dominated possession in the way which they can at times with their strong midfield. Going forward, we never really threatened the home defence, Valencia apart.
It was Welbeck's first game for a bit, so he was always going to be a bit rusty. I had hoped he would interchange with Kagawa, but instead Welbeck started on the left and half way through the first half swapped positions with our Japanese international. As for Kagawa, trying to look at it positively, it's hard for any of the forward players to make an impact with such an average midfield behind them, so whilst he didn't have a poor game in my eyes, he can be excused for not making the kind of impact we had hoped for. Of course the alternative view would be, he's too lightweight for the premier league, and the reason for a seemingly improved performance during the previous game was the piss poor quality of 2nd placed Bundesliga Leverkeusen. I'm a fan, of course, but us Kagawa fans really need him to show the Leverkeusen form in the premier league.
Their opening goal was a soft goal to concede, I know it can be viewed as unlucky when the ball goes under the wall, but I had watched the wall lining up and it had looked an accident in the making as it formed, so I wouldn't be as charitable. Our reply was a bit of a gift, some wags gave it as a Kyle Walker assist, as indeed was our second half equaliser, Rooney made no mistake with either.
Rooney got all the praise after the game, he was certainly our best player, but the praise was over the top, once again for me. His goals were a gift and a penalty, the rest of the praise seemed, once more, for the block's, clearance's and general work rate. Whilst that's not to be sneezed at, maybe he should reconsider playing in the middle of the park, because that's the type of work we could do with in our depleted central midfield. It's not exactly what i want to see supposedly our gifted player doing for the majority of the match.
Ironically Tottenham's second goal came out of nowhere, just when we seemed to have got a grip on the game. Once again with the proviso that we hadn't really managed to create much in the way of real guilt edged chances. The quick second equaliser was just what the doctor ordered, as I had feared for our chances of getting anything from the game if we'd have had to force things.
I wasn't that impressed with the substitutions, though they were all attacking, Hernandez did nothing, Young was never going to do anything and Nani wasn't given enough time to do anything. To be fair to Moyes the subs bench wasn't the strongest, though why Januzaj wasn't there was a mystery to me, given he hadn't took part on Wednesday.
So apparently we now have a winnable run of games, though I'm not sure how Everton at home gets lumped into that category, given our up and down form so far this season. To be honest, I look at almost every game at the moment and think, this could be tough. With Moyes assessing his inherited squad, no Carrick, Cleverley seemingly proving his doubters right and Fellaini leaving us all sscratching our heads, I don't think there's such a thing as an easy game at the moment.
The performance was so so, despite a central midfield devoid of any creative quality, we did manage to have periods of the game where we managed to get on top. But of course with no creative outlet behind Kagawa we struggled to really open them up. We seemed to put all the onus on Valencia to try and work his magic on the right. This might have worked, as at times he was having great joy beting his man, alas, once he'd beaten him, he failed to deliver much in the way of a telling cross.
I couldn't moan too much at the team selected, with no Carrick and Gigs having played in midweek, Cleverley and Jones was about as good an option open to Moyes, a damning indictment of course. I liked the look of Kagawa behind Rooney with Welbeck on the left. But it only really worked in the sense that Tottenham never really dominated possession in the way which they can at times with their strong midfield. Going forward, we never really threatened the home defence, Valencia apart.
It was Welbeck's first game for a bit, so he was always going to be a bit rusty. I had hoped he would interchange with Kagawa, but instead Welbeck started on the left and half way through the first half swapped positions with our Japanese international. As for Kagawa, trying to look at it positively, it's hard for any of the forward players to make an impact with such an average midfield behind them, so whilst he didn't have a poor game in my eyes, he can be excused for not making the kind of impact we had hoped for. Of course the alternative view would be, he's too lightweight for the premier league, and the reason for a seemingly improved performance during the previous game was the piss poor quality of 2nd placed Bundesliga Leverkeusen. I'm a fan, of course, but us Kagawa fans really need him to show the Leverkeusen form in the premier league.
Their opening goal was a soft goal to concede, I know it can be viewed as unlucky when the ball goes under the wall, but I had watched the wall lining up and it had looked an accident in the making as it formed, so I wouldn't be as charitable. Our reply was a bit of a gift, some wags gave it as a Kyle Walker assist, as indeed was our second half equaliser, Rooney made no mistake with either.
Rooney got all the praise after the game, he was certainly our best player, but the praise was over the top, once again for me. His goals were a gift and a penalty, the rest of the praise seemed, once more, for the block's, clearance's and general work rate. Whilst that's not to be sneezed at, maybe he should reconsider playing in the middle of the park, because that's the type of work we could do with in our depleted central midfield. It's not exactly what i want to see supposedly our gifted player doing for the majority of the match.
Ironically Tottenham's second goal came out of nowhere, just when we seemed to have got a grip on the game. Once again with the proviso that we hadn't really managed to create much in the way of real guilt edged chances. The quick second equaliser was just what the doctor ordered, as I had feared for our chances of getting anything from the game if we'd have had to force things.
I wasn't that impressed with the substitutions, though they were all attacking, Hernandez did nothing, Young was never going to do anything and Nani wasn't given enough time to do anything. To be fair to Moyes the subs bench wasn't the strongest, though why Januzaj wasn't there was a mystery to me, given he hadn't took part on Wednesday.
So apparently we now have a winnable run of games, though I'm not sure how Everton at home gets lumped into that category, given our up and down form so far this season. To be honest, I look at almost every game at the moment and think, this could be tough. With Moyes assessing his inherited squad, no Carrick, Cleverley seemingly proving his doubters right and Fellaini leaving us all sscratching our heads, I don't think there's such a thing as an easy game at the moment.
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