It’s still not going to be easy over there and we might well have to score an away goal to insure our qualification for the last four. I am very hopeful that we will make the semi finals though and there’s a very real prospect of meeting Chelsea in the final in Baku next month. I’m not counting any chickens though and our away form is probably the main reason for that.
The intensity of our performance was the key for me last night and the ability of our two wing backs to get behind their defence was a crucial factor too. Sead Kolasinac in particular might not have always picked out the right pass last night, but if he can continue to get into those positions we will score from them. Ainsley Maitland-Niles was like a different player from the one we saw at Everton last Sunday, but to be fair to him he was far from the only player who underperformed in that game.
We need to find that intensity in our remaining away league games if we’re going to get the points we need to finish in the top four. I’m not sure if it’s anxiety on the part of the players or if Unai Emery is getting them to play more conservatively away from home, but whatever it is it needs to change. We clearly cannot keep a clean sheet on our travels and the only way to counter that is to make sure we score at least twice for which we will have to offer an awful lot more in attack.
Of course part of our problem at Everton was the lack of control in midfield and the return of Lucas Torreira from suspension is a huge boost. He showed how much we missed him last night and he has to be in from the start in every game from here on in once he’s fit to play. Hopefully missing three games through suspension will have given him a little rest to recharge his batteries ahead of the business end of the season.
If we are going to make it to the Europa League Final I think it would be a huge advantage to us if we had already booked a Champions League spot for next season before the game. If that final was our only route to the top tier of European football it might increase the pressure on the players and we could do without that ahead of a final. Of course I would gladly sacrifice our place in the final if it meant we finished in the top four, but let’s be greedy for the moment and hope for both.
I think the return of Laurent Koscielny was another added bonus last night and we always look stronger defensively with him in the team. He was on hand to cover Nacho Monreal time after time last night when Napoli got in behind him on our left. I think Nacho still has a little to learn about the positioning of the left sided central defender in a back three/five despite the amount of time he has played the game.
Hopefully we can welcome Granit Xhaka back soon to add to the alternatives in midfield. I thought Torreira and Aaron Ramsey worked really well together last night, but Xhaka has a lot to offer in the middle too. I won’t say too much about Ramsey as the thought of his departure at the end of the season for free is quite hard to get my head around. He does look like he’s determined to leave on a high though and he has a penchant for scoring goals in Cup finals too.
Anyway it’s onwards to Watford on Monday night and it’s going to be far from easy for us. Our away form added to their achievement of reaching the FA Cup Final could make life tough for us, but I’m hoping they might just take their eye off the ball after reaching that cup final. If we can catch them still in party mood it might be enough to give us three more crucial points in our fight to finish in the top four.
That’s it for today.
See you tomorrow.
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