by nottsblue » Thu Apr 29, 2021 4:45 pm
Before the game I thought a win would be amazing, a scoring draw a decent result and even a narrow scoring defeat, say 2-1 or 3-2, would still be acceptable. And after the opening 20 minutes where we looked a little lost after going a goal behind I honestly feared we could be looking at 2-0 or 3-0 and realistically out of the tie. But wow. It’s still only half time of course with a lot to play for with arguably the biggest prize in club football at stake. But the way we came back into the game and dominated means I for one am very confident we will see the tie out.
Yes their forward line is excellent, but they were largely anonymous after 30/35 minutes yesterday. I actually honestly don’t think PSG as a team are in our class and fitness. We out passed them, out run them, out fought them and we dominated the second half in every which way imaginable. They will have to play a largely full strength team at the weekend in Ligue Un as they aren’t even top as they normally would be. Whereas we have a full squad to rotate with and of course we are miles in front with no pressure. And more importantly we have the upper edge psychologically. They will have gone into last nights game knowing they have it in them to get through to the final having done it last year. They will have thought they were at least our equal on the field and with home advantage they would have been confident of doing a number on us.
Well. They were wrong. Very wrong. They aren’t are equal on the field in terms of togetherness, skill, leadership, athleticism, stamina and the sheer bloody mindlessness to win. And though in previous years we may not have had the psychological impact or advantage of knowing we can do it, the second leg we will also have that in our armoury. PSG will rock up to the Etihad knowing they are in real trouble. They have to score twice. They have to stop us scoring. They have to find a way to stop us playing. They have to somehow get the team spirit and togetherness they seem to have been lacking for a number of years.
Pep is many things as a coach and as a man. But one thing he will not be lacking next week is focus. Clarity on what he knows his team need to do to achieve the objective of qualifying. Focus on the details he will have learned and gleaned from Wednesdays game. The prize is now very close. We have got the first pot already on the sideboard. The PL engravers are getting ready to add our name on the trophy yet again, indeed we could even be champions on Sunday night. We have no other distractions now. As a team we are ruthlessly efficient in winning games. You can’t win them all, of course, but a record of 30/33 is just phenomenal. I see absolutely no reason to think we won’t go through next week and I personally think we will go through in style
