by Spurge » Fri Jan 08, 2016 10:29 pm
Some good memories from some of those games already mentioned. I by no means manage to get to anything like as many games nowadays but I was at the 10-1 v Huddersfield which ranks up there for obvious reasons. The 4-1 fa cup win at Ipswich, an afternoon on it followed by a cracking performance considering Ipswich were a top flight team at the time and Keegans attack minded approach saw us destroy them. Going back to the 10-1 v Hudders I also enjoyed a 3-0 away win in an FA cup replay that same season against them - in the pouring rain on a cold winters night in the terracing behind the goal with no roof to protect us from the elements - but a great atmosphere.
Both those victories referred to earlier in the thread at Norwich, the 3-2 when delia did her thing and Fowler scored a belter (not) to seal it at the death and the 6-1 were both games I was lucky enough to attend - our supporters were phenomenal in both. In recent times its also worth not forgetting the 4-3 at Norwich when edin put us 2 up in the first 5 mins or so, nasri got sent off and second half goals from Sergio and an own goal after edin's shot came back off the post and in off the keeper were just enough to see us over the line.
For me though I think the perfect performance was the 5-1 win at Spurs in our title winning season under mancini. Sadly it was somewhat overshadowed by the rags 8 goal dismantling of Arsenal later that day, but I'm certain our performance was of higher all round quality. Edin hit 4 and Sergio got a cracker on his left foot holding off dawson, retaining his balance and hitting an unstoppable shot on his left foot high into the net at the near post. Edin's 4th and our 5th was a fitting way to end the scoring.
What I liked most about that performance was the way we played as a team. We were 100% joined up as a team from the first to the last whistle, in possession we were a slick unit looking like we would score in every attack, out of possession we worked our bollocks off to get behind the ball into a good defensive shape to break up play - Nasri and Silva protected our fullbacks so well, their energy and desire was exceptional. I look at that performance and compare it to current performances particularly when out of possession.
Much is made of our fragile defence, to me it's as much about our midfield than anything. Fernandihno has been top notch but he's also been isolated - Yaya not putting in a shift and our 3 advanced midfielders appear not to be that keen on tracking back. That game at spurs we played 442 - Silva and nasri as wide men (although narrow wide men) they knew their roles well enough when providing cover to the full backs, maybe the way we play with 3 more advanced midfielder clouds levels of responsibility in this repsect, I don't know, what I do know is that by comparison we don't seem to have the same desire out of possession right now as we did in that game at Spurs.
To be fair Nasri never offered the same level of protection as the season wore on.
