Top of the league and peering down at Chelsea and Arsenal, with just 36 games to go. This is the life…
We shouldn’t get too carried away, but it was a very impressive performance last night. Hull were pretty poor though and there will be tougher tests to come, starting on Sunday against the Spammers.
Having said that, there were some great things to come out of this match. Firstly, I can’t remember Defoe playing any better. It wasn’t just the goals. The way he contributed to our build up play, his running and strength on the ball, were all first rate.
Then there was Keane, who probably put in his best performance since rejoining us. Is Harry going to achieve what so many other managers have failed to and get this Keane/Defoe partnership to work?
Palacios was so immense that I’m starting to get increasingly worried about what we’ll do if he gets injured. Alongside him, Huddlestone passed intelligently and was positionally aware. Lennon put in a great cross for Keane’s goal and Modric impressed again.
Corluka undoubtedly looked jittery last night, as if he were wishing he was at right back or had Ledley alongside him. Given the performance by his partner, Bassong did OK. BAE was alright also and I was very pleased with the performance of Hutton. He looked good going forward and made a great saving tackle, to bail out Corluka.
The Gomes injury could be a problem, but I guess we’ll hear soon enough. We’re definitely lacking strength in depth in that position, should he be out for any length of time, though there are worse deputies than Cudicini.
Again, it’s early days, but it’s hard not to be optimistic. COYS!
