It's nice to have a manager who doesn't dither when things aren't working, and who admits, even to supporters, when he gets it wrong. Koeman switched it up immediately after the first half yesterday. Martinez, god bless, didn't really adjust after two years of stagnation.
As I'm sure a thousand fumers observed as soon as the team sheet came out, Calvert-Lewin as a wing-back was just odd. I had though it would in practice it would be more like a front three, with DCL up alongside Rooney and Sandro, but apart from the goal itself, we just couldn't find space for him up there. He can do many things, but bringing down 50+ yard hoofs from Keane along the touchline is not one of them.
We just had no idea how to get it forward with the back three. Keane mostly just hoofed, and Jagielka on the other hand often found himself having to start the attack from just across the halfway line. He probably got slated on here, but its not really his fault that he's being asked to play so far out of his proper position. We barely controlled anything at all in their half the entire first 45.
Things were so much better, obviously, in the second half - though with the caveat of course that the goal opened things up enormously. Martina was actually decent at getting into good position, though he makes a lot of mistakes on the ball and is an indifferent defender. It's hard to imagine why Kenny isn't getting a chance, though I don't doubt the people who actually watch him train have their reasons.
Calvert-Levin, despite his scrawniness against the Stoke CB ogres, was actually fairly impressive at holding the ball up and distributing in the second half, and made some clever runs too. I hope it's the last time he gets banished out to the wings.
Gana was brilliant and probably of greater value yesterday than Rooney, but Wayne got the goal and was no slouch either - so MOTM for me. I wonder what a heat map would look like. He was everywhere, almost like a box-to-box player - though not a defensive asset, mind. I was pretty dubious about the signing, but if he can keep that up, I'm all in. He just seemed to always be there to knit things together - actually, a bit like Barkley, though even without looking to shoot immediately, like Barkley always does just before row-Zedding it, Wayne as a midfielder is also still a much greater threat to score.