And so from a great win over United to a frustrating draw against the newly-promoted relegation favourites. This was never likely to be a stroll in the park but when it looked like Gerrard had put us in the lead after just two minutes I thought it could be comfortable. Unfortunately, so much depends on an early goal, and even the BBC commentators didn't really agree with the offside decision. Still, it certainly wasn't the worst decision of the day, and shouldn't have mattered, because we should have been able to score plenty more goals but - despite dominance (27 shots and 20 corners, compared to 3 and 3).
Sometimes matches like this happen, and not only to us: remember already this season we've season Arsenal lose to Fulham, Chelsea held by an out-of-sorts Spurs side and Man Utd get off to a poor start. The key is to remember it's a marathon, not a sprint, and make sure that these days don't happen too often. It's too bad we don't have some players like Crouch and Barry (or, as I predicted, Hyypia) then some of those corners may have been more dangerous. As it is, despite naming an attacking line-up, I don't think 4-4-2 really suits our players: Kuyt is not a wide midfielder and neither he nor Keane even looked like scoring.
Crewe next and hopefully we'll see a few young reserves (Ngog, El Zhar, Insua, Spearing), plus perhaps a chance for the likes of Degen and Agger to stake their claim for a place. Though I wouldn't be too surprised if Keane and/or Kuyt play, in the hope of scoring...
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