Credit to Stevenage, who defensively gave us a taste of our own medicine, mirroring our defensive display against Spurs last week. Realistically, we were playing a team 3 tiers below us, so ANY 11 we put out should have been enough to see them off. Congrats to the club and the fans - Hope they keep it up and see off Stoke in the next round.
I don't blame Emery for today at all, as the only way he's going to get to know what he's working with is by seeing them play. He will have learnt an awful lot today in that defeat. Sanson aside, not ONE of those players has a reason to go knocking on the manager's door asking why they're not playing... they've pretty much all played their way into the departure lounge.
The only minor blot in Emery's copy book is not hooking Bailey - Effort is there, but his confidence in the final third is getting close to Watkins proportions - Needs a spell on the sidelines.
Olsen - Rubbish
Cash - Got turned inside out in defense, and couldn't cross the road going forwards. Not worthy of a starting place.
Chambers/Bednarek - Not even close to pushing for a starting lineup berth.
Augustinsson - Played better midweek/today than Digne, but that's not to say he's the answer at LB. Hobbled off, so looks like it's Digne for the foreseeable!
Sanson - Little rusty (to be expected), but grew into the game. Good goal and some tidy play - Needs a run in the team.
Luis - Played ok but a little too overconfident later on. Good player but needs to sort his attention span out
Coutinho - Fancy turns/flicks followed by a John Smith special into row Z... A luxury we can't afford at the minute.
Bailey - Lots of running and some comical crosses/shots. Confidence in front of goal is completely shot. All fart, no shit.
Dendoncker - Thought he looked ok till the brain fart late on. We should have put it to bed way before their equaliser, but he has to be to blame for the loss.
Ings - Zero service, but nevertheless STILL looks our most likely goal threat.
Subs
Young was an improvement at RB, the rest was much of muchness. Good to see Ramsey back.
Starting to think we're not allowed nice things. Next year it is then!