Nothing irked me more than watching the dutch skunk head one in that ended up being the difference maker. You could tell from the start that we were nervous and going to have a rough go of it with this one. There were plenty of bad passes, overplayed balls and in the end we let one slip away. Don’t get me wrong, we had our chances in the second half and surely 1-1 would have been a well earned point from shitty play but from the start this one did not look good for us. Truth is, Man Puke played their best game of the season and outside of our season opener this was one of our worst. All things aside, I take encouragement from that because we let points slip to a team that we know we can dominate (well then why the hell didn’t we?!). I would imagine the result is going to be much different when the pay us a visit later in the season.

What I find most frustrating was that a set piece is what ended up nipping us… The zonal/man marking scheme, or whatever we seem to employ, did us in once again. It really does make me wonder if there is a bit of lost confidence among the line when TV5 is out there. Now granted, he actually played pretty darn well and the back line had itself a decent game on the whole. But was it surprising that we let one in from a set piece? Well, after the way we have played this year, yes. Slip the BFG in for TV5 and maybe things end up different. Only then could I argue that it would be a bit of a surprise. BUT, given with the way we let so many of those types of goals slip through during our down periods last year? Nope. Not a suprise at all. It is equally frustrating that I was instantly reminded of our previous deficiencies… Let’s just hope that this isn’t the air belong let out of our title hopes balloon.

And that is why I am not going to sweat this a whole lot more than I already have. We have the next international break on our hands, a chance to get some more health and depth (and hopefully see the last of “the Greatest Striker to have ever played the game” on our bench). Much has changed this year and I have to say, going forward I am much more optimistic about our squad than what I saw from Man Puke. We have youth and many more midfield playmakers that gives me hope of brighter days ahead. You have to wonder how much this win means to the Moyes crowd too. You could almost see the steam released from his head when the skunk put them up a goal. Do I enjoy throwing the little devils a bone? Hell no. Would I have liked to see us run them in to the ground? All day long and then some. But I can’t complain about beating Liverpuke on one end, taking Dortmund to the house AT their stadium and then leaving a point on the table at united away. Things could have been much worse and at this point I could care less who we play so long as after each week we keep our hold on the top spot.

Until next time lads…