Oh, man. I know I'm really late to the party but just wanted to comment, this was the performance I've been waiting for for a long, long time. Ever since Modric and VdV left, only to be replaced by Dembele and Dempsey, I've been worried about our lack of creativity, swift one-touch passing, and a visionary playmaker, whether that is from the center (Moutinho) or wide and floating (Willian).
Just the lone addition of Eriksen has been able to transform us as an entire team. I don't want to go *too* overboard, but we are passing it so much faster (ok, Norwich were miserable at pressing, but we've looked turgid against worse teams before) because this kid is so tactically aware and fluent in the language of football, constantly offering an outball between the lines to keep us cohesive and moving. I have seen posts from the Ajax era suggesting that he often looks "invisible" for much of the game until he pops up with the cutting pass, but I think that's precisely because he ghosts into the final third - even when panned as "invisible" in some games last season, I've noticed that in those games he still has 65+ passes and a few key passes, which I would argue isn't exactly invisible at least in terms of ball circulation.
Even without a natural DM, we looked completely dominant because we pressed like utter bastards as a whole - Norwich could barely string together three passes before one of ours nicked it back. The high line with aggressive, intercepting fullbacks did a very good job compressing their space while Dembele and Paulinho had their best games in a while - Dembele in particular looked cool and unshakable on the ball once again now that he no longer has the creative burden; he could just simply lay it off rather than take time to look for an incisive pass, which isn't his strong point. Paulinho showed off some unexpected acceleration (he didn't strike me as a particularly pacy player, but his bursts cover a deceptive amount of ground) and besides the runs/goals I was also impressed with Siggy's off-the-ball workrate, even though he didn't touch the ball much.
Rose pleasantly surprised me. I've argued that like Walker, he isn't very composed and thus his passing can be sloppy or hit a little hard under pressure. Here, however, his crossing was inconsistent but had a good "zip" to it in dangerous areas, which will pay off eventually, and he was very good at intercepting Norwich's passes because of his reaction speed and sheer aggression. Our FBs naturally see a lot of the ball in our system and so they are also often our most exposed players, charged with providing not only the attacking thrust but the width, the overload, and the last-ditch defense of our high line. Yes it would be a lot less last-ditch if they were more tactically aware, and I did want Coentrao pretty badly, but they really do have an incredible amount of responsibility and I think we should keep that - and their relative inexperience - in mind.
Alas, poor Lloris :lol: I guess he's not quite over the France game, but he's looked very good at the start of this season and I'm sure he'll be back to his badass self soon.
