Other than minutes 0-10 and 45-70, where we created nothing and struggled to contain SU, I thought we played very well.
SU tried to target our right side on numerous occasions during the first half, with Edwards consistently losing out to Stevens and Aimson being left with an overload. This is how their goal came about - an excellent patient move, good cross and header, although I feel Grant maybe got drawn a little too centrally leaving their guy in space. They also should have had a penalty when Watts almost caught Ampadu's shot - incredible how the VAR guy got that wrong. Absolutely astounding - as obvious a penalty as you'll ever see.
I mentioned earlier about how it would be interesting if each back 3 could play around 2 pressing forwards. As it happened, we didn't really press their defenders (understandable), choosing to cut off supply to the midfield instead. SU played a number of good long balls to counter this. Meanwhile, despite SU committing a number of players high up to press, our back 3 and Cooper passed it around very well, with Mayor dropping in to contribute too. It led to the best chance we had all game, which Camara skewed badly wide.
SU upped their game in the 2nd half, and a superb second goal came thanks to a great through-ball. I wondered if Aimson or Opoku could have tucked in and cut the pass off, but I think that's asking too much - it was just a very good goal. It looked to be game over at that point, and I wasn't disappointed to see Jephcott come off at the time - it felt like the right decision with a clutch of league games coming up.
As it happened, we got right back into it thanks to some really sloppy SU defending. However, it was good persistence by Moore and a good cross to a choice of green shirts. Goalkeeping error too - not a bad hit from Camara but he should save that.
In the end, maybe we could have snatched a draw to take it to extra time, but on the balance of play, as you'd expect against a PL side, it would have been undeserved. Still, we can take a lot of heart from this performance.
Cooper 7 - two horrible left-footed shanks out of play aside, he did well. Blameless for either goal, distribution mostly excellent, and made a number of good saves.
Aimson 6 - can't be blamed too much for the barrage of attacks in the first half. A point off in the second half for charging out of defence with the ball (well), then playing a terrible ball into the striker that was easily cut out and nearly cost us on the counter, leaving Sharp one on one with Opoku.
Opoku 8 - the odd error aside, an excellent game again. Several great blocks and a good proportion of headers won. Good on the ball too.
Watts 6 - should have given away a penalty - pure fluke that he didn't (thank you Mr VAR man). Aside from that and a rather silly yellow card late on, he did well.
Fornah 5 - oh dear, the Fornah of pre-December returns. Ok on the ball, but his defensive positioning disappeared again. A number of SU chances came from a late runner or a striker peeling to the edge of the area - exactly where our defensive midfielder should be. He wasn't anywhere near where he should be.
Edwards 6 - Poor first half where he continuously let SU in behind him. Much better defensively in the 2nd. Not much opportunity for him to contribute going forward.
Camara 6 - tin hat on. Not quite getting the massively high ratings for him. Ok, he scored, but it was more down to goalkeeping error than a great finish. Had Ramsdale saved that as he should have done, that's PC having squandered both of the best chances we had in the game. Also, his passing, whilst not as bad as Sarcevic, still doesn't massively convince me. It's not terrible, but in a full-on passing team, is it good enough to play in centre-mid? He's a decent player for us and would be an excellent player in a system suited to him, but I'm not as convinced by him as many others. What saves him from a poor mark is his pressing, which as always was superb.
Mayor 7 - most of the good things we did went through him - the odd silly loss of possession but his ball carrying and passing in tight spots was very good. Dropped in to help the defence out too on occasions - he's underrated in that respect.
Grant 7 - as I mentioned, maybe a small error for the goal, but nothing major. A couple of great first time passes to Mayor to set us going. Defensively fine, and his free-kicks were reasonable.
Jephcott 6 - obviously a very tough afternoon for both strikers, but LJ did the best he could without being amazing. His link up play was good, and his pressing off the ball was very good too. Unlike...
Hardie 4 - I wondered whether he was conserving his energy in the first half, but after the break he was much the same. One good pass to set Edwards free in the first half apart, I don't remember him doing anything of note.
Subs:
Reeves 6 - not amazing, but added passing quality in DM. I'd be tempted to try him instead of Fornah in the league.
Telford 5 - ran around. On the one occasion he found good space and we had a chance to counter, played it behind Mayor which held us up and counter-attack chance was gone. Won a few free-kicks at least.
Moore 7 - good assist, but snatched the chance he had late on putting it over the bar. Still, he did well. Re-inforces my belief that he's better than Telford or Nouble up front.
Nouble 7 - that said, Nouble did have another decent cameo, providing some good aerial ability. Want to see more of that from him in future.
Final word to the ref, who was very good throughout, but... at least one minute's worth of stoppages in stoppage time itself, and you blow the FT whistle one second before the original allocation was up?! Clearly you wanted to get home ASAP tonight.
