Up, but not yet Running

At least whatever else happens, we’re not going to have two points after eight games. I’m not ashamed to admit that this nightmare scanario seemed like a little more than a remote possibility after the utter rubbish we put in against Norwich, but Sunday was a massive improvement. Even after you drain away all the mitigating circumstances of how poor Reading were, how they hadn’t played for over three weeks, how we got away with an early penalty appeal, it was still a win and still a performance that actually had a shape and a purpose about it.

The three in midfield actually worked, with sufficient differentiation between Sandro, Siggers and Dembele to give us balance. Gylfi seems to dwell on the ball for too long, but his pass inside the full-back for Lennon to set up the first goal was perfect. Just what Hudd and Luka (sob) used to do. We’re going to need to see a lot more of that. Jermain’s looking as sharp as a box of particularly dangerous tools right now and having Big Manu and Clint on the bench is one hell of a luxury.

Speaking of luxury, that’s exactly what we should have had at half time. They seemed to be trying their best to help us kill the game off, and we seemed to be trying our best not to take up their offer. At times it was almost ridiculous. We all feared the worst, not least after chucking away wins late on in our last two games. As it was, we were only finally going to take one of our chances by accident, and along came Bale with the kind of scuff that even I’d be proud of. By the time Jermain made the score look realistic, it was time to start the car. Although Reading were always going to get better when they introduced a bit of flair and had a go at us, the usual didn’t happen. They must have been bad. 

With so many big characters lost, you wonder whether we’ll have enough about us when things are going wrong. How would we have reacted if we’d gone behind, particularly after a winless first three games? Andre Villas-Boas’ success has come in a league where he was already starting from the top, with Porto probably expected to win most games. That isn’t necessarily the way it goes in England. There are times when your opponents can keep hold of the ball and won’t be so generous about allowing you to do the same. There are times when you just have to hang in there and scrap for every inch you get. Will we have the personnel, the characters and the manager to do it? Time will tell, and time will tell soon. Having failed to get Moutinho, will we miss that figurehead creative player? Equally concerning is our ability to concede late goals with alarming abandon. That’s four in four now, and this time we hadn’t even looked like conceding. But there I go thinking of mitigating factors again.

I’m pretty sure Sunday was the first time I’ve seen AVB smile. Hopefully we’ll see it a lot more from now on (come on Andre – the ladies love it) and hopefully we’ll see a lot more displays like that. Let’s make this the rule rather than the exception.