not much to see today...

Well I'm back from my travels in Hong Kong, and after missing the Tottenham and Everton matches I was excited to see the lads play today. After a dull but point producing match with Tottenham, and a lopsided loss against Everton I thought we'd come out firing today. I couldn't have been more wrong. Here are some of my thoughts today.

• Today seemed like a good match to get some younger players more minutes. I know we are dealing with various injuries and are still fighting for points, but I thought Ji, Wickham, or Meyler might make an appearance. 
• After allowing 4 against Everton Mignolet responded with a good shutout today. He didn't have a lot to do, but he did make a few fine saves that preserved the draw.
• Outside of Sessegnon we lacked much creativity. McClean did produce some decent runs, and he probably should have scored, but Sess was about our only offensive catalyst today.
• I do like Bendtner, and I think he does a lot of things that go unnoticed, but I think Martin O'Neill wants a more direct forward to pair up with Sess. Someone who will lean heavily against the opposing center backs and push the line nice and high.
• Seb Larsson had his poorest outing as a black cat today. I think if we have any other option to play on the right wing MoN would have used it. I was surprised he didn't bring on Campbell to play on the wing, or bring on a central midfield player and push Gardner out there.
• My last observation is that maybe the Man City comeback has eliminated some of our desire. We seem a little content to just collect a point or two and coast to a mid table finish. I know O'Neill doesn't want that, and I'm sure he'll do all he can to get a few more wins as we finish out, but the lads just didn't seem to play with much urgency today.

All that being said, we used to play matches like this and end up with a loss so I'll take the point and move forward. Let's just hope we can dust this off, regroup, and finish strong the rest of the way.

Ha'way the Lads!