What has really impressed me of late is the way we have been playing. Dominating possession more and always looking threatening.
The team looks really balanced at the moment, also great to see that even though we have gone a goal behind in the last two games the group don't seem to panic..I guess that has come with the confidence gained from our recent run.
At the start off the season we really did not look convincing, look like we were lacking in goals with a soft leaky defence. It was frustrating too see as play a 4-5-1 formation especially at home against teams that came to defend, at times Defoe was so isolated and we just did not look like scoring. So kudos to AVB for switching from his preferred 4-5-1 to a 4-4-2. I think this has given Bale and Lennon more space as with both Ade and Defoe playing, defenders are more occupied and cannot double up on Bale and Lennon as often.
Sandro and Dembele have been excellent of late. Must admit,before he signed, I haven't seen much of Dembele before , apart from snippets on MOTD. I have been so impressed by how cool this guy is on the ball, he just seems to glide past opponents. The combination of these 2 just brings so much strength and power to our midfield.
Also great to see Bale and Lennon in great form. Lennon especially, as good as he is, in the past he could also be so frustrating with his final ball, getting into good position just to put in a c**p cross. Final distribution is much more consistent, he has always has done a good job in tracking back and doing his part in defending.
Would still like to see him run with the ball in to the box, rather than pushing it out wide so often.
Still long way to go this season. Finishing 4th this year will be a lot more difficult than last. Ars*nal and Chelsea are much better than last season at this stage, Also think Everton will push right to the end this year. So to finish 4th, we cannot afford to repeat the bad run off form in the 2nd half as we did last season.