In Two Blinks of An Eye, It Was Gone

Allegri said our defence was not as good as Lazio. Truer words were never spoken. It matters not that for most of this enthralling and ultimately gut-punch of a game we were the better side. Did we get lucky on Vertonghen v Costa? Absolutely. But we could have had one or two more in that first half, such was the balance of play. Kane could easily have turned Buffon as he did in Torino, Son had a couple of good attempts when he struck the ball well.

And then like that… Kaiser Soze was gone. Davies was beaten badly by A Dybala through ball and on the ensuing cross, I’m still not sure if it was Dier, Eriksen, Trippier or all three at blame. On the next simple and easy goal—the winner—Trippier was a statue and Dybala pounced. And that was that. Of course we were teased at the end, but Juve had their shape and their defenders, Chiellini clearing the biggest threat. It wasn’t our night.

And now what? Does Toby get paid? For surely with him this does not happen. Do they go belly-up against Bournemouth and begin the slide out of the top four? Does the FA Cup really matter anymore?

I don’t really want to know. The forwards were great—I thought Dele had a wonderful game despite not figuring in the scoring. Son was just as he has been lately. Dembele warmed to the task and was brilliant in the second half. Eriksen played well throughout—Llorente and Lamela each made an impact and on a different night would have been the toast of London for leading us back to victory. This wasn’t that night. Two horrible defensive errors at this level of football and you go home to watch on the telly.

Maybe the penalty should have been awarded and the entire second half played out differently at 1-1. But it wasn’t. We weren’t lucky— but we weren’t ready either. No other way to say it.