- Joined
- Aug 10, 2011
- Messages
- 60,141
- Reaction score
- -45,851
He is where he is as we are high up the pitch. They break and he goes back and then holds his new position because he can intercept or close down if the ball is played for Johnson to chase long. Instead the ball is played close to him and the defenders, enough to stop Sa coming out. He can't start to race backwards or else he gives Johnson the chance to take a touch and shoot before he is set.
Moment starts @ 7:50, although in fairness it plays out way differently to how I remembered. I'm still not sure what Sá is doing (he's still lost in no-man's land) but it's not as awful as I recalled it to be.
His final position gives Johnson 2 options. Take a touch and potentially give the defenders a chance of challenging or allowing Sa to then go to him or try the lob. He gets it right he scores but he didn't and even if he did I wouldn't put that down as anything from his brain fart hitlist or poor keeping. In a rapid break Sa made the right choices for me there.
Well worth £40m for me Mr Oil King...