First thing first: WHAT. A. GAME. Well over 24 hours later and still riding that high.
Couple of thoughts on the first half. Some have called out Cook for losing his marker for the first goal, which isn't wrong but it's an individual mistake that happens and it seemed like he thought he'd passed the man to Smith. A poor mistake of an individual or communication, but nothing to be crucified over imo. Similarly, Ouattara fell behind his marker for Luton's second, despite having been the deepest man that kept them onside - you'd think that'd have given him the advantage to intercept the cross. Largely it just seemed that we were a step behind them when on defense, even if our offense was troubling them. Tactically, it seemed like our left flank of Ouattara and Sinisterra was successfully targeted by Luton, partly due to Ouattara's inexperience in the position and partly due to lacking defensive support of Sinisterra. My interpretation of this initial lineup is that Iraola went with the left flank that saw success against Sheffield United, reasoning that we'd often be on the front foot similarly to when they were a part of that comeback. However, Luton's ability to quickly get behind our left flank exposed that pairing's defensive frailty.
Halftime changes part 1, Sinisterra->Tavernier. The left flank clearly isn't working, so Iraola takes off Sinisterra for Tavernier. Seems to me that the idea is that Tavernier is better defensively than Sinisterra, so his support will solidify that flank and keep Ouattara's attacking FB contributions. The other option would have been Kerkez as a more natural FB for Ouattara, but we've seen him be exposed in the past as well, so I think he might also struggle if paired with Sinisterra not providing cover and Tavernier for Sinisterra was the better choice for defensive solidity. I also have a slight thought that, though Sinisterra got into good positions in the first half, quite a few times he was taking shots at poor angles when he should have been looking for a cross, so taking him off at the half might also have sent a bit of a message to keep your head up looking for teammates in those situations.
Halftime changes part 2, Scott->Unal. I was perplexed by Scott's first half. Other than one moment where he drove toward the box before laying it off to Sinisterra in space (reminiscent of his scintillating run that led to assisting Kluivert earlier in the season), he was largely invisible. Didn't see him high up in the press as much as Kluivert or Billing, so it didn't seem to be our normal pressing number 10 role. But also didn't seem to provide much defensively either where the likes of Cook or Christie usually show up. Not sure whether this was a Scott issue or a tactics issue, maybe even unclear instructions. He clearly has something special that I look forward to seeing in the future more, but a poor day at the office. Unal was clearly given a more forward directive, pairing with Solanke up top, and he did so excellently. Made a nuisance of himself, attempted creative link ups (even if some ended up missing due to a player note making a run he expected or the like, that's something that will come with more time together), and assisted the winning goal: can't ask for much more. Looks a brilliant buy, great to have him bed into the team before any chance of Solanke leaving in the summer (hope he stays though!).
MOTM is deservedly Semenyo, his first goal for the equalizer was emblematic of the shift the team had taken in the second half: Solanke dropped a bit deeper and held up the ball well before passing it off to Christie, who played a direct and aggressive ball by using his first touch to spray it into space for Semenyo to run onto against an isolated defender, followed by a class finish. Second and winning goal looked like a training ground routine, he and Unal linked up well to get him into position, at which point he used my tried-and-true goal scoring technique: blast it at the keeper's face. Even the sternest of keepers will move their head out of harm's way and try to palm it aside, but from close range they don't get their hands up in time. Works in the park and the premier league all the same. Also noted that Semenyo and Tavernier celebrate together when either score, which is always nice to see and a sign of a closeness in the squad that can help to pick up the squad from poor performances and individuals from poor form (like Tav looking better today after a poor stretch).
Watched Semenyo and Iraola's post-match interviews. One thing that popped out to me was that both called out Solanke's goal as the moment that really gave the team the belief that the comeback was possible. For all the **************** he got in the past, the last 3 years Solanke has really proven himself as a top-class striker. Has the hold up and link up play, like in the equalizer and an earlier passage that got Sinisterra into shooting position, has out-of-this-world finishes like the hat trick that dragged us into the win over Forest, and then today has the moment of genius to score a solo goal and give the team belief. A true talisman of a player.
Already essentially safe from relegation and with a top half finish within reach, let's hope to get some more performances like that second half! UTC!