Meh, it was the sort of game where it just needs a goal and the longer it stays at 0-0 the more risk becomes involved. They did nothing special, pressed hard and fouled, played for the new manager. They had nothing to lose. Losing Pjanic before the game is obviously a big blow because he's a maestro so we had to go back to a more bread and butter percentage style of football and it paid off eventually.
Getting Higuain on was a necessity rather than some kind of master stroke, we were getting balls into their area and around the box and that's what he lives for, glad he got the goal because you could see the difference in his confidence. Then he got what was basically half an assist for the second as it was down to his play.
If we had scored in the first 20-30 minutes we'd be talking about a far less nervy game, but maybe we should be more precise and cutting from the start rather than ambling about for 30 minutes and then deciding to up the tempo. It's the one real criticism I have of the team. I know Allegri is very into his "game management" and having up and down periods of intensity to not drive players into the ground 4 months into the season, but this kind of game called for a stronger kind of start. Start strong, finish strong, leave the down time for the middle with a lead.