closed Leicester 2-2 Chelsea

[Milan 17,835]

Another week that we will be hoping Man United and Tottenham lose points. In other words, come on City and come on Wolves, get a draw...

[Azul 1,615]

Brace yourselves for one hell of a ride, its going to take a miracle for us to secure that top four position.

[Laylabelle 9,292]

Just now, milan.cech said:

Another week that we will be hoping Man United and Tottenham lose points. In other words, come on City and come on Wolves, get a draw...

That's the thing it will end at some point. Not confident about today. Hey ho. 

[MoroccanBlue 5,194]

Winter break came at a great time. Hopefully Pulisic and Ruben get back fit. 

[Atomiswave 6,072]

It has been so so difficult for us to get 3pts for a long time now.....our superb luck will run out at some point. But hey the board believes its all dandy and good and we have more than enough to secure top 4.

[chippy 342]

Would have taken a point at the start and seeing they missed two big chances late on it's a good point won. Decent game with both teams going for it. Good atmohere too!              Same old problems for us. Mount was awful the entire game and Jorginho is struggling again. James was great first half but faded in the second. CHO, another promising first half hour but he too faded.  2 huge home games coming up. 2 wins and we should get top 4. I'd take going out the CL to Barca for wins against Utd and Spurs.

[Jase 43,479]

11 minutes ago, Laylabelle said:

Its mad that in 4th we're closer to Norwich at the bottom then we are to the top.

That is true but in some ways, I wouldn't read into that at all. I mean, how often do we even see a team drop only 2 points after 24 league games!

[communicate 2,703]

5 minutes ago, DDA said:

Absolutely not. We dont want to just play youth for the sake of playing youth. We want the youth players to play if they are the better option than the senior players that we have. Mount is not a better option than Kova or any other midfielder we have on the bench. That's the point we have been making here. Mount is average beyond belief. 

Mount played as am. Kova is not an am. Lamp want somebody to press Choudry. That wasn't the problem. 

Our front 4 today consist of kids plus Pedro who honestly looked very off. 

[Johnnyeye 7,405]

Rudiger has to be captain, Azpi is not captain material, i still think about his lack of attitude with that Kepa debacle last season in the carling cup final against City.

[Laylabelle 9,292]

1 minute ago, Jason said:

That is true but in some ways, I wouldn't read into that at all. I mean, how often do we even see a team drop only 2 points after 24 league games!

Nah this whole season is really odd. When we finished 10th we were 30 off the top..this year we are 4th and 30 off the top. The league is won in January how on earth has that happened?! Other then Liverpool every other side has been so dodgy.

Hey ho...nice not to lose again! Hopefully the break can help us with this iffy run we are still on

[communicate 2,703]

9 minutes ago, Laylabelle said:

1 win out of 5. We're still having a bad run. Just lucky that so are other teams but that wont last. Think soon as we slip out of top 4 that's it.

And I am fine with it. People want us to play kids, now we are playing kids. They won't be consistent especially when you ask them to score. 

[chippy 342]

2 minutes ago, Atomiswave said:

It has been so so difficult for us to get 3pts for a long time now.....our superb luck will run out at some point. But hey the board believes its all dandy and good and we have more than enough to secure top 4.

It's not just our board who are letting us down. Our scouting is not finding the riight players. 

[Laylabelle 9,292]

Just now, communicate said:

And I am fine with it. People want us to play kids, now we are playing kids. They won't be consistent especially when you ask them to score. 

It's not the kids that are the problem really. It's the players who have more experience and yet are also playing poor. Finishing outside top 4 doesnt bother. Long as Lampard gets the support in summer and not the easy option of sacking which be silly.

[chippy 342]

4 minutes ago, Jason said:

That is true but in some ways, I wouldn't read into that at all. I mean, how often do we even see a team drop only 2 points after 24 league games!

But we really shouldn't be 4th palying like this. We're only there because Utd, Arsenal and Spurs have been so piss poor. Imo, in terms of quality we're now as far away from being title contenders as we were when Hoddle left us.  

[Jase 43,479]

Our source of goals in the last 13 Premier League games (since our inconsistent run started) has not been inspiring to say the least...

L 1-2 Man City

Long range pass

L 0-1 West Ham

W 2-1 Aston Villa

Cross + Individual brilliance (volley)

L 1-3 Everton

Individual brilliance (long range strike)

L 0-1 Bournemouth

W 2-0 Spurs

Individual brilliance + Penalty

L 0-2 Southampton

W 2-1 Arsenal

Keeper blunder + Counter attack

D 1-1 Brighton

Corner

W 3-0 Burnley

Penalty + Keeper blunder + Cross

L 0-1 Newcastle

D 2-2 Arsenal

Penalty + Cross

D 2-2 Leicester

Corner + Free Kick

[MoroccanBlue 5,194]

Also, again, another game where Giroud's hold up and link up play would of been beneficial. 

But no, Lampard needs a ST 

[OhForAGreavsie 5,773]

31 minutes ago, communicate said:

That is not really the problem. Yes mount was not good. But that is understandable, people want you got youth. If you want kids to play, you need to accept that this will happen. 

Being young can't be the only qualification for getting into the team. Players have to offer more than their birth certificates. Yes, mangers can give young players development minutes. Minutes they might not fully deserve on performances alone, but that should only happen when the manager judges the player's potential is worth developing. It seems Frank believes this is the case with Mason, and fair enough, that's his decision to make. In my opinion however, Mason has to do more to earn even 'development' minutes, and a great deal more to keep his place purely on merit.

[MoroccanBlue 5,194]

4 minutes ago, OhForAGreavsie said:

Being young can't be the only qualification for getting into the team. Players have to offer more than their birth certificates. Yes, mangers can give young players development minutes. Minutes they might not fully deserve on performances alone, but that should only happen when the manager judges the player's potential is worth developing. It seems Frank believe this is the case with Mason, and fair enough, that's his decision to make. In my opinion however, Mason has to do more to earn even 'development' minutes, and a great deal more to keep his place purely on merit.

He needs a break on the bench. Looks mentally drained which I feel is a result of over reliance. Needs to be given the same treatment as Pulisic and CHO and easily transitioned. 

 I'm inclined to play Kante, Kovacic, and Jorginho until Ruben gets match fit.