MoroccanBlue

We should be beating City

As shaky as that back line was at times, I'm hoping moving forward he sticks with it. Shift James and Dave in and out depending on opposition.

He's looked better since the winter break.

Everton were awful tbh. So much space in midfield. However I'm inclined to agree. I want him to start the next few games. Next to Kovacic especially.

2 year deal

That is genuinely just conjecture

Looking forward to Dave’s delivery out wide

It’s pretty easy actually. But neither two will beat Trump.

Incoming the inevitable “Gallagher is better than him”.

That’s never worked

That’s an interesting midfield.

Gilmour Kovacic pivot

Ziyech and Telles, two quality players and at the same time saving our transfer budget. Is this the working of Cech?

Said he wasn’t ok with us getting Sancho as too many attacking players back in 2012 stalled us, when I pointed it it was more down to Mourinho not utilising them

It didn't work because we had Mourinho. Lampard's whole philosophy is emphasised towards attacking play. People tend to forget some of the football we played under DiMatteo before he was sacked. Mata, Hazard, and Oscar played some lovely stuff.

I'd wager it is more likely for another club to become invincibles than another club to win the league and only conceded 15 goals. Madness. Honestly hate Anelka. We would of been invincibles and to have only conceded 14 goals!

Kepa James---Zouma--Tomori---Dave Gilmour--Kovacic Mount Pedro-------------------Alonso Giroud

Again, absolute scenes if our board even entertain a extension for this fraud

I believe the ruling is only if Maguire made an attempt to play the ball, he would’ve been onside. Since it was a deflection, and obstructed the keepers view, its right called off imo

Fernando Llorente is a striker. Not a defender. The discussion was Conte not trusting his defenders. That summer we were heavily linked with Sandro, Van Dijk, Bonucci, and Candreva. At the time, all upgrades on defenders/wing backs we currently had, so it was clear Conte didn't trust his defenders. I think I've been pretty vocal since I've been here how even towards the end of our title winning season, it was clear Alonso and Moses needed to be upgraded on. After the Spurs defeat in January that season, it was really when clubs first figured out how to combat the 343. Put pressure on our wing backs to keep them pinned, and have wingers exploit the space that's between the wing back and the centre back. We didn't have the personal to cope with that, hence the amount of shithousery we saw that 2018 season.

Giving him any sort of extension will be unforgivable. The absolute cheek of this lad to demand a 3 year extension.

Marcos Alonso has now equaled Willian's goals in the Premier League this season, and he did it in under 15 games. Willian - "I want a 3 year deal".

Why are you using hindsight? Sandro at the time was arguably one of the best left backs in the world. Same thing with Bonucci. Candreva was known as being one of the most consistent players in Italy as well at the time. It was clear as day Conte wanted improvements on our back five, regardless of age. Toward the end of the 2017 season, more and more clubs started finding us out. This led to Conte's viscous demands in the summer market, to which we only got Zappacosta on deadline day. It was a complete shift in terms of how we played given we played some great football that 2017 season. 2018 was a new level of cowardice that Mourinho would've been proud of and this was all down to Conte throwing his toys out the pram because he didn't fully trust his side to play the football he wanted.

He wanted Alex Sandro, Candreva, and Bonucci. Players who would've been direct upgrades on Alonso, Moses, and Cahill. It was clear as day Conte didn't trust our defenders. The lack of upgrades and introduction of gash like Zappacosta forced Conte to become more pragmatic. Especially when teams found us out.

Also explains why Conte opted for a more pragmatic/cowardly approach his second season. Both Sarri and Conte did their best to protect our fragile back line. Lampard's inexperience showing here. That said, it's hard to put a lot of fault on him given the gash we have. I would genuinely pay my own money to see the back of maybe 60% of our players.