The Skipper

The Wizard of London has arrived... I didn't know how long it would take him to settle, but this is how he used to dominate Eredivisie. Can't believe this is being translated to the PL already. What a player!

Mendy was actually born in France and chose to play for Senegal after so it has nothing to do with them being from Senegal.

I think playing as an 8 should evolve his game much better. I don't want him to just be a final third player.

Eh, I don't mind him trying risky things as long as we have cover behind him that can pick up when it doesn't come off. He will get smarter and better with it as he gains more experience in the league though. We haven't seen the best of him at all just yet.

Yeah, I'm exaggerating a bit, but apart from Liverpool's fullbacks, I don't think there's a better pair in the league. What do you reckon? Reece might not be as much of a cheat code with his crossing as TAA is but he's far better defensively, and will continue to grow defensively. I've always held the belief that Reece can be better than TAA simply because he's more complete, but I am aware that TAA has performed amazingly, especially in the previous two seasons for Pool, but that's mostly because he was also playing in a superstar team with a fantastic manager. Reece has some catching up to do but player v player, honestly wouldn't be surprised if Reece in the future started over TAA for England at RB (maybe TAA moved to midfield).

CHO Abraham Ziyech Mount Jorginho Kovacic Emerson Tomori Christensen Azpi Mendy Should be enough...

Trent Alexander-Arnold, come outside...

He is so so underrated defensively...

We've been screaming for a midfield 3 of Kanté Mount and Havertz and well... MOTM honestly for me is Money Mason Mount. So refreshing to see him in that 8 role, linking up play between attack and midfield. By far his best role. Meshed really well with Havertz and the rest of the attack. Great performance. Kanté close second. Looking like prime Cfc Makélélé out there today. It makes a lot of sense to play him there in games where we are expected to dominate offensively and possession wise, simply because he's so great at snuffing out counter attacks. His passing is considerably better under less pressure as well. Our fullbacks are genuinely the best in the league btw. James is more complete than TAA. He still has some work to do defensively but he's already better at it than TAA, and he can actually become a better defender as be gains more experience. TAA has some genuine weaknesses defensively in his game which means his ceiling defensively is much lower than Reece's. Chilwell is already the second best LB in the league behind Robertson imo and is much younger too. Exciting times ahead. One of our best performances under the Lampard era full stop. I hope we stick with this 433 structure going forward.

Shame. Was hoping Camavinga performed against us because we have a history of signing players who do well against us in the CL.

Technically this is Jorginho but they don't mesh together well at all. I also don't like the 4231 we're employing. Actually, it might work better with a better player than Jorginho - someone who can pass forward consistently, has real vision, but can also defend - Declan Rice maybe? Until then we won't see the best of Kanté in a pivot.

Het verbaast me dat het zo lang heeft geduurd voordat een topclub hem had gekocht maar ja... He's still lacking his usual sharpness. We haven't seen the best from him at all just yet. I expect him to evolve into the side's primary creator soon tbh.

It's gonna have to be 6 - 8 - 10 midfield 3. Kai at the 10, Mount at 8, and for now, Kanté as the 6.

It's pretty simple, we know their weaknesses (Zouma and Kanté) but they're still the best options for us there as it stands, so we should support them. They still do some things very very well. Zouma is one of the best CBs in the world in the air, and is probably our best pure defender after Silva. Kanté's defensive awareness and ability to close spaces and make tackles and interceptions is also real quality. It's what we have right now. Kanté has also been an excellent player for the club overall, is a world cup champion, and won the league with Leicester. Understandably people have more patience for a player who has this sort of pedigree. I have said in other threads that Kanté doesn't really perfectly suit our ideally balanced midfield but that doesn't mean he's a bad player automatically. Same with Zouma who's only weakness is his comfort levels on the ball. Apart from that he's actually a pretty good defender. Who else should we play in these positions as it stands? They're literally our best options there.

Hopefully Lamps moves forward with this. Jorginho and Kovacic together are like a sieve in midfield.

Mount Kanté Havertz 433 is our best midfield in theory.

Not when he's playing out wide.

Shhhhhh can't say that Yes we play better when Mount plays in his actual position, not when he's being shoved out wide. I don't think the criticism of Mount is of him as a player. I've said before I wanted to see a Mount Havertz Kanté midfield. Glad to see Lampard is thinking the same.

Guess Lampard wants to play the team into form a bit more?

Strong team. Happy CHO is getting some game time! Would've liked to see Werner, Havertz and Chilly rested though.

Funnily enough, of course Kanté is still a huge member of the squad, but for the type of football we seem to be wanting to play, Kanté doesn't really make too much sense. The base seems to be a natural holding DM, a connector, and then a 10. Kanté doesn't really fit any of these. In hindsight we should've kept Ampadu, think he's the perfect profile for the type of player we need. Shame really. Also, should be interesting to see how Gilmour fits in. Ideally, I'd love to have something like this as midfield options next season: Ampadu, Kanté, natural DM, Mount, Gilmour, Havertz. Maybe Rice or Camavinga (v. unlikely but Cech has links at Rennes) as the natural DM. This gives us options and all sorts of types of midfielders that would work with a lot of different types of game plans. Like you said, midfield balance will probably be the Achilles heel for us this season.

Still incredible how he was loaned out when the squad is now begging for a natural old fashioned DM.

I'd like to see either scenario tbh and see what works. One of Mason's best attributes is quickly breaking the lines between midfield and attack with some quick passes into the feet of the attackers. We should be utilising this a lot more. I want Mason to be more like a Modric type player rather than whatever Frank is trying him as atm. Kanté in a 433 as the holding player - does he have the patience and discipline for this? For this reason maybe a 4231 might work better. Since his legs are going a bit, I'd like to see this 433 where we see him attack and defend horizontal spaces rather than the whole pitch/vertical spaces. Mount can lead the press from CM and join in on some attacks, but he'd have to be very disciplined. I'm surprised Frank hasn't tried it yet since he likes to play Mason in a lot of unorthodox positions.

Would like to see how well a Kante, Mount & Havertz midfield would operate.