The Skipper

There’s no excuse? Guy was carrying an injury (but still played because the team has no CMs) and has had no pre season coming off a pretty big injury that he tried to manage for almost half a season. Take that into consideration and also take into consideration that he was playing next to a defensive liability in Cesc. Irrational criticism.

Yep. Zouma, Ampadu, Clarke-Salter, Tomori, Trevor Chalobah etc. We’re incredibly stacked at CB.

We have Rüdiger and Christensen on the bench and Zouma out on loan but you still want to us to buy another CB (VVD is valued at £70m) when there are other areas in the team that actually need an upgrade? With how tight we’ve been in the transfer window recently, we need to prioritise signings. CB is literally the very last thing we need to look at.

Caballero Rudiger Christensen JCS Zappacosta Ampadu Drinkwater Kenedy Musonda Michy Willian

He isn’t even better than Rüdiger. The man is worth £40m max and he won’t be sold for that, and he isn’t worth the £30m extra Soton are asking at all. CB is the only area in the team where we don’t actually need to spend.

Luiz MOTM. Absolutely outstanding at the back today and really charged the team forward in a crucial time. People won’t talk about his performance though.

Michy is best coming off the bench - Ole Gunnar Solskjaer-esque.

Guy’s had no preseason and is carrying an injury and still played. Yes, bad game, but he didn’t let the mistake get to him and was a lot better after it. Still has to work on his awareness a lot, but he’ll get better. Just love that he stepped up for his team today even though he was in pain/injured.

I agree but we just don’t have proper options at left back and I’d naturally like to see the team play more adventurously. Also, if Azpi is at left back I’d probably start Zappa. Zappacosta Luiz Christensen Azpi back four seems quite solid.

Thought we had our wake up call in 15/16... apparently the board need to experience it again to realise they aren’t leading the club in the right direction per se.

Courtois has had a really average start tbh. But then again, so have a lot of our players.

All you have to do to stop a Conte back 5 system is genuinely pin the wingbacks back to their own defensive third.

We haven’t even spent this summer technically. We’re -30m in player sales. I think it might be time for a back 4. 433: Courtois Azpi Christensen Luiz Alonso Bakayoko Kante Fabregas Pedro Morata Hazard

It wasn’t submitting properly lmao.

Didn’t even play that well tonight but his two goals got us out of the shitter. He had less than or around 30 touches today I think. That’s ridiculously bad.

Worst period in his CFC career.

Yeah. Fabinho doing great things at Monaco without Bakayoko this season. /sarcasm

Conte wants to do high press now? Why not at the start of the game?

Because we’re at home and shouldn’t be playing this cowardly? We’re extremely lucky to be up still.

We can’t build out the back. Playing like the away team again ffs.

Not sure how true but like I said in OP, we should be looking, especially at that price.

That’s a not really a strong argument, it’s been proven wrong many times. The season before Pep arrived, this was their starting 11 vs. Real in 2007 (19yo Messi hattrick game): Eto’o, Ronaldinho, Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Deco, Marquez, Thuram, Oleguer, Puyol, Valdes. Pep sold Eto’o, Ronaldinho, Deco (their three best players at the time before Messi blew up), Oleguer, Thuram and Marquez, and replaced them with the likes of Busquets, Pique, Alves, Abidal, Villa, Pedro etc. That’s over half of that 11 that got changed. They were winning before yes, but not in the manner they did when Pep was there. Pep brought in his own players and evolved the style of Barcelona into one of the best football sides in history period. Let’s also not forget that the likes of Xavi and Iniesta weren’t considered as some of the best CMs of all time either at that time. Pep’s work with them made them better players. The Barcelona side under Rijkaard were good but not that good. You’ve got to give credit where it’s due. Hazard has been good under Conte, not great. You and I both know his talent can bring more out of him if he played in a more progressive system. Hazard was good under Jose too, he hasn’t really surpassed that level of his best under Jose with Conte. I still believe Eden has another level to go up with his talent, if you don’t then we’ll agree to disagree. Pep’s project at City is more about just winning, he wants to win in a very enjoyable style and he wants to change the outlook of progressive, technical football in England (i.e. usage of Juego de Posicion/Positional Play which Conte implements to a low level here at CFC too). He’s genuinely not just trying to win, it’s bigger than that. Of course Conte’s a winner, he’s proven that his whole career pretty much, not sure why you’re asking me that. If you read the original post I replied to, I was merely trying to elaborate on Pep’s achievements in the game and why he deserves respect for it, just like Conte does for his. Just to show you Conte isn’t three times the manager Pep is. You genuinely think anyone could’ve done what Pep did at Barcelona in that manner?

How things have changed. Benteke is in a rut rn but honestly he’s a great 2nd choice striker, offers much more than Michy in his general play. Good buddies with Eden. Also, if he rediscovers his shooting boots, literally nothing Michy will have over him.

Carries on like this and he’ll play a big part in keeping Swansea up.

Thats the main crux/problem for me. The way we’re conducting ourselves in the transfer window isn’t that inspiring. Sure, the team is good, we have some top players, but it seems like the club is happy with what we’ve got. We’ll get left behind by all those clubs you’ve just mentioned. It’s not like we’re making smart Azpi-like signings either. The overall quality of the squad should’ve been much higher this season.