Mhsc

Has RLC made a single successful pass? Feels like every time we get the ball and its "our turn" to have some possession and play forward he just loses it immediately in the middle.

So no Fofana and no Reese James, do Villa have fast players to punish us down their left / our right? Chalobah will have to step up and play well, I guess. Good test for Potter this, very interested what approach he takes with the team if Reese James is out for a while - Azpi every game can't / won't be the answer, so what will be I wonder? I was curious if we could try playing both Chilwell and Cucu and have one of them play on the wrong side like an inverted winger, similar to many years ago when we moved Azpi to play LB.

He made several VERY dangerous runs and the ball didn't come. I have a feeling if we still had Fabregas this guy would be putting in elite numbers.

Feels like they've been given instructions to shoot and cross as speculatively as they like, as long as they're playing aggressively. Feels like a big change to the conservativeness of Tuchel, who I always felt didn't have the faith in our defence to allow a little more risky play up front. Wonderful watching the team now. Koulibaly had his first v good game for us as well, like a rock at the back. Feel like this team is levelling up towards starting to get some 6-0 results. Reminds me a bit of the peak Carlo days, where he man-managed everyone into playing at a supremely high level individually and brought some fresh tactics to the team.

Fofana didn't have the balls to try to clear it, afraid of the OG. Hopefully he learns from that, expect better from a man who's already played a shit load of senior games. Interesting Koulibaly not featured at all yet. He was also shady for us in the games he played but at least Fofana is the man for the future so it makes sense to play him instead if Koulibaly isn't playing solid. Gallagher+Auba+Pulisic first names on team sheet for now imo, but I'm not prepared to slam Mount (or Havertz!) his only real problem at the moment is he can't finish imo, but at least he has the guts to try over and over and tries to change the game. We need more shot attempts and the guts to try things and take risks and look stupid in front of goal - NOT less, so I won't vilify him even if it is frustrating for him and us. After so long without a 'proper' striker or someone who would score from distance both goals today left me shocked and with a big ass grin on my face. Feels good to see us becoming something resembling a proper team again. Actually have a lot of faith that this group can become something, especially when Kante comes back. Obviously we need an overhaul in CM given the ages there but the overall potential in this squad is pretty damn good imo. Excited for the future.

Almost feels like a sting operation to figure out who is leaking shit, given it turned out to be total bullshit.

The lad looks ok but lets not get over excited here. Doesn't look to have the quality to finish chances tbh.

Missing a player that is dangerous shooting from range imo. Who do we have that can change the game from distance? Feel like we concede a lot of beautiful goals from outside of the box and score 0. Interesting he went for super experienced CBs at the back, makes sense in a way for your first game but we’ve got to drop Azpi sadly. Legend but he’s done playing at this level. Feel like Potter will get them playing better. Looking forward to the next few months tbh.

Tbh relieved at the game cancellations, wish this was cancelled as well - great chance for Potter to reset the squad and do a mini preseason with them and teach them his methods. Excited for this game now.

Two strong players in every position. Chilwell hit form so now he should play and Cucu should sit and watch for a while. This is the competition we need to arrive eventually at a strong XI that wins games.

As much as we are talking about who Tuchel has to drop, he also has to reward the boys that stepped up and did the business to save the game today. Havertz and Chilwell straight into the XI imo.

Everyone will be talking about how the pressure Tuchel put on refs + VAR is to blame for that decision. Mendy needs a game or two out, James imo needs to be used further up the pitch and away from defence as he has probably been at fault for as many goals as he's contributed. I think only one of Koulibaly or Silva should play at the same time too.

Mendy needs to be dropped, Kepa is the world's most expensive backup GK waiting in the wings we have to hope he can find his old form. For such a big guy Mendy is soft as fuck.

I don't even care if we don't win, lets just not lose.

Need to try to "do a Bale" with James and push him nearer to the goal. Him and Sterling are our only two players with genuine quality at shooting and assisting.

Exactly. My only beef with Pulisic playing is that we are putting time into getting him back to form and you just know he'll be back out with injury any moment. I don't know of any player that had an injury record like Pulisic that did anything other than just non-stop decline as they got older.

Most of our managers since beginning of Roman era wouldn't start Broja to be fair. We had this problem consistently under everyone except for Frank.

What is formation? 3-5-2? Weird setup.