Tomo

Hopefully he can be the defender version of Zlatan.

Stamford Bridge is close to Heathrow, you see them flying past in the process of landing/taking off a lot when you're there.

This is exactly why the assist stat needs redefining, Mount will get it on record but it should be Tammy's.

No wonder we're looked down on as a fanbase with comments like this. The sheer bitterness and hatred displayed for one of our own....

DP

Not aimed at you but these headlines will be excruciating this season. We've got a massive squad which means players won't make the bench. The last time we had a squad with this much depth was Mou 1.0, pick any random game from that era and you'll notice a big abscense or 2 from the matchday squad.

I imagine the majority of the players aren't that sensitive and know the score in football. Thiago Silva and David Luiz are pretty close mates by all accounts yet Lampard ruthlessly booting the latter out didn't put off Thiago in terms of coming here.

It's not about it not coming out before 11, it's about trying to balance the health of the nation with making sure we maintain an Economy that gives us a sustainable life to live when this is finally over. And i say that as no Tory fan, i couldn't stand the slimeball Boris long before it became a hipster trend!

Tbh i more had the Sarri example in my head while typing that. When he hinted at a 2-3 year slow integration of CHO people flew of the handle and acted like he was Satan

Tbh i don't get the English obsession with making teenagers starters or you're "ruining" them, we hear the same nonsense with Pep re Foden. Main case in points is Barca, with the odd exceptions like Messi and Fati they don't tend to look at bedding in their La Masia products until they're in their 20's and it works. Ofcourse not saying it's a bad thing to blood players as teenagers but the idea they're being treated like shit if their integration is staggered over a period of 3-4 years is hilarious.

Pre lockdown yes, apart from the poor run in the winter i was enjoying the season, post lockdown not so much. It's frustrating because i genuinely thought after the Liverpool/Everton games we were hitting the next level. Has he overcomplicated things since lockdown? (he would have had a lot of time to think) Did the impending signings make him feel more pressure and with it could he have become more results based?

Sorry for some reason i never saw this. Basically my stance is, i will (and have) accepted more reactive football when it has us challenging for the big two, but given Klopp and Pep's presence (as far as Europe goes we can add to Bayern to that) it's a big ask right now so lets build something, have some fun while doing it and be the team primed to take advantage once their cycles decline.

Not only that, we were excellent evading the press under Sarri and Willian wasn't playing half the time.

I thought he was excellent for a game and a half up till that moment, dare i say pre Barca self (don't want to speak to soon as i thought he was "back" after Baku). On a seperate note is he serving his ban tomorrow or at West Brom?

Forgot to put this here last week but he's only conceded once (a penalty) in his opening two League games for Stevanage and made three top second half saves against Barrow (all while 1 down and they went onto level). Will do him the world of good to make such a gamechanging contribution early on.

Excellent penalty save but bar that he had next to nothing to do.

Realistically the title is not on this year, in a perverse way I'm glad we're getting the reality check early as last two years a great start led to fans creating expectations above our station which meant a few couldn't look at the inevitable blip objectively. Its potential threats to top four we've got to look out for and there's nothing so far to suggest any are a serious problem unless we implode. United could and should have lost 1-6 vs Palace, Arsenal got battered by West Ham and robbed them, Spurs have looked utterly hopeless on all but one half of their three games so far. If we look at the wildcards haven't watched Leicester play yet, Wolves will miss Jota/Docherty and Everton in my opinion have been made to look better than they are (due to Spurs being hopeless and WBA going down to 10).

Couldn't play for a more different manager to the one his dad made his name under.

The fact Lampard decided against going after Sancho kills this ludicrous conspiracy theory stone dead.

He appears since lockdown to be settling for the Zidane approach, ie keep it more compact and let the talent up top change the games in our favour. Could actually help us compete in Europe but skeptical it can win a league Vs Pep and Klopp.

But Klopp wasn't a winner when he went to Dortmund, so should they have sacked him when they struggled early on and gone for a "proven winner" like say, Felix Magath?

For all of Sarri's flaws and Lampard's erraticness, they are infinity times more preferable than Conte's 17/18 persona. I see Conte here as two manager's, 16/17 Conte was as good as Jose 1.0, 17/18 Conte was as bad as Scolari.

I think it was a mix of two things. 1. Mistakes were starting to creep into his game, he wasn't punished but he would have been at some point. Conte overplayed Christensen post Barca and the situation got critical, so I can't be too critical of Lampard for pulling Fik out of the firing line. 2. Him and Rudi looked absolute shite as a partnership and at the time Rudi was undisputed number 1.

This is usually unthinkable for a 3rd round league cup game but do we play the best team for match fitness?

As i said on his thread Mount is similar to Pedro in the sense of give him a structured attack to play with he'll perform but he's not one who will be the shining light in an (attacking) shitshow like Willian was or Werner is.