Tomo

It was nervy in the sense that we couldn't really afford to drop points, but Everton never looked like scoring and we had things under control.

They haven't really on the last three occasions. Last time we battered them in the first half and threw it away through utter complacency. Time before that we dominated and Big Sam got a shithouse 0-0. Then the previous occasion in the title season was probably our most routine away win of the season.

Will be worse for them I reckon, they have just played an emotionally charged Merseyside Derby where we will likely make a few changes.

The fuck up was playing in America on a dodgy pitch, a friendly had to happen somewhere though. We had a two and a half week break between the last PL game and the EL final, we needed a match in between to retain sharpness and it helped us in Baku as we were much more sharper than Arsenal especially as the match wore on.

The first 20 minutes of the second half was sensational, Pep's Barca would have been proud of the way we completely penned Villa in. Nervy end but the scoreline flattered Villa massively.

I don't buy that theory in general but any Heaton led side get an unbelievable amount of run of the green at Stamford Bridge.

Not the Zouma - Christensen partnership. I dread that one more than I did the Cahill - Luiz one.

It only goes to serve just how massive a club we are in the modern game. The players coming to prominence now would have seen nothing but Chelsea winning big titles, aslong as we're competitive we will be an absolutely huge pull for this up and coming generation, even more so now we've got with the times regarding style of play.

What we spend next year is irrelevant in the context of the point I'm making. I'm merely comparing to the style of play. We try to dominate games territorially the same way they do and like them in the first season under Pep we have and will drop points and probably "only" finish top four because we aren't ready in some areas. We likely won't spend the same amount of money (net) as they did which I probably why it will take a little longer to become a title challenging team but in terms of style of play we're a lot closer to them than Liverpool, infact I'd go as far as saying Klopp is actually close to what Jose adapting his tactics to suit the modern game would have looked like.

Just to give the heads up, this game aswell as Southampton on Boxing Day is on Amazon Prime and for people who've never had it before you can activate a 30 day free trial.

No what I mean Is times and demands have changed. For example Simeone's Atletico playing in the 90s would have probably swept up on La Liga's but in the modern day they've only won one. Teams press too well these days to neglect the attacking side of the game until you've mastered it defensively. Who were the last champions that built their team from the back first and foremost? Even with Leicester it was all about Kante, Mahrez and Vardy.

He still has time to come good (although signs aren't promising so far) but he was always going to be judged harshly and early due to the circumstances he arrived. Arsenal made some major investments with the aim of breaking into the top four minimum. Pepe was the statement signing out of them all, he was the one linked with top clubs (Bayern, us) and Arsenal got him, not only was it a statement signing the fans blew their load over getting him, that put an instant target on his back and pressure to deliver straight away.

Yeah, they built their defensive blocks secondary after building their pressing, midfield structure and philosophy is what I meant, the party line is it should be done the other way round where I don't think that's true anymore.

I don't think we can really compare both players situations. Pulisic was signed with the long term future in mind by a club who's expectations aren't/weren't very high. Pepe by comparison was the star purchase for a club who had a big summer spend geared on delivering immediately.

Maybe back in time but the build from the back notion is outdated. In an era where high pressing and midfield domination is key, those are the areas you have to look at first.

One thing I really hope we bring back given our lack of threat in the air are short corners. I never understood why people got so upset when Conte started us doing them, it was the right thing to do as ever since JT and Ivan have been phased out we've had little threat from corners. As much as Willians delivery doesn't help, the main problem is who's in the box, get Beckham to take our corners and they will still be dealt with comfortably 19 times out of 20. Short corners are our best chance of getting any joy from those situations.

I know it's only one game but his approach and changes in the Norwich game were absolutely shocking.

Unfortunately unless the injury is to VVD or both fullbacks I think they will still have enough to win the league. They can just grind it out most weeks and unlike last year City don't look like they have the quality to go on a massive run to take advantage of any blip. The lead they've built up is massive even at this early stage and the determination and hunger they have to win is the thing is huge, I can see them performance wise faltering quite bad in the second half of the season but similar to us in 2015 they will have the know how and individual quality to grind out the results.

Point is, if Klopp was being "fully backed" those players to fix their problems would have arrived in 2016 not 2018. It's no coincidence that the year they don't make any money from sales is the year their only signing is a 16 year old from Fulham. I mean he's brought well when he's had the chance but by the same logic used on here he's only actually been properly backed in 1 window out of 8.

That's hardly true, we have got big time rub of the green to have our CL campaign still in our hands.

I actually don't see the Liverpool comparison barring the fact we're a flawed team on the up. Liverpool were great in the big games but very so so against the lesser ones where we're the other way round, we tend to play with more patience and want to dominate possesion and the game. If we're going to force a comparison with another big game in their early stages of development I would say we share a lot more comparisons to 16/17 City than Liverpool.

He didn't get a keeper or CB of any note for over two years and wasn't given a single signing this summer. He also still two years on hasn't been backed with a proper like for like replacement for Coutinho.

Panicking (which is something we need to work on). We started the first five minutes well with the false nine but after realising that it still wasn't getting them to bite we panicked and just did anything and everything possible.

I'm probably going to get pelters for this, but with Tammy out, this is a game where extending Higuains loan could have come in handy.

Trying to play through them instead of crossing, plan was Pulisic drags a defender out of position to allow us space to run into. It didn't work, but that was the plan.