Tomo

Wan Bisakka was born in the wrong era. As good as he is defensively he offers next to nothing going forward which will always hold him back from truly establishing himself.

I'm of the opinion that if there's even a 0.1% chance the goal will be ruled out flag it as soon as the goal technically goes in (ala Pulisic Vs Valencia). Letting teams celebrate only to go back is cruel.

I wonder if he deliberately choose the worst option in injury time. If he squared that we were fucked.

Barkley took all the penalties in pre season when he was on the pitch, even when Jorginho was aswell. It was quite evident Barkley was first choice but got removed from duties after that miss.

Games like tonight are why i think Lampard is going to be a top manager. You don't create the amount of openings we did tonight if you're not very well coached. The only thing we've got a problem with systematically is set pieces, things like open play defending and decision making in the last movement will improve once we get better personel in.

I think he needs time out to be honest. Signing a new winger in January and have him see the season out as 4th choice may not be the worst idea in the world. Slowly build up his confidence back up.

Callum's form is also a warning to anyone who thinks Loftus Cheek will come in and carry on where he left off, odds are he won't. We may have to write off the season for both (in terms of being key players) and go again next season.

We would probably be underdog's Vs all of them bar Leipzig but delving into things a bit more it isn't as daunting a list as It looks. PSG on paper are but we know what they're like in CL. Bayern make me feel a bit nervous given what they did to Spurs but if we bring our A game we have a good chance. Juve are struggling to adapt to Sarri ball even more than we were. Barca are defensively bobbins, they'll be a huge danger because of Messi but going forward we can get at them. Leipzig I don't know much about but no doubt will be a very tough match.

We don't know what would have happened if he scored. Had we got that point we may have been more conservative in Amsterdam for example. I think our penalty save in The Mestailla alongside Promes disallowed goal equalled up Barkley's miss in the what could have been stakes.

They'll be some conspiracy theories but I'd be saying it's more our fault for not getting over the line first.

Clubs have to look after their own interests first and foremost. In the same position I would 100% want us playing a scratch side.

The commentators and pundits have reignited their obsession about Kante "being a holding midfielder" big time tonight Jesus wept.

We will go up a level once we have a new LB to go with a more settled James. Grimaldo or someone of that ilk in place of Emerson tonight and the games over already.

The reason why give him time sounded ridiculous with Ole is he was showing no real signs and had United on their worst run for decades. His one off big game results are buying him time now but make no mistake without them he'd be gone and while James and Rashford's pace on the counter is perfect for big teams who open up, it's the opposite when they face teams who sit back and frustrate them. With Lampard and the team so far there has been some genuine positive signs we're well coached and heading in the right direction. We don't out football Ajax in Amsterdam if we're poorly coached, we don't play like we did in the second half against Villa if we're poorly coached, we don't play like we did in the first 80 minutes against Watford if we're poorly coached (would have been about 0-5 or 0-6 if it wasn't for Foster), we don't completely wipe teams out to the point they may as well have removed Kepa's goal like we did against Palace, Brighton and Newcastle if we're poorly coached. The patterns and style we play with takes some serious quality coaching. Unless we go on a relegation run and/or start playing stale rubbish unsustainable football over a long period Lampard will get time and rightly so.

Don't see how even this lot can even have a new manager bounce. Freddie Ljungberg is apparently idolised by that squad especially the young players, if they were going to put in a shift for anyone it would have been him. Everton put their heart and soul into the game against us but even then it was our poor finishing that cost us not that. Any points dropped against Arsenal this season go into the rued dropped points section for me, even at The Emirates.

Only two weeks ago he kept Sterling quiet at The Ethiad then went to the the other side and done the same to Mahrez. He was also excellent against Quincy in Amsterdam. Don't get me wrong he's not what he was and he should be James's back up going forward, however 2015 Ivanovic he most definitely is not.

The bit I love the most is how many people said they'd be patient and happily accept midtable if we play academy players and are showing promise? Yet we're doing both of those currently in the CL places and people are losing their shit. As I said yesterday I don't think the winning run helped things, a bit like last season's unbeaten start it gave out the false narrative that we're title challenges when it was never a realistic possibility which in turn (in my opinion) has some people genuinely believing that this is a title winning team in a catastrophic slump instead of a young team and a club in a cultural reboot having inevitable ups and downs. It's part of the reason I was worried about the appointment as much as I wanted it, fan expectation is just far too high.

I don't get what's happened to him. That half a season when he returned he was the best young defender in the world. He may have been helped with the formation but we played the same formation when he wasn't playing and our defense was drastically worse off. The only two things I can think of is he either got complacent after signing his new contract or his first big drop in form ruined him.

I don't think midfield protection is the problem. The bad games we've had in terms of open play defending have all got one common denominator, Christensen and Zouma as the CB partnership. When it's been Tomori plus one we've completely shut down teams at best and not been bad at worse, even shipping four against Ajax was mainly down to them being ultra clinical.

It's quite funny because how many times in the summer and the build up to Frank's appointment did people swear patience if we were playing academy players and looking to the future? Even if we were midtable some promised yet the fact they're losing their shit while 4th shows that that was utter bullshit. The minute it's time to put the vow in practice it's back to type. I wonder if the same people who think seeing context in defeat is an excuse or the signs we're acting like a small club also bashed us for being too shortsighted for appointing Jose to go for that quick title no matter what the long term expense.

He's been moved out of a position he was playing well in with a partner he was playing well with to a position he's not good in playing with a partner who needs a stable partner. Don't get me wrong I don't want him in the team even medium term but playing him at LCB was setting him up to fail. Positions make a hell of a difference, case in point Kova was so hit and miss last season the majority didn't want to make his move permanent, now playing in a more appropriate position for his skillset he's bonafide world class (not saying Zouma is at RCB just saying it makes a hell of a difference).

Could it be worth taking advantage of the Napoli shambles and trying to nab Koulibaly? Initially I thought doing that was a bit to short term for the process we're undertaking but after yesterday I'm wondering if we should. We can still get minimum two and a half years out of him which is a long time in football.

I was one of the least overwhelmed when Kurt returned but I can't really blame him or Christensen individually. They both do okay next to Tomori but as a partnership do not work. Lampard should never select them as a pair again.

Is should always be a horses for courses thing in my eyes. In 2008 we couldn't turn around and say "we lost but" purely because the squad was maxing out in terms of peak. Scolari was sacked despite only four loses upto February and non against non top four teams, however results in line with Scolari's with this squad would be very good work. Now it's a completely different ball game. It's not turning into Arsenal (the Arsenal "excuses" were valid early on, it's only when Cesc, RVP, Nasri etc started hitting prime age and they still wouldn't adjust expectations they became a laughing stock) or making excuses, it's just a reality of where we are right now. I mentioned a few weeks ago I was worried that we were getting talked about as title dark horses because it wasn't realistically a possibility. I wonder if some are subconsciously or otherwise seeing this period as a "title challenging team" losing 3 out of 4 instead of the reality of a young team nowhere near its peak experiencing the inevitable downs that's par for the course.

Its not about not critisising him, he deserves it when it's due, it's more down to the fact one of the reasons that was being used to justify slating Sarri was he was playing the same old faces and not thinking of the long term future of the club, before swearing patience if the young players are given chances. Now not only is the patience vow being spectacularly reneged on, the young players themselves are being targeted, some of the comments about Mason and Odoi in recent weeks wouldn't look out of place in the Kalou thread at its most toxic.