Tomo

We will score enough goals purely on the chances we create, it's the defending that's a big worry.

Feel there should have been a little more rotation after the excursions in midweek.

Better

Yes. Put Michy one on one with a keeper and he'll tuck it away I'll give him that but the modern game especially at the top level requires so much more, even the very best poachers (RVN, Mario Gomez) get upgraded on eventually by strikers not as good at finishing but a better all round game (Saha/RVN, Mandzukic/Gomez, Lukaku/Rashford prime examples) and every time the team got better (or appear to be getting better in the latters case) as a result. I'm not convinced by Tammy in the long run and i ain't particularly a big fan of Giroud but tactically I much prefer them, the openings we created against United and Liverpool I have never seen us create so many chances with MB playing, mainly because his movement is so wack it gives the whole team less space to operate. If he's happy to be our Origi (ie someone to randomenly chuck on in the final 10 to mix things up when the game becomes a bit more end to end) then I wouldn't mind keeping him, but for starting games? Forget it.

Last time he impressed in pre season he blew it within 60 minutes.

I don't think we will see as much sitting back from Leicester this year as we did in this fixture last, Brendan has made it very clear throughout his career that men behind the ball and low block isn't how he operates. I won't be too disheartened if Leicester nick a result, they are a very tough team and even the two best teams in the land struggled at home to them last time (City needing a 1/1000 strike from a defender to win and Liverpool actually dropping points). I think a better idea of where our top 4 chances lie will be the two games after against Norwich and Sheffield, we flattrack bullied our way to 3rd last season with 53 points out of a possible 60 against the bottom half sides (more than City) and if we are to retain top four i feel we need a similar return against the lesser light's again.

It was ball to hand, accidental. I'd prefer human error to this, sucks the joy out of the immediate aftermath of a goal, imagine scoring what we think is a CL winning goal only for it to be chalked off a minute later for a ball to hand? For sure have an extra pair of eyes in the studio to flag up obvious errors IMMEDIATELY so there's no minute celebrations for nothing, but little things like ball to hand or whether a player's cock is offside getting called back a whole minute after celebration is too much.

How many times are we going to celebrate goals only to have the rug pulled out from under our feet? I get it for obvious errors but every little thing is ridiculous, it's going to to ruin the game.

Even if Spurs somehow get a result here I think they are well and truly in the top four battle with the rest of us. They have collapsed from a consistency POV since new year despite the run to the CL final.

Remains to be seen how much Pepe changes things but I don't think they look a great deal better than they did last season.

But on the flip the "he's only 20/21/22" card was repeatedly used as Lukaku's defense even though it was pretty clear he wasn't going to get much better than he was. I don't think anyone said KDB wasn't good enough, i think many people (wrongly) gave Jose the benefit of the doubt because of his history with us, me included. Salah yes, but even the coaches likely didn't see such a rise coming.Which brings me onto my next point, the coaches in general should be able to work out who has potential and who hasn't. We have tens if not hundreds of well paid coaches here to make a judgement on a players ability and potential and suss out who has a chance to make it and who doesn't. Me personally re Tammy? Funnily enough i think he's in a similar boat to Lukaku back then, certainly has attributes to make an impact at Chelsea but long term it will probably be more in a squad player capacity. Rom weren't having that, lets see how Tammy will feel down the line.

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/transfers/chelsea-news-ngolo-kante-reveals-that-jose-mourinho-tried-to-sign-him-for-manchester-united-a7221506.html

So to clarify, you think Conte, Sarri, Marcelino and Lampard are all wrong and/or have an agenda?

They did.

I think the issue with Marcos is when he's overplayed, he's not the most athletic and the way Conte and Sarri used him overemphasized that further. Everytime he returned to the team fresh after Emerson had a run he usually responded with strong performances (for that reason i'd have no qualms him filling in vs Leicester if Frank decides the EP needs a rest after these two games). Although that said I've always said he (Alonso) is more a back up type of player so now with Emerson's resurgence we can finally use him in that capacity.

4 of his last 6 manager's decided he ain't worth the bother and even Dortmund decided against signing him permanently, there's only so many times the it's not him it's them card can be played.

Lets not rewrite history, Emerson wasn't very good pre the back end of last season and looked lost against any half decent opposition. However he's massively improved since and it's added an extra dimension to our attack from the flanks, long may it continue.

Is pining for the strikers that aren't playing going to be the theme all season? Michy is crap and part of me wants him to play asap just to remind people of that.

Only real complaint tonight is set pieces, we gave away real chances for too many (thankgod no Allardyce or Pulis sides to face this season). Other than that very positive, matched up against the second best team in Europe and should have won. Playing like this we can not only retain top 4 but compete in the CL.

The decision to bring him in permanently has been justified already, imagine the shit we'd be in right now with Kante's injury woes had we not.

Im not saying he isn't talented or doesn't deserve his place in the squad , however when he did play against top level opposition it was clear that the week by week consistency is a work in progress. From what I've seen of RJ, i honestly believe he can slot in and play to that type of level from the off, like Wan Bissaka did at Palace.

I think this season should be as follows when assessing Frank's performance. Top 4 or more = overachieving Challenging for top 4 = par for the course Finishing 6th with mid 60s points = below par but not a disaster given the circumstances. Anything less = massive underachievement I do think this narrative people are saying that it's okay if we finish 10th aslong as Mount and James play 40 games beyond ridiculous. Firstly because it's subconsciously patronising them, even at this stage they are a lot better than happy clapping with the likes of Watford in mid table and secondly it's not like we are promoting 17/18 year olds without any senior expierence, "the academy 8" all have about 300 appearances between them and they're coming into a group of serial winners. We should be looking at a top four challenge.

Can't speak for anyone else but for me that's not true on either level, however i do think he's a generational talent and a better option compared to current Azpi (who's rapidly declining) especially in this type of system. Wigan fans believe he's the best player to ever wear their shirt which given they were a midtable PL side for the best part of a decade while performing the odd deep cup run in that period (which includes getting to two cup finals and winning one) is seriously no mean feet at 18. I'm not delusional enough to believe his inclusion alone will turn our defense into a Jose 1.0 esque backline, however i think we will see improvements at the back and especially going forward.

Thing is i actually think Michy could be a 20 a season striker. The problem that comes with Michy isn't goals it's the fact that his overall game (both technically and tactically) further than 10 yards from goal is so unbelievably bad that 20 or even 30 goal season can't make up for those flaws. The Norwich replay under Conte in the FA Cup summed him up in a nutshell, scored a well taken goal but was also the reason we couldn't sustain any attacking momentum.