Pizy

Reminds me almost exactly of Cunha at Man United. One of those solid all around attackers that doesn’t really have an obvious position and just kind of floats all over the place.

He plays the same kind of neat, tidy football that Maresca likes to and want to press and dominate the ball. Difference with them compared to us is that Iraola’s possession based footy is more intense and aggressive whereas Maresca’s is slow and ponderous far too often.

Despite them being behind, I have to say that I’m once again very impressed by how Bournemouth play. What Iraola has done there is incredible. If things go south for us the rest of this season and a change in coach is necessary he should absolutely be our top choice.

Overall, not a single player was poor today. Several were amazing in Moi, Cucu, and RJ. But this was yet another demonstration of how the likes of Garnacho, Pedro Neto, and Gittens are decent buy not good enough to be main men. They all 3 looked good in the build up and got into super dangerous positions over and over again but fluffed their lines when it mattered most. Like always. And João Pedro can look neat an tidy and pull off the odd brilliant finish but he so clearly is NOT a lone striker. His energy levels died for the final 30 minutes or so. He NEEDS another forward up there with him to press and occupy CB’s. I legit cannot wait for Delap to be fully fit. He changes so much for us if he gets settled again. Delap up top, JP behind him, and Estevão finally starting in the league and we look like a totally different prospect that is a nightmare to defend against.

Should’ve won that AT LEAST 0-4. A top team with killers up front wins that by like 6-7. In from Cole Palmer today would’ve had one of his 4 goal matches.

Shocking from the referee on the pitch and somehow even worse from the ref in the VAR booth. We’ve been getting fouled over and over and the ref gives us fucking nothing. Yet every little bit of contact is given a foul on a Spuds player. And if that isn’t a red card for that foul on Reece than what is? Does his ankle need to be snapped for it to be given? Because that was an ankle snapping challenge. If that’s a Chelsea player committing that foul it’s a red 10 times out of 10. But as for the game, this looks like men against boys. We’re completely bossing it. Literally the ONLY dangerous little moments Spuds had were of course from silly brain farts from the usual suspects Gusto and Fofana.

Has awful 0-0 written all over it with these lineups. Or us conceding a horrendous goal from nothing again and losing. I’m over seeing João Pedro being deployed as the lone striker up top at this point. It’s clear now that’s not where he’s effective. So we’re once again likely to see him completely cancelled out of the game by Spuds parking 2-3 defenders near him and congesting his space. The attack looks SO blunt with him as the 9 and with Garnacho + Neto who are solid at everything except for finishing consistently.

Absolute story of our season against every small team we’ve played. Carbon copy tactic from every one because they all know it works. And it’s the most basic tactic any manager can implement with minimal effort. Park the double decker, slow our attack to a crawl, and make the match an almost unwatchable shitfest. Then on the rare occasions they get the ball it’s random heaves up the pitch or long throws. And yet the manager of Chelsea Football Club who has witnessed this SAME EXACT TACTIC about 5 times this season in the PL has found absolutely ZERO way to counter it or get through to the players on how to deal with it. The blueprint is set. Sit deep and run around a lot and you beat Chelsea. Simple as that. We have no ideas, no spark, and no intensity against this setup.

Yep, seasons over now. Yet more utterly catastrophic self inflicted bullshit. I’m done.

The ease at which Brighton have been able to waltz comfortably through our midfield and play that same ball along the inside channel between Cucu and Hato repeatedly is very concerning. There’s almost no resistance and we’re allowing them to sprint at our goal over and over. We badly need Lavia to get and stay fit for even a little bit of time.

Only real surprise for me is Hato at CB instead of Josh. There’s a real lack of height in our team now because of that. Could be a worry on corners. Also thought Garnacho would’ve started to give Neto some more rest.

If I see Tyrique playing up top again I may end myself. I can’t deal with that shit any longer.

I genuinely think Brighton could batter us. A combination of injuries, terrible form, and Brighton playing really well lately. They always give us trouble even when we aren’t in a bad way.

Like the look of Buanonotte in each of his appearances so far. Tidy player who doesn’t hide from the ball. Should be getting plenty of minutes in the weeks ahead if Palmer is out.

Season unraveling just a few weeks into it. Our attackers here look like they’re seeing each other for the first time today and our defense is comically shit as usual. We’ll almost certainly turn this around and win it but Brighton and then Liverpool are going to slaughter us if we don’t improve dramatically ASAP. And if we lose those 2 Maresca should be under huge pressure. Completely inexcusable to keep looking this poor nearly every match this season.