Pizy

Jorginho and Kova. Have they forgotten how to play football overnight!? What the fuck?

Oh, joy. Another injury.

We need legs and energy in midfield. Kova is at least fresh and can battle in there better. When Jorginho is fatigued like this and isn’t in the ball dictating he’s basically useless. In fact, he’s a detriment to the whole team when he’s not on the ball running the show.

Also, Mount needs to come more centrally. He’s getting devoured by the pace of Cucarella every time. He’s getting bossed on that right side and CHO is getting bossed on the left. Lukaku was the only player in the midfield or attack that played well.

Just in terms of comfort on the ball and confidence, Brighton look like the side near the top of the table rather than us. Our players look like they just played a PL match yesterday or something. Sluggish and devoid of ideas. Add to that having Alonso on one side, Azpi and Pulisic on the other, and Mase + CHO doing fuck all. We desperately need an injection of energy. And we pray Reece is okay. Otherwise every match is going to be a dreadful slog like this for the foreseeable future.

Those possession stats say it all. Brighton are dominating the midfield at our home ground because our midfield 2 have been so invisible. Bissouma is just waltzing through with ease. I’d replace Jorginho. Also, very VERY poor first half from Mount and CHO. Mase has these weird spell like today where he miscontrols the ball nonstop. And CHO is getting rushed and pressed by Lamptey over and over. Brighton will feel really good going to half time. They were the better side.

Lamptey is going to be world class soon. Should be brought back eventually.

Our midfield has been totally nonexistent. Kova and Jorginho barely getting on the ball at all. That has to change or this will be a see-saw match.

We’re totally fucked if that’s a bad injury.

My god. We’re dropping like flies. Another massively important player out. Fuck me.

Azpi has fallen off a cliff on both ends lately.

Oh, come on… ‘Twice we get into their box and choke at the final pass.

Pulisic playing out of position and having to defend against Lamptey should be….interesting. Not that Alonso would’ve fared any better, but this is the exact sort of game that shows why we seriously need a LB this coming month. At least Rüdiger is on his side of the pitch to help if necessary. And CHO will need to track Lamptey as well.

Yeah, this is a tough game. And one of those opponents you don’t want to concede the first goal to because they’re very capable of soaking up pressure and shutting up shop. God knows we struggle to put away chances these days. Scoring first and being aggressive is key here.

I think he’d be incredible in our team and in the PL in general. He’d also be an excellent guy to help get the best out of Lukaku and Kai. Probably the next best “flying fullback” after Hakimi. But again, hard to imagine 1) our club spending 50-60m in January and 2) Milan selling one of their best players mid season when the top of the Serie A table is pretty tight.

Part of me doubts that the club will go all out in January for a super expensive, long term starter LB like Theo. He’s the sort of player who you get when you don’t have a first choice LB as he’s far too good to be a rotation option. Chilly will come back eventually and if he’s able to return to his top class level then what would we do if we had he AND Theo on our books? This is why Digne or Dest make more sense. They are both really solid but can coexist and still be reasonably happy with big competition for their place.

Didn’t think I’d see a result this season as poor as ours against that horrendous Everton side. But this eclipses it. City put 6 past them just a couple of days ago and Liverpool were fully rested knowing they had to win to keep up. So that means City will now officially surpass us in PL titles at season’s end. 😔 Thankfully we have those 2 beautiful, big eared trophies in the cabinet or we’d never hear the end of how City have “usurped” Chelsea as a club. Really hope we get our act together next summer and give them a proper run. Tired of seeing them make light work of this league.

Sounds like Liverpool will have a nice, easy walk in the park against Leicester here just like City did a couple days ago. They could concede 6+ again. Both clubs above us catch Leicester when they’re absolutely decimated by injuries and COVID in the span of a week.

Digne could be a smart signing. Experienced in the PL, versatile enough to play in a back 3 or 4 if TT ever needs to switch it up mid match. Old enough to be in his prime but not old enough to have to worry about him declining for a while. All at what should be a decent price. Dest from Barca is interesting. In our system and under Tuchel’s coaching he could turn into a top class wing back. But from everything I read from Barca supporters he’s still very raw. At 21 years of age that’s to be expected. No idea how much they’d ask for him.

As risky as this sounds I wonder if we should sit Jorginho for this one. Tuchel has been saying he’s dead tired for a while now and he just played 90 minutes at the weekend. With Kante potentially being injured again and with Brighton being a side that really likes to run, perhaps the legs and mobility of Kova + Saul could start. A burned out Jorginho could really struggle against Bissouma.

Knew it was coming. Alonso is average enough against mediocre opposition and is exposed regularly. Don’t think we can rely on him against better teams for the whole remainder of the season. We 100% need a body in January. Get Lucas Digne. Then we sell Alonso next summer and have Chilly and Digne as our 2 LWB’s for next season.

Oh, I’m not suggesting that he’d down tools or anything. Just that it’s an awkward dynamic in the team to have a dude who every other player knows is gone in 6 months.

Wonder how it’s going to work in the next couple of weeks if he signs a pre-contract with another club. Talk about awkward for the rest of the squad.

Kante went from being Iron Man who went seemingly years without injury to being injured as often as he’s fit now. Sad to watch it keep happening. Thank goodness Kova is back.

That was the Lukaku from Inter. Total bully. Keep him fit and get him in form and we get 3rd. Maybe 2nd if Liverpool pick up some key injuries.