Pizy

Will never be the goal threat Alonso is, but I trust him and feel more comfortable with him as an option than Marcos. Mainly because he can move about the pitch well and can actually get past a defender with his dribbling and pace.

He gets sharper, Ziyech and Pulisic get fit, and Werner/Tammy in form in front of him....he will be a statistical monster. This is why people should be patient with him. He's not anywhere near fit yet and will take a run of games in the position he played today to get up to speed.

Couple of rusty defensive moments aside, Thiago Silva looks streets ahead of every other CB we have on the ball. The speed of thought and intelligence in his passing is fantastic as expected. Will be an amazing signing once he gets up to full fitness. I really love Kova in this deeper roll but we have to quickly find his best partner.

Rüdiger the liability? Not the guy who gets tossed around by players half his size and just bear hugged Mané as the last man when he was through on goal? All I know is that we better hope Thiago Silva not only plays well but also stays fit. Otherwise our defense could be even worse than last season.

😔

Why would we even consider loaning out CHO? I feel like he will 100% be needed this season and quite often so. RLC and Barkley should go out long before Callum does. Also, I know I'm probably alone here but I'd be really sad to see Rüdiger go. Always liked him and think he can rediscover his form with the right partner and a competent keeper behind him. Would be a mistake to sell him. I'd be pissed if AC remains and Toni goes. 😡

So, what the hell happens if the window closes and we're unable to find buyers for a bunch of our deadwood? They just sit out for months and do fuck all until at least January? Doesn't seem like anyone at all has any interest in Drinkwater. Bakayoko links have gone quiet. Likewise Emerson. Frank seems to still fancy Barkley. If we are indeed serious about a new DM we'd only have a short period to sell one of our current crop. Seems like there's a hell of a lot of movement that needs to happen in not a whole lot of time.

Unless Mendy is Kepa-level shit there's absolutely ZERO chance we'll be targeting another starting keeper next summer. No chance at all. All Mendy has to do is be solid and he's a massive improvement. And that'll be good enough for us to stick with him.

Nice. Mendy should surely go straight in at the weekend, then.

Yep, this is 100% going to be used as a de facto preseason match and rightfully so. Perfect to get some minutes in Chilwell and Silva's legs. And hopefully for the likes of Mount & Havertz to sharpen up and build their confidence back. I hope to see either Tammy or Giroud play up top with Timo on the left and Kai behind.

If true, I hope whoever it is we target for the position is someone who can grab a big game by the scruff of the neck. Tired of Jorginho disappearing and getting bullied in the biggest matches. He's one of the best around at keeping and recycling the ball normally, but when we play the top teams he suddenly devolves into shit. We need someone powerful and commanding there. If not, someone exceptionally skilled like Thiago.

Think about being a defender seeing he and Pulisic sprinting at them... Hes going to be a beast. I wish he'd be our designated penalty taker as well. For me you always want your main striker to take pens. Let him see the ball hit the back of the net.

Only a slight worry for me at this point. If we don't see considerable improvement soon I'll start to panic. Leeway has to be given for lack of preseason and short turnaround. If a month from now we look clueless it's time to start thinking about Pochettino.

I think it's pretty clear by the players he's targetted that he wants to play aggressive, front foot attacking football. But when we're missing both starting wingers who are aggressive, front foot players, your new LB who loves more than anything to get forward, and are forced to shuffle players around out of their ideal positions (Mount and Havertz) I think this is the result. We look lost. I think Frank wants to play much like Liverpool where we press teams into oblivion and assert ourselves. Habing a cool head in central defense who can also spray the ball around and keeper who isn't an inter clown should indeed instantly improve us. Everything else will take time.

Ziyech, Pulisic, Chilwell, Silva, and Mendy to come in. I have full faith we will look a million miles better once these players come in. How can we not? I'm not going to slate Frank until he has his full compliment of players. If we still look poor then questions can start to be asked if he's good enough to be managing this squad. Far too soon for that now.

Not sure why people are singling out Havertz. He wasn't awesome or anything but he was okay. You'd think he had a shocker or something. He didn't. I just fucking HATE that Ziyech and Pulisic have to get injured at the worst possible time. Forces us to play Havertz wide against Brighton and up top against Liverpool. Yes, he has played both positions before but he has zero understanding with his teammates yet. Annoying how Frank won't just play him at #10 where he can get involved more and have options in front and around him. Not worried about Kai at all. Werner looks amazing already so that's a bonus. But we need our new boys in soon. Really soon.

Mason has been horrendous and miles off his standard these two games and is untouchable apparently.

I actually thought Havertz was considerably better than the first match here. Starting to get some good touches and passes going. Now yanked off at halftime. Understandable I guess but disappointing.

At least Silva can now slot straight in for the weak ass AC next match. Not even watching this second half. On to the next match in my mind.

What in the ever living fuck was AC thinking? Why would you fucking bear hug a player through on goal? Fuck sake.

Game over.

Can not get a sniff of the ball on our own pitch..

No real wingers again and Alonso in a back 4 when he was already terrorized against Brighton last week. 😣 At least Kova coming back in should help us a bit I hope. Don't have much belief that we can win this sadly. Not with the players we have missing. Promised myself I wouldn't get mad if we lose here and I won't so long as we put up a tough fight and look much improved from last weekend.

Really didn't want to see Havertz out wide against Liverpool. For me he should only ever play there against teams we will dominate. Big mistake I think. He could be chasing shadows all game.

Even if we do go try to bring him back I doubt he even considers it. He'll want to be a guaranteed starter every week. Would be silly if we didn't negotiate first refusal at the very least since we know the club and Frank rate him. It's not as though we thought he wasn't good enough. We did rate him highly. Wonder if there's any ill feelings from Tariq that we chose Reece over him.