Pizy

Giroud and Hazard are a phenomenal partnership.

FOUR players in our box and they have 1 but still score.

Their gameplan clear already. Make this as slow and stop-start as possible and play for corners and setpieces.

Great XI. Hopefully we aren't too rusty and slow after the long break. Cardiff will surely be fresher and well prepared.

In regard to Alonso and Rüdiger incidents, they may have been a little dumb to do what they did but the Bournemouth players diving to the ground on both occasions like they had been shot was pathetic. Just a bit of gamesmanship from our lads and the Bournemouth players were trying to get them sent off or win a pen. Thankfully the ref today wasn't buying it.

Four standouts for me were Kovacic, Hazard, Alonso, and Jorginho. Giroud instantly looked better and more dangerous than Morata when he came on. Pedro looked more dangerous than Willian did because he'll actually take shots and test defenses. Seeing people around Twitter and other forums calling us dull or average. Idiots that don't know what they're talking about. We dominated the ball once again, good one touch passing, great link up and interplay between our midfielders and attackers. All against packed defenses. I guess if we don't score 5 we're boring.

Just like against Newcastle, Morata hasn't been poor here, he's just surrounded by so many players at all times so he can't use his best attributes. Against deep blocks like this Giroud needs to start.

Need to get Hazard and Kova on the ball more. Need to move it around quicker when we have it around their box.

We look good in possession and going forward but so sketchy when Bournemouth do manage to get it forward.

I can recall players smiling and enjoying themselves during Conte's first season as well. Difference this time (hopefully) is that we actually play a fun, exciting, expressive brand of football that players enjoy. Any team would eventually get sick of being run into the ground in training while simultaneously playing defensive oriented, counter attacking football and losing. As for this game, I'm feeling very confident. Theyll certainly give us more of a game than Newcastle did, but at home I hope we press them high and blitz them early like we did against Arsenal. They can't hurt us with their pace up front if they don't have the ball.

A Mourinho team that cannot defend to save their lives. Strange sight so early in the season. Must say, though, that for once I actually want to see Spuds win. Just for the United/Mou meltdown.

Of those sides that can look shocking one week and fantastic the next. At least we know that Bournemouth will be much more open and ambitious than the shite we saw today were. That's both a positive and a negative. That spell against Arsenal where they tore us apart shows that we can be very vulnerable. But then we saw us dominate that second half. Hopefully we return to the high pressing effectively for this one which we didn't even need against Newcastle. Also hope Luiz stays switched on for 90 minutes because they've got good pace in their attack.

Seeing several people moan a little about Kante in an advanced position. Thought he was great today. He surprises me more and more with his ability on the ball. Good interplay with his teammates, good first touch, makes nice surging runs into space, and he keeps the ball moving quickly. He's not just a pure destroyer like most people think.

He had no chance there. No sane person will blame him.

That one moment that Luiz switched off has left a bit of worry for a lot of people. He was otherwise excellent the whole game. Rüdiger was as well. Luiz is certainly going to be a worry against top class sides but he's perfect in games like this where we have almost all of the ball.

I swear Yedlin and Diame each had about 10 fouls and I don't think either was booked. Ridiculous. As for us, I don't think anyone had a poor game. Morata I guess if we're being very critical, but he was surrounded by 4 players at all times. The midfield was superb and totally dominated. Jorginho, Kovacic, and Kante were all class I thought. CB's didn't give an inch. Fullbacks were constantly in dangerous areas. Really, the main thing we have to improve is the speed of play which Sarri has mentioned. Teams like this will play deep against us. If we play quickly they don't have time to set up. This will come when Hazard, Kovacic, and Jorginho get more familiar with each other.

Absolutely disgusting performance and tactics from Newcastle. Parking the bus is one thing, what they did was taking it to another level. The constant fouling with the ref not doing anything about it until late in the match was annoying. Giroud gets a forearm to the face directly in front of the linesman and nothing is given which leads to their goal. I really hate Newcastle. Thankful to get this one out of the way early with 3 points.

A game like this is also really a struggle for Morata. When he's surrounded and bullied by yo multiple people. This is definitely a Giroud match.

Newcastle using the Tony Pulis Stoke tactics. Have to pop it around quickly like we did a few times that half if we want to get through. Playing it sideways at walking pace plays right into their hands.

One foul and a yellow card. Their whole team hacking away at ours and nothing.

Gonna be very difficult to break down this massive bus's playing at this pace. Need to quicken things up.

Unles he's injured, how poor must Emerson look in training to repeatedly not even make the bench? Had really high hopes for him this season to at least split time with Alonso.

That Newcastle team... Our strongest XI whilst they're missing/not starting their 3-4 best players. No Shelvey, no Lacelles, no Ayoze, no Kenedy. This should be a comfortable 3 points if we play well.

They were utterly horrific last week so I'm 100% certain they'll raise their game for such a big match here. Thankfully for us, we now have a manager and the personnel to be proactive and assertive rather than playing defensively and waiting for a counter attacking chance or some individual magic from Hazard. Really hope we come out of the gate aggressively and dominate possession. Keep the ball away from Shelvey as much as we can and I don't see how they can hurt us much other than if we make silly errors.

Adama was roasting Mendy who's arguably the fastest LB in the league. Think about what he'll do to Alonso! 😩