CHOULO19

Honestly I don't think our problem here is tactical, at least not in attack. We're getting into plenty of positions where we should be able to create chances, but we're simply lacking enough players with the technical ability to create in the final third.

Especially when we're not playing well and need them the most...

That's got to be pen, no?

Patience, guys. It's a new system.

Love the campaign that's going around social media this week that if you criticize Cahill then you're not a "Real Fan"™ Also, Dan Leveene is a xenophobic twat:

I'd bet you my house that Conte does not know that. Managerial, consistency, youth, development...etc.etc.

Liked it better when you were calling players retarded, tbh...

Give a youth product a chance? Let's try to keep this realistic!

Fabregas won't offer anything in defense but his forward runs can be effective and he will provide the killer pass that would make our counters deadly. Even Luiz's passing from defense has been a breathe of fresh air for our mostly predictable attacks. But even if Conte is convinced that Cesc can't be part of his system, why not try Willian there? His work rate and even defensive abilities when called on are no worse than Oscar and even though his passing can be frustrating it's still many levels ahead of Matic. Moses who's done well when given the chance and who offers a direct approach we lack can play on the right wing. I know it's mostly nostalgia and we only remember the good of any player but I can't help but think that this role that Conte wants in this particular system would have been perfect for Ramires. Well maybe not 'perfect' with his passing technique, but I think a Ramires-like player would solve quite a few of our problems in midfield.

LOLz if JT actually comes in for Luiz and not Cahill

Honestly, and I'm not just saying this as a Juve fan, but it was probably what was best for all of him, Chelsea and Juve that he moved to Italy this summer. And he even wanted to! I don't get why the club and Conte went out of their way to keep him when it's painfully clear that he does not fit Conte's system.

No, no. Not even remotely. I really hope that that is not what Conte wants from Matic because I have never seen more contrast between two players in the same position that Matic and Marchisio. Marchisio lacks physical strength (and can be very moody) but he has one of the best techniques on the ball I have ever seen. Juve fans say he is unable to score an ugly goal. In terms of the role I don't see many similarities as the systems and even tactics are completely different here. The defensive objective at Juve was to protect Pirlo in the middle while here it seems more to protect the wings and push play inside. On the attack at Juve the emphasis was on diagonal passes to the wing backs and runners into the box while here it's....frankly I still don't know what Conte wants but we seem to be focusing on runs from Eden and his link up with Diego from the left and Iva overloading on the right. Does that answer your question? Probably not, but what can you do It is, especially when Conte refuses not just to bench but even to just sub him off. Even when he switched to 3-5-2 he still took of Cesc and kept him on. I really can't understand what role Conte sees Matic is contributing...

I think I get what Conte wants and that is a central midfielder on either side of Kante to cover for either winger and to funnel opposition towards Kante. But Matic does not have the pace to press or to cover for Hazard nor does he have the technical ability to aid in attack. Who are you? I've never seen you this upset before!

If only anyone of our midfielders, bar Cesc, knows how to execute that ball he played to put Michy 1vs1 with Petr.

As I tried to point out with a discussion with DYC (I think) last week that the circumstances at Juve were pretty different as was the league. In his first season Juve were a team not expected to even finish in the top 4 so playing on the counter vs the Milans was normal while in his second and third seasons Juve was by far the biggest team in the league and everyone basically parked the bus against them so pressing high was a must. In the CL there weren't many examples to take any conclusions out of. But I do think his approach here has been different than what he was like or at least what I was expecting. He seems more afraid here...

The problem is not in him alone neither does replacing him even with the best box-to-box midfielder in the world solve our issues. That said, I am just SICK of watching Matic take 3 touches and a full 5 seconds in the middle of our transitioning, only to choose the wrong pass and then even misplace that!

Welcome, mate. Glad to have your input and hopefully you'll provide us with more insight as Tammy progresses :)

Beyond the (understandable) knee-jerk reactions, of course Conte deserves a lot of criticism for this mini-crisis. Yes, the individual performances, especially by Ivanovic and Cahill, have been at time disastrous, but much of issue is rooted in the system and tactics he chose to use. The major issue we have in defense, for me, from the fact that Conte decided that we should defend with a 4-1-4-1 instead of the 4-4-2 we've been using for ages. The reasoning for that is that Conte wants to funnel the opposition attacks into the center towards Kante. While that does seem like it could be effective against a lot of teams in the league if we can get rid of the individual mistakes at the back (before Liverpool we had conceded the least shots on target in the league if I'm not mistaken), the down side of this is that it leaves Diego alone to press 2-3 of the opposition defenders when they have the ball. It was clear right from the start, and I was criticized for saying so after the West Ham match, that any team with ball-playing CBs would be able to pin us back by passing their way into our final third. That's exactly what happened against both Liverpool and Arsenal in the first half. The major issue we have in our offense is that, the Burnley match aside, we just are not scoring nearly enough goals with one striker on the pitch. That is incredibly worrying considering both Hazard and Costa have been in great form. Yes, part of the lack of goals has been down to poor finishing and part is down to the fact that our fullbacks lack proficiency in aiding attacks, but a huge part as well is down to the fact that we have two midfielders in Kante and Matic who not only contribute little to most attacks, but, particularly in the case of Matic, usually slow down our transition and ball circulation due to lack of technical ability on the ball. Finally, a more minor issue I think we have with Conte is his unwillingness to show any balls in a lot of his decisions. From how quickly he dropped the 4-4-2, to not starting Cesc, to how late he keeps his subs, to how we approached the Liverpool and Arsenal matches, to the fact that he didn't dare drop Cahill against Arsenal despite his disastrous performances in the previous two matches. I get that everyone one of those decisions has its reasons but the fact that they all seem to be going in the direction of 'cautiousness' instead of taking some risks is worrying, at least to me. I get that there are a million other factors to the situation than Conte, not least of which are the clubs failure in the transfer markets since summer 2014. But as head coach Conte naturally shoulders most of the blame and he has A LOT of work still to do if we want to finish in the top 4 this season.

We absolutely 100% deserve this for starting Cahill after his horror performances in his past two matches.

!@&$&%^&!@%&#$@#^!@!()@I

THREEE FUCKING GAMES IN A ROW TAKE HIM THE FUCKKK OFFFFFFFF

Let's assume that this is true, even though you're clearly trolling. How does that change in any way the point I was making? JT was our best available CB when he got the extension and we're still clearly struggling when he's unavailable. So yes, it is quite laughable that some of our fans wanted us to let go for free of a player who was clearly going to be and currently is a key player for the team.

That's not logical at all. We desperately needed to sign at least one CB in his prime regardless of whether or not JT stayed. Surely we should have signed a top CB in the previous 3 windows; surely we should have replaced Ivanovic 3 years ago; surely we wouldn't go into the third straight season with just 6 senior defenders available. But all those did happen and they have nothing to do with JT, just the miserable failure of the club and its board.

The highlights from match. His goal is towards the end but there's also a very good goal from Lucas Piazon for Fullham at the start:

So basically, the only match this season where he failed to score was the match you went to? Do you usually bring such good luck with you wherever you go?