OneMoSalah

Tbf hes playing, I don’t think he will be too fussed. Players are ultimately happy when they play. He's played there more commonly with TT as well than LW. I think if he puts in a good showing he will likely start the next game too maybe further up in attack as Rom and Werner will still be out. I am sure Tuchel will have said to him I need you to play here for the team tonight as well as saying to Reece about playing in that RCB role so we can rest Azpi, Thiago Silva and Rudiger.

Another good cameo, TT obviously getting through to him, has to keep going though - no room to just be a squad player. Has to push.

Has he put a foot wrong yet? Think the doubters (including myself) re Zouma sale been proven wrong. Big performances and a lot of heart, love to see it. Surely England squad next?

I think he did use it in a cup game? Last season? Then quickly changed to 3 again IIRC. I think if we didn’t have as successful a season with the 343 (with the CL, getting to cup final and general upturn in results and performances) he maybe would of changed it in the summer. Fully agree it won’t fix the attacking issues. Not a chance. Felt the wingbacks today (also did notice it v Malmo) gave us something more today when they were coming inside, they gave us a lot more options when playing in the middle third and made it easier to get Mason and CHO on the ball in the final third by vacating these spaces outside, dragging the Norwich fullbacks in. Also helped create overloads in central midfield. Hopefully we continue to use this at times to make our build up play more flexible.

There were a lot who were absolutely certain we would move away from the back 3 this season. Why they thought that, I don’t know, considering the solidity and springboard it gave us to go win the CL and also get to the FA cup final but would say as long as TT is here, 343 is the way to go.

He almost went to Tottenham under Frank though? Would of been allowed to go too if he didn’t decide he wanted to fight for his place instead, which honestly did surprise me but kudos to him because his performances have been top quality. Whilst he’s a good figure and a popular player in the dressing room, lets not pretend players wouldn’t make these moves now a days. Cech, Willian and Luiz went to Arsenal. Zouma went to West Ham. If the guys settled in London and gets a nice offer, why would he not? Best case of action is still to do our best to keep him.

I get the feeling that a handful will never be happy with him, regardless of what he does. It is baffling when certain individuals sat championing Barkley’s first 3 or 4 games of his loan spell at Villa for instance 🤣 Or sat going on about Grealish’s form playing in a free role for Villa (was a lazy comparison anyway considering he spent that long on the wing), when lets be honest now he’s at City, has he really done anything thats particularly good? Has he improved them?

That Simon Phillips guy is nothing but a moron, take what he says with a pinch of salt. Cant believe anyone sees his information as even remotely reliable enough to quote it on Twitter. Even if it is a random account. If TT wanted to play a back 4 he would of done it by now, he’s not the sort of person to go against his own tactical approach or beliefs if he thinks it’s best/will maximise the team’s performance.

Lets hoping he kicks on now and gets more goals and assists. Only thing missing from his game is regularly scoring or assisting, other than that he is a very good player, when the G+A come regularly people maybe see his true value then. Undoubtedly had a bad patch but you see how infectious his energy is to the team and how highly he is clearly thought of.

Exceptional performance. Not just quality with the ball but again without it, being proactive, pressing high, winning second balls, headers, duels etc we are a totally different team when we do this to the level we did v Spurs and today. Also all the goal scorers either academy players or English.

Think either way we looked a better team regardless compared to the last 3 or 4 games. Be interesting to see how we do without him, all good saying he’s injured now TT has to use Havertz as a false 9 but we need to see consistency from Kai. Did like the front 3 of Mount, Kai and CHO tbf because we had someone who is good in 1 on 1s.

Subs were clever. I’d imagine we might have seen Ziyech without the injuries but considering we had to use 2, getting Azpi, Chilly and Kante off is arguably much more important than Ziyech getting minutes. Good management. Plus the likes of Saul and CHO have rarely featured also. So either way someone would miss out.

Still was never clearing the wall even at 10 yards… Saul time, should be a good game for him to put a wee marker down and show what he is capable of.

Mount going to stop putting FKs into the wall anytime soon? Also 4-0, Jorginho.

Well no proper strikes for a few weeks I would think, Werner looks worse but think Lukaku will miss a couple of games also. Suppose we will see what happens with Mount, Kai, CHO/Ziyech/Pulisic up there now.

Not surprised. Even winning the ball back well, we aren’t making the most of the territory we’ve gotten into and when we get into promising positions, the final ball or decision is frustrating at times. We need to be ruthless even at 2-0 up.

Lukaku injured. Havertz on. Mount, Kai, Werner up top lets see how it goes.

Also are we playing with inverted wingbacks at times? To get Timo and Mount more involved and with more space out wide? Like v Newcastle last season…

If Andreas can score then surely Rom and Timo will…

Werner man, good run, good approach by Lukaku, just feet all in a muddle…

Exactly. Its a collective issue. A massive one particularly compared to last season. I get we have the ability to see games out but we need to be proactive, not reactive, when recovering the ball. Second half v Spurs for instance we were much better in winning the ball back.

Exactly. Thats just a lazy way to look at it. We created more chances last season but lets not pretend it was all rosy and amazing football too, people quick to point out Lukaku’s impact on this team in a bad way but also forget whilst we created a lot of chances last season, it wasn’t exactly all great free flowing football, a lot of it was counter attacking moves and when we had to break down 10 behind the ball we still struggled. A lot. The biggest issues are the lack of penetration in midfield, the wingbacks and the two behind the CF for me. The wingbacks don’t get at their men. The midfielders barring Jorginho, don’t really play through the lines enough. The mixture of players we can play off the CF, who is consistent enough? Who is going to create chances every week? Who is capable of going and taking 1 or 2 players out of the game in dribbling situations in tight areas? I know Pulisic is fibreglass but his ability in 1 on 1’s is a huge miss for me.

We have been so hard to play against because we use a back 3, I can’t see us playing a back 4 anytime soon. Was the same conversation in the summer yet here we are, still playing a back 3.

Another flavour of the month/popular player in a purple patch. Lets see at the end of the season if he’s maintained his form and levels, until then easy to get overly excited by someone on a purple patch. Kounde was the same and now look at how hes done this season - consistency is key.

I am sure you said it would of been the same week of the take over multiple times…. but whatever makes you feel good or correct. I said not straight away - so technically they did take their time - and that he would probably manage v Spurs (which he did), didn’t expect another game. I mean if your really that bothered about being wrong and pointing it out after making that initial point the week of the takeover then you have issues 😂 Be interesting to see who they go for now.