OneMoSalah

Interesting move for Mourinho but also a good one for him and Roma I would think. Reunites him with players he’s worked with before such as Smalling, Pedro, Santon and Mkhitaryan. Roma have underachieved this season for definite after last year and Serie A suits his style and management more now than ever I think. Plus their aims aren’t going to he winning Scuedettos or anything immediately so punching above their weight getting into the top 4 will be a more realistic goal and certainly one which is a possibility, will be interesting for sure. Conte, Mourinho and maybe Allegri in the same league it Juve reappoint him?

When Sarri kept him here when he first came in, regarding the regular posts that Ruben had “done enough at Palace” to be kept here, I wont lie I was hugely disappointed at the time. I mean was he really good enough? Really? He only scored 2 goals, 3 assists and created 5 big chances in 24 games for Palace. I felt that if that is deemed acceptable enough then they should be pulling folk in from the championship to be in the Chelsea squad. I thought the whole purpose of the loan system was for rewarding players who had very good seasons? Granted he had that spell here that season, with 4 goals in the Europa League and the 6 in the PL plus some good performances before his injury but clearly it must have been a purple patch. To have played 27 games at Fulham and have 1 goal, 0 assists and 2 big chances created on top of the stats at Palace, for 2 seasons as a PL Footballer in sides where your meant to be one of the attacking players/better players its not good.

Well considering he is actually predominantly more of a number 6 and sometimes a number 8 as opposed to Milinkovic-Savic who is kuch more of a number 10 more or less, he would suit playing in our team in the midfield a lot better. His game is more varied, he can do the defensive stuff but also get his foot on the ball and dictate a game as well. Was a big fan of him at AC Milan actually, the likes of him, Calabria, Cutrone, Donnarumma all sort of broke into the Milan team at the same time or same season. Found it strange Milan didn’t try keep him or play him more often prior to letting him go after that initial break through. Think he will be going to Juventus though. Aye he was world class and arguably the best number 6 in world football for probably 6-8 years. Even them he is 32 now but still a very good player I feel or certainly what I have seen the last year and a bit. I do think he is a victim of his own success unfortunately on top of the fact he’s never been flashy or particularly the sort of player who stands out due to his playing style because he doesn’t score goals or create goals. In terms of ball retention in tight areas, being progressive and breaking the lines with the ball, as well as generally looking for the ball under pressure still think theres not many better out there than him. He will be a huge player for Barcelona to replace.

Have to disagree. Severely. People have been saying it for years but he’s still a very good player. I still remember when he absolutely ran the show for them against us under Conte in two legs despite him being past it. He is one of the most press resistant players in world football. Still Barca’s best midfielder even with de Jong there. Was immense in the game a few weekends ago also. Never seen the last 2 though.

Broke the cycle of Juve dominance. Biggest task is now to retain it. Was able to do so at Juventus but he has to do it again. And Juventus may be reappointing Allegri.

Maybe but when your playing every 3 days you have to rotate also and especially when you play a CL semi mid week and already have a CM out injured in Kovacic. Dont disagree re Jorginho but ultimately if Billy had played more games and had some actual consistent playing time and even more so if Mount did a bit more in the first half defensively in midfield, I think we would of been better off. Second half he wasnt that bad, he was tidier on the ball. We needed Kante in there though Mount was great going up the pitch but struggled also going back the way. Billy was for sure sloppy first half but got better second half as I said there. He was playing 2 v 1 a lot, Mount seemed to reign it in a bit second half but I felt he played more out on the left closer to Chilwell as opposed to in the middle of the park and that left spaces. Ultimately we still had control of the game I would say after their period in the first half. Possession stats are misleading - even then 52% v 48% hardly that bad not like Barca having 70% v us home and away so would say your greatly overreacting to this. Stats on attempts on goal can also be misleading. Would probably say half their attempts were from outside the box/long range efforts. They weren’t big or clear cut chances, yes they had the one Mendy had to readjust to save due to a deflection and a few others he made from long range efforts but wouldn’t have said they should have scored in that game. Or that they had created any real clear chances to do so. Plus we had 9 shots in all they had 10, but ultimately we had more shots on target, 5 v their 3, which is more important than overall attempts and leading on from there we scored 2 goals and they didn’t. Plus we scored an offside goal also and looked more purposeful in the final third IMO.

Maybe but again even with a 26 man squad, I think depending on whether or not McTominay plays CB as he has done sometimes (although he didnt the last bunch of games) its very slim as others have played regularly and maybe deserve more of a chance. Would imagine the MFers Clarke takes (although some are closer to 10s as opposed to more natural central midfielders but we play 352 more often than not) will be, barring any injuries: - Callum McGregor - David Turnbull - Scott McTominay - John McGinn - John Fleck - Stuart Armstrong - Ryan Christie - Kenny McLean Ultimately I think McTominay McGinn and McGregor will start the games for us and then maybe Turnbull would be the only change in ahead of McGregor (would go with Turnbull in from the start 100% it it were up to me). I dont think he will want to take anymore midfielders because we still have to take Ryan Fraser and Jame Forrest as more natural wingers also plus 2/3 CFs such as Dykes, Nisbitt and hopefully Che Adams - with no place for McBurnie being an absolute godsend as he is one of the worst CFs I have ever seen for us. Although if its a 26 man squad I would think 4 CFs isn’t out of the question. If there was any injuries then maybe, maybe it opens the space up for Gilmour but taking someone whos played 1 league game in like 5 months probably isn’t viable considering the more deeper options like McGinn, McGregor, McTominay are likely to be there ahead of him and fully fit for it by looks of things (fingers crossed) then Turnbull/Armstrong/McLean. Plus Ryan Gauld has had an exceptional season in Portugal with Farense and would maybe be taken in the place of them as Steve Clarke has been asked about him numerous times and he is being linked with Braga and Benfica as his contract is running out. Maybe he sneaks in maybe not. Would say for his talent yes take him but he has 0 caps for Scotland as it is and has played very little football. Considering we will probably be taking 5 or 6 CBs for our back 3, 3 GKs thats 8 or 9 spaces. Then say 3/4 CFs, Forrest, Fraser, those guys in midfield, Robertson, Tierney, 2 right wing backs. Thats what about 23/24/25. It depends ultimately on injuries I would think. Plus Steve Clarke has been pretty consistent and loyal to certain players with his selections (McBurnie and Stephen O’Donnell in partifular), similar to what the Italians were like with Conte (likes of Pelle and Giacchereini at Euro 2016), seems to be 85 or 90% the same players barring injuries.

I think Havertz is hard to leave out either way. But if we want to be more cautious then Timo and Pulisic maybe play for their speed.

Some of his first touches today were absolutely beautiful, genuinely no other way to describe them 😂 He actually reminds me of Thomas Muller but if he was technically better, could actually manipulate the ball in tight spaces and had real high level footballing intelligence (although that may be a bit harsh on Muller also re footballing intelligence because I have rarely seen someone who just ghost in spaces or positions where the ball ends up as often as with him who isnt a natural forward, although some of the finishes hes put out are just absolutely terrible but still somehow go in). If we go take the game to Madrid from minute 1 he must start.

If he plays like 2nd half today, yes, I would consider starting him. Because not only was his play good at times, he actually looked more confident. Ok first half he didn’t impress and had a few scraps that maybe if he was on his toes he may have gotten contact on etc but nobody did play well either bar Mendy, Kai, the CBs and Mount (going forward anyway, left Billy with a lot of ground to cover as if he thought he was playing with Kante...). I get Timo did the same v WHam then was pretty shit/frustrating in the first leg in Spain but I suppose it depends on what Tuchel’s thinking. I mean are we going to go for the jugular? Or try be a bit more cautious and play on the break? Personally felt the front three we seen against Madrid last leg worked, and he was part of it. Madrid wont play as bad as last time either so I couldn’t really say 100% start him or 100% don’t start him. If we want to sit off them at home (very dangerous as they know if they get a goal its difficult for us), he will play with same front 3 I think that he did in Spain to play on transitions. If he wants to go for it I’d expect Kai to be in though because today he was outstanding for a lot of the game.

Looks that way but still ultimately hasn’t contributed to a huge amount of missed time by the looks of the stats there. Missed 75 games in nearly 10 seasons. Suppose its food for though but I think if you get 30-35 games your going to get 20-25 goals. Like Costa also, missed a few games here and there but if hes playing 80% of the time you know what your getting.

True regarding COVID etc but still think we should be expecting more! Re Cancelo tbf this is true, but he also played predominantly at LB and his best position is on the right. He is a superior FB though and I cannot believe it took a year for Pep to see that he is better than Walker. Like I am baffled. At Juventus and even Inter he was potentially a top top player. And aye all the new signings bar Mendy, Chilwell (has had ups and downs though, today he was caught napping a few times) and Silva have struggled. Ziyech and Werner have been disappointing for us. Havertz I can see a bit more improvement from early on but still think he had the issue of being played out of position. I think Tuchel has found his best role, hes either a false 9 or similar to Thomas Mueller of old. Sort of floats around finding space. If you fix him down as a 8 or a winger like Lampard did he struggles. Where as Timo unfortunately he seems to be one step fwd then one or two backwards at times. He did impress me today in elements of his game but now v Madrid he has to retain that level of performance.

I still think with Levy being Levy it will be near impossible for us in particular. The price I do agree with I just meant it would be a good investment though. At 28, given he remains fit he would be a top signing. His ankles only dodgy because every time he gets close to being back they rush him in too soon. Mourinho did it for the best part of 2 seasons.

He grew into the game in the second half. Was a difficult start but Fulham pressed and they eventually tired. Showed a willingness to do the dirty stuff of the game also despite being less imposing than the blokes he was up against. Also didn’t help his partner, despite his excellent performance in the attacking aspect left him outnumbered. 100% agree. Maybe Wolves wouldn't actually be so bad tbf as they do have guys like Neves and Moutinho in there who are good MF players but Burnley and Newcastle would be a waste. Fulham would of actually been a very good move for him to be honest at the beginning of the season despite their struggles they try and play. Unfortunate he wont be at the Euros though, as a Scot would have loved to have seen him go but even if he played more I wouldn’t see him starting in the team at the moment. Plenty competition for MF roles with Scotland to the point where folk are still debating will David Turnbull be starting or not despite single handedly having been Celtic’s best player by a country mile this season and also being our most creative option in midfield, mainly due to how we play under Steve Clarke. Hopeful he gets a loan move next season. Leeds would be an excellent choice but is he going to be able to displace Kalvin Phillips? I think back up the road to Rangers would be his best shout in all honesty, they will probably have interest in Glen Kamara and Steven Davis is like 37 now.

I’d love to hear him trying to say something very quickly like “She sells sea shells down by the seashore” 😂 he’d definitely struggle

Aye but they weren’t exactly cheap either, throw their wages, agent fees etc on top too. Particularly Luiz, Ziyech and Fabregas who all cost over £30m. Kane for near or over 100m plus is still gonna be good value for money. He scores 25 goals a season and has now started assisting more too. Plus he’s one of best in his position. And he already plays in the league, speaks the language (well just about) and would come in straight away to hit the ground running. For 4/5 years, the cost will not be that bad and realistically would be a good investment. Same with Lukaku. The age thing shouldn’t matter regarding his fee because he is quality. I get Haaland would be a better long term investment but at the same time that also gives BVB the chances to demand more as he’s younger. Like with Dembele.

13 out of 46.

Not sure what he tried. After some moments in the first half then the assist he looked a bit more confident. Over confident going to try score with his back/arse whatever he tried there though 😂

Good result. Few boys rested. Mount never played full match. No injuries. Havertz very good. All good

He only played there a handful of times for Wigan.

I am surprised Andreas hasnt been tried there, has played the role for Denmark but a suppose again, round peg, square holes.

See this is why subbing Mount should have been done and not Ziyech. He is arguably one of our key players if not our most key tbf. Hopefully nothing bad but would be hoping hes the next sub we make although hopefully not to do with injury.

Some people couldnt wait to see the back of him too. Even how United use him albeit sparingly he’d be a handy player to have in this squad or someone of a similar ilk to back Ngolo up.

Its crazy that pass was high quality yet some of the finishing attempts we have seen over the course of the recent games have been horrendous haha. Aye Schurrle v Fulham 13/14 season IIRC, last German to score a hattrick for us in the league. Some of Havertz’s first touches today have been an absolute joke btw. Proper world class ball control. Personally would of subbed Mount to keep him fresher for game v Madrid than Ziyech.

Havertz hattrick happening isnt it