OneMoSalah

If we didnt give Callum a massive deal this wouldnt be happening. The fact hes our top scorer too doesnt help but mainly the predicent we set with CHOs deal is coming back to bite us already. Hes our top scorer. Has done more than Callum has so he obviously thinks he deserves more cash and quite rightfully so as mentioned above, CHO contract coming back to bite us.

Barkley and Gilmour looking very very good. Have to make sure we maintain this throughout the rest of the match though they have got goals in them too.

I think when he said mature he meant a few seasons down the line when he perfects his game a bit more. Dont agree regarding RWB, it suits him well and they arent neccessarily brainless either. Joao Cancelo at Inter and also for Juventus at times as well as Cuadrado have put in some very good performances at RWB. Trent Alexander-Arnold too for the England national team. It depends on the player more than anything. Suits some players more than others.

Maybe he would handle it but I think v Everton is maybe not the game to try it, never know though! Frank said after the Palace game about Reece being able to handle playing CM as his career matures if I remember rightly. Think the next game or a few after when we played Lille, it looked like he was lining up with him there in a 3 but we actually played 343. https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/chelsea-boss-frank-lampard-hints-at-future-central-midfield-role-for-reece-james-a4283626.html

I think playing CM for Wigan is different to playing CM for Chelsea v Everton although I would like to see him tried there against a smaller team maybe in the future to see how he copes. I dont think this is the game to blood Reece in as a CM, although if he does play there maybe he will do fine but it is a risk too. I really do think it makes sense for Billy to continue in the team in MF and Reece to play RB or RWB depending on the set up, be it 4 at the back or 3 CBs with wingbacks. Also for your question 'lack of numbers' makes more sense and is more correct than lack of amount in this regard. Happy learning though, a second language is something I wish I had taken more seriously in school. Has played as a 6 for them yeah, maybe he could be given that role if it comes to it. Think its more likely than Reece going in MF today, plus gives us a bit more size and means we can play another CB too meaning we have additional height and size in the team for set plays because Everton have a lot of bigger players in their squad such as Richarlison, Calvert-Lewin, Keane, Holgate, Sigurdsson, Mina, Tosun, Schneiderlin, Gomes, Kean, Niasse, Sibide to pick from. Although not sure if some of them regularly make the squad. I dont know what the situation with Kovacic or Ruben is, if both are fit I think Kovacic will start with Billy then Mount will play off the front.

Perhaps but again (and this is not a dig direfted at your post either), when we have a young player breaking through we apparently have a better or more talented one in our youth set up/out on loan when things go south or talk of interest from other teams. Mount breaks into the team half a year later, Conor Gallagher is all of a sudden much better/talented. Gilmour breaks into the first team set up, moving into the first team training ground, has a great game v Liverpool, linked with City, then we have someone more talented in the youth set up. I have seen Lewis Bates and he does look like he could be a good player but I do think if these guys (him and Conor) were truely more talented theyd be in the first team squad 100%, thats my genuine view on it. Frank has shown he isnt afraid to give minutes or squad places to academy boys so there has to be a reason why if they are more talented that they arent in the squad. I do think its due to the fact they arent quite as talented or ready to the same degree the others are. Even Conte took Hudson-Odoi and gave him his debut because it was obvious he was more talented than many others and closer to being ready than many others in the set up. It will be interesting to see next season what Franks view on some of the younger guys out on loan ie Ampadu, Gallagher as well as Castillo, Sterling and Chalobah too maybe but I dont think any bar Ampadu will have a huge chanve of being in there next season. More so now he can sign players, I dont think hes going to throw these guys aside in the longrun but he knows ae need more proven quality in some areas to be more competitive.

Dont see why we would sell anybody to City, yet alone a 18 year old with who huge potential who could be a key part of the side for 10 years+ once he gets consistent gametime. Not as if they would sell to us either.

The two of them are babies in terms ot footballers. They are under 20. Both have huge potential and can also offer something right now. If they grow and become key players are you saying we shouldnt play them together because of being afraid of being caught out on transitions???? Thats why the manager either coaches or improves the team tactically or by making signings.... You mentioned United but they have 2 good attackers in Martial.and Rashford as well as Pogba and Bruno Fernandes, the reason they struggle is because they havent got the rest of their team or set up right to utilize them properly. If they get.Pochettino.or Allegri for instance do you think they are gonna bin them.and sign new attackers? No they are gonna improve the structure or other areas of the team....

The goal seems to have gotten him a lot of praise and papered over the cracks in his consistency and final product most weeks. He was very ordinary throughout I think, better than usual but hardly that good. Even funnier, sky sports gave him MOTM, fuck knows what they were watching.

Lampard put faith in Mount, Tomori, Tammy and James who he had watched regularly/worked with when he had a transfer ban last summer. It will be slightly different this time round. He will still look to use youth players here I am sure of it but the fact he can recruit players will change his approach this summer a bit. Conor may be on course to have a better season (again he is maybe statistically but stats arent always everything) than Mason did with Derby (could argue playing for Derby last season is different to playing for Charlton and Swansea this season as well) but I doubt Frank is going to stockpile our squad with every promising academy player. He talked a lot about experience or players who are more ready made in January, I think to take us to the next level we need to add that still. Hence why Ziyech signed. Many probably thought Mason would be a back up player this season but he hasnt been, which makes me think he wont be again next season, particularly with Franks faith in him during poor spells as well. If he and Conor were in the squad, Mason would still end up with more gametime. Regarding Ross' goal, what good is it when he does that once every 3 or 4 months? Like Willian as well?

Gallagher wont be here next season. He will be loaned out for another season of playing every week and that is definitely the best thing for his development. He has jumped the rung a bit going to Swansea from Charlton but theres no need to rush him. He has only 1 season of pro football under his belt. Barkley if he stays beyond this season I would be surprised as well as his Chelsea career has been nothing but poor bar the odd false dawn (although I did say I felt FL could have hsed him more along with Giroud and Pedro before the winter period) so if he is retained then when he doesnt deliver that decision will sit firmly on Frank's shoulders because we can all see hes not consistent enough yet alone good enough. Hes definitely expendable this summer so to speak. Mount and Gilmour probably wont play the same roles, also Mount is more a 10 than Jorginho, Kante or Kovacic so hes hardly in direct competition with them as Frank seems to prefer 4231. Throwing in Pulisic who is going to be a winger here for the foreseeable future is just pointless and just seems as so you have done so to make it look as if there are endless players who in the squad have played that position. Pulisic hasnt played as a 10 at club level for us or Dortmund as far as I can remember. Maybe for the USA he has. I doubt FL sees him in that role. Or we would have seen it already. So he has Ruben (again havent seen him in a FL team yet so who knows?) and Ross (for as long as he stays here times running out for him) as his main competition in the current squad. Potentially Ziyech on top next season and as mentioned what if FL cuts his losses with Ross? So even if he doesnt, he will definitely be a squad member, would take something incredibly drastic for him not to be. Its clear Frank rates him highly. Where do you get the impression we will sign Aouar from? Or just a personal choice? He is somebody who has played a lot off the left side as well as centrally for Lyon since breaking into their team in previous seasons but yes a top top player in the making undoubtedly. Plus as questionable as Mount and Barkley are, if we go after Aouar and sign him do you honestly think Conor Gallagher will fit in the squad? Really? Just baffles me you think we will sign another attacking midfielder, retain Ruben, Ross and then keep someone who is at an age where they need to playing to make up the numbers more or less. I mean Billy Gilmour is also likely to be still around next season too before Conor is in my opinion. Next season I doubt there will be many MF changes, we will likely have Kante, Jorginho, Kovacic and probably Billy if FL trusts him more and he can continue to do well. Maybe Ruben it depends how FL sees him but think he will be further up the pitch as a 10 or furthest forward in a 3 man MF. In the 10 position we will have Ruben, Mason and Ross (think he should be sold though). Maybe Ziyech will operate there maybe not. But its all hypotheticals to the summer comes but Mason Mount possibly not having a place in the squad next season is by far one of the most outrageous things I think I have heard on here in a while.

Another injury for someone who was injured and almost back fit/returned. I dont think its beyond a doubt now that this has anything to do with just being unlucky, it has definitely got to be down to training. So weird that the staff seem to be pushing players far too soon after being injured. I cant remember the last time weve ever had a season like this with injuries. Thats now Kante, Emerson, Rudiger, Kante (again), Tammy and now Callum (did I miss anyone? Ruben maybe there was something about him IIRC) this season. All were injured, returned then ended up injured again not long after..... incredibly naive and brainless. Or if its not that and just bad luck then fuck me, absolutely ridiculous but it seems to be a pattern that has occured again and again this season which is why I think it is down to more than just luck.

At what cost...... hmm okay lets just go to being a very very poor offensive team and worry about the opposition playing with 2 RBs and LBs instead of a set of full backs and wingers. Or play with 4 CBs and 3 DMs that do nothing but ensure we dont get caught on transitions.... No? Playing those guys out wide or signing other attackers still isnt going to solve all our issues contrary to what people might think, we need to improve the team in all aspects as there is still a lot of issues. Not just in one area of the pitch. Things like the spaces between the midfield and defense be it sitting deeper or higher up, being more organised without the ball... cut out basic mistakes... play more pragmatically in certain phases of games etc or dont be so naive as a manager by go all out trying to offensively outplay Bayern Munich from the get go etc. If we can get those things right, then absolute play Callum and Christian or sign Jadon or Messi or Gary Goals or whoever. The individual qualities of the players are important but if you have these things right regardless you have a decent enough base to go off of to a certain extent. How do you think we won a PL with Alonso and Moses as wingbacks as well as David Luiz as arguably the most outstanding CB in the PL that season? Things like the organisation and distances between the midfield and defence without the ball, the way Conte set us up, the lack of mistakes from our defenders etc as well as how we were offensively. These things can go hand in hand. Klopp and even Pep is showing this now too. As had Pochettino with Spurs. Luis Enrique also had this at Barcelona. We've just seen v Liverpool we can be more solid and also have a good offensive threat.

United have got more than theyve always played sponsorships really well. I doubt theyd have such ridiculous clauses in every deal. Theyd be stupid to so as would any club. Plus all these sponsors want them to endorse their brand so imagine that at any big club yet alone Man United. If Pogba is sold as well as it has heavily been hinted at, that's at least the chance of another 125m there too on top of anyhring else. Plus if they can shift Sanchez. Van Gaal spent god knows how much when he got there in the summer the season after Moyes was sacked where they didnt have CL too so I dont think no CL is an issue. Was like 60m on Di Maria, 30m on Shaw, 30m on Herrera, 14m on Blind, 16m on Rojo, Falcaos loan fee and huge wages. Few other smaller signings. Somewhere around 150m at least minimum without any major player sales and other big earners such as Rooney, Van Persie, De Gea still there so I dont think Ole wont get that sort of money to spend either if they are fully behind him. Would be silly to assume United wont spend big if they get CL or not. They have almost every season since Woodward took that role.

Not necessarily. It just depends. If they sell a few players for decent fees such as Smalling, Lingard, Pereira etc who are longterm contracts and have say 150m at least on top of that they could manage it.

Same. He will get a good reception as well from the fans and a warm greeting before the match from FL, just hope we can get the result and spoil his day haha. Gilmour has to start this one as well based on that last game.

Then improve in midfield and defence so their better suited either by changing personnel, coaching on the training ground and the tactics/teams shape. Other coaches have done it, even here, no team is perfect. Not only the big teams who do it. Pochettino and Koeman did it with Southampton, Sean Dyche has done it at Burnley, Ancelotti is doing it at Everton. Wolves with Nuno. Sheffield with Chris Wilder. They did or have found ways to improve offensively or defensively as well as maintaining/improving other areas/keeping their strengths in other areas. Conte strengthened our shape and tactical set up to free the attackers up from their defensive duties, got the ball forward faster and had us creating overloads/scenarios where we could utilize the free men who were the wingbacks more often than not and other teams struggled to get to grips with that. Jose, the second time around, strengthened our team shape the previous season and then added Cesc and Costa to give us control and an ability to break stubborn teams down. We were more clinical as we had a ruthless top level CF on top of that solid platform as well as someone like Cesc who could find that killer pass. Klopp has done it at Liverpool, instead of reigning in Salah, Mane and Firmino, he stuck to his approach and added Fabinho, Alisson and Van Dijk. Pep done it when he signed new full backs at City as opposed to changing his approach radically. Really dont see your point at all. Why hold back an area we are struggling in as it is? The attack needs to improve, yea dont go all out gunho and capitulate every week but build that part of the team up, find a way to break teams down as well as create chances and be more clinical. We could be more solid but again it has been done before at other teams, becoming better offensively while also improving defensively. Improve on the weaknesses be it through recruitment, coaching or tactics.

In this situation, he holds all the cards. 1) because he knows the club and Frank rate him and dont want him to go. 2) because he knows he wont struggle to get another team in a top European league (somehow). 3) because he is highly thought of outside of Chelsea too (again, somehow).

Yes too direct, because when teams havent played with 2 direct wingers who take people on at most opportunities they havent done very well..... not. I hope this is a joke. Liverpool and Man City have direct wingers in their teams such as Mane, Sterling, Sane, Salah and they have been a big part of their success. I dont see how this would be a problem at all. All of Ferguson's United teams had wingers who would always play direct, try to beat players at every opportunity and even with Jose here we had Robben and Duff who were very direct. Or lets just continue with this sideways passing football where everything comes infield with players who have no or little intent/willingness to run at fullbacks and be predictable.

Not just Bayern. Ajax, Man United, Man City amongst others. This is how we should look to play against bigger teams or in certain tricky games.

The sort of performance I've been waiting to see from him at a higher level and I am sure others who have doubted his talent will have also taken a look at him tonight and have a different view perhaps. Always been a fan of his from his time in Scotland with Rangers and the NT u21s but the question was perhaps can he do it vs top PL/European opposition, competing physically as well as technically. He coped well in the previous cup games against smaller teams but tonight was a real test. I think this match is as good a stepping stone as it can get for him to really push for more gametime the remainder of this season. Frank has shown faith in the others such as Mason, Fik, Tammy and James but I dont think any of them have played this well against this calibre of team all season if I am honest. His individual performance, to get recognised as MOTM in tonights team performance, should speak volumes. Ruben returning also gives us a boost in midfield and if Billy can play like this or even close against other teams he is another option for definite. I dont think that FL will just toss Jorginho aside as many seem to be thinking (very premature and naive to think so) but theres certainly competition in those positions even without Kante because of injury. Sky sports gave Barkley MOTM as well...... what

Performance was good and the result was good. Has raised some questions though, Kepas performance tonight as well as the fact Frank actually used a natural RB and natural leftsider in the back 4 makes me wonder what the fuck he has been thinking the last god knows how long? More so the fullbacks when using a back 4 than Kepa, perhaps dropping him was necessary, although you still could argue that it was too long. Need to build on this though. No more fucking stupid results v smaller teams either.

Billy Gilmour. That is all.

Wouldnt say hes finished. His best attributes are still his shot stopping, agility and reflexes. Its not as if he is physically in a bad condition either where he is getting less agile or slower. Just making more mistakes but there can be many reasons for that. The amount of mistakes have been weird because prior to the last 18 months you wouldnt have thought someone of that calibre would make so many but as we talked about with Cech, Courtois, Courtois, Buffon etc maintaining that top level consistency as well as throwing in being the last line of defence while your team is struggling isnt exactly easy either. Plus when GKs make mistakes as we all know, it is more or less 99/100 times a goal. Even look at Hugo Lloris, how many mistakes has he made since he came to the PL? He is still a top GK I would say. The only GK who I have seen truely deteriorate from reasonably good to really poor in say a few seasons in recent times is Joe Hart. Even Casillas' drop off wasnt as dramatic with Real and Spain I think that was probably because he had already dipped from one of the best to one of the best of the rest sort beforehand. The big deal De Gea is on will make it tough to shift him if they decided to but again I dont think theyll be so quick to get rid of him. He still has a lot to offer. Dean Henderson is very promising but has also made a couple of basic mistakes this season although he is 100% a better GK than the ever overrated Jordan Pickford in my eyes. What have you been watching? His passing out is probably the only passable thing hes done this season (no pun intended) in some peoples eyes. Hes very comfortable on the ball, kicks very well with his left and right foot long or short. His throwing isnt bad either but considering the fact he more than normally drops or rolls the ball out to the CBs, I don't see how you could say his throwing is inaccurate because its hardly as if he ever goes and throws it like 30m like Heureulo Gomes or Manuel Neuer have done in the past. I mean if your gonna criticize the guy for his GKing this season yes fair enough crack on but his passing? Christ sake. I still think there is a lot more going on than it just being Kepa as to why hes underperforming. I mean our defence, midfield and attack has been underperforming for months bar the odd game here and there. Kante and Jorginho have both looked out of sorts in periods this season. Rudiger as well, Emerson too although never top level looks like a championship footballer, Kepa obviously as well. Dont people find it strange? I didnt think theyd regress/play so poorly this season. People have mentioned about going from the strict training with Antonio and Sarri to what is happening now, which was branded as less boring and more fun IIRC seen it somewhere in an interview. Do think that has to be taken into accounts for some of these guys who shown beforehand they were a lot better in performances too, theres been a drop off all across the board not just Kepa. Yes we have a lot of average players but if you said Kante, Rudiger, Jorginho, Kepa and even Emerson would perform nowhere to the levels they did towards the back end last season before a ball had been kicked I wouldnt of been so sure.

Again though, if you see how Napoli were with him, they didnt click properly until his 2nd season there but I suppose that doesnt matter either. Having Ruben and Callum made a difference (I think you said something along the lines of him using them saved his job at the time) but its not as if they were the only reason the team played better (or why he kept his job) Jorginho and Kante finally looked much better in the team after the winter. We were more used to his style and I think bar in the final third where the movement and speed of play struggled due to various reasons (lack of willingness to run in behind, runs from MF etc) it would of gotten better, its not as if Pep, Klopp, even Jose in his 2nd spell here got the team to play exactly as they wanted. Throw Pulisic, Tomori and James in and around the squad as well who has been a huge plus this season at times, I dont think we would of done any worse this year round. Its not as if sterile possesion isnt what we have seen a lot of times this season either.... I mean since the first half of the season (similarly to under Sarri) have we really created that many chances in many games weve dropped points? I wouldnt neccessarily agree. The quality in the squad hasnt helped Conte, Sarri or even Frank but he has made bigger mistakes particularly excluding players he could have utilized more (even more baffling with the transfer ban I doubt anyone has ever been so naive in a similar situation) and his set ups tactically. I still get the feeling he has no idea of his best CB pairing, CMs or his best shape be in 4231 or 3 at the back. At least with the others they throughly knew what their preferred system and teams would be most weeks.