OneMoSalah

They were concerned about his attitude and application when he was there though as well as his lack of performances in Italy and not to mention his loan spell in Portugal.

Tbf Real have had huge success with Brazilian and other South American nation players in the past. Not everyone is just looking for the next Neymar. Its the next great player in whatever position though but the Neymar comparisons are gonna be about for every Brazilian attacker until Neymar retires. Robinho was a success there despite how his career panned out and he was well before Neymar's time. Higuain was also a success coming from Argentina. Marcelo has been a success. Di Maria was too. Fernando Redondo, Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos... go back far enough and Di Stefano etc. Even more recently Casemiro too. Militao, Valverde, Vinicius and Rodrygo are another few who will go on and forge there own careers at one level or another.

I dont know why the media are continually bringing up Alex Telles and linking him to us as if hes a brilliant LB option. He is better in the final third than Alonso and Emerson but just as bad defensively. £32m or not he would be a short term fix that we would need to replace eventually. I think with the addition of a good left sided CB and as long as Emerson can regains his form, we can perceive until the summer with him and dare I say it Alonso. Ben Chillwell for me would be a good long term investment in the summer and there is no way he leaves Leicester in January. I dont think theres many better options out there who offer both a good short term and long term investment. Telles may be more efficient in the final third than a lot of the LBs we have looked at but he doesnt offer any immediate improvement defensively which I why I feel he hasnt already moved to a bigger club already. I mean our left side is already poor enough defensively and having to use Azpi there shows that. Its much easier to buy higher quality players in the summer. I think we could get a good CF in January though, in the mould of either someone like Moussa Dembele or perhaps stretch the limits and go for Timo Werner. The likes of Sancho and whoever else for the slim chances we have wont happen this month either IMO.

Bit unfair. He is a lot better than both Michy and Giroud imo. Typical number 9, has the physique and reasonably good technical attributes. Watched him a lot in person when he was at Celtic, the move to Lyon has given him more time to play at a better standard and he hasnt disappointed. People got excited about Michy who had scored 17 goals in the season before we signed him but his general play was severely lacking. I can see why people are perhaps questioning another CF from Ligue 1 but Dembele is much better. Hes got 10 goals in 18 so he is more than on course to make 20 goals this season. Hes only 23 as well and has got 100 careeer goals at club level. Not bad. Celtic will get a 10% sell on fee so Lyon will want more money and I cant see them affording Girouds wages or be that interested in him.

Tbf, Allegri would of been my first choice when it was clear Sarri was going last summer. Whether or not he would of wanted to come here is another story, as hes been linked with Real, Barca, Bayern among others.

I used to think that too about managers but I do believe there are too many managers out of work/in work who would be willing to take it on if they could move. Allegri and Pochettino are the big two right now out of work but there will be other up and coming managers as there always is.

Still the point stands. It doesnt matter who you are or what youve won, if the board arent happy they will 9 times out of 10 sack the manager if there is a better/another option avaliable. Perhaps but Pochettino is as good as many of the top managers out there.

We sacked Jose, Carlo, Conte, Sarri and Villa Boas who had all achieved more than Lampard as a manager. If the board arent happy with results they will pull the trigger regardless. Dont be fooled to think otherwise, Lampard may be one of our greatest ever players but Di Matteo got the same treatment to be replaced by Rafa Benitez.... half a seasom after winning a CL and FA cup, nobody is unsackable here. Thats the harsh reality.

Not as bad as I thought. Still not good enough for a club of this stature.

More dropped points. 1 win in 8 now is it?

Well I suppose thats true but there were a lot of rumors he wants out at Arsenal too. Plus Aubamayang had been at Dortmund for 5 years and was consistently one of the top goalscorers in Europe every season and undoubtedly had previous offers to go but didnt/wasnt allowed. Sancho is 18 months into his career and has barely achieved anything in the same regard as to what Aubamayang has there. I could understand a 27 or 28 year old getting more frustrated having been at a club for 4 or 5 years, having won trophies and scored 98 goals in that time, as opposed to a 18/19 year old who had been there a year and a half having won nothing. There was also talks of false promises etc regarding Aubamayang leaving or staying or new contracts or whatever. The fact of the matter is Dortmund are increasingly more open to selling Sancho but all this other bullshit coming up about discipline, fines, being late whatever, it makes me wonder will anybody want to pay that 120m+ for him? Okay some of the clubs like PSG or Real might without hesitation but the likes of us or a Man City or Barcelona might not be fully convinced due to all of this. Its maybe just me being a bit over worried with the price and the off the pitch stuff but I dont think I am the only one.

Yeah smart move selling 2 LBs to sign only one. No thanks. One LB out after getting a better one in yes 100% but not any other way. Attitude being questioned, missing training, being fined, late for team meetings.... yeah sounds very promising. For somewhere in the region of 120m+ I would definitely say that is too much for a player who has been deliberately acting up the last half a season to get a move. Lampard has established an incredibly strict fine list here to encourage discipline and focus among the group. Somebody who has had huge discipline and commitment issues in the last 6 months isnt exactly the most ideal addition. Did Pulisic kick up such a fuss to move here last year? Did he get fines, miss meetings etc for half a season? The talent is important but also the attitude and dedication. This season has shown a light on a side to Sancho that makes me wonder is he worth that extravagant fee if he comes with all that.

"Mikel Arteta isn’t silly, he saw us play it at Tottenham, found a way to pin our five back. They had us marking one at the back, they had numbers in midfield, they won all the second balls and that had to change." And probably the Southampton game too where we were ridiculously bad too using 343 at the beginning but he played it anyways today to the same affect. Yeah Frank outlined why it didnt work after but he persisted with it at the start. For me thats not a good sign because Tottenham and Arsenal are totally different and thats without even mentioning Southampton. I almost get the feeling he realised from the start we would be up against it but his arrogance of how we played in Spurs performance made him think it was the right move. Despite the fact Southampton was the game prior to Arsenal.... I hope we dont play 343 next match.

Holy fuck. Lets not forget even if we win this there is a lot of really negative things from today.

Jesus talk about pure luck but we will take it... just dont concede... or go get a winner.

The fact is starting with a back 3 and 2 man MF against a team who play with 3 in MF and 1 CF was always a bad move. Not starting Jorginho as well another bad decision in my eyes. Subbing Emerson instead of one of 3 CBs meaning we only had 1 natural fullback on the park, another poor decision because hes wasted a sub on putting a second natural fullback on instead of an offensive player/striker. Not for the first time his selections and in game judgement has been very poor. Think everyone forgets how we probably all berated Jose, Sarri and Conte for the exact same things....

Says enough about the lack of options tbh. I don't want Barkley or CHO coming on We are 1-0 down, Id rather he would stick on an offensive player. Still remember the grief Benitez got subbing Brana off for Azpi in the Club World Cup final. Not exactly like for like but basicslly a defender for a defender. Not what you want to see when your 1-0 down unless absolutely necessary.

So weve subbed off our LB, put a RB at LB then brought on another RB? Frank.... cmon

Back 3 again. Predictable. Seriously starting to question him now he must of seen the last few games it doesnt work but yet again persists with it. Then makes a change (putting Azpi at LB too???) and we look better in midfield instantly. No real fight or passion though, imagine getting outfought by Arsenal, its really bad.

I am still confused by VAR because some of the goals this last few round of fixtures, there have been some really really close calls, like a ball hair away. Ones that 10 years ago theyd just say the common cliche "you just give the attacker the advantage" and then times before that it was the defenders who got the advantage. I think VAR will be limited more to use on the more obvious calls in the upcoming seasons around Europe or I feel it should be although I suppose weve been complaining about officiating for too long. It is good as it gives the referees continual support in the games but I feel it will also breed contempt among certain referees (hopefully not the better ones) who will purely rely on it as opposed to their gut instinct (which can be correct with the very good ones).

Not playing Pulisic yes I agree 100%. Not so sure about second comment. Tactically he needs to look at it against smaller teams, especially against Southampton, decision to play a back 5 is difficult to comprehend. Today is our 7th loss this season in the league. I mean Southampton played narrow without the ball, didnt do anything hugely outstanding tactically although their effort amd application was very impressive for a team struggling with in form. They gave us the width and we didnt utilize it well. Its a common theme, under Sarri, under Conte, under Lampard... smaller teams willing to roll their sleeves up, sit in narrow, play on the counter... As for Azpi and Reece James, Reece when he played didnt fill me with confidence either. Like Tomori few dodgy individual mistakes in some games. Azpi does okay to the final third, he isnt going to burn anyone for pace but he needs to beat that first man. Emerson has the legs and can go beyond guys but final ball again shocking. Mason coming on was a good move. Pulisic not coming in earlier was poor management because Callum again, anonymous bar one shot he had.

Jesus. Not sure about Tomori for the first goal or second goal. Dodgy in both. Emerson as well. Frank has a lot to explain regarding the set up. They may have timewasted and that but as a smaller team struggling, can be expected. Also the likes of Giroud, Pedro, again in a game like this, at home when you have all the ball, why has he continued to shun them? Our crossing has been hopeless but Giroud is surely another player who for 10 or 20.mins you could go 2 up top with? Pedro can always get in the box too. This time of year, lots of games, it makes no sense. Praised him a lot for learning from his mistakes over the course of the season but he hasnt the last 5 or 6 games except Spurs. Willian for Pedro on the 83th minute is just baffling. Same with Pulisic on at what 70th minute. Weve been chasing the game for ages.

How did he miss that? Also theres the inevitable chances they will look for.

Winks is bang average anyway. Neat and tidy on the ball but struggles against low blocks or in bigger games. So is Eric Dier but I think he serves a clear purpose in their team under someone like Mourinho. Giovanni Lo Celso and Christian Eriksen arent deeper players anyway they are 10s imo so dropping them for Dier to solidify their midfield in a team that was conceding too many goals and arguably top heavy in attack, at any other club, under any other manager, it would hardly be a stupid move. Matic on the other hand, would be a backwards move for Mourinho and Spurs, 100% agree but its just bog standard usual from the media to make these links. Theres a lot of sources saying Conte and Simeone are pushing to get him in the door at Inter and Atletico, which strikes me as more plausible than at Spurs who usually play 4231 or 433 and already have plenty numbers in Dier, Winks, Sissoko, Ndombele, Lo Celso, Eriksen, Dele Alli. Plus

Fuck so he is. Well Mount on at HT, need someone on to get closer to Abraham, Willians trying it but Callums been anonymous. Our Final ball has been shite today.