OneMoSalah

Hope we go relatively strong still despite being a cup game. Caballero James - Zouma - Tomori - Emerson Kovacic/Jorginho - Gilmour Pedro - Barkley - Pulisic Batshuayi Must win to write the first game of the season off.

Serge Aurier what the fuck is he playing at. Idiot.

Hard to argue with that. Frank really likes him.

Think if he can play like that everyweek regardless of if he is a sub or starter, he will do well. Anyone who cant see that he brings a real drive and directness to the team must be blind. He isnt afraid to shoot either or demand the ball. He will only get better. Hopefully his fellow countrymen amd women in the media will also ease up on why he isnt or wasnt playing every week as they arent helping him in any regards. Instead of focusing on how he isnt playing they should focus on the future he will have and how he has performed in recent games.

I think the flight of the ball at first looked as if it would be going straight and then it did dip a bit before it went in, maybe played a part. Not sure though maybe someone with more knowledge on GKs might have another opinion. I think its very harsh to say that he should have saved it. Second one as well he had no chance.

You are joking right? I don't think so at all. 25 yards out, bit of dip and spin when it got closer to him? Dont think he can be blamed at all. How Rodriguez was virtually given god knows how much space to shoot though... needs looked at.

Suppose but also with the game in Amsterdam and the fact the majority of the same 11 played I think he should of seen fatigue setting in and locked the door a bit sooner. If it was 1 or 2 yes I would understand it but at 4-0 at late 60 mins or early 70s, maybe be a bit more pragmatic. Good professional performance anyways. 7 wins on the bounce. Pulisic hattrick after all the questions. And still plenty of things from the 2 goals we conceded to be looked on and improved, so always good to get that kick of realism to remind us we aren't finished yet. Perhaps but he claimed for a penalty didnt he? So taking that into account it would be fair to say hes intentionally looking for the foul. Which would mean hes tried to con the ref. So in turn means its basically a dive, regardless of it is serious or not. VAR got the decision correct and in the fine print it is basically a yellow card.

Minimal contact and he fell like he had been hit a lot harder. Intentional or not it will be percieved as a dive and probably rightfully. Seen it back 4 or 5 times now and he doesnt have to go down like that.

Mount needs to fall back in and help Jorginho and Kovacic instead of jogging about and raising his arms if he doesnt get the ball or its intercepted..... Again Frank could of just shut up shop I think and went 4141 as opposed to continuing to attack because thats a few transitions weve been exposed on.

Looked like a dive for me, correct decision. Dint want to see that shit from anyone in our team, I mean cmon we are 4-0 up whats the point? On second viewing okay maybe not a hugely blatant dive but still the contact is far too minimal to go down like that.

Think Frank should use Giroud and Pedro to give them 15-20 minutes considering how much they havent played. Still need to try keep these in some sort of half decent run of minutes for the bigger build up of games coming up.

Well thats a bit of a stupid question because I think everyone probably would have started him regardless of over who based on his 2 cameos where he has been key and decisive in setting up winning goals....

Jorginho and Kovacic have both had good games so far though? Definitely not struggling winning 2nd balls at all.... Weve not even played that well but are 2-0 up against a very difficult and awkward to play against. Yeah they need to do more in that regards today I feel. Not been great.

Haha you were saying?

Great decision starting Pulisic. About time. Heres hoping we can get an early goal and keep a clean sheet.

True but again they look quite bad going forward, other than hoping Redmond can do something special they struggle in the final third. Some of its coaching some of its down to the players. They dont seem to work as hard as they did laat season off the ball either, which was a huge reason as to why they were successful with Hasenhuttl and why he did so well with Leipzig as well because it allowed them to be higher up the pitch.

Perhaps but I think the argument about it in some peoples eyes was more because of what Poch and Koeman did there and they thought Hasenhuttl could replicate it and go onto bigger things.

Southampton are so bad. Remember folk wanted us to ditch Sarri and target Ralf Hasenhuttl last season too? They have struggled all season defensively. Suspect to say the least.

First statement is correct as we are stacked there but the second one is extremely questionable. Milinkovic-Savic is an incrediblely talented player and will definitely move on from Lazio next season. He has been doing very well in Serie A for a few seasons and comfortably Lazio's best player. Maybe last season he wasnt as productive as the season beforehand but I honestly do not think Ruben or Mason are at his level. Yet.

Statistically we had the 3rd or 4th best defence last season. We werent rock solid but we werent as bad as we were the first wee while under Frank either and thats the truth.

Yeah it will probably be a recurring theme all season. Tbf it was a geniune concern throughout pre-season against a lot of dead rubber teams and then after that, the first what 3 or 4 games in competitions? I can see why people were concerned. Its not exactly the worst thing to be worried about. All good teams are built on a good defence.

Regardless, having Jorginho, Kante, Kovacic, Mount, Barkley, Ruben and even Gilmour for 3 roles in the team with all the games we will play this season, it isnt exactly the worst thing to have is it? 5, 6 or 7 years ago we would of killed to have a midfield of this calibre in terms of geniunely top notch technical players. I mean we wanted Modric back in the day etc and now we have players who maybe arent as good as Modric was then or that but are in the right mould, very good technicians with other skillsets too. Genuinely think Ross will be out the door in the summer in all honesty if he doesnt buck up his ideas on the park too

Its been a good start but we still need to be cautious. Same happened with Sarri and Conte eventually although in different circumstances. The young guys have given the squad a really big impetus and freshness but their performances will naturally be inconsistent at some point so we need to be wary and still try and not get overly excited too soon. Also have to hope the senior heads can help the team through such a thing if it happens because the some of our biggest performers this year have been Mount, Tammy and Tomori. Throw in Kova, Jorginho, Willian and Emerson as well. Sure theres a few others too who could get mentions if you eant to go into it. Saying all that, I firmly believe we should be in the driving seat for the top 4 based on Spurs, Arsenal and United's performances and results so far. 100%. But still there will be times where things dont go our way and we will see how the guys react if this happens. Lampard is learning from his mistakes though which is an excellent quality to have as it shows he isnt stuck to his ways completely but the zonal marking still needs sorted. Couple of clean sheets in a row too, always positive for the back line and keeper. Like I said, so far so good but again, need to be cautious as it can just take 3, 4 or 5 bad results in a period of time to change the dynamic.

I honestly do think Willian will play for us most weeks when he is fit. Lamps keeps talking about him being an example on the pitch to the younger players and his performances under Frank have been decent so far despite the common belief that he is shite. Also right now, I really do think with Pulisic, he cant afford to ignore him after the last 2 sub apperances either. Those cameos make me wonder why Frank maybe didnt start him in either game. Mason seems to be a shoe in for Frank at the minute so in my eyes, it makes sense that it looks more than likely to be Callum who will miss out more than the other 2. I mean Callum has huge potential and showed v Newcastle what he can do but tonights performance was very bad. His decision making in the final third definitely wasnt good enough tonight and how Pulisic played coming on the left side where is Callums preferred position, I can see it being a toss up between him or CHO. Also Pulisic already has 5 assists in all competitions... limited minutes or not he is making a big contribution.

Maybe better on the ball but as a defender I dont think he is better. He is a leftie so would give nice balance in a back 4 or 3 but lets not forget how average Bournemouth are defensively and Ake isnt particularly outstanding for them either. Also Piet de Visser is Dutch and probably scouted Ake.... so ofcourse he will sing his praises.