OneMoSalah

Ah so it was Swindon not Shrewsbury. Yeah that game he was poor. He looked as if he was playing in lead boots although I know he isn't the fastest but he looked very laboured. There was another cup game, probably Shrewsbury, where Mourinho slaughtered Andre Schurrle, Filipe Luis, Mo Salah and other squad players as well the next season I am sure saying something along the lines of they didn't make it very difficult for him to decide who would be included in the next game but again he was right as many performed poorly and we only got through due to an own goal IIRC. Maybe 10-15 years ago it would of got a reaction and not offended as many players as he seems to have done since his second spell here but its all changed now I suppose you only look at when OGS replaced him at United and the response he got from the likes of Pogba, Martial, Rashford compared to what they were doing before (also you look at these guys now and others under OGS when hes apparently dressed them down in the dressing room after poor performances) or when he got replaced at Real by Carlo etc. I'd say the same with demoting Kevin to the reserves, imagine if a Ferguson or Mourinho or Capello or someone did that to a kid in the early 2000s, chances are it would work back then than what it would now. I think even at Hibernian, the senior players reportedly went to the chairman and complained about Neil Lennon which eventually ended up getting him sacked because he apparently had been shouting at some players or a lot of them after poor performances. Its not just at the very top level, this sort of management can cause issues at most levels.

Its not even that, he wasnt comfortably a better fit for any of the attacking positions under Mourinho if we honestly look back at how Willian, Eden and even Oscar did in that period (which wasnt always brilliant but was effective in parts) as well as any of the others we had here and ultimately it was his say who went in the team. Its his issue for not seeing his long term development but who says he didnt? He might have but just couldnt guarantee him games. Again though I did hope at the time he had got more games but it didnt happen and fair enough it backfired on us in the longer run but thats just been our luck with the likes of him, de Bruyne and even Lukaku. Its not a guarantee that these guys would have even wanted to come back here or even that they'd have had the same success as at other clubs (although thinking about it under Conte in his first season, Mo Salah on the right, with Eden on the left and Costa in the middle would of been very very good). Kevins a different story as well because hes a number 10 and since Jose left up until now we havent really played with an actual out and out number 10. Sure if he was there youd maybe think we would have but the Kevin de Bruyne that apparently told Jose he wasnt happy being on the bench in only the 3rd PL game of the season after playing vs Hull Cit6 and Man United, left here with his tail between his legs after being told he was 5th or 6th choice by Jose depending on if Mata left. He had talent for sure but I didnt think he would become as good as he did in the short space of time it took him. Went to Germany and 18 months later, a short period in terms of a potential 16, 17 or 18 year career, he was basically the best attacking midfielder in Europe bar a few obvious ones. I doubt many would of expected that so soon after the move and how he fared here. We wont be the only club who let go of players who dont fit or dont do the business for them only for them to go on and prove their former clubs wrong. No point being too overly worried about departures in the transfer market 4 or 5 years ago now.

Need to be very careful with him and any other players this season who end up needing treatment I think as we seem to have had a lot of reoccuring injuries with a few guys already. This is based on how Kante, Emerson, even beforehand when Rudiger played himself before getting injured again/not being fit enough and having to come off... its either rushing players back or sheer hard luck but I think its more likely to be rushing them in all fairness because it seemed to be a pretty obvious pattern. Rudiger played after recovering, injured again. Kante and Emerson both the same. Weve been good over the years in terms of avoiding huge amounts of injuries as well. Okay Ruben and Callum suffered big ones but I think they were unlucky. Although Ruben and Callum had also accumulated a lot of minutes in a short period of time beforehand, (under a manager who rarely rotated) I think but will need to check to be sure.

So far so good at Juventus I think its safe to say. Averaging 1.9 goals p game, 16 shots p game, as well as obviously dominating possession as youd expect. Showed some tactical flexibility between 433 and 4312 and has even been rotating the likes of Ramsey, Dybala, Bentancur, Bernardeschi, Higuain, Danilo, Cuadrado and Chiellini in and out of his team depending on the shape and opposition which we really didnt see here. Even played 442 in some games with Matuidi playing on the left side like he did for France in the world cup as well. I think everyone knew who would be in the starting 11 after 5 games every week when he was here but at Juventus they could go 433 with Costa/Bernardeschi and Ronaldo wide or 4312/442 with Dybala/Higuain and Ronaldo supported by Ramsey/Bernardeschi or two wingers. Not even taking into account his midfield options which I think for any club, regardless of what people think of the likes of Khedira and Matuidi to have them with all their experience on either side of Pjanic, as well as having options such as Bentancur, Rabiot, Ramsey who can play on the left or right side of a 3 or even in a 2, I think if he wasnt able to be flexible with those he would never be able to. Obviously beat Inter as well as managing the game well. His system and selection worked. He seems to be adapting his way of setting his sides up a bit, they can go a lot more varied and play direct passes as opposed to just constantly keeping it short and inviting a press to play through it, especially against Inter which worked quite well. Maybe learning after his spell here about the fact that his philosophy needed tweaks here and there. Still really excited to see how Serie A ends up this season, Conte, Sarri, Carlo all managing the most likely clubs to compete for the title. Think Juve will win it still but it will be intriguing to say the least to see how those other 2 fair and if anyone else comes to the fore. AC Milan an absolute shambles which is a shame for the Italian league though.

Ndombele is already comfortably one of Spurs plus points this season if not the only one. He is a brilliant footballer, great mix of physical and technical attributes.

Which was the exact same reasoning for Juan Cuadrado when we signed him. Ample chances or not, there is no guarantee Salah could have done that here based off 5 months in Fiorentina. Maybe made folk understand he should of been given more of a chance yes but weve seen things not sork out with a variety of players at different clubs for whatever reasons. Plus for me, Salahs best football in Italy came in a Roma shirt, 100%.

Again though Salah and De Bruyne all those years ago werent even half the players they are now. I have doubts if both Salah or De Bruyne would have ever turned out so good if they stayed here, even if they played because the demands and expectations at Fiorentina, Roma and Wolfsburg are lower and they maybe gave these guys more of a platform to do their thing. Frank even alluded to it prior to playing Liverpool that Salah has talent but didnt dislodge or play as good as the others in his position when Frank was still playing. Fair to say sometimes these things dont work out for whatever reasons. Fair enough they hardly got sufficient chances but again, if someone said to me that the same kid who couldnt even look half interested for us against Shrewsbury I think it was, who was asked to stay back and train with the reserves by Jose instead of going to the Basel game in the CL and would only make say 10 appearances max for us, would turn into one of the best attacking midfielders on the planet I would have laughed, as would many Id imagine, plain and simple as that.

Not certain that Villas-Boas would of been for that. A presentation does sound like him and okay he did talk about the PL needing a B team league to bridge the gap but he came from Porto where their youth academy is a huge part of how they operate, as well as the whole Portuguese leagues culture. Also the fact he targeted/signed lots of younger players during his time here, Courtois, Lukaku, Romeu, De Bruyne, Davila, Omeruo, Piazon, Bamford (although Lukaku, Courtois and de Bruyne had been scouted by the club beforehand I am certain but he was the manager when they signed so you could say he had a say or an idea regarding them). He also wanted Thiago Alcantara, Andre Schurrle, did play Sturridge a lot, showed faith in Romeu over Mikel too when others wouldnt have and promoted Bertrand to the first team squad. I know they arent academy players and am not certain his youth record is great either though which maybe doesnt help the argument but I think he wouldnt of been wanting to close the academy, he always talked and seemed more worried about a long term change at Chelsea in style and seemed to want to phase out some of the senior players instantly. I do reckon it was Mourinhos 2nd spell. Sounds like something he would do. The whole academy day bullshit after playing Ruben for 20 mins or whatever it was too, it reeks of him. Also the whole academy should be used to make money bit, Jose talked about Chelsea's net spend and FFP in his second spell here a lot. Could argue Conte maybe as well but for me sounds more Jose esque.

He doesn't strike me as someone who would really want to play for either. Some players want Madrid or Juventus because of their history etc but I geniuenly believe he is more than happy in England and at Chelsea.

Yeah I agree but I also think irrelevant of what team is at the top at this stage, be it City or Liverpool, we should just be thinking about getting as many points on the board and not being overly concerned how those two are doing. Just get as many points as possible and let them and the other teams fighting for the top 4 places worry about us. A title challenge was realistically never an expectation at the start of the season but as youve said, Frank and the boys could sense an opportunity looking at this next run and perhaps we could surprise many folk by getting as many points as possible in these next 9 or 10 league games or whatever it is. If we are still there and there's about come February/March, yes 100% start taking more of an interest in their results but I think for us especially at this stage, its too early to be worrying about those 2 when the likes of Arsenal, Spurs, Leicester and even West Ham will all be looking towards top 4/6 finishes too.

His mentality is likely going to be his biggest issue at Real. If he didnt expect that media scrutiny at Real then he clearly has no idea. For someone who dreamed of playing for Real as well, surely he would of expected it? If i am honest it sounds like an excuse more than anything.

Well he certainly took his time to decide to renew. Again a lot of talking but a young guy who is still learning, maybe just let your football do the talking and get on with it.... plenty of opportunities for him now again to kick on and show his worth but for saying the club have done a lot for him and whatever else he is coming out with he would of renewed a lot lot sooner in my opinion.

I watched the game last night and I think everything half decent that Inter managed to come up with, in terms of getting through Juventus' press and at their back 4, Lukaku was involved some how, be it holding the ball up or bringing others into it. Think he really suits Conte's system, he doesn't do anything spectacular but what he is asked and the basics. Then he will score goals on top of that. Plus we've all seen how Conte has used what you could call more limited players in the past upfront likes of Vucinic, Quagriarella, Pelle etc in a 3-5-2 and managed to get goals as well as effective performances out of them and these guys were by no means top top players. Even here Costa was arguably more key to how we played under Conte than with any other manager I felt. More involved maybe a better way to put it. Plus its obvious Conte wants Lukaku, hes obviously a good player but hardly outstanding, although in the right sort of system he will do fine.

He was named the best player at the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup, so it clearly went to his head. Perhaps. But again, I think he will be kicking himself looking at Ruben, Tammy, Mason, Christensen and Tomori who were probably similar ages and went on loan/bid their time. Fair enough it was different managers etc but he could have been more patient or have gone to a more sensible club than Liverpool after us, hes 22 and has a poor goal return in the top flight, 1 PL goal in 3 seasons where he has played maybe 40 times, his most prolific spell was a loan spell at Vitesse too. Not saying he would of absolutely made it here or at Liverpool but to think after being the best player at an U20 World Cup means anything hugely important outside of the U20s, meh I don't know. I still think that the PL needs to bridge the gap between the u23s and the first team to help. He still has plenty time but Bournemouth have got decent enough strikers who are scoring in the PL that I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up on the move again in the next year or so.

Again come the end of the season, the majority of these pundits will change their tune. Personally I think Jorginho was doing things last season in phases that he is doing now, creating good chances, recovering balls, making interceptions despite his defensive side of his game being critically analysed almost every 2nd week by folk like Rio Ferdinand, who lets no forget as good a defender and player as he was, has said some ridiculous things like United are back under Ole after an inevitable bounce period that most top clubs get with new managers who haven't alienated half of a temperamental squad. I don't think Sarri's stubbornness and insistence on playing him every week helped as well as it being a first season in a different league among other things but he got a lot of stick which was undeserved and I won't forget when he got boo'd by the fans either which I think is a disgrace by all accounts. The whole 2000 passes and 0 assists comment last year was one of the fucking stupidest things I think I have ever heard. I mean its obvious hes not a number 10 or a box to box midfielder or winger so why was his assists a huge topic of interest? Even then out of those 2000 passes probably 2/3s went forward and undoubtedly a percentage of these led to chances or key passes prior to a chance being created. I mean how many chances did Jorginho set Higuain, Morata, Willian, Eden, Pedro etc up for last season that they fucked? Its absolutely baffling. I mean the numbers don't look great but stats can be misleading, it maybe looked like he was just passing it square at every opportunity but once you get into the games and watch them, he wasn't just passing square. Anyways, a number 6 in a 433 isn't there to score a hattrick every week or assist 20 goals a season either. I mean even then when Cesc left he said in an interview that Sarri stopped having players run beyond the striker, I don't think it is any coincidence that Jorginho started to get criticised for passing sideways and backwards after that period, when the likes of Barkley or Kovacic stopped running ahead of the midfield like they did in games vs Arsenal, Southampton, whoever else early doors. I watched Newcastle v United the other day, they lined up with Mata as a number 10 and I see a similar situation albeit different positions. No third man runs, everything short and to feet, predictable. I mean how many times did we see David Luiz kick long diagonals to Pedro last season? Other than Pedro who else did that when we hit a bad run of form and performances? People also talk about passing range, you don't need to be able to pass the ball 50 or 60m if you can create a chance by passing it 20m or play a key pass that is 5-10m . I honestly don't understand people must think that he has to be playing these sweeping hollywood passes every 2nd pass like Charlie Adam used to do for Blackpool and Liverpool, absolutely unnecessarily at times. There's a member on here we were debating about his passing range, the likes of Alonso and Pirlo came up who were top class players and perhaps unfair to compare many midfielders to, where or not his range is good or bad or okay or not okay etc but like many folk on here, I watch a of other European games when I can as well and you don't always see Verratti, Thiago, Pjanic, Modric, Kroos, Busquets etc passing the ball longer than 30m more than on average four or five times in a lot of games because all these teams like to play quick, short passes into attacking players and they always seem to have forward movement and good options off the ball. I just think the whole Sarriball thing didn't help him, it was very uncompromising and unvaried in how the team would approach the games even when it was going well but for me, you can see in any system with any manager he is a top player.

Why has selling/loaning him been up for discussion in any context after 10 or 15 games into his first season in a different league, under a new manager who wasnt in charge when he originally signed? Really really baffles me. I get it the knives were out as people seen him as Hazards replacement (which is unfair and not true, plus its Chelsea FC not Hazard FC) but in all fairness and this is maybe controversial but I think we are playing much better without Eden. People thought and maybe myself included we would struggle without him but I think theres more of an emphasis on playing as a collective and other players taking on more initiative/responsibility than before now that hes not here. Similar scenario to what Arsenal had when Henry left and United had when Ronaldo left. Others have stepped up. Based on how Edens fairing at Madrid you could argue that moving him on at that time was the right thing to do with these young guys breaking through. For me Pulisics assist was the pick of the bunch (or joint with CHOs for Tammy). If the likes of a David Silva, Bernardo Kevin De Bruyne etc played that pass theyd be talking about it for weeks, looks simple but the weight of pass and spotting that run, really good. Him and Michy have good chemistry on the pitch, you could see Pulisic would get close to him and they played some nice combinations (believe it was the same at Dortmund). His time will come this season when he gets more and more minutes, I dont doubt that, if anyone is doubting him they should watch the super cup and that assist, its only a few incidents but its clear that there is ability and talent there.

1 PL goal (was in 2017/18) in 30-40 games maybe suggests he should of been a bit more patient and went on loan again to develop rather than spit the dummy out. How he has an England cap is utter madness as well.

Only 8 games in and for me, I would be more concerned about how far or close we are to first position regardless of an individual team. Great finish Batshuayi. Amazing pass by Pulisic.

Hudson Odoi looked sluggish. Final ball and finishing needs huge work. Should maybe have taken him off earlier. Still good assist first half for Tammy and there were good moments but work to be done yet. Alonso top marks today. Responding again after a run out the team.

Even if the ref didnt give it there and then theyd review it with VAR... that's why it is there. If refs miss things they get a shout from VAR who review a lot of incidents during the game or if they need to confirm decisions, again VAR. So technically VAR doing the right thing makes teams lucky? People bitched about referee incompetence for a long time now there is a method of eliminating mistakes, people say its lucky. Dont worry I am an aethist as well 🤣

Call it luck but I would say that if you continue to press to 94th minute and end up winning a penalty, youve. made your own luck so to speak. I hope this happens to us this season snd see what the reaction is like lucky or deserved... If there is clear contact in the box its obviously a penalty though? Isnt it? Thats the rule? I was debating whether its lucky or not. If you continue pressing to the 94th minute and end up getting the ball back in the opposition box is that luck or reward for still sticking to your game plan and pressing/hunting the ball that late? Maybe two individual errors help but at the same time, 94th minute 1-1 you could excuse a team for dropping into a block and taking a point but they didnt. They went for it and got 2 extra points. Typical signs of championship winning teams are late goals and riding out a storm in the game (although Leicester didnt offer a huge deal until 2nd half I felt). Obviously its a pen, maybe hes fallen a bit theatrically but its no doubt a penalty as youve said. Good god.

Also true regarding Brighton game. Thought that was a ridiculous call. Even with VAR avaliable too....

Youve got to be kidding me 🤣 I am not a Liverpool fan, fucking hate the bastards with a passion but anyone saying thats not a penalty or lucky that they got it, despite the numerous times they press the ball so well in the oppositions half, is obviously deluded. Their approach of a high press/looking to recover the ball put them in that situation. Albrighton fouls Mane which if Schmeichel didnt rush out like a fucking idiot, he wouldnt need to do as desperately as the net would be covered. If it was a Chelsea player we would all say its a penalty so please stop with the bullshit 🤣 its embarrassing. They even ran it by VAR ffs which is there to make sure refs dont make mistakes.

Luck? They were the best team for 65 minutes... which we have used as a excuse many times this season against United, Liverppol etc and others.... so wouldnt say its luck at all. Obviously disappointed to see them win so late obviously but I think they are definitely in the driving seat for the title race, in comparison to last season, seems to be some sort of know how to get results despite playing averagely and then late goals is something that all title winning teams get be it corners, penalties, from open play etc. Wouldnt say its lucky Albrighton gave a ridiculous penalty away after Schmeichel came flying out as well like a bat out of hell 🤣 absolutely comical defending again and people think Leicester will compete for top 4... May have looked soft but nobody can complain we would of wanted it for that theatrics or not.

Leicester wow what the fuck is Albrighton doing 🤣 why put your foot in there that is clearly a penalty, ridiculous decision to even try tackle from there and no idea what Schmeichel was doing either.