OneMoSalah

To be honest 35M and a fuck tonne in wages (apparently we offered a good bit more than Pool) for a player who wouldn’t of necessarily wanted to play as a wing back which is where Conte told him he saw him playing (despite AOC skill set being suited to it), it wasn’t worth the risk. I’m glad he’s at a team that’s struggling, we’ve not done exceptionally either but you can guarentee we will turn it around we have a better team with more experience in winning trophies/competing for trophies in my eyes. I think in the future he will rue the decision especially towards the latter stages of his career because I guarantee Chelsea will have more trophies than Liverpool in that period. I guarentee he will still be a player with no definitive position or role by then too.

Think he will grow into a more rounded player yet. Some good things, some bad things, seems to intercept ball a lot but seems really ponderous on the ball no idea what to do with it at times but also then you see at times he can play some tricky first passes. He does go missing too which is a major concern considering he’s a more defensive minded player. Somebody mentioned Tolisso above me (on spare phone other ones getting fixed, real pain to try quote) but he has been extremely poor and out of his depth at Bayern, Chelsea isn’t Bayern but Chelsea aren’t Lyon either. Always a risk.

He definitely looked a lot better on the ball here than at Bolton and also seemed to read the play slightly better. I think on a whole he improved because of the fact playing in Europe as well against higher standards of teams as well as competing with the higher standards of players that were at the club in comparison to Bolton. He was in the PL team of the year for two or three seasons running as well I’m sure so surely he had to have improved (system maybe suited him better under Jose too, two sitting MF players offering protection with a narrow back 4 was a common thing). It’s fair to say now maybe he struggles on that left side because teams isolate him yes but when he played in a back 4 on the right side he was more than capable of distributing the ball sure he wasn’t doing anything particularly amazing because he was in a team that most games would have the majority of the ball, although like I mentioned about wide CB in a back 3 they have to be more progressive with the ball and play more in the opposition half at times than a CB in a back 4 (or most of the time). To be honest I think he does need to be taken out the first 11 for a while. Or maybe redeployed to the right side of the back 3 is Azpi ever missed a match, maybe be more comfortable there but still not a excuse for piss poor performances we’ve seen at times. Also if he gets a renewal it will be the standard one year but I don’t think Conte is afraid to phase guys out, he literally played Terry in a few games at the start last season then took him out and he rarely ever played bar cup matches.

Yeah I hope that if they do give him a contract it’s a more reduced role. I think though to say he’s not evolved or improved as a player here is harsh, he had a baptism of fire against Napoli with Luiz under AVB and his back 2 (probably was considering the full backs were about 50m out of position every time 😂) but honestly I think when we played a back 4 over the years until that disaster season after winning the title he was deservedly starting, he was usually always preferred by Di Matteo, Benitez, Mourinho and Hiddink ahead of David Luiz (the rash as fuck younger one, well maybe he still can be but suppose we’re nowhere near as much exposed with a back 3 as we were at times with a back 4 😂) and others in central defence. I think GCs lost a yard of two of pace and it’s showing as well as the fact he’s starting to be targeted a bit more by teams or has been the last two seasons which has made him panicky, also you’ve mentioned regarding the lack of ambition with the ball at times (think being right footed on left not completely helpful, was same with Azpi at LB in the past too) but I agree, the wide CBs really need to be able to step up and play a bit more maybe be a bit riskier with it. I hate to say it but I really think Spurs with (can’t remember who’s exactly where) Sanchez/Dier/Alderwereild on the right and Vertonghen on the left are perfect examples when they play a back 3. Like you’ve said if GC can’t go to Alonso he goes safe, which not always bad but not always good either, where as his Spurs counterpart JV is very comfortable at playing a grounded pass through the lines into the feet of an Alli/Kane/Eriksen at times or travelling with the ball into the space, I just don’t see that with GC, although there’s also the chance such a pass isn’t on as nobody’s made themselves available at times. I hope we look to invest in a good left footed CB who can play a bit more for that role next season (as I was hoping for in the summer window just past in all honestly) because it would help building from the back. Also if he’s a bit calmer when defending too at times, would be helpful. Although all in all with that being said, some of the criticism of him has been OTT. Like Brana, Willian, Mikel, whoever else has gotten it tough few years. Also maybe post better suited for GC thread. 😂 Azpi is class though hope he retires here.

Glad he’s getting minutes still and really like him as a player but there was has been a few concerns for me with him and the rest of the defence recently. For Everton’s goal he really should do better, judge the flight of the ball after Rudiger tries to deal with it rather than just kind of guess and make an arse of whatever he was trying to do. Even before it Rudiger is all over the place dealing with a high ball, the whole airkick/attempted airkick/withdrawn airkick from AC really just lets Niasse waltz past him (ok yeah sure I know he couldn’t risk fouling him but he can read it better) and then Rudiger and Cahills attempted dealing with ball across box whatever you want to call it is ridiculously poor. I know the Roma game was a week or two ago but for Kolarov’s goal he has to go out quicker too/continue going out to him, he seems to be going out to meet him, hesitates, then again decides to close him down and boom it’s a goal albeit a cruel deflection but if he doesn’t stop he gives Kolarov a split second less and perhaps he blocks the shot. Also I think somebody has mentioned for the Dzeko goal, but my take on it was that it really it was lazy more than anything, really poor to not be as tight to someone of that quality, fair enough it’s a 1/10 chance of him finishing from there on his weaker foot (although having seen Dzeko when he played in Bundesliga and in Engiand too he was always exceptional at shooting with both feet) but even then Dzeko’s not even remotely fast, sure his movement is good but Andreas tracks him. Maybe he doesn’t expect him to shoot from that angle but again he could be a lot tighter. Although the team and defence as a whole, was pretty poor that game as well and Christensen was probably the least of our worries in a very mixed performance. I know it’s maybe not much to analyse or think about and it could be being picky but there has been more said about less in the past so I think it’s only right to look at those incidents as weak defending. Anyway as the season goes on he will maybe rectify those mistakes in similar situations. Other than that his distribution and calmness has been immense along with most of the other aspects of his performances for a guy of his age, albeit he has top level experience but he has made mistakes and will continue to do so because he’s young. I hope Conte stays for the remainder of his contract so we can continue with a back 3, as the central birth is tailor made for Andreas and I think he can really bring him up another level defensively because I know for from watching Conte’s Juventus and Italy teams, their starting points was a formidable defence and I think that every team regardless of manager, frontline, midfield is useless without a good solid defence (look at Liverpool).

I think for him as well the team needs to try cross the ball a bit more often at times rather than trying to play through the middle with one twos etc, he can do both, clearly, but in the box he is always moving, always sharp as we’ve already seen. He scored a lot of headers for Real and he has got a few for us as well.

I wouldn’t go as far as that based on one game but he is a decent option to have although like I said it’s only one game, he needs more minutes. Cesc even with his limitations positionally and physically is still a lot better for me.

They will be right up for this. Fair enough that guy from their academy is in interim charge but even their first half against Arsenal they were really aggressive and pressed, so don’t be surprised if they are right at it for the full game because they’ve been shocking so far this season and I’m sure they’ll have a point to prove after going to shit against Arsenal. Plus we should be looking to try progress in these cups and win them this season as we have no chance winning the league the rate City are going at.

Board can be blamed and a lot of it is deserved due to poor summer recruitment/lack of recruitment but tonight Antonio must take the brunt of the blame for how he set the team up and how he didn’t react to what Roma were doing. The 352 was a disaster because we sat in with a back 5 and their full backs were spare every time they had the ball until we went to a 343 and pushed up. It was blatantly obvious it wasn’t working the whole first half, he should of changed it at half time, it was painful watching us at times. Roma just pinned our wing backs back and we couldn’t get out. They looked like a real top team, they are good yes but we made it easy for them.

Completely outplayed. Roma looked a proper team while we looked like a group of individuals that were all over the place. I totally underestimated how good Roma were too, hopefully we get it together for the game against Watford. Atletico drawing earlier too was a missed opportunity.

I know what you meant regarding the Ballon d’Or and maybe furfulling more but the point is still he can improve here yet and be as influential as he has been in title successes like we’ve seen in the past few years. For me he shouldn’t be looking and going well I can’t push myself more here so I have to go to Ronaldo’s Real or Messi’s Barcelona and be just a cog (a very good cog) in comparison to the “main cog” he is at Chelsea. Some of the players around him can do better too yes but I think looking at that game (1 game but was shockingly unusual from him) it’s fair to say the effort and performances of Palaces guys in comparison to us that if we could of had De Bruyne, David Silva, Paul Pogba, Leroy Sane... anybody else you want bar the two big hitters and we’d probably still have lost just because of the application more than anything else. The team needs improvement, I still think we could of gotten a Sanchez, Douglas Costa (well maybe not doing poorly for Juventus) or Bernardo Silva in the summer but we didn’t, so who do you go for? The team isn’t that bad, the squad is light in depth but we knew that, there arent a great deal of players at that level that are easily obtainable. Guys like Ross Barkley would of been a mistake as would Riyhad Mahrez. Ultimately I reckon the summer window will come back to bite us in the arse come the end of the season. Still think the clubs ambitious, just not able to compete with the lure of a Mourinho or Pep or willing to run the risks of FFP like United, City, Real, Barca, PSG whoever else.

I see more of Brazil than Bordeaux so hopefully Malcolm gets a chance in the NT, either that or I’ll have to watch a bit more Ligue 1. Fekir though will be an excellent player if he can stay fit

His poorest performance for us so far. Just looked lost, he is slow but even against fast opponents he has done a lot better. His performance against Tottenham where he was definitely our best player, extremely solid defensively as well as offering something offensively, seems like a while ago now. Hopefully he gets a kick up the arse!! He’s also played like every game and most of the minutes in the league since arriving last season, won’t be long before fatigue possibly comes in, maybe not but it will at some point eventually if he’s flogged again this season.

The analysis they did on MOTD of Batshuayi’s movement v Palace was horrible in comparison to the few clips they showed of Tammy v Huddersfield. Scary how he times his runs almost perfectly and 9 times out of 10 he tests the keeper. I can see him getting 10+ this season (he has 5 already, 10-15 is definitely achievable) for Swansea and that will be an extraordinary achievement considering how poor a side they are devoid of creativity.

Hopefully he’s not rushing him back. He was patient with Hazard but he had a worse injury fair enough but even then I have a feeling Conte might risk Morata even if he’s not ready because the alternative options aren’t great. It could be a bad move or maybe Spain just shat the bed regarding the injury and it’s nowhere near as bad as they thought. Anyway all I know is we need Morata back fully fit and in the team.

Fekir really has caught my eye the last wee whiley since his injury recovery. Somebody who as well as being an extremely talented player always makes a difference be it goals or assists. I think if he keeps going at the rate he is so far this season (9 games, 7 goals, 4 assists already) then he will be lined up for a big move somewhere. He’d make a good alternative here, plus he has the profile to play as a second striker if we were to continue experimenting with 352. Heard things about Malcolm but not seen much of him, apparently he’s started the season very well, maybe try keep an eye out for him.

I don’t get the first bit. He has one dreadful game, you’ve said nothing about his performance... hinting he should look to leave? Or as you put it “he would be a fool to sign a new contract”, what!?!? What a load of shite. The team is built around him, has been for years, he has a shocker and your talking about him having bigger ambitions? A lot of people mention Eden and Ballon d’Or but I’m sure we would rather see the club win titles than him win an individual award, he’s probably the same. Also he’s at the stage where if he is going to ever win the Ballon d’Or ahead of a Ronaldo, Messi, Neymar he’s going to have score 30+ a season and I honestly cannot see him doing that because he isn’t selfish enough as a player so to speak. Ronaldo and Messi won’t go on forever but they will still be huge players in 2 or 3 years when Edens heading towards his late 20s. They are untouchables for me. Every player should be held to the same standards of criticism or praise regardless of if there Eden Hazard or not: if people are willing to criticize Willian, Pedro, Batshuayi, Cahill, Moses then it’s only right that they understand when people criticize Hazard, Azpilicueta, David Luiz etc in the same manner if it’s appropriate. Or praise them when they do well. Not aimed towards you Leif, just a general post but there are a lot of double standards when it comes to some players at the club. Eden has avoided a lot of criticism because he’s played well or been the sort of go to guy when the teams looked poor but his performance against Palace was as bad as anything I’ve ever seen from Willian or Pedro in the last few years, purely for a lack of effort more than anything else. For somebody who’s reportedly going to be getting offered a deal worth 300k a week, more than anybody in else in the PL, you don’t expect to see a lack of effort, let alone a lack of effort and extremely poor performance combined.

Yeah he struggles with real pace in 1 v 1s. He’s really strong in the air and can provide a threat from free kicks and corners and deal with high balls well, which is a reason why I think he gets picked against teams like Arsenal, who struggle to deal with set plays and your West Hams, Stokes, Palaces because they rely on a lot of set plays (normally). I am happy enough to see Cahill defending higher up the pitch because normally he will make a successful challenge but like you said in the box he can panic and stands off at times. He also made a couple of blocks/deflections, one that prevented a sure goal for me, but he has to get dropped for Rudiger, he just oozes calmness in comparison to Cahill and is much more mobile (Cahill getting older and I think he’s lost a yard or two of pace, fair enough he’s not quite JT slow but he was quicker over the ground a number of years back). In all honesty everybody struggled yesterday against Zaha and Townsend upfront, it was a bold tactical ploy by Hodgson and I have to say it worked they gave he wide CBs the run around especially. Obviously it was something they looked at and I reckon other teams will follow suit.

As long as he’s back at 100% for the game against United. No need to rush it, I’d rather have him fit against them because it will be a huge game, that if we get him and Morata back, we could win based on how United approached the Liverpool game (cant see us playing like we did against Palace today against United).

Okay fair enough, he was still by a mile the best player for us that year and I doubt we’d of even gone as far in the CL or been were we were in the league without him but still you expect a 19/20 year old to be a main player here ahead of Willian, who when he is in form is a good option, or Pedro, who same again showed last season he is more than capable of being a match winner. I would of been happy to have seen us taken an upgrade in the summer if we could of gotten someone like a Bernardo Silva or Alexis Sanchez as most of us would of been but we didn’t. It’s the old everybody wants young players to play thing ahead of the older experienced players who are “shite” and or out of form, but then if they do and don’t provide people will have expected too much too early and they will fizzle out. I don’t think Charly is ready to be a regular here because if he was he would be, Christensen hasnt started every game but he’s in the squad and played regularlyish but he’s had 2 full seasons of playing every week at a high level in Germany and CL to prepare him, where as Charly hasn’t and has shown not much bar a goal against a championship team, where other than that he looked meh. This season has been odd, it started poorly and picked up and a few injuries havent helped but summer recruitment was poor regardless (options at CF, LWB, RW or 10), I still think Conte was desperate for another wide player/10 who’s further on in their development to have as an option as opposed to Charly and would expect the same again come January or next summer.

I wouldn’t say Conte is getting found out or that he is not a tactical mastermind as you put it. The players were embarrassing today in all reality, Palace are 20th, they obviously thought it would be easy and it was anything but and even then the application from guys like Hazard, Willian, Batshuayi, Alonso, Moses in attacking situations was poor. Conte managed to take a team who looked disorganised and flat under Mourinho and Hiddink in a 4231 and also looked out of shape in a 433/4141 he used against Arsenal and Liverpool to Premier League champions in his first season using a 343 formation, which worked very well. Also if last season didn’t go as well as it did there would be no problems, like with players form, managers go through periods where they get lots of wins and runs where they get loses and draws. It is to be expected. I think he showed with the way he set the team up against Atletico as well he is a very good tactician who can be adaptable and also against West Brom last season where they played with what looked like a back 6, Antonio changed it up and it worked but I don’t think Pep Guardiola or Jose Mourinho would be happy about the options as well as the profile of the players he has as back ups to the likes Ngolo Kante (Danny Drinkwater if he ever gets fit), Alvaro Morata (Michy Batshuayi) and Marcus Alonso (Kenedy). Like somebody said up there or maybe it was in another thread, we are two or three injuries away from looking an average team/squad and right now Morata and Kante, two of our most important players are out and if we lose Alonso then god knows what will happen as he is the only natural left sided defender/wing back in the squad because Kenedy is more of a forward (Azpi is better as a wide CB than as a wing back for me despite his performance today). We are on a bit of a shit run, 2 defeats, 2 poor performances and another tough PL game is coming up against Watford after the CL game but if we come out of this next week with two wins everybody will be happy.

I honesty think this is a pointless topic to discuss, every time he plays good people say oh we shouldn’t of sold him but Mourinho would of killed his development, for me that is a guarantee, KdB would of been playing as a right winger (like Mata) or like Oscar, as a 10 who essentially sacrificed his more creative, flair side to chase players in a proactive, low block, counter attacking team. He wasn’t even anywhere near as good as he is now when he was here and I doubt many of us thought he’d ever be as good as he is, which I’d say he is in the top 5 attacking MF players in Europe, (some of the Belgian guys who knew him from Genk maybe expected him to be that good fair enough), the season and a half at Wolfsburg really made him grow and even the previous two years at City working with Pellegrini and Pep have really helped him.

I don’t know, they went through our midfield easily at times too. Similar to the issues we had with Cesc and Matic in a 2 a few years ago, one of the two being exposed (when your chasing a game it can happen sure). Think the 3 we played against Atletico worked so well because Fabregas’ lack of mobility and positional sense was well covered by Bakayoko and Kante’s athleticism and positional sense and vice versa because of Cescs ability to play penetrating passes and controlling the game from deep.

9 points behind City going to be hard to get back. Can’t see them dropping many points they’ve got the perfect squad in terms of options/depth. We need to try sign 2 or 3 guys in January although I doubt we’ll get anything like what we were linked to in the summer (Alex Sandro, Alexis Sanchez, Bonucci - those sort of level players).

Yeah let’s recall somebody who’s played almost every game at Swansea to sit on the bench and only play 10-20 mins a game or if Morata, a player with a pretty good record with injuries, gets injured. I agree we need someone else but wouldn’t want to see Tammys development ruined for the sake of 10 games a season instead of 35-40.