OneMoSalah

To be fair it comes from committing too many men up field. Not an individual error by Cucurella by any means - he’s actually been relatively solid so far but he's always going to be exposed to a degree with the shape and with his role in the back 3 because he effectively becomes the LB in possession. I mean the ball is great but its far too simple to get into that position for them. If the goalscorer doesn’t get it the man Sterling (I’m assuming its his man) has let go is likely getting it. Which this defies logic even more why GP is insistent on using Sterling as a wingback positionally.

The BT Sport pundits getting hugely excited about us playing well against a very very average team who have posed no thread. Granted we are playing well tonight but it looks like Potter is going to get us some major love from the pundits like Frank did for a short period when he came in. I mean - we should be playing well with this squad against this mob. For me, I don’t think theres been a hugely noticeable difference with Potter, his style and system compared to TT’s as of yet. I am seeing a lot of the same patterns in the first and second third when building up, some which we also seen with Conte in terms of building out in 3 v 2 situations and finding the spare man etc. As well as playing with that same double 6 in midfield…. And again - what is the point in worrying about how well your team plays you concede a goal in that fashion. Ridiculously easy.

What I also dont like or get is why GP insists on using Sterling as a wingback. Hes the sort of guy who you want in and around the box… I mean just look at his City career and the goals he gets…. put him in and around the 18 yard box and hes going to score.

Aubamayang and Havertz 2 massive chances. At least Auba’s wasnt as tame an effort but Havertz man.. wake up. Any other sort of decent contact thats 2-0. Didn’t want it enough.

Not going to lie but Koulibaly has been pretty awful for us so not so sure its as easy a fix as changing Cucurella out for him.

What a crock of shite. Tuchel won a CL with 75% of this squad. Arguably, you could say the squad is better now than it was then. I mean Sterling is an improvement, Cucurella is an improvement, Aubamayang is an improvement, fair enough losing Rudiger and even Christensen but we’ve not necessarily downgraded hugely on them. People complained TT had us playing poorly with this squad… now Potters in, nobody in the world could beat teams with this squad? Jesus. Next week it’ll be back to “this squad should be playing better”….

We shouldn’t be so reliant on one wing back though. I mean the systems heavily reliant on them stretching the pitch, creating overloads and freeing up spaces for the attackers but between Cucurella and Chilwell, who should be more than enough to offer some sort of threat on the left hand side depending who starts, they haven’t necessarily done it. Chilwell has yet to excite me fully as a Chelsea player and his lack of intent in the final third is painful to watch. He doesn’t arrive with purpose that the likes of a Andy Robertson does, or even like Cucurella at Brighton last season - which hopefully MC offers eventually. Also tonight his marking of Casemiro for that goal, I agree with Roy Keanes analysis, its a half hearted jump.

Abysmal defending. But to be expected. Kepa desperately unfortunate but also some header. Another 2 points thrown away because we should of seen that game out.

I think it was blatantly obvious before a ball was kicked to see that playing a 2 man MF (Jorginho and RLC as a pair was daft) against United’s 3 was always going to be a bad idea. Particularly when you consider the mix of athleticism and quality Casemiro, Eriksen and Fernandes have. Or watched United’s performances against Spurs who even switched to a 3-5-2 to line up against United’s 3 man MF. I mean its not out of the ordinary to know that 3 v 2 is always a mismatch, is it?

Inherited a squad brimmed with talented players though, that have won a CL, Super Cup, Club World Cup etc. Yes we have a few injuries but to go in to a home game against Man United who are becoming a more possession based team, playing a midfield 2 (one of them being RLC) up against Casemiro, Eriksen and Fernandes was amateurish. And that was on the manager. Look at the difference when Kova came on and we went 4-3-3. Madness it took him 30 odd minutes to come to that conclusion for me.

Potter getting outmanoeuvred tactically by ten Hag so far. Outnumbered in MF and the ease in which United are going through us is ridiculous. They’ve got us pinned in really, can’t get the wing backs into the game to stretch the pitch and the attackers not seeing enough of it. A big save by Kepa. Also I’ll be the first to say it, TT wouldn’t be getting outdone tactically by EtH. We need to make changes to even things up in midfield, although looks like Mounts dropping in more.

True but again, this run will do his confidence the world of good. And his kicking ability ties in with how we build up a lot better than Mendys does. Its like a nice wee redemption story for somebody who has been harshly over criticised at times when he struggled also. Defensively we need to be much better still as a team and this high pressing approach people believed GP would bring, it is also needing improved upon.

Another big performance. Defence aren’t helping him one bit though.

Neymar? No thanks. Like Ronaldo, another very stupid transfer to make.

I am sorry but if we play like we did first half when we come up against United, if they are in the sort of form they are tonight against Spurs, we will get pasted. Havertz is done here also, barring a miracle, I mean what in the fuck sort of generational talent footballer is he meant to be? He is fucking honking.

Being comfortable on the ball is an essential to being a modern day professional footballer though? Even more so as a central defender in this day and age where every Tom, Dick or Harry is a Guardiola acolyte. I mean every half decent team in Europe is proactive with the ball and able to play out to a reasonable degree. So is it really poor man management? Absolutely not. Kvaratskhelia looks like he could be a good player but again, a lot of people are basing this off of like 15 games from his time in Italy with Napoli. And thats it. Still too early to be entirely convinced that he is the real deal and I think he would be wise to remain at Napoli for another season at least and repeat what he’s doing so far. Although football doesn’t always work like that.

Wont see Zakaria. GP doesn’t want him and wants to cut the loan short. Plus its going to be 343/3412, that is obviously our best shape. Even without James.

Playing well but still the king of doing the most pointless step overs when he gets the ball when absolutely not one opposition player is near him. Like he did it when he had about 25m of space and I was sat there like wtf is the point 😂 just sums his career up really. Am expecting this patch to fade and him to leave eventually. Unless he wants to be a squad player.

I think with the way Graham Potter likes his teams to build out from the back it was always a given Kepa was going to get a fair shot at least due to his technical and distribution skills but I didn’t expect him to start as often as he has so far. But you can see he is always an option when we have the ball and he is much much more comfortable than Mendy in this regard. Wonder if anyone will claim the board have asked GP to play him like they did in previous seasons with Frank or TT 🤣?

Abysmal again for me. Literally an eyesore watching him. Useless.

Tomori would of been perfect to play where he did here under Frank in a back 3 with TT or even on the right. Plus I have every faith he wouls of plaued more often with TT than with Frank the second season. And with Rudiger going, he would of been a shoe in perhaps but to be fair, (what looked like) a lack of belief in him and chances he got under Frank sealed his fate. And for someone in his situation, when a club like Milan come knocking, particularly with Maldini fronting a lot of their transfer activities, the history of players like him, Baresi, Nesta etc weaved into their history, its a once in a life time chance and a tough call for any young defender. He's no doubt improved a lot but I feel he would of done so here with Thiago Silva (who definitely had a positive influence on Rudi and Andreas as did TT) and the managers system, as well as due to his talent, which was there. Guehi is good too but I think Tomori is definitely a much much bigger fuck up. Between the board and Frank, putting him on a loan there with an option was mental. I mean its mind boggling. You don’t do that unless both club and manager are more than happy to let a player go either so the blames definitely as much on Frank as the folk on the board.

No he’s not a nobody perhaps but he’s hardly a elite level central defender. I mean he’s a reasonably solid squad player and even then, you can bet Pep won’t pick him regularly when he has all his CBs back fit and available, I mean hes no better than Ake and hes a pretty average CB. Dortmund were eager to sell because he had 1 year left on his deal and he declined a new contract, plus anyone who’s watched Dortmund over the years know he hasn’t exactly been a revelation for them and they could afford to let him go. I mean I think him going to City was a surprise for many, he was available for transfer all summer and nobody went for him at that price barring City at the last minute due to Ake picking up an injury on top of the already injured Laporte not being closer to fitness. But because he’s doing well for City (think he’s played 4 games, Seville, Dortmund, Wolves and United - ironically two teams have ended up sacking their managers for very subpar performances this season - particularly in attack) we should have “been all over him” as if he is any better than who we went after or who we signed. If people said last summer we should replace Rudiger or Christensen with Akanji, they would of laughed. We needed to target top level CBs to replace the 2 good players we lost. Not a rotational player/squad player in that position because Azpi and Chalobah can already do that roles. If he plays for City regularly for 2 or 3 years when everyone’s fit I will eat my words but I significantly doubt it. Also without question Kimpbembe is a vastly superior player, absolutely, so makes sense why we were going after him. Even without considering the more obvious reason of his quality, he is a mobile, strong, left sided central defender who is comfortable in a back 3 or 4. Which would of been a pretty good buy to take Rudigers role as TT continued with a back 3.

Playing at home though. Will expect them to play better.

Much better tonight. Much much better. Maybe helps when Chilwell stays high and wide as opposed to coming inside a lot more also. Creates more space for the likes of Mount, Sterling etc inside.

May have kept a clean sheet but Koulibaly and Fofana look off it defensively for me. Koulibaly seems to be late to everything and Fofana never close enough. I know Fofana went off injured but this is an accumulation of a lot of his appearances here. Ruben & Reece be fantastic though - although Milan lacked a lot of first 11 players and will be a different proposition next time.