OneMoSalah

Also true but I think those 2 were much better at it, seemed much more natural. De Bruyne would also be in with a shout but think he and Pedro are probably similar level for that too.

I am sorry but what in the fuck would Alexi Lalas know about being too good for somebody? He was a fucking nobody and is only remembered because of his his hair and beard at the 1994 World Cup 🤣

I would say its more that Barca are desperate to get him out right now than us wanting to get him in. Tuchel got a tune out of him at Dortmund, where he was excellent. Whether or not he could repeat that here who knows but someone with his natural talent and considering how ambidextrous he is as a footballer, I find it strange he’s never really got going properly in Spain. Also any move really depends on Ziyech, Pulisic, Werner and CHOs positions and futures here as in who would be staying and who would be going, because we cannot have too many wide players. He and Santi Cazorla are the most naturally two footed footballers I’ve ever seen in recent times, like basically impeccable technique with both feet to the point where if you didn’t know what foot was their strongest, you couldn’t tell their natural one when watching them.

Staying up? Based on what? Howe has been there since November and they’ve only got 10 points from 10 games under him. Hardly great is it (although an improvement on Steve Bruce’s horrendous start)? Thats a third of the points. Plus if they don’t take more than say 6 or 7 points from the next 5 games they are probably just as good as done. They play Everton, Villa, West Ham, Brentford and Brighton next 5 fixtures. Plus theyve still got to play us, Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham and Man City before the seasons done and realistically thats 15 points you’d expect us and the other 4 teams to get at their expense. Why does everyone think throwing money at players left right and centre is going to hide from the fact they hired an absolutely average coach? With a poor transfer record in the PL? And considering they already have the joint or second worst PL squad barring Norwich’s which is mainly championship quality footballers, thats not good. Also nearly beating United is hardly a barometer for anything these days. Still mortified we only drew with them when they had Carrick as interim manager.

Everton are potentially in a relegation battle for the remainder of the season so if they don’t get this next appointment right it could be catastrophic in the same way Newcastle appointing Howe could/will likely be because I think they alongside Norwich are fucked. The Everton job is a big job too with its own problems - the owners obviously got his opinion and unrealistic expectations for the club based on the money put in, the squads a vastly overpriced mix of players and I don’t think any manager with half a brain should be looking to rush into there, particularly one who hasn’t ever experienced a relegation battle and has had 2 good jobs at clubs who were expected to push for top of the table spots (Derby were in playoffs season before he went there and we finished 3rd season beforehand).

£40m for a CM who will request a relegation clause in his contract and is 75% likely to go for half the price in the summer when Newcastle get relegates. Arsenal been linked for 2 years now.

Yep. Still think for Colwill, who’s only 18 I think, another loan or two on top of this one will be paramount for his development. Another who like Broja (even with the Lukaku situation), theres absolutely no need to rush him into being a Chelsea player for the sake of it. Another 18 months minimum of regular first team football for him, as a young CB particularly, is more essential than replacing Sarr as a player who sits on the bench/plays once every 4-6 weeks. Sarr’s still got plenty growth in him too as a player and all in all I think the more he’s played he will come on. Not expecting him to be a world beater but for another 12-18 months, a solid, dependable option.

From a players point of view though and I don’t care what anyone says, there is nothing more prestigious than playing international football though. Thats never going to change because of what it is and the level of selection available to these NTs. Particularly for players who are eligible for these bigger historical footballing countries like Brazil, England, France, Germany, Holland etc. Usually when folk ask players whats their proudest moments are, playing for or captaining if their lucky enough to, their country and then trophies are always the most common answers. What Messi did was totally different though. Completely. He retired after the Copa America final they lost in 2016 and had to he talked back to the NT by the manager and team mates. People also forget the fact people like Maradona said if Argentina didn’t win the 2016 Copa America they shouldn’t come back home to Argentina as well as the constant criticism of Messi for not winning/delivering any titles for Argentina for years and years prior to that. He also took another break again due to dysfunctional issues around the Argentine Footballing Association and hows it run which resulted in changes. So not even remotely close.

What academy players could fill his position though realistically? Mbuyamba? Hall (although he played out of position in that game)? And even then, the development point you’ve made is also spot on as well as asking if these guys could really cut it against higher level opposition if required. Sarr may not be exceptional but he’s aged 23 and has over 150 professional games under his belt. Bigger concerns than Sarr.

International football is as prestigious as it gets for a player though hence why even at 37 or 38, Silva obviously still remains that keen to play. That will not change for as long as football is played. Plus TS is still just as good as anybody out there and still Brazil’s best CB so I don’t get the logic in a coach making such a deal. And anyway, this ‘deal’ your talking about, when do you see this sort of deal with any other big player for a NT? It doesn’t happen. The closest thing to it is when players return from long term injuries and coaches leave them out as it isn’t best suited to make them play.

Sule is more physical but I don’t think that he’s as good at reading the game or as good technically although he’s obviously not just an average player. I mean there are worse options out there so if it comes to it, could be worse.

Yet “Juve are fucked” although nobody ever mentions other deals by Napoli, Genoa, Sampdoria, Parma, Verona and several other teams are also under investigation, meaning ‘we may have a chance of getting Chiesa’ if you believe some. I wouldn’t be surprised if it blows over and becomes a fine/transfer ban despite the reports of 42 deals involving Juventus. Either way, cannot wait, people will be saying we will be able to get Vlahovic off them cut price next due to this…. Good long term signing for Juve to go with Kean for forward positions but still not fully convinced he would cut it outside Serie A to the same level he does there so probably a safer move also on the players behalf. Will get to see how he does on the European stage also which is just as telling about a players ability.

Dont see why anybody thought he would come here realistically. Having 2 top LBs who are more than good enough to play every week would never of been viable…. just sheer fantasy thinking as if its FIFA or football manager. People always use City’s squad as an example but guaranteed if they weren’t winning trophies regularly it wouldn’t be the same. In fact even winning trophies, look at Ferran Torres going to Barca due to ultimately not playing regularly and potentially it is the same with Raheem Sterling’s in the past 18 months. Even other players like Gabriel Jesus, Aymeric Laporte and Bernardo Silva were constantly talked about being unhappy because of not playing regularly. On Sule & Andreas. Sule replacing Christensen is a downgrade IMO, whilst he is a good player, he isnt as good as Andreas.

They aren’t even close. There is huge, huge doubts Arsenal would even be able to pay the £58.8m for him which is the price Fiorentina want and Juve are reportedly set to free up more funds to buy him to get the move done this month as they are in talks with them just now. Also a lot of talk that he or his agent aren't considering Arsenal or Tottenham as genuine options due to a lack of CL football which is top of his priorities regarding his next move. Plus Fiorentina aren’t waiting around to the summer to sell him either, they want him gone now due to the fact he only has 18 months left on his deal. https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/12524731/dusan-vlahovic-juventus-in-talks-to-sign-fiorentina-striker-with-arsenal-and-spurs-offers-not-considered Also just noticed that plenty of posts above this with all the information basically.

I would say we do have a style of play but particularly in the final third, we seem to lack ideas or output due to a mix of a lack of quality/chemistry between players/continuity for some players who maybe need regular minutes to get into their groove/whatever else. Its fair to say we are a possession based team or at least thats what I would say. And on the shape and patterns, like most 3atb teams (usually what we use although this 4 and 3 hyrbids have come into it recently) we look to utilise overloads we’ve created outwide/centrally (or when we had RJ & BC fit) to stretch teams as well as having shown promising counter pressing and transitional play. Maybe not recently as this last 2 and a half months we’ve had some iffy results and performances but I don’t think its impossible to see an identity when we play. Obviously we aren’t that effective in the final third but this cannot discount all the other work we do in the first and second thirds of the pitch either. Against bigger teams it changes slightly but being a bit more flexible in these games isn’t necessarily a bad thing but again the principles don’t really change either, perhaps we just drop 10 or 15 yards deeper and don’t counter press as high. Undoubtedly now though 6 months in, after myself hoping TT could find some sort of tweak or change to utilise Rom, his integration has severely affected the pressing and the general play negatively. On TT & rotation or tweaks, I think this is just the nature of the beast with him especially considering the inconsistency in our front players as its pretty much a settled team elsewhere. From his time at Mainz, he mentioned changes in players and shapes in a presentation/conference/whatever you want to call it. I don’t know if you’ve already watched the video but at 17 minutes in, he goes into detail about preparing a game, making changes for a game v Werder Bremen whilst at Mainz and Sky saying to him about making 6 changes without him actually really realising he’s made 6 changes as before he mentions about him and his staff looking at the opposition and looking for where the advantages were. On Pep and Klopp tactics or styles of play in comparison to us under Tuchel, I don’t think its necessarily as straight forward to say that two managers who have had 5+ seasons at each club, signed players for their starting 11s/squads to suit their philosophies which they’ve predominantly signed the bulk of those players for (especially City with Pep) have got a defined style and that after 12 months, with a squad where he has actually only authorised 2 signings (Rom and Saul) that Tuchel should necessarily have this to the same degree that Pep and Klopp have. But what has impressed me is TT has shown over the last 12 months he can best these guys tactically. I mean I still get the feeling he’s looking at the attacking players and going ‘jesus christ what in the fuck am I going to do to get more out of you’ because 1) hes generally got an improvement in players in every other position over the last 12 months and 2) I really don’t think we can rely on many of them to deliver consistently or to the elite level.

I wouldnt necessarily say free roles for instance as I don’t think any top team can afford to necessarily give players a ‘free role’ in either offensive or defensive phases of the game now a days because everything is so much more tactical. There has to be a structure, ideas and pattern of play in place to get the ball from one place to the other. Then when here the attackers can then use their own quality or initiative to do whatever then within the structure/system/framework whatever you want to call it. Or thats what I took from it when hes alluded to when mentioning being like an orchestra, not suppressing creativity and then Neymar/Mbappe etc making decisions.

Disagree on the PSG point. In fact not just disagree, would say its completely inaccurate to say such a thing. Severely inaccurate if you look at the stats for goals scored. TT also had to come out whilst he was PSG manager and slam French journalists after only winning 1-0 v St Etienne and scoring 1 goal in 210 minutes. Then said about naming a team that scored 4 or 5 goals every game, which we know doesn’t happen unless your Man City or Liverpool sometimes. This was after PSG had scored 75 league goals in like 27 games that season…. (https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-8583213/amp/PSG-manager-Thomas-Tuchel-left-furious-asked-sides-lack-goals.html) I mean how did PSG score 337 goals in 127 games under him if his system was unfriendly for attacking players? Thats nearly on average 3 goals a game (2.65 p/game) which triumphs his 251 goals in 107 games (2.35 goals p/game) at Dortmund, who apparently were the team he coached who played the ‘most offensive’ football of his managerial career in a similar amount of games. Can’t just say it was purely down to Neymar & Mbappe running around doing what they want. And look at how tough Pochettino is finding it also to integrate Messi, Neymar and Mbappe into a functional attacking unit whilst also maintaining balance in the team. PSG are no better than they were under TT under Pochettino if you look at them, particularly last season they were probably worse meaning Lille won the title. But TT is Chelsea manager so lets make a completely inaccurate statement about his time at PSG to try and give backing to a point about why our own attacking players are underperforming and why we’ve dropped points due to not creating/scoring enough…. Sure. Also I don’t care what anyone says, I really don’t think Pep and Klopp are squeezing more out of the likes of a lot of our attackers because they aren’t good enough (Pulisic, Werner, Ziyech - today only one game -, Lukaku). Hence why Klopp and Pep have significantly overhauled their whole squads since being at Liverpool and City to get players who suit the style and are good enough.

If we play anything like second leg of League Cup they’ll beat us IMO. Need to be much more sharper and aggressive this time round. Got a bit of a break with some VAR calls for the penalty claim and the goal but won’t get that every game.

Only thing is with a player like Sterling, he gets a lot of goals for City but they constantly create a lot of opportunities each match. His timing and the amount of times he arrives in and around the 6 yard box in goalscoring positions from the wing is exceptional though. I don’t think it would be the same here, and whilst he has shown he can be a very creative player I don’t think we would be that interested due to the wages he’s on. It is a bit odd with his situation though, I mean hes been there since 2015, meaning that other than Fernandinho he, alongside KDB, is the longest serving member in their current squad. He seems to be in and out a lot in the last 18 months or so under Pep which is confusing for someone of his ability.

The past 2 seasons (not this one) they’ve been in the driving seat/extremely favourable positions for finishing in the CL and theyve ended up failing to qualify. It is almost as if the pressure is too much for him and his players, like that season at Liverpool. FA cup aside, for all the talk of him being an elite manager, he has shown time and time again he can’t get his team over the line when it truly matters. Which is what I meant by Leicester doing Leicester things under him. Ok sure, aye he is a good manager but when he’s talked about as being a Man City, Man Utd, Chelsea or any other elite level club manager, it blows my mind. He is not the elite level and never will be.

Leicester City doing Leicester City things under Brendan Rodgers. Bottling games and giving up a higher league position. And people constantly link him with being the next United or City manager…..

Its not really a hatred. Its just that he is a very very poor elite level footballer. I don’t see how anyone can disagree when he regularly cannot even do the basics ie. passing to his team mates, dribbling without running into people, not being able to stay up after any bit of physical contact. (Sounds a bit like another attacker we have 😂) Granted all the attackers are having issues of their own/poor seasons (Mounts only one with an acceptable return) but if we want to be successful for a prolonged and sustained period we cannot build a team where Timo is a key component, he clearly isnt good enough. He may have been an important cog in the system last year but lets be fair, did he really impress anyone when TT came in last season for a prolonged period? Or did he really really improve? Granted his movement was a plus but seriously he cannot be one of our front 3 if we are serious on becoming PL champions anytime soon. Havertz and Mount had clear visible improvements under TT but bar a game v Newcastle I think Timo was just as poor as he was before his appointment if I am honest. Yes Lukaku is essentially a dud. After a few months of thinking surely TT can make it work with him as our CF I’ve given up hope. The interview has also got rid of any sort of hope I have for him doing well here.

Must win. Again….

Yep agree with the shoehorning point. Re the attackers - I generally think we can still get something out of Mount and Kai. Just they need to step it up a lot because there is the potential and there is definitely top top players capable of playing for this team in them. Well they are definitely more capable of contributing than the others. Timo is Timo, Ziyech is Ziyech and Pulisic is Pulisic. CHO also infuriating but given his home grown status, he can be a valuable squad player/option at RWB still. But what I don’t get is how anybody can look at Timo Werner or Ziyech and see them doing well here. Pulisic seems to be hugely out of favour too. Seriously though, if TT can find a front 3 without Rom and Timo, make it work and keep it.

Please, can we go and get 2 attackers, that are actually good and suit the style?