Superblue

Just come off injured. Looks to be his back, and hopefully more of an impact injury rather than any sort of muscle injury. Fingers crossed, cannot stand international breaks just hoping everyone comes back fit.

It will be a difficult choice for Lampard moving forward. Werner doesn't look as effective at times playing out wide, but he has been scoring goals and the way in which we play (i.e. Chilwell) allows him to drift inwards, hopefully more difficult for the defence to pick him up. We do currently look better balanced also with a focal point in attack. Tammy is far from the perfect striker but he does seem so far to help the balance of the team and occupy the centre backs. If and when Pulisic is fit, it'll be interesting to see if everything works as well with him on the left and Werner up top. Hopefully it will.

Disagree I think the Burnley game showed that both can be accommodated in the midfield 3. I wasn't sure that Kante would have the tactical discipline to play the holding role, but so far so good and it should allow two more offensive minded players to play in front of him. Kovacic hasn't been at his best so far this season (although he grew into the game today before he came off) but I think in the offensive midfield roles, Havertz is the better fit in there. Kovacic is better suited playing as a midfield 2. It does look like Ziyech likes to be given a free role to roam also and pick up positions inside at times. I think with Havertz operating central to him and being comfortable to play outside if required it balances the team as they can interchange. Mount seems to do the same on the left hand side at times when Werner has drifted inside. That level of flexibility should make a big difference to the fluid nature in which we look like we want to play. I think Mount has had a lot of unnecessary criticism and been pretty much written off by a lot of people as not good enough, but he's been shunted all over the place in our side in recent months. It's good to have that versatility and willingness to play where ever to help the team but I'm glad he's getting a run in his favoured position. He's looked excellent so far playing there and provides a lot of balance with his work rate, combined with a preference to play forward and positive.

Consistency will be the biggest question mark this season that hasn't been answered yet. We had a run early last season after a shaky start and the wheels suddenly came off. I think we have much more quality and experience this season to hopefully prevent that from happening, but winning the league will be a big ask. We'll see, I'm fairly optimistic so far that we could have a very good season, and build well on last year. Again comes down to injuries and form deeper into the season, but I see us as a bit of a dark horse for the Champions League too. Again, definitely not favourites but i think if we continue to develop as the season progresses we'll be a side in the knock outs (assuming we make it to that stage as expected) that no one will want to play. It would be beautifully ironic if we did with Thiago Silva here after all the failed years he had with PSG.

I agree. After the game, although Souness was very complimentary he did say that there would be more difficult tests and he's completely right. This does though have a bit of a feeling to Conte's first season when we switched to a back 3. Immediately something just clicked after that but because we beat some of the fodder at the foot of the table it was being relatively dismissed outside of the club. But the momentum that was building could be seen. That season we were almost not taken seriously enough until it was too late and we were tanking away with the league. I'm not saying we'll do the same this season as that but it does feel like we're quietly going about our business very much under the radar, looking very dangerous in attack, whilst solid and organised in defence and midfield and we're building some momentum.

I really hope we keep this momentum going after the international break because at the moment we look very good. Everybody is stepping up.

Rio Ferdinand made a comment a few weeks back that he was desperate for him to get fit to watch him because Lampard had told him the same thing.

If he carries on playing at this level, Frank will get that second year signed up for him anyway. But I really hope fans are allowed back in the stadiums at some point this season because unlike the rest of our signings, he is realistically only a short term one and he deserves a few standing ovations at the Bridge. I always knew he was quality from his Milan and PSG days, but to be playing at the incredibly high standard he is at 36 (we're not talking just good enough to play in the Premier League, we're talking a very valid argument for him being the best centre back in the Premier League currently) speaks volumes. So far, he has been a quite outstanding signing.

The most pleasing aspect of yesterday was the way in which we came out for the second half, foot on the throttle in those first 10-15 minutes and completely suffocated them until we got the third goal which killed the game off. It's both easy and dangerous to think that the game is over at half time at 2-0. I like that motivation and concentration shown to get the third goal (and some very good football too). The last 25-30 minutes of the game was a pretty dire watch but the game was done and dusted by then so it frankly didn't matter and gave some players a rest and some a run out.

Fair enough. Pretty sure on Match of the Day is was 0.96 or something like that. Either way though it's outperforming the metric which is something we haven't done enough in recent times. I agree I would expect the second and third goals to be scored but that's not happened as regularly as it should have!

When people were losing their shit after the United game, I commented that I was actually delighted with the Sevilla and United results and performances because it showed a side to the team and Lampard that hadn't yet been shown during his tenure. The only way we're going to challenge for the league title is by building a solid defensive base, because not all games will pan out like the Burnley one. Unlike the majority of games last season where we were under-performing our expected goal metrics, our expected goals in the Burnley game wasn't even one so it was nice to show a clinical nature to our game and taking chances when they came. But there will be games during the season we need to grind out a 1-0 and I feel much more confident in recent games that we are capable of now doing this. It's still a work in progress but the recent games have been very promising.

Like @Jason has said there is an awful lot of players that built big reputations in Holland and were huge flops when they moved to stronger leagues. We saw that ourselves with Kezman. I do think the last couple of years staying at Ajax will actually benefit Ziyech. There seems to be a real maturity to his game.

It's early days but the biggest compliment I can give to Ziyech based on these first two games, the vibe feels like he will have a similar influence on our attack like Robben did in Mourinho's first season. Jose had got us defensively solid and organised but the attack was spluttering a little in the first few games. When Robben came in it just made everything suddenly click and you just feel Ziyech's introduction is having a similar impact, albeit completely different style of players.

Unless things go completely south, I'm pretty sure Lampard will be manager for at least the rest of this season and then things are re-assessed. He has to improve on last season, not necessarily in terms of league position (top 4 is of course a must) but that gap to the top must be significantly reduced. If that happens, I'd be surprised if Lampard was given the boot. If we're talking about replacements though, Nagelsmann would probably be my first choice. I've been very impressed with what I've seen and read regarding him. I think it's also a completely different situation to AVB a few years ago. We don't have the same big personalities in the dressing room now than we did then. It's a much younger group that would be far more suited to someone like Nagelsmann who can relate to many of them (much in the same way that Lampard probably can).

I would agree that is the position that I think would be best suited long term to Mount. He's still young and has plenty of time to develop but from what I've seen of his characteristics and qualities, he would be better suited to playing a little deeper than higher up the pitch. I agree with the assessment of Mount's passing and tempo in there probably working to our benefit. I think then on the flipside we have Kovacic who I guess is the alternative to Mount in such formations who also has the ability to break lines but by dribbling with the ball more than through passing so there are a couple of options then to suit the opposition. I think for it to work however at its most effective, we need a natural holding midfielder in that position (whether it's a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1), of which Kante is not. If Silva is managed properly and doesn't show any deterioration as the season progresses, I actually think a holding midfielder is a bigger need than a centre back. Either way though, those two positions are what we have to get right over the next year. It is the only thing holding us back from having a well balanced squad capable of competing for the top trophies.

In this scenario would you envisage Kante as a pure holding midfielder with Mount and Havertz further forward (like a 4-3-3), or Mount alongside Kante, with Havertz in front of them (like a 4-2-3-1)?

Assuming United get something from their game in hand there will be 5 points between 1st - 15th place. At this stage of the season that is literally nothing. If we won our next couple of games we could quite easily be in the top 4. We've also played two of the top 4 from last year already in our first 6 games. It's not been great, but it's hardly been a disaster. The most important thing at this stage is we remain within touching distance of the top. With the lack of pre season (together with finishing later than most last season), large influx of new players and injuries/lack of fitness for some important players, it was always likely that the start may be a little slow. We are hugely benefitting this season from no one really standing out yet and making a great start - the likes of Villa and Everton have now lost and been beating comfortably at the weekend so let's see how they'll react now moving forward. I'm confident that the team will improve and get stronger as the season progresses so with that in mind I'm far from concerned at present.

In my opinion he's the best centre back in the league after Van Dijk. I'm amazed that PSG let him go at the level he's still at, and that no other big clubs went in for him.

Whilst Mendy made some crucial saves, the only real chance we restricted United too was when Rashford went through which also wasn't made from good United work but just misfortune that Thiago Silva went to pass to Jorginho just at the moment he fell over from a collision. Even then, coming in from an angle, he was restricted to taking the shot early. The other two saves Mendy made were from efforts outside the box. They were good saves, but realistically they were saves I would expect a very good goalkeeper to make which Mendy is looking like he could well be. It only feels surprising because Kepa or Caballero probably wouldn't have saved them. If a team is restricted to their best efforts coming from outside the area I'm happy with that. Now and again one will go in but more often than not a team won't score if they can't create chances in an opponents area.

The Palace game isn't a good indicator because they offered no attempt to attack us. The three do make a huge difference to the team but it shouldn't be forgotten that Silva played when West Brom scored 3 against us, and Chilwell played when Southampton scored 3 against us. If the tactics still left us exposed defensively, I think we'd still suffer some problems. But some work on the defensive shape combined by the additions should help progress the defensive aspects of our game. We just need to marry that to scoring goals again!

Southampton game is a prime example of the balance we need to find. The first 40 minutes we looked good as an attacking unit and dominating the ball without them being able to lay a glove on us. But once we get that goal or two, the team has to have the maturity to manage the game properly and ensure it is disciplined and compact defensively to not give up chances. The rest of that game we played right into their hands as our only answer to them applying a bit of pressure was to try and open up and attack them more. Other chances will come because teams have to come at us and with the likes of Pulisic and Werner we could be a devastating counter attack unit when we take the lead in games. That Southampton game realistically should have been a 3-0 or 4-0 game. Sorting this side of our game out and becoming hard to score against will win us games long term, I'm certain of it.

Yeah can't argue with that. It is something that does need to show some progression. He has his own players in now. 3 outstanding attacking players and a high quality left back to join some of the players that were here last season (Pulisic in particular). I would expect Lampard has some ideas of how he wants these players to play otherwise he wouldn't have identified them. Having said that, take the United and Liverpool games out and we've scored 13 goals in our other 4 league games this season so I don't envisage scoring goals to be a problem throughout the season. Our achilles heel during Lampard's tenure is the defence and the last two games have been a positive step in the right direction to addressing those issues in my opinion.

It's a process that could take some time, but as I said in the first post I would rather we see some serious consideration and effort put into making ourselves far harder to beat now, even if it is to the detriment of our attacking play for a few games. I'll take winning those games in front of us 1-0 right now. The attacking movement and confidence will develop in time but it can only flourish to it's maximum with a solid base behind it which until the last two games was non-existent. That solid foundation will be the key to whether we put up a greater challenge this season than last. The Kevin Keegan approach of we'll score more goals than you, is great for a few games but there's no long term viability about it. We have to get back to being far harder to beat because you can't play great and score 3 goals every game. Our problem for too long has been if we don't do that we usually don't win (and even then it's still not guaranteed). Also to note that there's been no pre season. I know that is the same for everyone, but in our situation with the number of new signings (and even then they've become available at different intervals) I do thing that has to also be taken into context when analysing this.

I'd rather Lampard get the defensive base and organisation sorted out now early in the season then it remaining a huge issue for us all season. People need some patience with this. Lampard is finally starting to show some tactical discipline and shape to our game that fans have been crying out for the last year. It's obviously affected our attack over the past two games and we need to find the right balance but I firmly believe this base is better to build from than the base we were showing in the earlier weeks (i.e. full of goals but looking like conceding just as many). Nobody is pulling away at present in the league, and if we can get these points to our game right it'll stand us in good stead throughout the season. We are much more likely to be able to grind some results out through the season 1-0 than we are winning 4-3 in a game of pinball. And the way this season is progressing that could seriously put us in a position to be able to mount a title challenge this year.

Despite Zouma's inability on the ball, for me he's the best partner at present for Silva. His strengths for me are better than the strengths of Christensen, who just seems to have been on a downward trajectory for a couple of years now despite a lot of chances and opportunities. Tomori may be a better long term choice but whilst Silva cannot speak English, and considering his experience and ability to organise the defence are important parts in his game at his age, it makes much more sense that he is partnered with someone he can speak and converse with fluently. Swap Zouma out for Tomori and you're potentially left with no one in the back 4 that Silva and Mendy can speak fluently to. If Silva is out for this weekend, I'd rather Tomori is given a chance over Christensen. He's had enough opportunities and has regressed rather than developed.