manpe

Reading that is eerily similar to what we were saying back then. There are some blinded people still, as were here.. for example some say that if trophy-laden Mourinho can't fix this mess, then that means they are in a worse situation than thought and doubt if anybody can fix it, ignoring the fact that they are in this mess because of him. Been there, done that

Didn't know this was the 2nd time he's replaced a sacked Conte Antonio must really hate him now.

Do you use it with your significant other? [emoji57] Sent from my Mi A1 using Tapatalk

Plus both are chicks

It is still the same game "plan" tbh, just instead of only Lukaku they also have Fellaini to target. He's a crossing merchant, that's why he can't play without a strong target man. Sent from my Mi A1 using Tapatalk

Where do you find the time and motivation to make such long posts?

That is one thing, but the other thing I think he meant by that was that our players stood off their players too much, so when we wanted to press they were too far and it was no problem for Arsenal to pass themselves out of it. One of the things with pressing imo is that you don't give time to the opposing team to comfortably control the ball and raise their heads to pick a pass, but since we "lost distances" that's exactly what happened. We were chasing shadows in that 15 minute period.

Experience is a tired argument, by that logic Cahill deserves to play ahead of AC. CHO is better, that's enough.

Sarri said he wanted 2 wingers on the bench. Willian/Pedro and CHO, problem solved. What the fuck is Moses still doing here riding the bench and blocking the path of CHO? He's an average winger and not a full-back, he only fitted Conte's system and that's it. Need to get rid and promote CHO to his place.

Just watched MOTD highlights and analysis of United's game and my word they look shit. A Mourinho team defending like schoolboys is spectacular, their center-backs are backup level at best. None of them seem to have any confidence at all and they look shitscared like our players did in their 3rd season under Mou. They've had over 2 seasons together now, but perform like they've never played together. The same theme continues that they have no attacking pattern of play and defence makes a mistake after mistake. Even we look much more coherent and in-sync after only a month. Jose's ego has long outgrown his coaching ability. He has absolutely no new fresh ideas in him, his main tactic these days is to use mental warfare on his players to make them crawl out of their skins and prove themselves individually, instead of doing something new tactically and collectively. He needs to suck it up and hire an attacking assistant coach to help him like we did with Avram Grant and Henk Ten Cate (thought to be the mastermind behind Grant's somewhat successful spell). We know this won't happen though, because this is the man who once said that at his level he cannot learn from others because he is the best. The best at making world class players look average perhaps.

Think we'd have to alter our system/formation in that case. Obvious answer would be Fabregas, but imo that would be a bit of a disaster against strong opponents because of his immobility and lack of composure under pressure. If it was me Kante or Kovacic would take the spot depending on the opponent and it wouldn't be too bad imo.

Bringing in Jorginho has been and will continue to be such a huge help. We'd be miles behind in our progress without him, we have literally nobody who can move the ball like he does or who would instruct other players on-field. Top top signing.

Give him a chance, he's never played in a system like this. 2 games in ffs and he's already playing a vital role before the other late WC returnees because he's absolutely crucial to us, let's see at the end of the season before we start picking out who suits where or not. His progress every single season has been staggering, don't think I've seen anything like that before other than perhaps Azpi. I think me and @Unionjack are the only few ones who have great faith in him regarding his new role and think it will elevate him further.

Don't think that would work well for Jorginho. Often times he'd have to go right-midfield or make runs behind the defence, run up and down and get himself into crowded areas with his back to the goal, while Kante would be the one needing to pick out the passes from the back. It just wouldn't work. In a 4-2-3-1 yes if we have them both sit deep, but we are now an attack first side, don't think we'll see too much of that. It will get better, all part of the learning curve. We still won our first two games, held 60%+ possession and scored 3 in each, kept one clean sheet. Last Conte year or in Mourinho's last year, when we were a strict defence first side we still made such schoolboy errors and conceded many soft goals. Difference now is that we can attack to compensate that and we still have loads of room to improve.

Same. He looked like an early Hazard with that 17, sometimes I couldn't distinguish until I saw the number on the back. Really really liked what I saw. Much more mobile and agile than Barkley, imposes himself on the game more. Noticed that Jorginho started going higher upfield once Mateo came on, possibly instructions from Sarri to mix things up with Kova being more solid defensively in a deeper role than Barkley. Really confused the hell out of Arsenal, they didn't have a clue what was happening around them... Our 64% possession shows that, since when do we hold so much of the ball against Arsenal of all teams? I think that's never happened before.

Attackers drawing out defenders, Kante staying high on the other side to make them cover the offside, Alonso overlapping into space created by the attackers dropping deep, nice pass from Kovacic and off we went with Giroud nearly scoring. Also really liked that one.

We are playing such a high line it's like we are losing in a final. This makes me worried because one counter-attack and we are done, it's very visible that all they need is one good breakthrough and pass and we are exposed af. But luckily so far Arsenal look toothless and we are having the initiative, but in football this can change in an instant.

In a few minutes Kovacic already looks like somebody we desperately need in this system.

One other thing my small-minded FM tactical brain doesn't understand is why Kante and Azpi are playing on the same side, while on the left side Luiz and Alonso are without such protection from Barkley. Doesn't make much sense to me considering the lack of pace and defensive efficiency there. We don't need to mirror Napoli 100%, Barkley could easily play right side and Kante left. 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3, it should be Kante left imo.

Switch to 4-2-3-1 and have Kante play deep next to Jorginho, need that defensive protection first and foremost.

Same lol, I just started watching and instantly we concede 2 Tho I will watch 2nd if I can. However watching this game Conte may have been onto something by playing 3 CBs

Fuck you Willian you fucking statue. We rejected 60+ mill for him let that sink in.

Sarri confirming what we all suspected - he is a new breed of AI superhumans.

Matt Law savage Echoes my thoughts. Chelsea have a bizarre obsession with Willian, somehow they have been indoctrinated into thinking that Willian is world class (you don't decline 60+ million offer for a player you don't think is world class). It's like we are suffering from inferiority complex, thinking that we can't do any better than him. I'm expecting a rapid Malouda-esque decline soon, good luck selling an aging star on mega salary then.

Nah pretty sure it's going to be Willian.