manpe

Our streak of lucky panic buys had to end some time...

The false 9 thing only ever works for possession based teams. We don't use him as a false 9 in the sense that you would expect. I don't even know what his function is up top considering he is treated like a striker the team is used to playing with, but that renders him useless because he isn't a suitable striker for a team struggling with the ball, HE is the one supposed to help keep possession and carry the ball upfield to the striker. We have fit Morata and Giroud, but we play one of them for 15 minutes while trailing. People say Conte likes to play with a target man, but it certainly doesn't look this way.

Simply a must win game, nothing else to say about it. Lose this one and top 4 is in grave danger.

Fair enough, I considered that but Firmino simply being a superior footballer takes the cake for me. What about Emre Can though? Hell, or even Wijnaldum.

And despite that they would still walk into our team imo. What we have is no better.

I actually meant who would walk into our team based on this season. Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

Wouldn't "walk" into our team, Hazard occupies his space. Although he would probably be accomodated instead of Willi/Pedro. Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

Okay, but what about Firmino? You prefer Morata in this form? Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

Do you prefer Bakayoko, Drinkwater or Fabregas then? Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

Salah, Firmino and Can would walk into our team. Place Can next to Kante, Salah on the right and Firmino striker and all of a sudden we look a boss team. Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

True but this also comes down to the rigidness of our squad. We either lack quality or quantity so the coach is forced to work around all the issues somehow, be that with rotation or change of formation. The rotation of our attacking players bar Hazard would not be such a problem if we had better wings and midfield. Wing-backs play great role in attack and they simply MUST be quality to pin teams back and support the forwards, this is a direct failure of our board's recruitment policy. The same thing with midfield, Bakayoko and Drinkwater especially for that money, what the fuck were they thinking? Conte wanted Matic to stay and recently has stressed this again, he also pushed for quality wing-backs... Got a panic buy second summer straight, and only recently yet another injured and unfit player in Emerson. Our emergency stop-gaps (Alonso and Moses) are still starters which is baffling for a club claiming to have ambition. Pep's and Conte's situations are different. Conte has been dealt a weak hand so he has no choice but to bluff and speculate from time to time. Not everybody might agree with all the choices he makes playing this hand trying to squeeze out maximum winnings, but the ultimate fault lies with the dealer. Pep can go all in every turn and clear the table, because every turn he has a strong combination of cards.

I meant if it's factually 99/100 or you were using the expression. I guess it was an expression but it makes it no less intriguing. Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

Is this true?

Yeah, I don't think I've seen a more blatant wantaway than Drogba at that time. It's actually a huge turnaround that he stayed and went on to become one of the greatest ever, so I forgive him.

The thing I'm worried most about him leaving is what will Hazard do. "I sign if he signs", well what if Tibo doesn't sign? The danger of losing ALL Conte, Courtois and Hazard in one window is becoming greater every day. Losing one of three we would stay afloat, but three key figures all at once? I'm afraid what that would do to us, our board is incapable of plugging such huge holes in a World Cup summer with shortened transfer window and increasingly likely without CL next season.

Intentional hyperbole. Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

I think he has managed rotation well. Last season there was no reason to rotate - a game once a week, no injuries, well established players and players who know what it takes to win things. This season? Midfield non-existent without Matic and with an older fatigued Fabregas, strike force toothless without Costa. Imagine him doing the same this season, no rotation, we would be even worse off imo. Just look at how our most reliable players like Azpi and Hazard perform while tired, our passengers would be even worse. If we had a good bench then nobody would make a problem out of rotation, we would still be getting results. City constantly rotate but it doesn't affect them does it? It's because their B team is about the same level as our A team, our B team would get relegated from the championship. People need to understand that this squad is just shit, you can't win by rotating or by sticking to the tried and trusted, there is no way to be taken seriously with this squad whatever way you look at it. Conte is fine, it's the board that don't care anymore.

Doesn't sound Scandinavian at all mate. More like some African tribe name.

Yeah. More and more I see the likes of Kalou and Malouda being romanticized in the same breath with the mentally strong and technically proficient "old guard" that carried us to all sorts of titles. The type of banter we had at that time with the likes of Kalouda back in those days far outweighs whatever we say now about our shittiest players. Yet now, for some, they are worthy of being mentioned in the same sentence with the players who actually drove us and made a difference. The same is happening with Torres now, he has been gone long enough to start forgetting exactly how fucking bad he was.

Shocking innit. During that time Torres had managed a whopping 1 goal, Morata has scored 12 (a goal every 2 games). Torres could only dream about such numbers. It doesn't surprise me though, people tend to romanticize the past.

He won't be here for long, his career here will end with Conte. He was an emergency solution at a time when somebody simply needed to play that position and his physical attributes fit the bill, but I find it unbelievable a year later this emergency solution is still our starting wing-back. Don't see us continuing with 3 CBs with a new manager and can't see any coach rating Moses as a winger or full-back. He might offer something playing left wing and being a cut-in-shoot merchant, but don't see him having a career on the right side here where he needs to play more of a supportive role.

Thanks, didn't see this one. Without the line it looked like his left foot was slightly over.

Didn't see it. The replays that I saw on my stream showed he was slightly offside, or at least so it looked to me and the commentators.

I've still yet to see definite proof that his goal was onside despite everybody on here claiming it was.

There was one from 2017/early 2018 as well.