Jase

King Kenedy to the rescue!

Has anyone realized that we have won only 3 of our 11 games against sides currently sitting in the top half of the league?

Yeah but one cost 100 million and while the other cost nothing. No point if one scares defenders more than the other if they end up having the same/similar output against lower half sides.

But will it be a surprise if he starts again? And Tuchel's comments also makes it all the more bizarre why he/the club bought Lukaku in the first place.

My guess is that he probably got spooked out by what happened in the reverse fixture and tried to outwit Guardiola by trying something completely different (e.g. the front 3 selection). There's a reason why Guardiola has lost more games against us than any other club and Tuchel went with an untested selection to beat him.

But that was 2 seasons ago now and it was during his purple patch in the Project Restart period. Also, that goal came from a breakaway in a set piece where City fucked up their defending near the halfway line, IIRC. Any of our other attackers could have been in that situation (whether they score or not is a different matter). Otherwise, he has been largely underwhelming since then. I'm also mystified when people say Pulisic run in behind defences. Yes, he can do that but that's not his natural game. He's one who prefers to receive the ball to feet and then get at players, which again, is something he hasn't done much with at all since the Project Restart.

So we spent 100 million on a striker just to score goals against lower half teams? Might as well have just kept Abraham since he did a decent job at that.

Djokovic now has a potential problem with the next Grand Slam - Roland Garros. France now require athletes to be vaccinated to compete in the country.

Of course they said that. They just looked at the numbers and immediately thought he will just slot in easily and we will become perfect instantly. It's the same mindset that the board also seem to have when it comes to signings. And the same Gary Neville has turned around and said Lukaku now looks like the Lukaku of Man United just two weeks ago.

Pulisic has had only ONE notable injury since late November 2020 and it wasn't even due to his body breaking down like it has many times before! Otherwise, he has been available for selection and he hasn't come close to replicating the form he showed during Project Restart, which at this point looked like a purple patch and nothing else. The approach was probably the same as last season and not saying we would have 100% won but when you select the wrong players to execute the plan, then we ended up with what we saw on Saturday. Only one of our attackers started all those 3 wins last season and played a key part in the tactical plan, including all the winning goals and yet was on the bench. If we go further, another of our attackers started in 2 of the wins last season, was key in them and contributed an assist to a winning goal and yet was on the bench. Then another one, who scored a winning goal and was key in a cup final, was on the bench. Pulisic may have started in the same fixture last season but he did nothing in that game and wasn't a key part in any of those wins. Heck, he has been underwhelming since Project Restart. You may say he scored against Liverpool recently but outside of that, he did nothing in that game and was non-existent in his last outing against a non-league side before Saturday. Ended up doing zilch on Saturday anyway. Ziyech starting, that I can still understand, as he has been decent recently (and he scored twice against the same team last season) but then those performances came from the right and Tuchel decided to stick him out on the left on Saturday.

Gotta say, the Mount narrative from the English media is extremely tiring. When he doesn't start and we lose, they all bang their table and say he should have started. When he starts but doesn't do well and we lose, they don't say a bloody single thing. Mount has his own inconsistent issues and the bar isn't set very high if they are comparing with the other attackers in the team.

@NikkiCFC You said Benitez will do a better job than Ancelotti at Everton, eh?

He didn't win a header actually. Lost all 8 of his aerial duels.

Also worth noting that yesterday, of all games, Tuchel decided to start with a front 3 that had never played together before.

It's interesting to Nizaar because he was one of those that jumped into the bandwagon, thinking Lukaku was the final missing piece in the jigsaw when the reality was it was never that simple.

cc @Tomo

What I'd say is, I like that our attacking players are versatile to play in different positions but I some times wonder whether Tuchel abuses that for whatever reason. I mean, yeah, our attacking players aren't perfect but it can't be easy for them to be consistent if Tuchel is constantly changing the front 3 setup from game to game. One game, it's two 10s and one ST. The next, it's one 10 and two STs. After that, it's two STs and three in midfield. At times, it feels like we have too many options for our own good.

Not sure what's the FA Cup trophy requirement but didn't see it on his Wikipedia page. Either way, I meant him leading a team to win a cup competition. We shall see...

TBF, Sarr may not be top quality but he has been OK, especially since that Brentford game last October. It's also not as if Tuchel had much of a choice. Chalobah and Christensen are both out and I don't think Silva would work in a back 4, especially against City. So either we play Rudiger and Sarr in a back 4 or we go with the back 3 that we saw today. Maybe we could have played Azpi at CB instead of RWB and then one of CHO/Pulisic at RWB but that's about it really.

He can be 22 years old and still at least show what he's really good at, at least in glimpses, but so far, I have yet to see what that is. What made people call him Germany's generational talent? If you don't think he's cut out to be a ST in the long run, then is he cut out to be a goal creator? He hasn't looked like someone who creates plenty of chances etc.

Is it really a surprise Tuchel reverted to the back 3?

You said that and yet, Lukaku has not been a difference maker in cup games. Yet to win a cup competition in his career.