Jase

Not saying Loftus-Cheek wasn't good last season but part of the reason he was good because we were playing some shit football under Sarri. That is why it was refreshing when we saw Hazard, CHO or Loftus-Cheek be direct and take players on, rather than engage in all the senseless passing nonsense. Given we play much differently now, it will be interesting to see how he fares.

In regards to the Champions League, yeah, Guardiola likes to overthink things for whatever reason and throws out weird systems/formations. But domestically, he made it work when Man City steamrolled their way past everyone for the last 2 seasons. I do think Lampard needs to make sure he has our style of play (e.g. tiki taka) nailed down first and foremost (which we already kinda do but he needs to be 10000% certain about it) and from there, can work around 2-3 different systems to make that style of play effective and successful. If he starts changing our style of play from one game to another, then we are gonna have PROBLEMS.

I think Gallagher will be loaned out simply because of the number of players we currently have in midfield. 6 would still be okay, I guess.

I just realized you left out Jorginho there. Was that intentional? Plus him and Gallagher, we would have 8 (EIGHT!) players for 2 or 3 midfield positions. That 8 needs to be cut down to 5.

Judging a player out of nowhere over 2 games in the Champions League is silly. I remember Sancho was rubbish when Dortmund played Spurs in the CL last season but that didn't mean he was bad. As for Werner vs Spurs, I don't think he was bad or anything. Not perfect but he was lively and gave a busy performance in both legs.

HELL. NO.

The midfield is just stupidly bloated at this point. 1-2 need to be sold!

That's assuming they will be demoted to 2nd choices, which I doubt. It'll come down to form, performances and competition for places.

This is what Nagelsmann said about Werner and the striker role earlier this season... https://www.bundesliga.com/en/bundesliga/news/timo-werner-a-different-kind-of-striker-to-lewandowski-rb-leipzig-s-julian-nagelsmann-9547 bundesliga.com: You said Timo Werner "is a different style" - tells us a bit more... Nagelsmann: "Yeah, it’s part of the reason why we’ve started him a bit deeper, we don’t want him right on the last line, because he needs a bit of a head start, a bit of tempo, in order to really show his pace on the pitch. When he’s on the last line, he often finds himself static when he needs to get going, but with a bit of room in front of him, he can hit top speed. And from this deeper position, he’s much more involved in our build-up play and combinations. In the last few years all his moments have come in transition, whereas now he has his moments in combination play too. He’s having many more touches of the ball than in previous years, and this new position has done his development good, playing in between the lines against teams who sit deep. That’s another trait he’ll need if he wants to be one of the best in Europe. There are a lot of teams who sit deep and defend deep against you, and he needs that second way of being dangerous to opponents too, and he’s definitely developed that this year." bundesliga.com: Do you think a striker's role has changed? Nagelsmann: "Strikers are definitely more involved in the build-up than before. In days gone by there were many classic 'penalty-box' strikers who were primarily responsible for putting away crosses and cutbacks, which led to some amazing goalscoring records from some strikers. Today you’re much more involved in the combinations. I think teams overall defend much more tactically, so it’s not always as easy to create chances. You need all 10 outfield players involved to create chances, and the striker is often tasked with changing positions. Now there’s a new positional profile with the nine-and-a-half, a bit more like the old number 10, where you go between the lines and don’t just play as the buffer up front like in old times. It’s changed a bit." bundesliga.com: Why do you think that is? Nagelsmann: "The athletic side of the sport is a bit different. When you look at Werner or Lewandowski, they’re total athletes. Gerd Müller was unbelievable in the box, very powerful, and he had a very good eye for goal, he held the ball up. I’m not sure he would score as many goals if he were playing today – nowadays, you need incredible athleticism and dynamism like Timo Werner or Robert Lewandowksi, or Mario Gomez, who had amazing movement, I think he was one of the first strikers who always moved against the defenders as they shifted around, which wasn’t so easy for a defence. Things have changed a bit even more since Mario Gomez was in his pomp, but he was a good role model, and you can see how the dynamics have changed so much. Gerd Müller scored, I’m not sure exactly, 95 per cent of his goals from inside the box and he was set up by teammates for many situations, but nowadays when you look at Timo Werner or Lewandowski, who are always drifting out to the wings, you can see how much the profile and the movement of strikers has really changed."

Please, don't get me going on that...

I'm inclined to agree with you because I believe consistent selection is vital to helping players form understanding and cohesion but on the other hand, Guardiola rotates a lot at Man City with the players and/or players' position and seems able to make it work. In our case, just think Lampard needs to be careful and not overdo it.

PL fixtures confirmed until early July. Lots of midweek games for us.

No offence but I find it funny when people use "my friends also think he's not very good" like some sort of generalization that everyone within the fanbase don't rate the player.

Indeed. Just ask Drogba for example.

You're saying like he hasn't improved since his Stuttgart days. How old was he back then? 18? 19? He may not be as fancy as Sancho or he may not experienced a meteoric rise like Sancho but even the doubters would have to admit that he has steadily improved over the years.

Just think of Werner like Anelka. A hybrid between a striker and wide striker.

Inside Forward on the LW? Playing as the 2nd striker behind Abraham?? Heck, I'm even sure Lampard would try him in the No.9 role to see how it goes with players supporting him from wide areas and midfield.

FAKE NEWS!

(that was posted in January this year) And there's also this...

Easy to say when he's doing well.

Would anyone actually care if Werner only scores tap-ins for us? Creating chances has not been a problem for us this season, converting those chances has been the problem. IIRC, only Liverpool and Man City have had more shots than us this season but in terms of Shot Conversion, there are like 5-6 clubs ahead of us on the list. If Werner can score at least 20 goals from tap-ins or score 20 ugly goals, we would be on the right track to achieve something. Sure, Werner will likely get less space to operate in the Premier League than the Bundesliga but people make him sound like some one trick pony. If he's a one trick pony, arguably the best club in the world right now in Liverpool wouldn't have been so keen on him. People seem to forget or not realize that, for example, he actually has good movement in the box as well and is capable of making dangerous runs in the box. When you consider Pulisic and Abraham are pretty much the only two players right now who offer that kind of quality, it is a good thing that we will have another person in the area who will look to get at the end of crosses, passes etc because the others do not make runs and prefer the ball onto their feet. And below are some stats on Werner from Sky Sports... I guess I can't stop people if they want to compare Werner with Morata before he's even kicked the ball for us (he hasn't even signed yet!) but the comparison is just so lazy. For starters, I believe Werner is a lot mentally stronger than Morata will ever be. That is arguably the key attribute for any footballer and Werner has said himself that he still has a lot to improve and get better. He may struggle a little bit initially in the Premier League but I am confident that with the right mentality, patience and guidance from Lampard and co, Werner will do well for us. I 100000% doubt he will moan and complain about everything else etc like Morata did.