BlueLyon

I wish we had backup striker that actualy stays at club for more years and proves his worth. Ba, Remy, Batshuayi...rollercoaster to continue with Benteke and in two years someone else... Bats isnt perfect, but if he is willing to be bit part player, we should just keep him. We also have Tammy as target man for future, I dont see one reason why splash cash on Benteke when we need other areas like wingbacks, rw and midfielder to improve.

Mourinho is far from only manager who does that. You exagerrate now. Its trend to throw stick at Mou on here, I get it people cant accept he decided to join United. That doesnt mean we shouldnt be objective. Hazard learned several very good things under management of Mou, he stepped to next level in 2014/15. Defending is part of the game and even Pedro was very important to that in Pep days at barcelona. He literaly tracked back to defense if needed. Off the ball, every top manager will demand players to run and chase opponent. The difference is the style of play. Pep plays possesion, Mou plays counter attacks. And obviously the difference then is Mou players defend for 60min, while Pep players only for 30min of the game. But either of the two will demand lot of running and tracking. Pochettino is killing his players with training, he demands excellent physical preparation and willingness to run whole game. The difference is Alli, Kane and others accepted that. You are naive if you think Pochetino, Pep, Bielsa, Sari, any other quality manager demands any less running than Mou does. Off the ball, everyone has to run. However some defend longer in game and some less. But for example Martial, every manager would want him to be prepared to track back and run when not in possesion. But he is lazy and he needs to improve if he wants to play.

We indeed made some big big mistakes letting players go. We bought Tibo, Salah, Kdb, Lukaku at very very young age for small money, not to mention Zouma, plus Christensen and Bertrand came from youth. I guess Baba will follow same path once we sell him. Our team could be like Tibo Azpi-Christensen-Zouma-Bertrand Kante-Bakayoko-KDB Salah-Lukaku-Eden Now according to transfermarkt, this team cost us roughly 160m Todays worth of these players is 463 milion! Our scouting department was amazing. We just had poor board and managers who couldnt get the most of the players.

Come jaunary 31st, we will be panic buying again probably lol.

Just a recommendation, never watch youtube videos like best skills and goals etc of xx player. If possible find videos for individual game(s) with all touches by that player. It gives much more balanced picture of the player, shows his mistakes, his runs, his marking, tracking back, and most importantly shows entire attacking/defensive action and not just 5 sec dribble or tackle by x player but cuts to next scene without showing how the previous action ended (for example excellent dribble is shown, but not wrong pass or lost ball after that). Unfortunely there arent such videos for every player. Pulisic is amazing though

Im glad Fekir is doing great again. I always thought he was the best product by ligue 1 after Eden. But that injury almost destroyed him, so happy he is fit again. Aouar though is on path to become best lyon product ever if he stays fit. I havent seen such technical allround skill from young player in ages. His vision, passing and ball control is superb.

I agree he is terrible in managing youth ie. unproven players; players who come from club ranks and never played in competitive matches. But here we discuss players ala Baily, Varane, Zouma, Kdb, Martial, Shaw. etc. who all played competitive games (and quite well too) before being managed under Mou. Thing is that people point out something like this; Shaw is not playing; interpretation: Mou is awful with young players. Mou doesnt play young players. No. Shaw is not playing because he had injuries, he was unfit and seems to lack work ethic. Martial doesnt play as much because he lacks work ethic too. Lindelof isnt playing either, because he is terrible atm. If they were good, they would play like Zouma, Rashford, Baily, Lukaku play(ed). Best players in world track back. Mou demands even more, but in current state, Martial or Shaw wouldnt play under Pep or Barca either. There is no place for whinny, selfish or lazy players in teams that want to win titles. Smaller sides are better for development of these youngsters. If they dont make it in big club, its often reason that they made too big step forward, not in manager.

You could say he was unlucky with injuries too. Wilshere is similar. Or Micah Richards back then. I agree with rest, but Shaw is not the best example here IMO.

Tbh best players in the world track back and work hard. Barca under Pep for example might be tiki taka possession based team, but off the ball, they constantly ran up and down, closing opponents. Martial, much as many other talents jog around these days. Obviously you dont play them. Fair to say Van Gaal played him, but United as whole was crap back then. Mou wants to win titles and there is no place for players like Martial who dont run enough, regardless of their talent. There must be some standards still. On the whole I agree Mou gives too much responsibility to attackers, but Martial realy isnt good example. Talented yes, but also lazy. RLC for example has plenty of talent too, but he will never play in quality side if he doesnt improve his work rate. Mourinho is a bad example but generaly, football doesnt work like you give chance to player who has talent. You give it to those who are willing to leave their heart on ground. Those will play. Tricky players who only see goal will not. There are things like team work, intelligence, maturity, hard work, determination. Players like Hazard are tricky too, but they have other departments fixed too. He is team player, decent worker, runs quite alot. All best players in the world do that, including Ronaldo or Messi. Nasri, Ben Arfa,...all have or had talent, but so far lack everything else. You cant build team around them. Even Pep didnt give Ihenacho proper chance despite he was extremely promising. Not saying Martial is in same class, but he will have to improve big time. As far I know when Ibra arrived, he was very dissapointed as he was ''forced'' to give number 9 away. The fuck is that? Crying over number that was rightfuly given to a man who earned much more in his career than Martial? Often players move to smaller or different club when they cant suceed in current. It just shows they made too big step. Nice example would be De Bruyne. Nasri on other hand never managed to reinvent himself anywhere he went. Arfa was excelent in Nice, but doesnt even play for PSG. He obviously has talent, but lacks everything else, thats why he doesnt play. Same is with Martial. Talent is not everything and he will have to work much harder and become mature if he wants to play for top team. Honestly nothing to do with Mourinho here, many United fans will admit he is talented, but lazy, selfish and gives ball away too many times. Again, Mou is bad example here, but there are so called talented players who get hyped over their skills, and fans think they are super players and demand them to play, but in reality they lack many other qualities to make a team player and oftenly thats reason they dont play.

He could be 100m. the point is people say Mou doesnt give young players a chance. Truth is he gives it to those that are good. If you are quality you will play, if you are 5m, free or 100m If you have potential to be good, but not yet, Mou wont play you, you will be loaned and if or when you improve elsewhere, you will then play Kdb had potential, but apart from one top game, he was average here. After he turned good, he decided to leave, nothing we could do here.

Honestly, at this point I wouldnt take anyone from Arsenal at all. Theres plenty of players elsewhere, players who can become our legends without any pressure being ex arsenals. Not to mention their mentality is terrible. I wouldnt touch Ozil on free tbh, he just dissapears in games. Awful player cuz you cant count on him, and I truly truly liked him back in Real. Somewhat he could be Fabregas type of player, great vision and playmaking, but fails short in everything else, for midfielder thats absolutely unacceptable. To have another Fabregas? No thanks. We should buy someone thats actualy allround, can play when not in possesion and LEADS the team as general. Ozil isnt answer at all, but he would still have to play etc, taking valuable minutes from others. No thanks. We need a player with balls in midfield. Its unbelievable what desire, passion and strong mentality do in football matches, talent is often secondary. Lamps was not at all as talented as Cesc, Ozil but he had that grit about him, nevermind love for club. Ozil or anyone similar doesnt have neither grit or love for Chelsea, I cant wait we actualy buy a midfielder who will dictate tempo, give teammates orders and lead by example. shame football turned to shit in this aspect, very few players are still in mould of Lamps, Gerrard, Alonso, De Rossi, Keane,...if any at all. Take a look at RLC, has everything to become that, but somehow I question his working and thinking methods, I guess he has too much of everything at this young age. But hopefuly miracle happens and he steps up, I would kill to have him as captain in 5 years. English, club youth, physical presence, technique, kid has everything.

Haha yes I was about to mention that, but forgot it. Interestingly given the importance of defenders in his system, I would expect him to throw experienced players at back and one or two youngsters in attack. I guess it has to do with his great understanding of defending and its easier for him to spot talented defenders and their qualities, but he ultimately falls short on spotting talented attackers, hence he couldnt see KDB potential.

Well KDB wasnt youngster either, he came as very promising player from Genk, already had CL experience... I thought we were discussing about Mou giving chance to young players, regardless being youth product or foreign talent, as long they are not established yet. Indeed Rash was brought by Gaal, but still he is 19 (or 20?) and considering Mou plays him, it kinda takes away the rule Mou doesnt play youngsters. He does as long they are performing.

Get world class L(w)B and RW and Im happy. Maybe R(w)B too if we insist on 3 ATB. Tammy, RLC and Zouma are having brilliant loans so far IN PREMIER LEAGUE, must be used in squad next year. Inded we might need another deep playmaker, but honestly, top RW and two quality wingbacks would do wonders. Before spending millions on CM, I would give RLC one more chance, this time a very serious chance to get in first 11 if he plays well for Palace whole season. He might not have the most talent in the world, but he is english, youth product and if he shows hard work, yes I would give him chance ahead of any midfielder out there. Having english youth player in first 11 is still big wish I hope comes true soon, now that Terry is gone. Obvious names would be Sandro, Rose, Bertrand, Ghoulam for LB, no idea for RB though, and either Lemar, Martins, Fekir, Malcolm or long stretch Dybala for RW. CM would be either one of Kovacic, Seri, Savic, Goretzka or Carlos Soler, who is perhaps my favourite option right now if we are buying.

TBH, all this talk of Mou not giving chance to youth is not entirely true. He gave chance to Zouma and he now plays Baily every week at united who was 22 when he arrived. Its simply a matter of quality and imediate impact. Yes, young players usualy dont have imediate impact, thats the point, but very very few do, and when that is, Mou plays them, regardless of age. Thats why Zouma played here, Baily and Rashford play at United, Varane did at Real. All under Mou. Pretty sure Christensen would too, if he Mou was still here, because the boy is quality and has imediate impact. On other hand, KDB simply didnt have that impact back then with us. Talented yes, but with much to learn. Even last year, he was very inconsistent, only this year he truly truly stepped up. Indeed we made mistake selling KDB, but I understand why he didnt play under Mou. It was series of misfortunate moments; Mou coaching him when he was not ready yet, Chelsea loaning him out and as result him wanting to leave when he was becoming realy quality player. If only we put buyback clause, thats where we truly fucked up. Still the beauty of football is when someone isnt at club anymore, someone else comes. In our case it will just take more time and money to find our KDB again.

I think you mean Monchi. He worked for Sevilla before and is now at Roma. One of best in recent years. Shame we missed him, he just moved to Roma in summer.

Plenty will be known when we play Atletico again and United at OT.

He broke a bone in his foot. Get well soon Cap

Yup pretty much this. I dont see us forever with 3ATB, because it creates either no proper width in 3:5:2 (plus exposed space for opponent between winback and CB) or only two midfielders in 3:4:3 Juve vs real was evident example why 3;5:2 is flawed. Only one wingback against winger and fullback is not going to work. Never mind defensive solidity isnt realy much better in 3ATB than 4ATB. Defending is more about personell rather tactics. So I guess 3Atb was more temporary, fitting current players. Luiz is good in back 3, but not in back 4 so I can see we will replace him sooner or later. Shame, because he is excellent character. Personaly wouldnt mind using him in midfield, but it wont happen.

Tbh we were brilliant against Atletico aswell. The question is were we brilliant because we improved something or were we brilliant because united allowed us with their tactics. Everyone knows we and Cesc can be quality if we have space and time. But the point is we have to improve when under pressure. The real victory will be when we beat opponent (be it united or someone else) when they press us and we still dominate. Results aside (they are not as bad as media says) we were outdone by watford and palace pressing. Cesc was great today, because he played well, we got Kante back and united allowed him time, but as soon they press us he will be his old self. As maybe whole chelsea. Lets celebrate this victory today, but dont get ahead of ourselves, we did same against atletico and big chance is next time we face pressing team, we will be poor again.

Because either 1.) They dont have motivation 2.) because they cant play against high pressing (lets be honest, even pressing palace gives us more trouble than sit back united or atletico) Win vs united was good, but IMO unless we change someting, next week we could be shit if wba decide to press us. Once we play comfortable against pressing opponent and win, I will feel great after victory. United win was nice, but they didnt realy challenge our weakness. Our performance doesnt depend as much on quality of opponent but more their style.

I hope this gets settled. Luiz may do stupid mistakes, but he is much more than a defender realy. Character, leader and scores goals sometimes too.

If you look at whole season now, Burnley loss wasnt that bad now, seeing they are doing brilliantly this season. Arsenal draw considering it was derby is acceptable. City loss, they are unbeatable atm so fair play. The only game we should win but didnt was Crystal palace, they are bottom and it was truly a fuck up. We won rest of matches in PL. Of top teams, we generaly had good games against Atletico, United and Spurs and poor against City and Roma, not disaster either. If we won palace too, we would be second with 23 points, only behind City who is on next level this year. Hardly saying we have shit season, bearing in mind we are probably progressing in CL too. Conte shouldnt be anywhere near the sacking if you connect these dots and take into consideration we didnt have as good summer business as Manchesters. Also, media are twats.

Interesting fact, Meunier just said he refused to join us on deadline day.

3:5:2 if we had great attacking wingbacks would be good. But right now, I can see teams figure us out since we dont have proper width. Just stack midfield and we are done (exactly what city did). As for Conte, I hope he stays, but I can see serious disagreement with the board over transfer business, potentialy leading to Conte departure on his own or due to bad results.