robsblubot

Agreed and tbh not getting a proper replacement was a failure as a club -- plenty of time for that too. Now here's the concern I have: with the power shift towards players these days, the move of sacking a demanding manager like Tuchel (who likes high press) may have empowered players even more. I'm not sure Potter is the guy who can regain their trust.

And I think you did just about the same when comparing Di Matteo and Tuchel. 😉 I have no way of knowing how well Tuchel did behind the scenes and rather not speculate. I feel the club may have reasons for the sacking, but what I saw on the pitch made sense to me. Potter signing still makes absolutely no sense to me though.

Maybe... I just find it hard for them to cope without Kante (Pogba too to a lesser degree).

Because like it or not Tuchel won and won big. That's called credit for having delivered the highest honors. klopp got that when he lost his WC CB and had a terrible season. Pep gets that for his inability to deliver at CL. The new manager has not won a thing and his signing alone raised questions as to what he did to deserve the job. I understand the point of league form, but Guardiola loses sleep even though he wins the league every season.

I was already calling France "questionable" as a contender, and will have to add England as questionable as well. The losses in the fullback positions alone will be hard to overcome.

Personally I think the Zaha thing should be case study here. 😆 laughing Sterling is a good player and has always been a good player. We are not clicking atm, and much is down to tactical and personnel choices by the manager -- also my opinion of course. I'm far more concerned about the new signings who never ever reached Sterling's level wherever they played before.

I honestly do not know how much was his doing. I don't know if he's bad for being absent in those decisions, for giving bad advice, or finally for demanding bad players. Tuchel, being the boss, was responsible for both success and failure. I personally think he had more of the former. Still, Chelsea isn't a club that tolerates a bad season, which may put us in disadvantage in my view. Your point about Lukaku is a fair one, but once again I don't know how much that was on Tuchel. It's a big club and there are a lot of people making decisions with a lot of money in the mix. The fact that the manager calls a player to convince him to join isn't enough proof in my book. That's part of their job... besides the club should/could also say "no." Agree that we will see what he does in the future, but personally, I don't think handling transfer market is the manager's most important quality. It should be mostly with the club especially clubs who do NOT hold to managers for long. 😉 So, while I can totally see Ferguson before, Klopp now, and esp Pep being given a lot of power at the club, I hardly believe it's the same at Chelsea with managers coming and going every other year; they hardly ever work with a squad they've built.

He seems the polar opposite from Alonso as a footballer. Unfortunately for us, Cucurella's weakness is precisely Alonso's one saving grace: technique (esp skill on the ball). Cucurella has aggression, pace, work rate, but lacks technique (esp on the ball skills) which is essential at this level. I cannot think of a single reason, other than rotation, where he would play ahead of Chilwell. I do hope he improves and at least becomes serviceable, but things do not look good at the moment.

That’s arsenal’s 3rd kit I hope. 😅

makes sense, but regarding the bolded part, that'd be a failure of Newcastle "project."

I think Bruno is the best there is in his role atm and will likely star for Brazil in the WC. We should definitely make a move for him if he’s available. His mentality alone makes him almost a sure thing.

It's hard to know Endrik's ceiling atm. He's just too young at 16. Could be anywhere between Ronaldo 9, Ronaldinho, Neymar, or a Robinho (talking about the footballer not the person 🤮). It does not look like he's going to turn into Robinho at this point tho. Abel Ferreira, Palmeiras Portuguese manager/coach is also someone to keep an eye on. He's doing something incredible and without the riches of Flamengo. Word is that he's disciplined, tactically savvy (as we saw when we played them in the WCC), and also a great motivator--his players eat dirt for him.

Nice to see lot of positive takes here. Lewa having a terrible game, which does not surprise me one bit (never really delivered in the CL), and they chose him over our own Auba... ouch Both second tier strikers. While Lewa was better on his day, they've always had one thing in common: never liked big games.

Chalobah did not make any obvious mistake (if you do not consider passing a skill a CB requires), his passing was really poor though. So, United high pressure can only work when passing from the back is poor. If our CBs can pass through their high press, then the ball gets to attack and then we get time on the ball, which evidently alleviates the pressure. I disagree the issue is Azpi, or the "old guard". I'm not saying they can't be improved upon-almost any player can, but for me the worst players on this particular team are BY FAR the new hires: Cucurella, Auba, and Koulibaly. Cucurella so far has been Bakayoko level of shit... like I'm not sure he can play football. Once again I will throw Chalobah in the mix just to get quotes. Chalobah is physical, athletic, a powerful player and that's good enough for the Premiere League for sure, but it sure isn't good enough for a top4 club in the EPL. So, either he learns to play football real quick, like passing the football, or he will follow Zouma to wherever the fuck he is now (I said very much the same thing about Zouma before btw). I'm still hoping Sterling is going to gel in and deliver the good once the ball gets to attack in a timely manner-way too fucking slow right now. The honorary mention here has to go to Pulisic: he was shit under Tuchel and is showing his consistency by being shit under the new manager. Some players just disappoint and will never reach their once sought potential. You get used to it. None of this is on Potter, but so far I'm not one bit impressed by his choices. It's way too soon, so he needs time to fully grok the squad and then get his ideas through. It remains to be seen whether he has the clout to do just that.

yeah I'm not a big fan of Howards myself -- bit overrated goalie back then. On the other hand, that's the position I know the least about, so I usually defer to others. Totally agree that Kepa is (finally!) in good form and should play.

Yeah Tim Howard said once kepa got a full hand on Casemiros header, he should have kept it out. That lack of reach and power has always been the criticism on him. hope just a one-off tho.

They showed a picture from the tech that wasn’t close to what was seen on the pitch. It did not look all the way in, but I guess the tech works dunno. eg the “picture” they showed looked like a clear goal. The replays showed something else—at least very close.

Same could be said when players made mistakes under tuchel — it’s always down to the manager and that’s why they make the big bucks. There are different things at play here: some may think he’s not yet ready for a job like this and I too think he’s a big bet at this level. it’s fair to say he got the starting line up wrong. Every time a manger makes a change at 30min time (without injury) he’s got something wrong. I’m strongly against employing 2 LBs or WLBs because I’ve seen it done many times and it rarely works. It’s also a less common strategy at this level due to the abundance of quality (I know missing players and all that). regarding the rest, he’s still adjusting the team, so he will need time. We are indeed missing players so there is that too. Abu is doing exactly what I expected of him and I think he makes us less competitive than we once were. That’s all there is to it. I’d rather see Kai and Borja up front tbh.

Tbh it was an amazing header and a more fair result in the end.

You are right he definitely did his bit there.

Mctominey gift — let’s take it! What a boneheaded play by him

Shit performance by abu. man can’t believe Brazil is going to a world cup with fucking Fred in the mix. Suppose I’ve just jinxed it and he will score the winner.

At least the floodgates have been stopped with kova — point remains any mid would’ve been better than the 2 LBs. more of an even game now and anyone can score the winner. It’s looking more and more like a scoreless tie tho.

I suspect moderators have been asleep here for a while, but I’m brazilian, spent a lifetime watching and talking with professionals in the game. Don’t come here to be insulted, so welcome to my ignore list — don’t bother replying any more. I have seen this double LB deal attempted maybe 100 times before… it rarely works.

Did he not fix his blunder @30min in? Weird some will say that kova needed that 30min rest, I’m sure.