robsblubot

When all defenders underperform, look at the rest of the team. zouma wasn’t just slow in the second, he was very poor. That was too easy and that was Pukki sic not salah!

Honestly you and mr killer are underestimating our squad. Willian and giroud would be Norwich star players this season were they there. Same with the vast majority of our players. sorry, no, Norwich defended poorly today. Bad defense usually means a drop. They did not stay focused and closed down players. Even in our goals Tammy had no one even annoying him. It was a very easy game and we still conceded twice. if Norwich can improve and defend better, then this win becomes more important as they will take points from others. But what I saw today was really poor all over the place defending... i’m saying that Everton will go there and get all 3 points.

I also stand by what I said. norwich will finish bottom 6.

Heh fair enough I guess I’m really not a fan. Thought he was one of the poorest players against Norwich today. Very wasteful around the opposition box esp with the amount of spaces he had. His shooting is quite poor too. prob zouma does not make his life easy with awkward and pedantic passing, so will have to wait for rudiger on that.

His consistency is impressive too, esp at his young age.

He defended the score. That’s why he was introduced. We also had already built the score, so we were not attacking as much. Giroud is no longer a solid scorer, which is why he no longer starts, but he will help the team defend and be more compact. we seem to have a more fundamental disagreement here, which is that you seem to think that strikers score, and defenders, defend. That to me is not not how the game works.

Will have to disagree. Norwich is a very bad team and will just hand points to any decent side. They aren’t compact enough and players can easily find spaces behind their defense line very easily. Teams with good possession will just lock them down in their own half. regarding their attack, despite zouma obvious shortcomings esp with the ball, it’s our midfield and attack that are not yet defending well enough to protect the defense. That’s why that Willian and giroud come to close down the game, even if on paper they play in the same positions of the players they replaced. so, in a way this game wasn’t any better than he others, just ugh weaker opposition. Don’t get me wrong, extremely important to win it, esp for the young players. Huge boost of confidence, esp Tammy. We need to be more compact and defend better or we will have a hard time with the better teams. Hope the win and the confidence help and we improve. just to throw it out there, I guess I’m really not a fan of Emerson.

I guess the context is lost in you. Go back rooting for bakayoko buddy. Good for Tammy and confidence for the young team, and I wrote before he may become a useful striker for us (not great), but we all knew he could score against championship sides didn’t we? here’s another one: in this game, Norwich, we were no better than in the other games, but the opposition was championship level. Still a worrying performance for me.

That's how close any manager will get from calling a player lazy as fuck. Explains a lot actually.

Give it time... lots of bakayokos out there. makes sense, thanks for the clarification.

While you may have a knack for data analysis form your profession, you’d still lack time and focus, which the professionals who do this for a living have in abundance. I think it’s also an issue with the quality of the data. They have access to a lot more information about players than what is publicly available. Some from their own network (which is priced in their services) and some within the club. Often scouts travel to location to observe players and regions. They attend live games to get that extra detail regarding how the player moves and behaves when the ball isn’t nearby. They also speak with current and former colleagues (managers and coaches) to find out about the player (and/or use their network). Yes bakayoko is one of those who makes you scratch your head, but sometimes it’s something as simple as an influential agent pushing his product. And even after all that, we still have a morata who fails for completely different reasons. Mental aspect and football style. Sometimes they won’t adapt to life, region and language, like Diego costa. case in point, the fact that scouts and agents move so much money. Regarding, Marina, does not seem like she does a whole lot more than contracts and deals in general, which is a whole lot already with these complex player contract ownerships. Would also be very surprised if she did more than that.

In certain situations, yes. Better at what? We use the word “better” which usually encompasses a lot: like a particular characteristic that we value, an ability we value, and finally perhaps a deficiency we don’t mind. In other words personal preference plays a big part. At defending and tactics, not even close. pulisic was average against Leicester and that will happen a lot this season given his age and fact he’s not used to the PL. cho had several poor games last season, which is also normal and expected. senior players oscillate less. Willian is a weird one, but I’d not put Pedro in the same boat. experience is much downplayed around here. And yet you look at the teams winning silverware and the vast majority of their players are very experienced. When a team like Ajax loses to a mediocre team like spurs in UCL, folks say wow but they are a young team, as an excuse. even the physicality is different with younger players usually being more lightweight. So they are far more likely to get bullied by say a team like Leicester. so it is relative imo. Point being it’s nice to have options. I don’t agree that merely throwing youngsters in the team will make them develop.

We’d have established at least two youth players without fucking up our chances regardless. Same as we did last season with Cho and RLC. Lamps would naturally give more minutes to homegrown. All this is just making us less competitive in all fronts without any real benefit. now if the manager and coaches believe James can offer about the same, then it kinda makes sense given how little Zapa played.

Do you think language will be a barrier? man we do like to roll with very thin squads esp in UCL seasons! Isn’t James injured atm?

On the other hand, using your bats argument, we’ve got quite a few managers who consistently did not give him minutes. 2 of them also happened to be Italian.

Yeah esp at home when chasing a goal. And get azpi to rest a bit... managers clearly value azpi’s leadership on and off the pitch, but thought that with Jorginho they could rest him a bit and playing Zapacosta more. Odd.

Reminds me a lot of Oscar - before Oscar lost his pace and acceleration (for whatever reason). clever player with loads of skill and tight control, which makes him able to operate in tight spaces. A goal threat. On top o f that great work rate and aggression. Reckon he’s going to be a key player against the big teams. where did he come from? Slipped under most peoples radar or was i the one sleeping under a rock? didier above likes bakayoko, but Oscar was the shit one. Reminds me a lot of a different didier on here.

Heh good point.

Leicester city dominated the second half. They won every second ball esp after giroud left. They bullied us and did not need to sit and counter. we have more opportunities to score in the first, and they had far more chances in the second. yes, legs were prob a bit heavy given pool game, but some problems are recurring.

Brilliant! if you stick cho and james in this squad my money would be on relegation, but whatever. I see a vast improvement in our performance when giroud in on. I think it has more to do with Tammy being poor, but I digress.

Think zouma remains a problem, once again not for having a poor game, or making mistakes, but by being unable to work in a high press. And his positioning is also a bit disappointing considering his other shortcomings. second half was as bad as it gets. Bullied, esp once giroud left, because then we lost all second balls and could not keep possession. Another 15 minutes and Leicester would’ve easily won the match. lots of work to do and I’m worried by what I see from Lampard. I’m yet to see an improvement coming from the locker room. His subs rarely improve the team and are ill-timed.

but we are not a small club. I’m just telling you, from experience, what can happen, not what I want to happen. The scenario you picture is a nice one, but the ones I’ve experienced are far less rosy. football is a game of imposition, and the physically, not to mention experience, of the senior players does make a difference. We were bullied today at home by Leicester city. They won all second balls esp after Tammy came on. That’s why you don’t throw many youngsters in the starting xi at once. Do it gradually to retain balance and remain competitive. They develop better that way too. strikers need confidence and Tammy must not be feeling very confident today. Did you see that shot in row z? He was very bad when he came on. People will focus on those 2 good plays, but he was bad at everything else. We were unable to keep possession, hence why we got bullied and Leicester were the far better side in the second half.

I like mount and think he has a lot of qualities. Reminds me a lot of Oscar - the good things. sure with a midfield of 3 Ross can make that a bit more attacking which he’s done last season. dont think the pivot is working very well atm.

Sure it does feel unfair. Ross is also the established player, which makes it a bit odd.

Managers have favorites. It’s a pretty known and accepted thing. It’s their prerogative to rely on certain individuals to carry out his ideas. it’s also about characteristics though. How they want their team to play and what they are expecting from each player. If conte were still here, Alonso would still be playing a big part - and likely well enough in that system.