robsblubot

there is an opinion article on NYT today about it https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/21/opinion/chimamanda-adichie-nigeria-protests.html it's prob behind a paywall though.

did not watch the game, but too many conclusions about players here. Yes I also think Mendy improves our defense tremendously, but the only point that I'm allowed to make today is this: It's presumable that defending, and our defensive weakness have been discussed ad nauseam (externally and esp internally) for the past few days. So, what likely happened today was that all players put an additional focus on defensive tasks, especially considering the strength of the opposition. That would have affected our attacking output without a doubt, as well improved our defending. The key is to find that so important balance: getting to a point where the defense line is well-protected without spending too much energy in defensive tasks. in football everybody defends and everybody attacks. A quick transition from the back can be the difference between winning and losing a match. We are just not there yet. Like some have said, the opposition is strong, so not a terrible result even at home.

Sorry can't click like on your post... just does not feel... right. heh the religious right isn't what it used to be.

The irony of Donny "mobster" Trump accusing anyone of being a criminal... I mean, the guy who tampered with a witness via twitter! "To be sure, Trump's upbringing in Queens, where the Mafia was ubiquitous, helped form his wiseguy persona." https://www.newsweek.com/2019/01/18/donald-trump-mafia-connections-decades-later-linked-mob-1285771.html doesn't that explain a lot? "I’ve known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy,” Trump told New York Magazine that year for a story headlined “Jeffrey Epstein: International Moneyman of Mystery.” “He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it — Jeffrey enjoys his social life.” Now if almost half the population is that stupid, I'm not sure we deserve anything better. I mean how how many times can you listen to an anti-masker talk about how masks are not "effective" for me me me... I feel for the rest of the world, I really do, but Trump remaining in power will just accelerate the inevitable... the irony of it all is that when the USA experiment finally fails, the rightwing supporters will end up in all the wrong places (countries) - at which point they may finally understand where all that money actually came from.

Just commenting the highlighed text. Can't speak for everyone, but that's not at all my issue with Zouma. I agree that he is very consistent, and there lies the problem for me: he's consistently bad. Merely being consistent cannot possibly be good enough at this level... Once again, take the last 15 or so minutes of the game against Soton as an example. He made a few importance clearances, even a nice last-ditch one. The issue is that every time he cleared the ball, it went right back to Soton, and in consequence, they were right back at us. Every time he passes the ball, and has to adjust his body to make the simplest pass (bakayoko style), is a red flag. For teams that will apply pressure up front, closing down on Zouma will be the bread and butter to regaining possession close to our goal. "physical centre forward" Not sure that's as important as it once was. The top sides employ players like Aguero, Jesus, Firmino, Martial... We employ a pacy skilled forwarder now. Can say perhaps Kane has some strength, but that's about it. Honestly, we should be overwhelming the smaller sides by keeping the ball most of the time and that's an easier task without Zouma. Andreas is underrated here and IMO would have a much easier time finding a spot in a top side. He's a good footballer, which is something Zouma isn't. Zouma is the quintessential sub. The very limited CB that you put in when you are defending against those final set pieces, and that's about it.

My screen must be broken, because when I see (the good them of) France play, I see Kante pretty much fixed as a ball-winning mid. And, at least in last game, he even played on the left, something myself and others here have always wondered given our extremely attacking (poor at defending) LBs. Chilwell is pretty much an attacking FB as well... Does Kante have anything in his contract that states he must play b2b for us? because that's not his best role. Jorginho is a possession type of player: if your team does not keep the ball, then I don't know what he brings. And then if you do want to keep possession, you simply can't play Zouma and expect to be able to keep possession. It just takes one to send the ball to row z or right back to the opposition. I concur with above that Silva and Tomori, on paper, should be tried and they should complement each other's game well. Think Andreas is a good player to have in the roster and can produce good games when called upon. He usually falters when played often - possibly a physical weakness. Think I've already made my point about zouma. On the other hand, we are just too exposed at the back at the moment. I don't know if we can make it better with the players Frank picked today - looks like a pretty attacking-minded lineup to me. That's something Mount can provide though: that needed solidity by having that additional ball winner aside from the 2 CMs (being nice to Jorginho here). Little puzzle for Lampard to figure out.

is is very sad we are talking about anything other than Timo's goals and performance. And someone has to tell Frank that Abraham does not have to play every game, esp considering Timo is twice the player.

You are right, but reckon that's not arteta's strategy. It's rather what he's been able to do so far with the players and time he's got. Pay attention to the final 10 minutes of the game against Southampton: one can say that zouma made important clearances, but all those clearances either led to a corner or the ball went right back to the opposition. I suspect the disagreement is about how poor on the ball zouma is. For me, he's one of the worst I've ever seen - definitely the worst at a top club. He's a Bakayoko in defense. Perhaps others don't see it that way. Just to clarify, I'm nowhere saying that Zouma is the sole responsible for the draw against Southampton. That's down to team shape and system, which is something Lampard does not seem to have a good grasp of.

Defending is the responsibility of the whole team (cliche but pretty obvious). And it's not like they've just lobbed the ball over our midfield, but rather played through our lines quite easily at times. With that out of the way, still can't believe nobody is talking about alonso... you know how slow he is?! Lost all his duels and remained a liability in defense during the whole game.

It's pretty crazy that folks don't Zouma being poor on the ball as a liability, because it is. He is clumsy when passing all by himself and losing possession in dangerous areas will always remain a risk whenever Zouma plays. Regarding the zouma in a top club discussion, he simply wouldn't play no fucking way. Maybe Tottenham if you call them a top club and that's only because of Joze direct style. This isn't about how good defensively, or winning aerial balls, but the strategy used for defending. City and Arteta use possession as the main! way to defend. So, passing is pretty high priority in their sides. Luiz, despite his many weaknesses, is a fantastic passer, so he fits that very well. Liverpool is not much different even if they employ a slightly more direct style at times. United would be a question mark, but personally I see their current crop of defenders at zouma's level, but bit better on the ball (anyone is). Could you ever see Zouma playing for Barcelona, Real, or Bayern? If not, then he is indeed a weakness and one we should think about dealing with at some point. It really boils down to our ambitions.

The more he does not play, the better he gets. It'd be smart for Southgate to give Grealish a run of games, esp a couple of tough ones, so he either delivers or doesn't. Either way people will get off his back. As a comparison, not really same player or even same position, but Mount is a starter for a top club. Grealish hasn't achieved that yet and may or may not ever reach that level. Reminder how much influence Barkley had (and will have I bet) at AV. It's also about team shape and formation: Mount gives you that 3rd CM work rate without the ball (even when playing in attack), which is so important in football. Watched Italy today: one of the worst italian sides I've seen. Verrati fooled me big time... still looking for something that he does to help his team.

While he definitely found his form in Italy - he looks a lot fitter too - his performance against Sevilla was reminiscent from United's days. He actually started the game well enough by finding space on the right, which led to the PK and goal; then his game dropped like a rock culminating in that bizarre own goal, which pretty much sealed the deal. Now, one can say that it was purely accidental, but I'd argue that it is something more likely to happen to players which lack skill; players who lack quickness and as consequence have a poor first touch. I'm torn regarding Lukaku. While I wish he had stayed and given a fair shot with us, I also have a hard time trusting players who lose form so easily (yes Eden too).

Yeah not sure starting for England means that much. England has got some good players for sure, but the midfield in particular is as far from the elite as it has ever been. (sorry) Have to be honest here and Rice does not look good enough on the ball. He also does not seem to be quick enough esp considering his young age. I can imagine him losing some pace and becoming a very limited player - prob even permanently moving to CB. Just hope that our scouts (and Frank) know what they are doing here.

heh Trump already attacked said Navy Seal.... can't make this shit up! Hunter Biden is not going to be president is he? Last time I checked Hilary is also not running or am I having a deja vu (emails are back too!)? Interesting that wsj.com, which is owned by the same worm, meant person, has nothing on this "news." The hypocrisy is strong on trump supporters. Kushner and Ivanka are there pulling strings, plus other family and friends... all involved in both government and family business. You need to be a special kind of stupid to think that the "no salary" make this OK, because that's peanuts for these people. https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2019/oct/18/eric-trump/eric-trumps-false-claim-trump-family-got-out-all-i/ Also Follow the money on Kushner - Real estate dealings are public record in the US. We did not even talk about the "handling of the pandemic" which has been declared over by these folks, so it must be. I'm glad hydroxychloroquine saved the president's life, so at least he was right about one thing... oh I see. He did not take it when he actually got sick. Sounds like someone made a hell lot of money on it! I truly believe that folks who think this is all "normal" election are not grasping at what's really going on. Or perhaps it is just a natural selfish state. They may even be happy with this particular authoritarian president, but how about the next one? Real change is needed so that a Donald Trump never happens again (republican or democrat).

Couldn't agree more ^^ Think trump is a despicable human being lacking any empathy for anyone who's not his family - basically a mobster who uses lawyers and twitter as thugs. He has shown how broken the US government is, and how much work is needed to reinstate the checks and balances we thought we had. It's all gone at the moment... even the CDC - IN THE MIDDLE OF A PANDEMIC - is completely quiet and irrelevant. Early days I received a pamphlet by mail that said something like, "Turmp's Guidelines on fighting the Covid pandamic..." Not from the CDC, or even the US government, from Trump. Trump is the first third world president the US has ever had... I see the similarities as clear as day: starts with rampant nepotism (the wannabe royals), blatant multiple conflicts of interests, and questionable/illegal activities. He is a known tax cheat as reported multiple times by the NYT. I mean he's been fighting very hard so that his tax returns don't see the light of day. NYT, has a great article about that today: The Swamp That Trump Built: A businessman-president transplanted favor-seeking in Washington to his family’s hotels and resorts — and earned millions as a gatekeeper to his own administration. Doesn't really have to go far to see that a lot of folks who worked for him are in jail (got a pardon), or will be indicted soon. Once he leaves office a lot more will go too. Trump trying to be the "law and order" guy is really laughable... esp given that all that has taken place recently has happened under his watch... not to mention that he encourages a lot of that. You talk to right wing guys and Antifa is a real danger even though the FBI repeatedly says that white supremacists groups are the dangerous ones.(thanks here go to fox news of course) He complains about the system being stacked against him, and at the same time his lapdog (Barr) boasts about the incredible powers of the presidency - so which one is it? Does he lack power as president or is he a de facto king and untouchable by the law? Have to say it looks like the latter, which brings us back to my point that he broke the US gov and its institutions by doing the most obvious thing: whoever disagreed with him was fired, and if possible, ruined; a simple and effective way to surround yourself with lapdogs. People should really take notice of the outstanding number of conservatives who don't support Donald Trump at the moment. Then again, he's not really a conservative is he? Before Covid, he was pressurizing the fed to keep interest rates low for him to look good. "Trump's political party affiliation has changed numerous times. He registered as a Republican in Manhattan in 1987, switched to the Reform Party in 1999, the Democratic Party in 2001, and back to the Republican Party in 2009.[1]" Religious right should never follow Trump, who believes as much in god as I do (not at all). Binden is the church goer one. Finally, even if the criticism about Binden being past his prime, even senile is correct, which is difficult to assess given that multiple reports from aides say the same about trump, it's really not that hard a job. All you have to do is surround yourself with competent people and LISTEN TO THEM! That's something Trump has never been able to do. PS: Not a fan of (centrist) Binden myself or the democratic party who can be way too PC and weak at times. It's just hard to take folks who don't believe in science very seriously (as if it were a matter of belief). Unsurprisingly, these anti-science extremists are also racist... just like their enabler. quick note on the media: US media is very polarized and way too monetized. You have the agenda-full Msnbcs, the crazy always-breaking-news CNN, and the absolute garbage that fox news is. Shareholders and news don't mix very well.

Couldn't disagree more. For me Zouma does not belong in a club like chelsea. Can be used in certain situations, but not good enough as a starter (same as Abraham). It's not because he's a terrible defender, reckon he'd be excellent in a lot of PL clubs and some, but he's just a waste of space in a game like today. Against super weak opposition, like CP, his poor passing adds nothing. Against top opposition, they will stick a player on silva at all times and switch on and off applying pressure on zouma to regain possession. That leaves the odd away games, against teams who employ set pieces a lot. In any top club both CBs need to know what to do with the football and zouma simply does not - that can and will be exploited. Good game by all, but don't take too much from it - really poor opposition with heavy touches all over. BTW, looks like we finally have a goalkeeper.

Heh yeah. Good for TC clicks and nothing else, I'm afraid.

heh Lamptey has been running rings around everyone. Like I said before, if you play Alonso and expect him to not be beaten by speedy wingers/FBs, that's on you (the manager).

one is an apple, the other an orange. The only thing they have in common is that you'd wouldn't want either in your fruit salad. Regardless of where you stand, I feel that explaining today/yesterday's game via Alonso (vs Emerson or even Chilwell) is nothing but an over-simplification.

heh no particular reason... just feel it's time for a change. (not the first time either btw )

Could you please change my name to robsblubot? thank you.

Just my 2 copper pieces, We had one individual mistake in the first half, which was from Silva and not a whole lot you can do about that. Tammy's miss was pretty bad too, but nothing like losing possession as the last man. Alonso's bad header should not have led to a goal: we had 5 players behind the ball when the shot was taken. Lots of ball-watching players around the scorer. We had no intensity in the first half... too slow on the ball and on the press (Mount was the only one playing with any urgency). Adreas was also good the entire game and has been our best CB - really don't get the criticism on him as he is the most complete CB we have. Zouma is really terrible on the ball, which you could clearly see against pool's press, which is why it's going to be hard for zouma to play in Frank's "passing from the back" system. Now, none of that excuses the diabolical poor game Alonso had (at a technical level), helped by a Kovacic who was also poor - they should have kept the ball and failed miserable at that (part of defending!). On the defensive side, while it might be OK for folks here to be "surprised" by how slow and poor at defending alonso can be, that's not OK for any manager. When the manager plays Alonso, he needs to have contingencies around that and today we had the exact opposite of it with an old match unfit CB covering that side (corrected at the end of first half) - esp considering Reece is also not great in the back as well. So, the exposed defenders in an overly attacking-minding starting lineup was a gamble and entirely on frank. He almost killed the comeback too by his strange Giroud sub, could have come in for Tammy (squad player for me) instead of changing the shape of the team which was clicking with Odoi on fire. Odoi then had to move a bit back on the left, which diminished his influence in the final moments. Perhaps not fair to talk about the goalkeeping today, but we had three shots on goal in the first half and the three went in. Even if a gk is not expected to save those, a good one might have saved one of them. Willy was a bit slow coming out in my book, but it's hard to say... whatifs. It could be that the overly high defense line employed today was an attempt to keep the ball away from our goal.... hard to say.

Absolutely! I meant at the technical level, which he already appears close to lukaku. I still hope he surpasses him there too tho. in the mentality aspect, he’s about several light years ahead. Loses the football and chases the taker... great to see. His finishing today was really good! He probably wanted a cleaner first touch, but the way he adjusted his body was great.

CL gods actually. He tends to do well in that competition. tbf he wasn’t having a great game until that great finish.

You are very wrong. Should we invite some mods to clarify? It’s not up to you to decide who or which opinion is deserving of respect.