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Curious about that myself -- it seems to have helped Kante.

Sad point taken. I'd say that evidence still suggests it's not (yet?) the same. Well Garnacho is better than Mudryk--not really that close. Antony with all his weaknesses is twice the player Mudryk is, and was actually better than Sterling against us. Antony, despite his shortcomings, is a powerful athlete... maybe we are missing a bit of that up front? I think even knowing whether Poch is good enough of a manager for us is going to be hard... and perhaps even not that important. When you fuck up the roster the way we did, gotta fix that first.

Please read the exchange above about youth, potential, and current ability. Their potential does not enter the pitch. With that out of the way, United has about the same quality, or the lack thereof that we have; they do have better options on the wings tho. So, we went to their home and lost the match. 🤷‍♂️ Caicedo was a big fish in a small pond. I addressed that in a different thread. When players move up they need to adapt: have less of the ball, pass the ball more quickly, and not run as much with the football. All this is required of Caicedo... Didn't Cucu look a lot better also? It's a very common trend actually, which makes me think expecting Lavia to deliver the goods at this time is just fantasy. If you think playing for Brighton (or Southampton) and Chelsea is the same, then we have a big disagreement here.

yup and I think it's a bit more serious than that, but the biggest weakness is the attack and the lack of options. If one of our attacking players isn't in good form, well too bad he has to play anyway--not much different in other positions. To your point, we had the best opportunities against Everton, but did not have the quality to put the ball back in the net. Goals change games, and it's hard for us to chase results right now; we don't have the experience and calmness to do that.

Such unanimous opinion does not and never exited. I certainly did not think the players were bad. That roster was A LOT stronger than this. The problem with fans is exactly this, "He had Enzo, Caicedo, Lavia, Santos, Carney, Casadei, Conor, Ugo in pre season." (Lavia and Santos - big question marks) Do you realize you cited one world class player? All the top teams in the PL have world class players, some more than one. That's the issue here: the PL is the best league in the world right now, which means the level is super high. Our players can improve and become better; some may yet become world class players yet, like Caicedo and Palmer, for ex. Right now they aren't tho. Right now they are no better than what the opposition has. Actually, right now they are just younger and more inexperienced than what the opposition has, so we are at a constant disadvantage. We have players in our roster, some of which often start matches, who would be interchangeable with their counterpart at Brighton (some of which came from there). Hey options are opinions, but IMO aside from the small, and short-lived bump in performance (from the managerial change high), the next manager will not succeed with the roster. My reply to you was about Lavia and yet another nobody 19yo who will make an immediate impact... he will likely not.

Because by the time Lavia gets to play a game of football, and we find out he's yet another nobody (I meant "project"), Posh will be gone (as you want), so exactly how waiting for this fabled player with nothing yet done in the game helps a manager under pressure?

@Chuckso we may have a fundamental disagreement here. You think the situation we are in has happened before, elsewhere or not. For me, the situation is unprecedented: not only the number of changes in the squad (which you addressed), but the age and inexperience of the new signings make this a very unique situation.

And he looks like the real deal now... the second goal below is pretty incredible 😢 He's been quiet in the Brasileiro, but came alive towards the end of the championship shortly after he turned 17.

Well, I'm afraid you will find out that some players can be told a number of different things and they will won't be able to do them. Gaps aren't left by the manager, but by the players themselves. Having a Mudryk on the left wing, with a num 10 shirt at that, has a cost. Mudryk wouldn't get a spot on the bench for Tottenham. Palmer would be a great player coming off the bench--not so much as a starter. Although important, quality isn't just about a player's skill on the ball. Heh my prediction is: 1. Poch will get sacked (prob around Jan) -- always thought this squad was unmanageable in the PL. 2. the next manager will perform about the same and get sacked/replaced before they manage to fix the roster. I honestly I think we do not have a good grasp as to how poor and unbalanced this roster really is.

What solution? I think fielding Haaland might break a few FA rules eh. The roster is what it is. Can talk about management all we want, but there is only so much you can do if the players aren't good enough. We signed a bunch of "projects" and this is the cost. Why would we expect any different?

And we thought Kante had hamstring issue. 😢 One would think Madrid have learned a thing or two since splashing for Eden back then.

🤣 that'd explain so much... FM for billionaires! I think the point is about the exact players you listed. They are both poor at defensive tasks; Palmer does not have the physique for that either, while Mudryk not the knowhow. If we make an analogy with City, yes you can cite the one DM they employ, but I rather focus on what all the other players do when they defend. Point being that they defend in numbers, and that's, as I'm sure you know, always key. The moment you are outnumbered in areas in key areas of the pitch, it's trouble. The best teams manage to constantly outnumber the opposition: by having players capable of dribbling past players, and/or by strategy. However, even doing that by strategy demands certain characteristics, which I'm afraid isn't available in the squad right now. During the match against United, it did look to me that we were outnumbered both in the middle and defense at times.

thanks. So, I don't think the team is regressing. It's really just a normal curve with ups and downs that is slowly creeping upwards. It's evidently affected by form, players available, fitness levels (international break), and the opposition. Does United have worse players than we got? why should we be beating them at their home? Recently Enzo has just single-handedly won a match for us. I think he's adding a side to his game he did not have before, and that alone takes time. I'd like to know more about what and how Posh works in a daily basis, perhaps that's avail from reporters who cover the club. Still, I think the progress is pretty nominal from what I've seen in the past with an overly young squad. And that's assuming most of these young players do indeed have a high ceiling, which I don't think is the case for at least a couple of them. Some here said that they would be OK and patient with a young squad, but it's really hard when the results don't come. This level can be brutal to players and managers alike. That's the risk right now... that things blow up which isn't something young players normally deal well with.

My issue with manager analysis, and his "mistakes" is causality: We can say that Cucurella on the right was a liability and it costed us the match, but we don't know that do we? Because *our* option did not play--only his did. So, it's likely that had a different (unproven) player, or a James lacking match fitness, started and things would've been just as bad. I for one look at all the mistakes (in my opinion) done by the club in signing players and can't think Posh is the biggest one. I also do see his tactics, the energy, and organization. Don't think the players are good enough, esp when missing a a couple of starters or subs, but that's hardly his fault. I'd be very concerned if he gets sacked now or in Jan. I can totally see the club going downhill in a way not seen before. Quoting @King Kante 's post from Caicedo's thread because I fully agree with: One thing is being told what to do--another very different is executing it esp at this level. Either the PL is the crop of the crop, in which case "executing" footballing tasks has to be difficult (the opposition works against it), or it's just not that difficult to get here and to stay here. I think it's obviously the former.

Sure but it is what it is. The club for whatever strange reason decided to go for all these young players and all at once -- spending a lot in the process. I don't understand the reasoning, unless it's not a footballing reason. I just can't act surprised about something I said very early in the Chelsea Transfer channel, which tbh was quite obvious to me. That these players current ability was below our immediate needs. 🤷‍♂️

That's a detail with context. Can't establish correlation much less causation with level of play or final result.

Having this squad prery much makes Posh "unsackable". Do that and we could really start seeing the worst of these very green players. It's not the manager. The players aren't good enough.

That first touch by Mudryk is just not good enough at this level. He was doing better in the second half and has just turned into constantly losing possession mode.

Games like these make me think Bruno Fernandes is a bit overrated.

Tbf, Mydryk is doing better in the second half. James skill on the ball is helping the team big time.

Did he? Sterling's pass to Jackson was actually pretty good. Not merely a forward pass, but really an assist well timed and weighted in between defenders. Jackson missed, but oh well. Sterling did fuck up diving tho.

I strongly disagree. Mudryk and Salah are only alike in the most mundane quality: pace. The most important quality for a player at this level is skill. Make no mistake: Mudryk has a much lower ceiling than folks here think. At least that's my take. 🤷‍♂️

Salah has quick feet and tight control in very tight spaces... always had. Mudryk is nowhere there in skill.

he needs to make adjustments, but heard he has not a lot of options today.

WTF 😆