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He joined Preston beginning of last season and just his luck, he done his Achilles in pre-season and never featured for the club at all. I am not surprised he retired as I was thinking this may come. He last kicked a ball in a competitive game over 2 years ago, possibly longer so he would of found it really hard to get going again at a good level. Must have taken a huge mental toll on him though, seeing the fame he had and what he was tipped to be become by former coaches (Mourinho) and seeing his fellow players he won the Youth Cup with make big careers in the top leagues. People will say he wasted his career coming here and in terms of lack of football games, he did, however he is also an example of why players look for a lot of money because one injury can change your whole life/career. If he stayed on at WBA for example and got similar injuries, he would not be no way near financially comfortable.

Bergkamp-esque.

If we go 3-5-2 after 80 mins, I understand. But to withdraw all width you have after 60 mins is poor management. We destroyed any chance of hitting them on the counter. Cowardly move. Explains why we struggle to score goals. We were never going to get top 4 but things would have looked a lot more positive if we won today. Just brought back to earth now...

This is all on Potter. Doesn't learn. Still does the same stupid subs like he did against Leeds, where only fortune saved us. It was a poor performance. That is what happens when you play too defensive. 3-5-2 tactic is just too negative and not a formation we should be playing against a team in the blood relegation. Mudryk was unleashed last week. His reward today, put on the bench and not even come on. Absolutely bizarre tactics. Boring football once again. We should be making lightwork of this team. It proves to me that the last three wins was just a mere false hope. Pathetic.

Such a defensive move. Bringing on Gallagher for Pulisic. We need to hit them on counter with pace. Potter subs are really frustrating. Perfect game for Mudryk to come into.

A damn shame he is out today against Arsenal off all teams. He would have caused them massive problems.

I thought Wilson was top class at Derby. I personally also thought he was their best player too, offensively wise. He was unlucky in the sense that he was going back to a Liverpool team that had many top players in midfield and attack, so despite getting over 15 goals for Derby, Liverpool loaned him to Bournemouth. But yeah, I thought he was that good that Liverpool were going to utilize him. Mount had advantage of being in a team who was unable to buy players so he was awarded a lot of game time and took his chance. That is why I do like the idea of Boehly not going to high on wages and doing incentive based bonuses. Saka is about to sign a new contract worth around £200k p/w who imo is best winger in the league. Could command more, however they have a wage structure there. That being said, as some have said, I think there is more than just simply money with Mount. There is the length issue. He may also himself question his longevity in the team and where he fits in.

For me, he has to play as we need to be quick on the atatck and need fast attackers to attack their fullbacks who like to get forward. I would prefer him playing on the left as well rather than the right. We don't play to his strengths at all when he is on the right. He will defo be starting anyway: https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/article/potter-keen-to-unleash-sterling-on-dortmund

Yep, my patience has worn thin now. I had offered my support for him to remain in charge to gain some sustainability, however after today, this is just the final nail in the coffin. Enough is enough. Same old. Nice passages of play an link ups but no clear created chances. Aubameyang is not necessarily going to be a miracle to our prayers, but I struggle to see why he has been so ostracized from the team when our attackers have done dog sh*t. In the past few weeks, he only changed up the forward line once against Southampton and then took Fofana off at H/T despite him offering a lot more than other players that game. Decisions don't make sense. We have not looked this dysfunctional for a long, long while. I have actually forgotten what it is like to win. But no excuse for another poor showing. Two sloppy goals too. I don't see how he survives this now and I don't see what excuse can be made for Potter now. Same old crap.

Sterling is 10x better on the left than the right. Bar the goal, he looks really dangerous.

Sterling was always going to start. He was our best player in the second half against Southampton when he came on. No surprise. Koulibaly is a strange one. You can only think that Potter wants to build a rapport between him and Silva by time of our crucial second leg against Dortmund.

He was fantastic. Dominated the middle of the park. Doesn't surprise me. I always have said that I think part of the reasons our wingers struggle here is because of the narrow size of the pitch. Not enough room to stretch the opposition. Martinelli and Saka for example have so much width on the pitch to attack their opposition.

Agreed. I get Boehly is the owner but little concerned when we buy players with little input from the manager. Because buying all these big names is all good but if there is no ideal philosophy in fitting them in, then just defeats the object. Bellingham and Enzo will be good in games where we want to dominate the ball but then there will be games as seen several times this season, where we got overrun on the counter attack and there are so many gaps.

Did everything tonight but score unfortunately. That being said, a lot of positives and I am confident going into the second leg with more players coming back and being more match sharp.

Who are you referring to? Are you aware of what you just wrote because that is an utterly stupid and racist comment to make... 🤦‍♂️

He bossed that game. Completely dominated Odegaard and co in there. Finally an Arsenal loss. Long time coming. I am still gobsmacked at Pep letting Cancelo go. Obviously a rift but just think that is a huge player to lose in this title race. Yes, he has been a sub recently but his quality would have been needed in their packed schedule.

I bought the shirt this season and yes I absolutely love it.

Just keep Ziyech ffs if we can't sell him. He has actually carried his world cup form into us. Has put in some delightful balls in virtually every match he has played in 2023. Keep him on board would be my suggestion. Offers something different to likes of Sterling, Mudryk, Madueke and Pulisic too.

Talent wise, Bellingham is better than all of them. Tchouameni starts in the DM role, but Bellingham is definitely starting in that future midfield as you would say he is better than both Valverde and Camavinga who are very talented. Either way, all of them would get decent amount of minutes anyway. City seems a realistic choice also. Wouldn't surprise me to see them go after Fernandez as alternative though if we don't sign him in January.

Yes, agreed, which is why it was frustrating when I kept hearing people bang on the same thing about us making a mistake letting Lamptey go. We played Brighton last season and Lamptey caused us all sorts of problems and commentators kept saying the same old nonsense about us letting him go, when we did not have a choice. It was either keep him and then lose him on a free. With the 4atb, yes Brighton are using that more but even at early stages of season, they were playing with wing backs and would play March at RWB instead of Lamptey and even Zerbi the odd time he has used the wing backs has started March on the RWB too.

Only way Ziyech is agreeing to that is there is a small fee release clause if they go down. Even then, I think he may not be interested in moving. Let's see.

Ironically, Lamptey is being linked with going to Lyon as possible replacement for Gusto if he comes to us. Ironic as Lamptey is a player who came through our academy and had many fans questioning why we let him go as he was a real livewire when he burst on to scene for Brighton. This season, I think he has managed 1 league start which is really strange. Seemed to have fallen out of favour under Potter and now Zerbi too. Seems the injuries he picked up before have set him back as Brighton prefer playing a CM at RB instead of him.

We bought Badiashile who hopefully is a decent recruit. Colwill is waiting in the wings and looks brilliant and won rave reviews after his performance against Liverpool last week. Hopefully Fofana gets back to his best when he gets back and hopefully stays fit. Silva still has at least another year in him judging by his performances. We should not be overspending on Gvardiol when we have such talented players in his position. Especially if long term goal is to go to 4 at the back, we need to not spend excessively on players where we already have gems from our academy who are tailor made for that position. Save the money and spend elsewhere.

I am not surprised. The team Pep picked is astonishing. Cancelo, Walker, Silva, KDB, Foden all on bench. Almost like he wants to Arteta a favour.

We should be all over this. Top keeper. Brilliant technically, has outstanding reflexes and commands his box wonderfully. Has single-handedly saved Brentford in several matches. He is not a massive presence in terms of height but everytime I see him for Brentford he looks top class.