Magic Lamps

I am afraid we are needlessly getting our hopes up. He is as good as signed up for Bankruptcelona

Not sure how the tactical tweaks TT implemented so far can really be called a formation change. You are right about the change of passing speed and style tho. What i noticed is how he has encouraged our quick CBs to bomb forward through the lines to carry the ball. Maybe it is just me but I think it is great to watch. Maybe he got that trick off Chris Wilder but Rüdiger running through midfield with his absurd pace is a sight to behold. Possibly this is the future and a way to make a back 3 system more attacking, have offensively skilled players as CBs and use them to start attacks or even take shots. As for Ancelotti 2nd season i thought we were unlcuky not to still win the league. The squad was old and unnecessarily thin but not finished. Lampard and Drogba both were still majestic, came off their highest scoring seasons and would have carried us to another league title if it had not been for stupid injuries and malaria. I think we actually rushed the rebuild there letting go both Deco and Ballack one year too early and only buying Ramires. Heck we once played with a Zhirkov-Ramires-Mikel midfield with Paulo Ferreira filling in in left back. damn that was painful and ended in disaster. Still we finished only like 4 points off and could have won it if we had won at OT and Goodison park in the final weeks. Obviously we lost the league in winter were we encurred a 13 point gap to Manure. Overall, you are probably right. The chance to properly reinforce and replace the Old Guard was the 2010/2011 window.

Werner is used to being insulted by thousands German football "fans" way worse than this. This will not faze him at all.

Dont forget that inch perfect cross for Havertz header. Love it how he leaves everything on the pitch. him just looking absolutely gassed but happy when he leaves the field warms my heart

corrupted uefa shit want to make sure at least one english team does not get into the final tho

It's not just us.Arsenal got the chance wasting down as well

The point is not even aerial threat. Kounde is a small man. he will struggle physically. Dave makes that up with being one of the best 1 on 1 defenders in the world. Kounde is not that.

He lost several aerial duels vs alli that game tho Also how can you say zero issues when the last goal we conceded was from a set piece were azpi was bullied in the air?

Of course. Giroud also spanked Sevilla and scored the winner vs Lille and Atletico. He was instrumental on gettint that top spot in the group and get to quarterfinals.

maybe. but apparently we are about to replace azpi with Christensen anyway. Also the Azpi comparison has no legs. We signed Azpi as a RB first and foremost, we then figured out that he can also play as a rCB in a back 3 but he was not originally bought for this. If we would buy a new CB he would ideally fit into both back 3 and back 4, so we should look at what the player offers overall and not what he offers about the player he is maybe half replacing. Also there were issues with azpi's height in cb during Conte's time here. Still, we can afford pretty much any CB on the market. If we are about to buy a CB out of all the good CBs available why would we pick the tiny one? It does not make any sense.

In La Liga tho. It's not just about how tall you are. Your vertical is only good use when you actually have the time to get up. a lot of aerial challenges are won by just a quick hop or leaning into the opponent. This guy is so small compared to the regular PL CB he would just get pushed aside. Can you see him win an aerial duel vs Dunk, Maguire or Mings?

Said it before. Kounde would be a terrible idea . He would get eaten alive in premier legue. We are already a short side. We can’t play another shortie in the one position we have tall players for.

But to make the right runs, you need some footballing intelligence don't you? Willian on the other hand had usually terrible off the ball movement. I think Werner is about ok with the passes he attempts. But they are not always perfectly exectued like the one vs Fulham or the backheel to Mount yesterday. That is because his technique is lacking so he telegraphs some of his passes.

I tought we either play Havertz as false 9 and Werner on the left attacking position just behind which is also Pulisic's best position or we play basically 3-5-2 with Mount dropping back into midfield, then we have 2 strikers and again Puli would also play in this position. it is not that we change formations when Pulisic comes on, so yeah he does compete with either werner or mount when we play with Havertz as false 9.

Not to mention Lampard was the major factor in convincing Kai, Timo and Thiago to come here. If we want to go back further even his playing career massively influenced the history of this club and thus also indirectly the position we are in now.

Moskau, Munich, Baku now Istanbul - we have a mixed record in dictatorship cities lol

They are quite different aren’t they. William liked the ball at his feet and his strength was carrying it through midfield with mazy runs. Werner uses his straight line speed to carry it from midfield to attack and play the final ball. willian is a tragic case tho. He has the speed and technical talent of prime hazard but not the intelligence. Werner might have the intelligence and speed but his feet are a bit too clumsy and his head is not always in the right place. Luckily it was today.

It was similar odds when we faced Bayern in 2012

I saw that. He also nutmegged Militao on the byline so smoothly I thought he was havertz on first glance. Defensively he was carried a lot by Kante. I probably would start Kovacic in the final if he is 100% then.Jorginho can come on to calm games down but we will need every pair of legs vs that monstrous city side.

Pulisic is brilliant from the bench. we saw this today, vs City in the fa cup and also a lot last season. Ziyech, Tammy and Havertz were absolutey whack coming off the bench the last few times i remember. Giroud was useful a couple of times tho. Emerson, too. The only ones i can thinko f who made an attacking impact besides pulisic coming off the bench.

I think the most important aspect is that without having a lot of vision or creativity he can do a simple thing very good. run with the ball into space faster than anyone else on the pitch. This opens a lot of tactical options for the coach. Off the ball he can get behind the defense any time which makes defenders nervous and stretches their defences. This directness and off the ball movement is why he starts over superior talents like Pulisic.

-------------Kepa------- ---James--Chris--Zouma--- CHO---Kova(if fit)-Billy---Emerson -----Ziyech--------Puli------------- -------------Tammy----------- that team would get wrecked lol. Guess we are gonna see basically the same team as today and Zouma, Reece, Puli and possibly Kepa in. We have to massively rest player here or vs Arsenal anyway tho

Rather lose this than the CL final. Would take a draw. Will be interesting who will be more up for it. City with half their ass on the beach but well rested after that wellness jog with PSG or us after the toughest of nights

This. Clutch time is still to come. We are slight favourites vs Leicester and massive outsiders vs City. Our league run-in could not be harder compared to the Spammers' so the team will have to grow even more. In the end it will also be a huge physical burden.

This He was immense today. Even improved his final third passing a fair bid. Defensively he owned the shit out of Kroodric. We need to get a backup and potential successor badly even if we do rather continue with two ball playing no. 8 in the middle in most games we need this type of player for certain game situations like today. Whether we need to go onto the transfer market or can use Billy/Gallagher or some other acadmey graduate i am not 100% sure yet.