Magic Lamps

we woule be nuts to let our only backup winger go. Bayern offered us 35m last time when he had 1 year left on his contract. Now we hold all the power with 4yrs left on his contract. They should offer at least 50m which they simply wont. Also this would mean Mount basically becomes our default winger when just one of Pulisic/Ziyech is injured which is probably the case for half the season.

From what i have seen Mount is not realy suited to any position in the 3 behind the striker tho IMO. Not sure he can play in the 2 behind given his mediocre passing but if both our back-up winger options are not really reliable we should maybe go for a last minute deal here. Beginning to regret not even having tried for Ferran Torres. Well, Palace is a game we should win anyway but i really hope Pulisic can at least get some minutes

To follow up on the question if he will keep chopping and changing the back 4 Lampard gave a slightly different answer this time. He said that having an established back4 and cb pairing is only possible when his project is completed and currently he is not seeing this as an option. Might indicate he does not think any of our back centre back piarings are good enough for him atm. Also said he knows where he wants to play Kai and Timo but only has played them out of position bc of injuries, which is what i suspected from the very beginning.

lol your right. mixed them up bc of the mendy maignan conundrum i guess. but if i am not mistaken they are on a roughly similar level^^

They have no chance to get him if we dont want to sell and i just dont see it. he has 4 years left onhis contract obviously. I would not mind selling him if we got an outrageous offer and a possibility to loan a replacmeent or so but otherwise why should we sell our only backup winger...

Bild now reporting Bayern still interested. i dont buy it though

Sevilla will be an annoying opponent. They work super hard and are very clever and technical. But if Pulisic and Werner run rings around Carlos he might snap and give away a pen . Rennes was defeated by a much weaker Chelsea team twice last season. I think 13 are in it at least.

It is so bullshit loaning out players and then signing replacements on perm basis. Will just lead to even more inflated squad and worse negotiation position

One of the easier groups. No excuses for not finishing first.

Really weird decision. If Ruben leaves too we will be paperthin in midfield.

Tbf we probably never would have got 60m if we sold back then. 40max.

Pressing in parts of the game is how pressing is done otherwise you run out of steam. Bayern press maybe 25% of the time they don’t have the ball. I think it worked pretty well in the first half. Spurs always lumped the ball up the pitch. our system is 4231 with the 3 interchanging ans this season. Lots of fullback underlaps, crossing and cut backs. I think there is a clear, idea just not being executed well I think the idea of how we play is getting is clearer by the day

With great players, basic football often is the best. Just get the ball into the danger men and let them work their magic. Our great 2005 was basically get the ball long to drogba or wide to robben//duff/cole to cross or cutback/layoff to Lampard. Bayern, PSG, pre-Sarri Juve all play simple football getting the ball to the danger men and let them combine. Underdog teams like our 2016/7 need coaches with some extravagant plan. Great teams just need freedom and confidence+ a solid defence wheremost of the coaching goes. Coaches in great teams are there to make the players express themselves to their full potential, fell good. As long as our defence is shit, we obviously wont win a title but we will comfortably get top4 even with lampard in charge.

not saying his decision making wasnt poor but all of them were right into the corner. so he should have speculated but most penalty saves come from pouncing on a poor shot.none of those spot kicks was poor enough such that you could have dived after the shot is taken.

tbf all spot kicks were brilliantly taken until the one from mount. not sure what kepa would have done if he had gotten the right way once, probably fumbling it. Caballero clear #1 with pens. saves like 30-40% of them.

Great goal, really happy for him. Lloris did not see that shot until it was past him. Now hopefully adds his first PL goal vs Palace. Really can not blame his effort. Just a bit more concentration on the first touch would be nice.

With everyone fit we will steamroll most teams in the country by sheer individual quality, i am sure of that. even without team chemistry. It's probably not the best way forward but I do not really care. Also team chemistry comes with time playing together. I have still not given up this team will grow together as a great group independent of Lampard

Then Mount will be his downfall. Mount is an alright squad player but Lampard wants to use his best players to full extent, he needs to leave out Mount. Yeah, lets say 5 out of 8 consecutive games, like the games you field your first XI in.

lol yeah that sure didn't help. But he probably had not been prepared to well for a shoot out. Oblak once had the nerve to stand still for an entire shootout in a cl final and still turned out a decenet keeper^^ Apart from one drop of the ball he was quite good. I particularly like the sharp save he did with his leg that was something that i feel would have beaten Kepa. He collected a ton of high balls and even punched a few corners. Also I liked most of his passes. As I said in the match thread. Nothing special but he looks super assured which is exactly what we need.

-----------------Mendy--------------- Azpi----Zouma---Silva--Chilwell ----------Kova-----Kante----------- Ziyech-------Havertz------Pulisic ---------------Werner---------------- Is our best lineup IMO. If we see it for a few, say 5 matches in a row and still do not improve even my patience has run out. Until then I will keep preaching to have faith.

I think Lampard should not be sacked but 'promoted' to some management capacity that involves scouting and recruiting of players. Here, his record speaks for itself. At some point he might even come out as a decent manager but IMO his true forte is politics and management. He does not enjoy the day-job of coaching drills and all the repetitive micro-managing that comes with it. Also, I think to be successful as a coach you need to be a bit crazy like Conte, Klopp, Pep all are. I always saw JT as coach and Lampard as executive director of the club.

You really should look up the definition of the term 'toxic relationship'. You keep using it in such a frequency that I just could not let it go once more.

Massively better? most of our players are still new to the Prem. I have seen lots of Havertz and Werner before, they are guys who need time to perform at their best within a team. Sarri had Hazard who carried him on his back. Top form hazard was still better than anything we have right now. Also Sarriball was different IMO. Sarri had this one rigid system he played all the time. It looked like shit but it worked allright bc we had Hazard and more positional discipline. But they also got thumped 6-0 at City which is still the most humiliating loss I have ever seen from us. Lampard is the opposite. He hasno specific system, is super flexible, so the players get confused and their passing turns to shit cos they dont know all the runs. Jorginho has nothing to do with it. Mount is Frank's Jorginho. Also massively limited but of a different kind.

He is by far my favourite ever player but you can see how he lacks the expericne to be a top coach right now. This job came too soon for him. Lets hope he somehow comes up yet with some Eureka moment but i dont see it happening. Anyway, we should be thankful for him for getting all these great talents here. The club could really have gone way down the wrong route without this summer of great buys. Lets also hope the board identifies a coach to continue his legacy at some point.

If only he scored that second shot he had but Lloris sussed it out. Great display otherwise. Still want to see him leading the line tho.