Magic Lamps

The quality of their final ball is just so impressive. They always create danger when they enter the final 3rd as opposed to our players usually either misplace the pass or fail in the 1 vs 1

Well we went from 0-1 to 1-1 to 2-1 so yeah we are on the least steep and most linear possible upward trajectory results wise for sure and also performance wise it looks like we are getting marginally better each game. that being said we were still extremely poor and frustrating to watch the goal ofc was a work of art and a huge relief. Let’s hope this kickstarts Conor’s Chelsea career as Mase clearly needs a break

Well we look a bit more like we care than under TT but we have shown consistency despite the manager swap by still being wasteful in attack and soft in defence. fofana looks an absolute trainwreck. Like torres 2.0 but on a longer contract The finish by Auba was exquisite btw. Thiago still showing what makes a leader despite having a subpar game overall. We just have to admit our midfield is just not good enough without a fit Kante

Looks like a fair and square 4-3-3 with no unnecessary quirks

Is ridiculous how AT is given another big pl game. The FA really thinks he is their top man probably bc he is incompetent and corrupted

I am impressed you even know your stuff in baseball. Never really understood the rules nor the fascination for that sport but I can see why statistics analysis plays such a vital rule there. It will be interesting to see if Boehly can translate his winning formula to European football. It is clear he is capable but I am still sceptic. I reckon it will take years. Clearly not only the franchise system is completely different but also the business side. So far his approach here has been somewhat inconsistent and amateurish from the outside but surely there will be a learning process. I thinner just need to be patient and not expect instant results. Can totally see the Potter experiment blow up in our faces which is why I was against making such a big long Term commitment here. But the vision, the structure and the ability to invest is there, so long term I am still optimistic for the future of the club

Maybe but that means nothing for today. RJ can play multiple positions at an elite level but he is our best player, the only one to be able to progress the ball and create something with it. We not ship him off to a position where he has minimal attacking impact and into one we have ample cover as opposed to his acutal position where we have none except RLC who might not even be viewed as such by Potter.

Yup. Buy an 80m RCB so he can sit on the bench to watch our best creator doing his job playing out of position. That’s the stuff dreams are made of. Throw in Azpi as RWB for good measure.

Steffen Freund would be rather far from being my first choice. In Germany he is mostly known for his extremely unprofessional, yelly, awkward and vulgar appearances as EL commentator which do not exactly reflect favourably upon his football competence. Also there is his Spurs history. Admittedly, I have no further insight on his precise achievements at RBS. but if there are any it has had no impact on his parlous reputation here in Germany.

It nearly worked bc our opponent was an Austrian clown team missing starters. This defence would get wrecked by the top half of the PL. this preseason game could cost us our place in the r16 of CL missing out, this is not a game to try out a slow, 70 yo cb pairing for whatever insights you may possibly get by watching players who have been around forever for the umpteenth time. winning vs Salzburg does not require a miracle worker or drastic improvements. All it requires is the kind of performance that should be expected even by this squad. But GP tinkered in a very uninspiring way and it backfired. If he had played the likes of Broja, Gallagher, halobab etc, fine, ballsy move but at least he builds for the future but today was presumably his idea of playing it safe and that selection was crap. One could argue he has no clue about his new team yet.

Seriously wtf was that? He was making all the right noises, comes across as likeable character and smart coach but how can you even give him the benefit of the doubt when he lines us up like that. Thought it was pretty much a given Azpi should not play in a back 4 esp not with the similarly immobile Thiago but I guess GP thinks outside the box. Also Mount, Kai are tragically out of form while Jorginho and Auba are just useless so ofc they will play.

I agree. The market value is flattering Salzburg a lot when they are missing starters and also given the fact that German and Austrian players are usually overrated as tm is mostly operated by Germans and Austrians i was just using it as means to show that Salzburg are a team we should make light work of not just playing ok, creating chances etc. the majority of the players are done. Not physically but mentally. It is normal for TT teams to burn out mentally after a few years but usually not this soon. So far GP has not had the time to rejuvenate them but this today has not exactly given hope he even can. I’m not blaming him for not making an instant impact but the lineup he put out today was an absolute disaster, he hardly could have picked a worse team. we should also not put too much hope in Auba . He is just a tragic, finished player and will hardly score any goals for us.

We should also keep in mind this was Salzburg. One of the worst teams we will face all seasons. Their combined market value is pretty much the same as Bournemouth’s, the worst team in PL.

Yup. Not much of an improvement then. It’s the players not the coach. We have no leaders

Missing from 2 yds out is a common theme of potter teams

Conceding bc of slow cbs what a shock to no one

The expected shit show. It’s not the coach’s fault. It’s the players. They just seem unable to find that extra gear in the bread and butter games

Looks like the oldest, shortest, least athletic team we are able to field against a side full of energetic young players.

What a shocking lineup. And we sacked TT for that.

Mount seems like Mourinho’s Dele Ali atm tho honestly I dislike the idea of signing one system one coach players just as much as you he next guy. Modern football is as much about pace and athleticism as it is about tactics, ball playing ability etc these days. You can’t have too many free riders on your team who can’t run at pace with and without the ball.

Isn’t macallister more of a no 10 tho? I always thought he was overrated and only gets rated bc he fits potter but as long as we have potter it could work would hate to see Jorginho featuring heavily still. He will remain a liability under any manager

Lol no he is just shit in big games like all of barcas new shiny toys. Lewa, dembele, raphinha, kounde all overrated fair weather players and big game chokers.

But tbf it was TT who made the sanctions nightmare bearable. Many managers would have thrown their toys out over that. Imagine Conte in that situation. The squad would have unraveled and we would have probably lost out on top 4. Replacing TT with GP might turn out to be the right decision in the end but we should never forget TT s loyalty and professionalism holding the club together in one of its biggest crises. i am still super sceptic about this huge roll of the dice we are witnessing esp when we signed all those players and now they get a new manager. So can’t say i am impressed with TB so far. It might be a master stroke in the end but so far it just looks all way too chaotic. But for better or for worse, TB has a vision and the courage to execute it, you have to give him that.

I did not say that tho. A similar sort of TBs inclusive model was tried by Schalke and a Hertha in the past… we know how well that went. It is a fact that most big successful clubs are run in a similar way. It might not be the only one but fat chance some American casual sports enthusiasts and a PE fund have a better model than those formed by decades of experience at the top of European footballs

If that’s true then the new owners are even more naive. The best run top clubs are probably city and Bayern and both have a rather conservative structure not some BS inclusive model. TT is maybe a bit more used to the German model where the coach is just that and that is how it should be IMO. Let the coach focus on his job. TB might be knowledgeable about US sports but believing his blueprint there will work in football which he very likely knows less about than you and I is just very gullible. We are a 117 yo club, champions of the world with the best Academy in England, used to have one of the best coaches. We do not need to be revolutionized. We are not a soulless American franchise nor a club that lost his way like pre-Klopp Liverpool. We were wrecked last season by injuries, Covid and sanctions. We lack a bit of quality in some positions but overall this is a fine club with a great culture built on decades of success. As I said, potter is fair enough but TB and Clearlake are throwing the baby out with the bath water here . There is very realistic room for improvement and a huge downside to this whole revolution of the club culture when all we needed were just a few little tweaks. Personally I would have preferred the new owners to just focus on the business side, expand the brand, marketing in US, source new sponsors etc and let the actual football ppl do their work. But it looks like they have it completely backwards