closed Bohemians 1-1 Chelsea

[MoroccanBlue 5,249]

15 minutes ago, Atomiswave said:

 And I dont think im wrong in saying Lamps will command more respect and if you wanna take 1 warm up match as a benchmark whether he commands respect or not then you are in for a tough season my man.

I think it will be you that will be in for a tough season. I for one expect little to no improvement, as opposed to you that thinks Lampard will wave a magic wand and our players will perform better. 

[Atomiswave 6,072]

13 minutes ago, MoroccanBlue said:

I think it will be you that will be in for a tough season. I for one expect little to no improvement, as opposed to you that thinks Lampard will wave a magic wand and our players will perform better. 

No not at all......do I think we will get top 4? Fat chance but you never know in footy. Do I believe we will have more togetherness and eat more grass? Fuck yeah. DO I believe we will setup in a way that suits the team more? Again yes. More passion? Yes indeed.

[Jase 43,479]

1 hour ago, Atomiswave said:

No not at all......do I think we will get top 4? Fat chance but you never know in footy. Do I believe we will have more togetherness and eat more grass? Fuck yeah. DO I believe we will setup in a way that suits the team more? Again yes. More passion? Yes indeed.

I don't know why people think badly of our chances to finish in the top 4 next season. Not saying we will do it but it's a toss-up between us, Arsenal and United for that 4th spot really. City and Liverpool are guaranteed to be in there. Spurs will be as well, assuming they don't suffer any meltdown like last season. Arsenal don't look like they're gonna sign anyone significant to turn them from contenders to certainties and Aubameyang's & Lacazette's goals can't mask their defensive deficiencies and can only take them so far. United have splashed some big money but it's on young players and it's similar to us getting young players into the team from the loan army and they might even lose some notable players in Pogba and Lukaku this summer. It'll come down to who can be the most consistent of the lot, aka who can be less shit than the others.

[Atomiswave 6,072]

1 hour ago, Jason said:

I don't know why people think badly of our chances to finish in the top 4 next season. Not saying we will do it but it's a toss-up between us, Arsenal and United for that 4th spot really. City and Liverpool are guaranteed to be in there. Spurs will be as well, assuming they don't suffer any meltdown like last season. Arsenal don't look like they're gonna sign anyone significant to turn them from contenders to certainties and Aubameyang's & Lacazette's goals can't mask their defensive deficiencies and can only take them so far. United have splashed some big money but it's on young players and it's similar to us getting young players into the team from the loan army and they might even lose some notable players in Pogba and Lukaku this summer. It'll come down to who can be the most consistent of the lot, aka who can be less shit than the others.

For sure.....we can do it, its not super likely but its def doable if we can muster a consistent and good base.

[Magic Lamps 11,526]

That overreaction....guys, they have been in training for 4 days or so. Hardly any first team members and a few kids even a dedicated Chelsea fan has never heard of. 

Also the Irish Premier divison is in the middle of its season, so the pros they featured were full inc ompetitive mode and much fitter than our guys right now.  So a draw is a very fair reflection of the fitness+quality levels. Because that is what i saw as the reason we slumped in the game late on. Fitness+quality. not commitment or willingness. Just in the first few minutes you see very player on the pitch busting a lung to get forward, they were openly running into tackles because they were so over-enthusiastic. But I dont think you could go out and say they did not play for Lamps etc. It is a fitness exercise ffs. Thsoe games in Ireland have nothing to do with competition but only with getting fit against sides that already are. If its a good idea i dont know but it was obviously the lack of quality and lack of fitness that made us draw here not a lack of spirit.

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

Just seen the highlights, that was a first crap pre-season match as usual. No biggie and nothing surprised.

[Tomo 21,686]

4 hours ago, Atomiswave said:

For sure.....we can do it, its not super likely but its def doable if we can muster a consistent and good base.

As it stands I would say we are favroites, United and Arsenal look all over the shop.

[Vesper 27,621]

Damn, I didn't know the kid who set up that Bohs goal at the end was 14 years old! Wtf

https://www.breakingnews.ie/sport/soccer/stephen-barry/watch-triallist-and-14-year-old-combine-for-equaliser-as-bohs-deny-frank-lampards-chelsea-936224.html

 

[Antonio8 736]

19 hours ago, the wes said:

WTF already 😂😂😂

it will be a long season 

[Atomiswave 6,072]

12 hours ago, Tomo said:

As it stands I would say we are favroites, United and Arsenal look all over the shop.

YEah Ars look skint.....Udt will spend much more yet but they have many weak spots and Pogba will rather leave than stay. Its def doable and great success if we manage it.

[communicate 2,703]

14 hours ago, Tomo said:

As it stands I would say we are favroites, United and Arsenal look all over the shop.

I don't know. I want to see how we look like without hazard for extended period of time. Hazard was our best player, our top scorer, and our best creator. 

Usually when you lose your best player, you use the money to strengthen multiple position on your team. But in our case we got only pulisic, a far inferior player. 

[bigbluewillie 1,810]

3 hours ago, Atomiswave said:

YEah Ars look skint.....Udt will spend much more yet but they have many weak spots and Pogba will rather leave than stay. Its def doable and great success if we manage it.

Me! i love it hardly anything said in the media and on tv about Chelsea, only we've got Lamps at the head

And the Arse and Manure are both in a fucking mess

[MoroccanBlue 5,249]

20 hours ago, Tomo said:

As it stands I would say we are favroites, United and Arsenal look all over the shop.

I’d say Arsenal are favorites.

We finished 2 points ahead of Arsenal in a season where Hazard was our main influence. Emery also has a knack of doing better in his second season whereas United will be anyone’s guess. 

 

[Tomo 21,686]

9 hours ago, Mana said:

We are not the favourites. We still haven't got a goalscorer up front and now that Hazard - our last season's top goalscorer and assist king is gone, it will be even worse. 

We are relying on kids to do the job for the whole season with Willian, Luiz and Pedro. 

Crossing fingers that Pulisic does wonders for us because we are gonna need it. 

If the transfer window ended now then yes I would absolutely have us as favroites for 4th as we would be vastly better than both United and Arsenal in every position bar upfront.

Yes losing Hazard will be a blow but other aspects will go some way to compensating for it. Kepa, Jorginho, Christensen and Kovacic will almost certainly be better this season which will mean an improved defense. I would be surprised if our front line don't get more goals this season (as they will have to take more responsibility) and we seem to be pretty good flat track bullies even without Hazard.

Last year we actually were above all the other three by 10 points on XP, now yes that means nothing in terms of the table just gone but can give a clue as to where a team are heading (for example us constantly outperforming our XG rate in the build up to the 2015 title). Also another thing in our advantage is we will have a honeymoon period this season, Arsenal and United won't (neither will sack their manager unless they do massively shit which will wipe them out of the top four race anyway), that very thing was the reason both of them even ran us close.

I may change my opinion if one of them pull the rabbit out of the hat in the market within the next month but right now I am very confident we will have enough to beat them to 4th, it won't be as easy as if we kept Eden or if we were able to sign a quality LB and ST granted, but as it stands I firmly believe we have enough to hold them off, partly because our squad isn't anywhere near as bad as you make out and partly because United and Arsenal are in complete and utter states.