Super Frank Thread

[Atomiswave 6,117]

What the hell has happened to Chels, we used to be this rock, a defence and shape made of flipping iron.....I so miss that.

[King Kante 1,643]

2 hours ago, Atomiswave said:

What the hell has happened to Chels, we used to be this rock, a defence and shape made of flipping iron.....I so miss that.

A lot of it is to do with Kepa. We have only conceded the 3rd least amount of shots on target. Kepa has statistically let in 13 more goals than an average GK would've done on similar shots. 

After that, it is the CB's as ours are: 

AC: Mentally and physically weak. 

Zouma: Naive with his positioning and clumsy. 

Rudiger: Very low football IQ and rash. 

Tomori: Raw and over plays in dangerous positions. 

[Atomiswave 6,117]

33 minutes ago, King Kante said:

A lot of it is to do with Kepa. We have only conceded the 3rd least amount of shots on target. Kepa has statistically let in 13 more goals than an average GK would've done on similar shots. 

After that, it is the CB's as ours are: 

AC: Mentally and physically weak. 

Zouma: Naive with his positioning and clumsy. 

Rudiger: Very low football IQ and rash. 

Tomori: Raw and over plays in dangerous positions. 

Yes all valid reasons but the shape and how we move as a unit has alot to do with it also.

[Henrique 9,133]

On 22/07/2020 at 7:11 PM, Tomo said:

Regarding the defense, we were one of "the best" last season because Sarri played risk averse possession football after Arsenal cut us open about 6 times in 15 minutes, and people spent the season moaning about how boring it was, with this squad there's a trade off, Sarri decided to master the possession bit first whereas Lamps wants to get the attack firing first, the end result is roughly the same one-way or another, we challenge for the top four as that's where this current squad is at and it's the ceiling.

The problem I have with your opinion about Lampard is that you always come up with "yes, he is making mistakes", but at the end of the day you just dismiss most of his mistakes. For example, Lampard's biggest flaw so far is his inability to build solid defensive system, and people pointed that our defense is the same as last season (bar Luiz), but we have conceded war more goals and we look way more vulnerable, then you come up with this narrative: we looked more solid at the defense last season because Sarri played a "risk averse" football, while Lampard has this "attacking firing first" philosophy.

Lampard lack of solid defensive system has nothing to do with "attacking firing first" thing. The team concedes a LOT of goals from set-pieces, and that has nothing to with what you pointed. Lampard is not as courageous and audacious as you made him look. Yesterday the team was playing with 5 at the back (very different from Conte's strategy, because Conte played with 3 at back but with wingbacks instead of fullbacks) and yet conceded 5.

Sarri made a better job at building a defensive system, as simple as that.

[Henrique 9,133]

As the season is ending, I don't think we should judge a manager's job based in the last 3 games. The team might finish inside top 3, with a FA Cup trophy, or in 5th and losing FA Cup final to Arsenal. Very different results, but I don't think he should evaluated based in those outcomes.

I don't think Lampard's job this season was good enough. The team might well finish in 3rd, but this was a very unusual season. United, Spurs and Arsenal all went through huge period of crisis, and with one game to go, we are closer to 12th placed Southampton than to 2nd placed City. Its tempting to picture Lampard's work this season as amazing and unreal if we finish inside top 4 because "nobody expected us to finish inside top 4", but the expectations are adjusted as the season progress. 

Lampard had some positives, specially in the way he trusted young blood. His attacking football mentality is also a bonus, and he never gave that up, even if in some games he used 5 at the back. He was also humble to review some of his beliefs, like reintroducing Giroud and finally accepting Pulisic is a key player in the current team, and at some point he also realized that he was over evaluating the quality of Mount, James, Abraham and Tomori.

To other side, there are many flaws in his work. Defensive system is the biggest one. Some of his positives were also undermined by repeating same mistakes over again. If at some point he realized the english kids weren't as good as he thought, his decisions to start Gilmour over Jorginho when both were available never made sense. He gave Pulisic some playing time, benched Mount, only to bench Pulisic again in favor of Mount. At the end of the season we don't exactly what is Lampard ideal starting XI, and we don't really whats his football style. I don't think we end the season as a solid foundation for next season. I got a positive vibe at the end of last season, as I believed Sarri had created some solid basis there. I don't have the same felling right now.

To other side the board knew what they were getting when they hired Lampard one year ago. I think all of those flaws in his job were pretty much expected, so it doesn't make any sense to fire him even if the team don't finish inside top 4 and don't win the FA Cup. Lets see what the board expects from him next season, specially that team is making some bold moves on the market again.

[pHaRaOn 2,131]

14 hours ago, Henrique said:

I don't think we end the season as a solid foundation for next season. I got a positive vibe at the end of last season, as I believed Sarri had created some solid basis there. I don't have the same felling right now.

What exactly gave you a positive vibe at the end of last season?

We won only 3 of the last 9 games of the season (1 of 5 in the Premier League), we failed to score in 10 out of 35 games in 2019, we lost the player on whom the entire attacking system of the team depended, we lost Kante, Loftus-Cheek and Hudson-Odoi with big injuries.

[Jype 6,398]

10 minutes ago, pHaRaOn said:

What exactly gave you a positive vibe at the end of last season?

We won only 3 of the last 9 games of the season (1 of 5 in the Premier League), we failed to score in 10 out of 35 games in 2019, we lost the player on whom the entire attacking system of the team depended, we lost Kante, Loftus-Cheek and Hudson-Odoi with big injuries.

And it was a well known fact Hazard was gone as soon as the season ended. Not to mention the transfer ban.

For Henrique to have been positive then but negative now is something I for the life of me can't understand.  

[Jase 43,479]

8 minutes ago, Jype said:

For Henrique to have been positive then but negative now is something I for the life of me can't understand.

It's Henrique, lads. 

[Fulham Broadway 17,299]

11 minutes ago, Jype said:

And it was a well known fact Hazard was gone as soon as the season ended. Not to mention the transfer ban.

For Henrique to have been positive then but negative now is something I for the life of me can't understand.  

Hes a wind up merchant -always has been. 9 times out of 10 only appears when we've lost

[Henrique 9,133]

4 hours ago, pHaRaOn said:

What exactly gave you a positive vibe at the end of last season?

We won only 3 of the last 9 games of the season (1 of 5 in the Premier League), we failed to score in 10 out of 35 games in 2019, we lost the player on whom the entire attacking system of the team depended, we lost Kante, Loftus-Cheek and Hudson-Odoi with big injuries.

I think most people agree with me on this subject...

[Fernando 6,585]

4 minutes ago, Henrique said:

I think most people agree with me on this subject...

There was nothing positive about Sarri. 

 

[Henrique 9,133]

2 minutes ago, Fernando said:

There was nothing positive about Sarri. 

 

There were positive things about Sarri.