Super Frank Thread

[Vesper 28,786]

Zouma needs to go to a caveman lump it forward route 1 midtable club that parks the bus most games

[Alabama 1,992]

4 minutes ago, Vesper said:

Zouma needs to go to a caveman lump it forward route 1 midtable club that parks the bus most games

Am still fuming for that horrendous pass to Kepa that led to their second goal...ffs just get the ball out of play and it's a throw in...

[Jase 43,479]

8 minutes ago, Tomo said:

Still beats the Piazon esque career in the loan army he was destined for.

So this is where we're at now? Measuring Tomori against Piazon with him as a barometer?

9 minutes ago, Tomo said:

Not really as straight forward as that, United chased Sancho all summer but that doesn't mean they have no faith in Greenwood.

But Greenwood is not exactly a winger is he?

9 minutes ago, Tomo said:

Tammy looks like he can at the very least be a good option for a squad at PL level, which again is more than was looking likely before, he was pretty pants at Swansea so much so he had to take another drop down a level.

Abraham was only 20 and playing in his first season in the Premier League. Hardly a surprise he struggled, especially in a terrible team like Swansea were back then.

11 minutes ago, Tomo said:

But got more top performances out of him than any of his predecessors.

And what season has Kova had better than last on the individual level? The only debatable one would be his last season at Inter.

More top performances but what else? Has Kovacic gotten more creative? Has Kovacic provided more assists or scored more goals? 

[OneMoSalah 8,776]

33 minutes ago, Tomo said:

I'd agree there's some concerns tactically but he's done quite well developing players on an individual basis.

I'd have to agree to a point.

I think that's all well and good but developing players on an individual basis has to show results in improving the team as a whole through a good structure or tactical set up, so these players can maximise their ability and affect matches.

There is clear signs we are very much a just give the ball to someone who is playing well (Pulisic last season) and let them do the rest still or give it to a fullback and let them pump it into the box. There isn't any coordination or patterns that are worked on like we would see with Conte or Sarri.

Under Conte the season we won the league, overall as a team, we did have individuals improve (Moses, Luiz, Cahill, Azpilicueta, Matic, Hazard, Pedro, Cesc, Kante over the course of that season probably played some of the finest football of their careers) but not only that, as a collective we improved tenfold because we managed to find a way to utilize all these players strengths together within a set way of playing. For instance, individuals like Alonso, like Moses who weren't particularly great players but what they brought to the team in that formation helped and it dovetailed with the likes of Eden and Pedro being able to play much more narrower and getting closer to Diego Costa/the box. As well as Luiz being in a more central birth in a back 3 where he probably engages players less as he would do playing on the left or right sided centre back position in a back 4, has a bit more protection to the sides and in front of him with Kante and Matic but also, at the same time allowing him to come out and be proactive, intercepting balls into strikers feet or stepping into MF with the ball, which are strengths of his. 

The tactical side has got to come good somehow. I mean you can be as good as you want at improving players on an individual basis but if you cant find a way to maximise the actual teams performance you wont last long/wont be as successful. 

[Vesper 28,786]

7 minutes ago, Alabama said:

Am still fuming for that horrendous pass to Kepa that led to their second goal...ffs just get the ball out of play and it's a throw in...

yep, as much as Kepa is shit, Zouma has blood all over his hands on that too

the only CB of quality we have is 36yo and cannot play every day

we are so screwed there, I am NOT convinced o Tomori at all yet

I would have loved to seen a proper pre season, a normal one, where Sarr got a tonne of minutes to judge him

AC, Zouma, Rudiger all need to be shipped out

they are never going to be top class CB's

Rudiger had a chance, but he has horridly regressed

I have seen nothing from Ampadu to give me confidence in his CB abilities

hopefully that changes, along with Tomori and Sarr

but as it stands

we need two from this list 

José Giménez    
Dayot Upamecano  
Milan Skriniar    
Alessio Romagnoli    
Matthias Ginter    
Evan N'Dicka    
Edmond Tapsoba
 

[blues.bridge 343]

our defence is shit, overall our CBs, but only i think also our midfilder duo is not good enough? 
in 4-2-3-1 the two midfielders ahead defence are maybe the two most important players in the team (also near n.10)
They are those who have to dominate midfield, create union  between defence and attack phase.
Today i have seen great  trouble to pass the ball to the defence to the 3/4 players, always passing through full backs and rarely in central.
Kante and jorghi don't give enough! not enough physics, not control enough the ball and the game, not cover the defence and the central field, not take risk to pass or accelerating the pass or similar.
I think that with some games to get adapted Gilmour could be our player and all the team will go better!

[Vesper 28,786]

Bottom line for me atm with Lamps

we has too many players whose WORST characteristics are becoming their dominant characteristics

not going to rate the new boys

so

Kepa (should never see the pitch for us again, yet Lamps keeps playing him,)

Zouma his shit ball-play and passing

AC poor positioning, and is bullied too often

Rudiger  goes braindead far too often

both backup left backs are dross, not really on Lamps at all, we all know they are shit, thank fuck for Chilwell

Azpi, utterly inept on offensive manoeuvres (and now his legs are gone quite often on defence)

Kante, great at breakup play, but HORRID with the ball, his passing is worse than Zouma's

Jorginho weaker than even AC, slows up play far too often, horrid defensively, Lampard is clueless with him

Mount, its simple, he is NOT a winger, and Frank plays him until he is ground into the dirt and spent

 

[Supermonkey92 1,428]

We just don't have the players for a pivot. They all have glaring weaknesses. To make a pivot work for a top club you must be at least good at everything.

Kante is really sloppy on the ball. Jorginho is really sloppy off the ball, even when he is focused he just isn't a capable cm for the Premier league. Maybe as a cdm with two workhorses either side and having 60+% possession. Never in a two.

Kova is somewhere in the middle but his passing forward isn't the best from deep. I dont know why he wasn't even on the bench.

I dont think any are good enough defensively. Even kante chases the ball. With 4 attackers and at least one fullback charging on the pivot has so much to do. The two need to work together. Regardless of the three that plays, one will choose to press whilst the other has no clue what his partner is doing.

I think this is on lampard. I can see his point of view, he needs better players for the pivot. Actual DM's id say. But that doesn't mean he can't work on a pivot that improves if not ultimately good enough.

I'm starting to think gets relying on players quality rather than coaching. You can't throw your hands up and say "I don't have the players". For fuck sake choose two, put some work in. Working as a duo is what he sorely need in that pivot

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

[MoroccanBlue 5,296]

Not getting a DM will sack Lampard 

[Vesper 28,786]

21 minutes ago, MoroccanBlue said:

Not getting a DM will sack Lampard 

with Gilmour out, we are fucked at DMF and CMF

only 3 healthy players + the £60m plus turd down the loo in Drinkwater

[Strike 7,217]

Its not so much an individual mistakes thing. The mistakes are a product of a coaching, pressing issue.

Silva and Mendy for Zouma and Kepa will help but the midfield still needs to work out how it will play without the ball.

[Strike 7,217]

Even when Zouma and Christensen had the odd good game at the start of this season, I thought Frank should try Silva-Tomori. Genuinely think that could be our best bet because Tomori is rapid, could improve over the year into a decent defender. With Zouma/Chris we know what we are getting.

[robsblubot 3,502]

My screen must be broken, because when I see (the good them of) France play, I see Kante pretty much fixed as a ball-winning mid. And, at least in last game, he even played on the left, something myself and others here have always wondered given our extremely attacking (poor at defending) LBs. Chilwell is pretty much an attacking FB as well...

Does Kante have anything in his contract that states he must play b2b for us? because that's not his best role.

Jorginho is a possession type of player: if your team does not keep the ball, then I don't know what he brings. And then if you do want to keep possession, you simply can't play Zouma and expect to be able to keep possession. It just takes one to send the ball to row z or right back to the opposition. 

I concur with above that Silva and Tomori, on paper, should be tried and they should complement each other's game well. Think Andreas is a good player to have in the roster and can produce good games when called upon. He usually falters when played often - possibly a physical weakness. Think I've already made my point about zouma.

On the other hand, we are just too exposed at the back at the moment. I don't know if we can make it better with the players Frank picked today - looks like a pretty attacking-minded lineup to me. That's something Mount can provide though: that needed solidity by having that additional ball winner aside from the 2 CMs (being nice to Jorginho here). Little puzzle for Lampard to figure out. 

[The Skipper 20,593]

14 hours ago, Mana said:

Every passing day I’m beginning to think we should had spent our last summer building our defense than our attack.

I said this for months but as long we have that defense, it doesn’t matter if we have Mbappe or prime Messi...we will have 3-3s, 4-4s etc.

You build the foundations first with a house and that is the defense. You will be never taken seriously if you concede 2/3 goals in most games.

We actually haven’t improved from last season so far. Let that sink in.

Disagree. I think we made the right decision because the market for defenders this summer wasn't great at all. We still spent £50m there with Chilwell. We need to improve at CB but there honestly weren't that many clear improvement s available. We have a ton of interesting young CBs coming through as well - no need to spend there for the sake of spending. It needs to be the right player. Only a top top CB improved us now. 

[The Skipper 20,593]

13 hours ago, Jason said:

Next 6 games before the November international break:

Sevilla (h)
Man United (a)
Krasnodar (a)
Burnley (a)
Rennes (h)
Sheffield United (h)

How many wins from those games...?

We should really 6/6 this. 

[Special Juan 27,424]

The mistake Kepa made v Liverpool should of been enough for FL to say never again does he get selected.....But yesterday he was selected again, this one is firmly with FL and he got it wrong AGAIN.

[Puliiszola 519]

I have been one of the staunchest supporters for FL, but this is getting beyond ridiculous now.

I don't get the tactics, I don't get the team selection of playing kepa and mount as a winger, I don't get the lack of confidence to take on soton, I don't get why we have changed our formation from a 4-3-3 to a 4-2-3-1 just to suit Kai havertz who looks okay when clearly our midfield options just are not suited for a double pivot. It's getting beyond embarrassing now. 

 

[Puliiszola 519]

1 minute ago, The Skipper said:

We should really 6/6 this. 

I doubt we can even win 1