Super Frank Thread

[Puliiszola 519]

1 minute ago, The Skipper said:

We should really 6/6 this. 

I doubt we can even win 1

[The Skipper 20,593]

Our best defensive performance this season came against Palace (one of the best teams against top 6 teams) and we played Zouma with Silva - why are people just glossing over this? Zouma and Silva is clearly our best CB partnership as it stands?

[Jase 43,479]

4 minutes ago, The Skipper said:

We should really 6/6 this. 

But we know we won't.

We should have 12/12 four of our five league games - apart from Liverpool - but have only 8/12!

[Jase 43,479]

4 minutes ago, The Skipper said:

Our best defensive performance this season came against Palace (one of the best teams against top 6 teams) and we played Zouma with Silva - why are people just glossing over this?

But Palace have never really been a problem for us over the years, even with the odd hiccup against them like in 2016/17. And given how they set up few weeks ago, Palace weren't really the greatest of tests for Silva and Zouma.

5 minutes ago, The Skipper said:

Zouma and Silva is clearly our best CB partnership as it stands?

As it stands, yes but they still need to be tested as a pair against better opponents than Crystal Palace.

[Jase 43,479]

8 minutes ago, Puliiszola said:

I doubt we can even win 1

 

What happened to your positivity!?

[The Skipper 20,593]

1 minute ago, Jason said:

But we know we won't.

We should have 12/12 four of our five league games - apart from Liverpool - but have only 8/12!

Dropping silly points v. WBA and Southampton - Frank can't hide behind individual mistakes anymore. We're playing a system where individual mistakes happen time and time again - you then have to take a step back and look as to how we're harbouring a system that forces so many individual mistakes to begin with. 

Our set piece defending still seems rubbish for example. 

[Puliiszola 519]

3 minutes ago, The Skipper said:

Our best defensive performance this season came against Palace (one of the best teams against top 6 teams) and we played Zouma with Silva - why are people just glossing over this? Zouma and Silva is clearly our best CB partnership as it stands?

It was a good defensive performance, because CP were way too passive. They did not attack us, they were happy to simply counter, which we snuffed out.

When teams really get at us, attack us, we are so fucking shit. Conceded 3 against wba, conceded 3 against soton. Combined those 2 won't be scoring 3 or more goals in a game in more than 5 matches all season in PL. Jorginho is shit when attacked and put under pressure, Kanye just runs like a headless chicken. Kai is a luxury player and needs a strong CM pairing and defence to thrive. Defence is a shsmble. Alright, we know defensively we suck, what have we done in attack? When teams press us, we can't even beat a league 2 teams' press. It's utter tosh.

[Puliiszola 519]

1 minute ago, Jason said:

 

What happen to your positivity!?

It has been replaced by the realism that we have a bunch of pussies in the squad with no leadership and FL just does not know what he is doing. 

That single performance was an absolute sucker punch

[The Skipper 20,593]

8 minutes ago, Jason said:

But Palace have never really been a problem for us over the years, even with the odd hiccup against them like in 2016/17. And given how they set up few weeks ago, Palace weren't really the greatest of tests for Silva and Zouma.

I can't remember where I saw this but Palace are great against top 6 teams. They have a better record than anyone bar Liverpool and City over the last few seasons. 

[Jase 43,479]

1 minute ago, Puliiszola said:

It has been replaced by the realism that we have a bunch of pussies in the squad with no leadership and FL just does not know what he is doing. 

That single performance was an absolute sucker punch

Quite the sudden turnaround given we were arguing from opposite ends only like 2-3 weeks ago, IIRC. 

[The Skipper 20,593]

4 minutes ago, Puliiszola said:

It was a good defensive performance, because CP were way too passive. They did not attack us, they were happy to simply counter, which we snuffed out.

When teams really get at us, attack us, we are so fucking shit. Conceded 3 against wba, conceded 3 against soton. Combined those 2 won't be scoring 3 or more goals in a game in more than 5 matches all season in PL. Jorginho is shit when attacked and put under pressure, Kanye just runs like a headless chicken. Kai is a luxury player and needs a strong CM pairing and defence to thrive. Defence is a shsmble. Alright, we know defensively we suck, what have we done in attack? When teams press us, we can't even beat a league 2 teams' press. It's utter tosh.

I understand that we have other areas of our game to fix defensively but I think one of the biggest steps is a consistent back four. For me that's Chilwell Zouma Silva James and Mendy. We were missing 3/5 from this so it's not surprising that we weren't as good defensively but Lampard needs to curate a system that works when some of these aren't playing. 

[Jase 43,479]

2 minutes ago, The Skipper said:

I can't remember where I saw this but Palace are great against top 6 teams. Yhey have a better record than anyone bat Liverpool and City over the last few seasons. 

I don't know what's their exact record against the others but we have won 11 of our last 15 matches against Palace, including the last 6. 

[Puliiszola 519]

Just now, Jason said:

Quite the sudden turnaround given we were arguing from opposite ends only like 2-3 weeks ago, IIRC. 

There are moments which change you and your perspective. Our play at 2-0 up and then our reaction to going 2-1 into HT was it for me. And I don't see things changing, it seems to be a confidence issue among the squad where we just crumble at the slightest amount of pressure. And FL just seems to be unable to change it.

[The Skipper 20,593]

Just now, Jason said:

I don't know what's their exact record against the others but we have won 11 of our last 15 matches against Palace, including the last 6. 

Not sure we've ever beaten them recently with a 4 goal margin though. 

[Jase 43,479]

Just now, The Skipper said:

Not sure we've ever beaten them recently with a 4 goal margin though. 

To be fair, not many teams beat Palace 4-0 or by a heavy scoreline when their manager is as pragmatic/defensive as Roy Hodgson. 

In any case, our record is still better than some of the shockers the other Big 6 have had against Palace in recent seasons. 

[Puliiszola 519]

Just now, The Skipper said:

I understand that we have other areas of our game to fix defensively but I think one of the biggest steps is a consistent back four. For me that's Chilwell Zouma Silva James and Mendy. We were missing 3/5 from this so it's not surprising that we weren't as good defensively but Lampard needs to curate a system that works when some of these aren't playing. 

In an ideal world, we will have that back 5 playing week in and week out. But don't think that's going to happen for even 20-25% of the games, be it due to injuries, exhaustion, suspensions, or something else. After 50+ game, a manager atleast needs to have a pulse of his team, needs to set up accordingly and play to their strengths. 

What were we doing from 2-0 to 2-2 and then the from 3-2 to last minute was beyond me. We made soton look like Barca, that was not just on the defence, it was on the mid, the tactics and the overall lack of balls from everyone on the pitch right down to FL. Personnel, is one part, even Silva makes mistakes, but the way we dealt with the pressure, that is worrying, and I don't see how that changes. 

[Strike 6,965]

5 minutes ago, The Skipper said:

Dropping silly points v. WBA and Southampton - Frank can't hide behind individual mistakes anymore. We're playing a system where individual mistakes happen time and time again - you then have to take a step back and look as to how we're harbouring a system that forces so many individual mistakes to begin with. 

Our set piece defending still seems rubbish for example. 

Yep. It definitely wasn't a case of Zouma just booting it clear or down to setpiece defending. That game should not have been in the balance with minutes to go.

There is an issue with the coaching/pressing work off the ball. The team has sat back and invited pressure in phases of games after taking leads - Brighton, Spurs, now Soton

[Azul 1,615]

What annoys me the most is that the league is there for the taking with Liverpools injury problems. 

I had high hopes for the season, but with Lampard as our manager we will definitely not challenge for the title. I truly believe that we might even struggle to get top four, which is unacceptable to be honest. 

What should be done? Do you want Lampard to be sacked if he drops more than 12 points in the next 8 games? Or do you accept the fact that we will struggle this season with him as a manager and we might not even get CL football next season?

I'm very conflicted about this, but out of respect of what he has done for CFC, I say to give him this season to prove himself. If however at some point it looks hard for us to make top four, then he must be sacked though. The talent this team has deserves CL football next season.