closed Everton 3-1 Chelsea

[!Hazard! 3,394]

1 minute ago, MoroccanBlue said:

I still think if we fix our back line and become more dominant, he'd look fine. 

He looked fine last season at least.

Kepa seems to have zero connection with Zouma and Tomori, he constantly anticipates those players to move to different positions than where they are actually going. Watching the 3rd goal, it does look like Kepa is assuming Zouma continues moving forward as you would expect from a player whose team is chasing the game. But because Zouma is standing completely still the pass looks like it's overhit and Everton players manages to intercept it. He hardly had any communication issues like this with Luiz and Rudiger and we overall were far better in these positions last season.

I'm not worried about Kepa's passing in the long-run, it's the weak wrists that need the most work.

[Vesper 30,288]

8 minutes ago, Special Juan said:

Tomori

Lololol

Erm, NO

[Antonio8 736]

3 minutes ago, Vesper said:

Romagnoli and Skriniar are STREETS ahead of Ake in ever aspect, including size/strength

no problem with bringing in Ake as well

sell Zouma and AC

bring in Romagnoli and Ake or Skriniar and Ake

Romagnoli can be done this January, especially if we make it a player (AC or Zouma) plus cash deal

AC Milan are in the bottom half of the table ATM

romagnoli is their captain and I don't think they will sell him on january at all. the same for skriniar  maybe milenkovic from fiorentina or nkolou from torino may be available 

[LAM09 7,069]

No he didn't bench him for on field performance  
I agree kepa is very mistake prone and he ain't worth the price tag and I've never been a huge fan. He just doesn't look the part.
 

That wasn't the question asked.

Either way, people need to drop the "GK coach" nonsense and see things for what they are.

[Milan 17,963]

Jorginho simply has to play. He will get rested when he is suspended because he gets booked in every other game. But we have absolutely no midfield control. Just remember Ajax away, we dominated brutally. If it means Kante getting dropped, so be it. But Jojo seems vital to our midfield. Despite Kovacic being in the form of his life. He cannot do it all by himself. Mount is another case of having to be dropped. Get Pulisic in the middle so he can be the attacking playmaker.

[Vesper 30,288]

Just now, Antonio8 said:

romagnoli is their captain and I don't think they will sell him on january at all. the same for skriniar  maybe milenkovic from fiorentina or nkolou from torino may be available 

Never said Skriniar in January.

And Romagnoli could force it.

Milan are on a downward crash arc for years.

Those other 2 are not at level of Romagnoli or Skriniar.

In January, Romagnoli is only possible top CB who is doable, and is NOT going to be easy, but must be at least attempted.

[Superblue 6,372]

10 minutes ago, Vybz Kartel said:

Rookie mistakes like that are not on the transfer ban. Just last season we had a top 4 defence so clearly it's on the coaching 

Last season we were incredibly boring and cautious. We should look better defensively when we pass the ball around our defence for 75% of the game and have three deeper midfielders.

Sarri was incredibly lucky that Hazard played the way he did last season, otherwise we would have been struggling to score in a lot of games. 

If Sarri had stayed this season without Rudiger, Kante, Hazard and Loftus Cheek for most of the season I dread to think how bad we would have been. He very likely could have been fielding a back 4 of Alonso, Luiz, Christensen and Azpi with a front three of Pedro, Willian and Giroud and the three in midfield not allowed any freedom to move outside the confines of the middle of the pitch.

Don't get me wrong Lampard has made mistakes and he isn't blameless by any means but he has managed to sort a huge issue for us which was where are any goals going to come from without Hazard and Loftus Cheek. We've become far more expansive and it is having an impact on our defence but I struggle to see how we'd be any better this season if we played more conservatively trying to protect that defence (and still relying on them being good enough to contain teams) because we wouldn't be scoring anywhere near the amount of goals that we are in that manner.

[Jase 43,479]

4 minutes ago, Superblue_1986 said:

It's hardly like we are blessed with a great crop of defensive options though. We are completely hamstrung with Rudiger out the whole season because he would be the defender that defence is built around.

Tomori has been a bit ropey with his form recently. Personally I would persevere with him because I think he's better than Christensen and also he's comfortable playing on the left hand side but I can understand Lampard taking him out for recent games after the City match.

And our two left back options are a joke. Alonso is barely an option and Emerson offers little and got completely annihilated against City the other week.

Unless we start playing even more academy players or change formation to accommodate the defence, I struggle to see what else Lampard can do. 

That defence is patched up with poor squad buys and players that have regressed over the last couple of seasons. It would be even worse if Luiz had stated and we didn't have two promising academy players there who, quite frankly, need a bit more leadership to help guide them.

I'd agree but all this constant chopping and changing with the back 4 has not helped of late. The defenders might be error prone but how do we expect any continuity/understanding in the team when Lampard is changing the back 4 almost every game? Also, I question what on earth coaching is being done in training. We've conceded some really stupid, simple goals of late - e.g crosses from either side and someone just ghosts in to score. It's gotten to the point where we hope the crosses are inaccurate or someone just misses the chance. 

[Hutcho 8,443]

That wasn't the question asked.

Either way, people need to drop the "GK coach" nonsense and see things for what they are.

So are you saying he should bench him for refusing to be subbed in a game over a year ago?

Because if not then of course it only matters if he was benched for on field performance.

He was dropped to make a point about who's in charge and after he paid the penalty of a game he came straight back in as he is better than the backup.

If we are looking for scapegoats blame the guys who decided to spend 80 mil on kepa.

But anyway. We've lost. Onto the next one, let's hope we cut out the individual errors going forwards

[Strike 7,527]

James - Rudiger - Tomori - Emerson

Our best bet in defense

[11Drogba 2,000]

1 minute ago, Vesper said:

And Romagnoli could force it.

Milan are on a downward crash arc for years.

That would mean he has a terrible character really.

I am the captain and I am leaving in the middle of the season because the team is in trouble. What sort captain does something like that.

[Ryan Fong 2,776]

Jorginho simply has to play. He will get rested when he is suspended because he gets booked in every other game. But we have absolutely no midfield control. Just remember Ajax away, we dominated brutally. If it means Kante getting dropped, so be it. But Jojo seems vital to our midfield. Despite Kovacic being in the form of his life. He cannot do it all by himself. Mount is another case of having to be dropped. Get Pulisic in the middle so he can be the attacking playmaker.

This. Jorginho has to play, even if it means dropping Kante.

[LAM09 7,069]

So are you saying he should bench him for refusing to be subbed in a game over a year ago?

 

Because if not then of course it only matters if he was benched for on field performance.

 

He was dropped to make a point about who's in charge and after he paid the penalty of a game he came straight back in as he is better than the backup.

 

If we are looking for scapegoats blame the guys who decided to spend 80 mil on kepa.

 

But anyway. We've lost. Onto the next one, let's hope we cut out the individual errors going forwards

 

No idea why your original comment/question keeps changing.

 

Kepa can & should be dropped for making the same stupid mistakes for Willy, who is an adequate option in the short term.

 

I'm not looking for any scapegoats. Just saying how it is.

 

Jorginho simply has to play. He will get rested when he is suspended because he gets booked in every other game. But we have absolutely no midfield control. Just remember Ajax away, we dominated brutally. If it means Kante getting dropped, so be it. But Jojo seems vital to our midfield.

 

Did you not see the Joringho-Kovacic pairing against West Ham?

 

Without Kante, we might as well invite any team of note on the counter.

 

[Vybz Kartel 1,613]

7 minutes ago, !Hazard! said:

He looked fine last season at least.

Kepa seems to have zero connection with Zouma and Tomori, he constantly anticipates those players to move to different positions than where they are actually going. Watching the 3rd goal, it does look like Kepa is assuming Zouma continues moving forward as you would expect from a player whose team is chasing the game. But because Zouma is standing completely still the pass looks like it's overhit and Everton players manages to intercept it. He hardly had any communication issues like this with Luiz and Rudiger and we overall were far better in these positions last season.

I'm not worried about Kepa's passing in the long-run, it's the weak wrists that need the most work.

Agree with this, I legit would have kept Luiz over Zouma. 

[Special Juan 28,188]

Like splitting hairs with Zouma and Luiz, both absolute shite.

[Bosnian Blue 2,471]

3 minutes ago, milan.cech said:

Jorginho simply has to play. He will get rested when he is suspended because he gets booked in every other game. But we have absolutely no midfield control. Just remember Ajax away, we dominated brutally. If it means Kante getting dropped, so be it. But Jojo seems vital to our midfield. Despite Kovacic being in the form of his life. He cannot do it all by himself. Mount is another case of having to be dropped. Get Pulisic in the middle so he can be the attacking playmaker.

I disagree. We completely controlled last two games without him in midfield. Today Everton didn't even try to play through us. All they did was hoof it long. Hell they even played long balls from the free kick in their own half. 

Kova and Kante both played very well but when you have clowns like Zouma and Christensen at the back there is nothing you can do as a midfield player.

[Vesper 30,288]

1 minute ago, 11Drogba said:

That would mean he has a terrible character really.

I am the captain and I am leaving in the middle of the season because the team is in trouble. What sort captain does something like that.

football is a business

it isn't like Milan have just become shit

and if someone comes waving £35m for Azpi

sell him, bite their hand off

I do not give a toss if he is our captain

he is a POOR captain anyway

[Jase 43,479]

Just now, Vybz Kartel said:

Agree with this, I legit would have kept Luiz over Zouma. 

Defensively, Luiz might even be worse than Zouma in our un-organized defence!

[Thesara 143]

5 minutes ago, milan.cech said:

Jorginho simply has to play. He will get rested when he is suspended because he gets booked in every other game. But we have absolutely no midfield control. Just remember Ajax away, we dominated brutally. If it means Kante getting dropped, so be it. But Jojo seems vital to our midfield. Despite Kovacic being in the form of his life. He cannot do it all by himself. Mount is another case of having to be dropped. Get Pulisic in the middle so he can be the attacking playmaker.

I completely agree. Pulisic is better playmaker than Mount. He can do more from the middle. Also Jorginho needs to be back in our starting eleven. 

[Stats 7,156]

Lamps made poor selections again. Christensen over Tomori was confusing. Christensen was awful today. Richarlison and DCL won every tussle against him. People are criticizing Zouma but he has been one of the better players over the past few weeks. I also thought Christensen was the much worse out the pairing today. And seriously Lamps, starting James I agree but Azpi is not a good defensive LB anymore. If you are going to do play James, just start Emerson at LB. I have no idea why Emerson did not come on for Azpi in the second half also. Kovacic got caught being too arrogant on the ball sometimes, but again was our best player.

Wow those midweek games really helped us with the results swinging our way. Another learning curve.