closed West Brom 3-3 Chelsea

[Unionjack 7,531]

22 minutes ago, Special Juan said:

We don't say anything about Alonso starting now because we have said all that needs to be said.

It's like banging your head against a brick wall and claiming you have won.

Amazing how everyone knows Alonslo is shite. Yet FL starts him!

[Stats 6,982]

Literally saved by the academy today! (Mount, Hudson-Odoi, Abraham)

I actually thought first half, Mount was our only good player and that goal was deserved for him. He was the only one making things happen. Hudson-Odoi was brilliant when he came on and that should certainly earn him a slot in our starting 11 for the next couple games hopefully. He will start against Spurs but he wants to be starting league games and today, he showed what quality he possesses. That should shut down any chances of him leaving this transfer window.

[DDA 9,570]

After watching back individual performances and the match highlights, it's incredible the number of good deliveries into the box by Odoi and James that were not attacked once. If we had Giroud on... we would have scored 6 goals minimum. It's criminal how a man the height of Tammy is not getting his noggin on the end of these crosses. He isn't even standing anywhere near the line of the ball, ever!

[OneMoSalah 8,615]

20 hours ago, Tomo said:

Well for a start i imagine he'll play the youth team as they have a league game and Europa game 2 days either side.

Secondly Lampard has thoroughly outfought Mourinho everytime they've faced eachother.

Hopefully they do rotate in attack but again, I don’t think they will change that frontline too much plus predominantly they have Lucas Son Kane Alli Lamela and Lo Celso with Bale out injured so it will be a strongish attack somehow compared to a team of kids. Even if it is mainly a B team in other positions attack theyll be relatively strongish. And yes Frank has outdone Jose but if we play anything like Brighton and today Spurs will exploit those weaknesses and tactically naivety. Sunday league teams would exploit those mistakes thats how bad some of them are. Even with a back 5 as weve done both times we beat them. These are the sort of things Mourinho’s teams analyse and look to exploit in their game plan and based on how proficient they were v Southampton who played a extremely high line I wouldnt be surprised if its same again v us because they will entice us to have the ball and dictate the game so we will push up and play into their hands. Was same when he was here both times round as well as at any other club. We need to tighten up a big deal. Or we really do risk them putting us out. Franks set up and tactical naivety is arguably looking worse. From last season I didnt think it was possible. 

[blu35_army 550]

9 hours ago, Robchels said:

Just my 2 copper pieces,

We had one individual mistake in the first half, which was from Silva and not a whole lot you can do about that. Tammy's miss was pretty bad too, but nothing like losing possession as the last man.

Alonso's bad header should not have led to a goal: we had 5 players behind the ball when the shot was taken. Lots of ball-watching players around the scorer. We had no intensity in the first half... too slow on the ball and on the press (Mount was the only one playing with any urgency). Adreas was also good the entire game and has been our best CB - really don't get the criticism on him as he is the most complete CB we have. Zouma is really terrible on the ball, which you could clearly see against pool's press, which is why it's going to be hard for zouma to play in Frank's "passing from the back" system.

Now, none of that excuses the diabolical poor game Alonso had (at a technical level), helped by a Kovacic who was also poor - they should have kept the ball and failed miserable at that (part of defending!). On the defensive side, while it might be OK for folks here to be "surprised" by how slow and poor at defending alonso can be, that's not OK for any manager. When the manager plays Alonso, he needs to have contingencies around that and today we had the exact opposite of it with an old match unfit CB covering that side (corrected at the end of first half) - esp considering Reece is also not great in the back as well. So, the exposed defenders in an overly attacking-minding starting lineup was a gamble and entirely on frank. He almost killed the comeback too by his strange Giroud sub, could have come in for Tammy (squad player for me) instead of changing the shape of the team which was clicking with Odoi on fire. Odoi then had to move a bit back on the left, which diminished his influence in the final moments.

Perhaps not fair to talk about the goalkeeping today, but we had three shots on goal in the first half and the three went in. Even if a gk is not expected to save those, a good one might have saved one of them. Willy was a bit slow coming out in my book, but it's hard to say... whatifs. It could be that the overly high defense line employed today was an attempt to keep the ball away from our goal.... hard to say.

 

that's the point,,despite the individual erorrs. i didn't see our press system going well as a unit just like pool and city did. we always did passing-back system not midfield-center passing to move the ball going forward. we have a generational talent like havertz as 10's but still prefer james to cross every chance for hope the luck hit the striker header.

please frank,,it's basic tactic for every formation is pressing as a unit not individual (11 mount not joking anymore). i want to see more CHO set up goal which we used the advantages of havertz vision last night...

[Strike 6,965]

So typical of Alonso to put in a respectable performance vs Liverpool when he barely ventured forward. But the moment he has to track back, his limitations are exposed

8 hours ago, Tomo said:

For all of Alonso's many faults he atleast has an upside of some substance even if we only see it 1 game in 6. When those games come along he can win us a match as Spurs especially have found out more than once.

Emerson may aswell change his name to John Doe, the fact his finest hour came in a 4-0 defeat says it all.

I disagree with this. Alonso is bailed out mostly because of his contribution in attacks. I thnk Emerson is the better defender especially in a back four and he didn't catch a break in getting a good run of games with Alonso or Azpi preferred.

[robsblubot 3,228]

6 minutes ago, Strike said:

So typical of Alonso to put in a respectable performance vs Liverpool when he barely ventured forward. But the moment he has to track back, his limitations are exposed

I disagree with this. Alonso is bailed out mostly because of his contribution in attacks. I thnk Emerson is the better defender especially in a back four and he didn't catch a break in getting a good run of games with Alonso or Azpi preferred.

one is an apple, the other an orange. The only thing they have in common is that you'd wouldn't want either in your fruit salad.

Regardless of where you stand, I feel that explaining today/yesterday's game via Alonso (vs Emerson or even Chilwell) is nothing but an over-simplification.

[Strike 6,965]

2 minutes ago, Robchels said:

one is an apple, the other an orange. The only thing they have in common is that you'd wouldn't want either in your fruit salad.

Regardless of where you stand, I feel that explaining today/yesterday's game via Alonso (vs Emerson or even Chilwell) is nothing but an over-simplification.

It is not just yesterday though. Lamptey ran rings around Alonso on opening day.

[robsblubot 3,228]

2 minutes ago, Strike said:

It is not just yesterday though. Lamptey ran rings around Alonso on opening day.

heh Lamptey has been running rings around everyone.

Like I said before, if you play Alonso and expect him to not be beaten by speedy wingers/FBs, that's on you (the manager). 

[Strike 6,965]

2 minutes ago, Robchels said:

heh Lamptey has been running rings around everyone.

Like I said before, if you play Alonso and expect him to not be beaten by speedy wingers/FBs, that's on you (the manager). 

Yep. Just feels like every few games, there's this discussion about Alonso. West Ham last season after the restart too.

[robsblubot 3,228]

Just now, Strike said:

Yep. Just feels like every few games, there's this discussion about Alonso. West Ham last season after the restart too.

Heh yeah. Good for TC clicks and nothing else, I'm afraid.

[communicate 2,703]

1 hour ago, Strike said:

So typical of Alonso to put in a respectable performance vs Liverpool when he barely ventured forward. But the moment he has to track back, his limitations are exposed

I disagree with this. Alonso is bailed out mostly because of his contribution in attacks. I thnk Emerson is the better defender especially in a back four and he didn't catch a break in getting a good run of games with Alonso or Azpi preferred.

That is not true. Emerson was Lamp preferred lb in the beginning of the season, the problem with Emerson he is just bad. It is ok to have weakness if you are good at other area. Emerson is quite fast but nor super fast, and he is ok dribbler. That is it. That is his strength. 

Offensively he doesn't offer much, not really a good passer,or crosser, not tall, defensively one on one he is just ok, positioning he is atrocious. 

[ZAPHOD2319 3,880]

Christensen looked pretty damn good. I hope he is starting to find his game. We really need a couple of our CB to step up. There are a lot of games coming in a short amount of time. We need 3 or 4 of them to be solid.

[Atomiswave 6,072]

13 hours ago, Blue Armour said:

On a side note...not excusing the team's performance in any way, but is interesting to see the articles popping in the English media (this from the Daily Mail):

"Bilic furious with Havertz hand ball in Chelsea equalizer"

"Thiago Silva sees 3 goals shipped in torrid first half display"

"Chelsea fans call on club to sack Lampard in the tunnel"

And for United's win:

"Is this the cRaZiest premier league match ever?? "

 

We are definitely up against harsh critics this season.

We will always be shit up the creek with the media, the only time they dont is when we are dominating the league, like in 16.17, then they give some credit...grudgingly.

 

[cosmicway 1,259]

Outraged, broke--busted-disgusted.
Bagies are the worst EPL team I have ever seen. They don't have a chance in a trillion to stay up and Barnsley are better.
Yet you saw what happened.
Alonso-Tiago-James acting like 6 year old kids in defense.
Caballero also - a more agile goalkeeper could have saved the first.
I cannot judge the overall performance -even though I 'm disatisfied with Abraham the way he shot one of our first half chances over the roof- and I cannot judge because we were playing against an amateur team.
5 years ago WBA were a good side and we beat them 2-1 thanks to a fluke goal scored by Torres. But now I have to say they don't have an EPL team.

 

 

[Unionjack 7,531]

1 hour ago, cosmicway said:

Outraged, broke--busted-disgusted.
Bagies are the worst EPL team I have ever seen. They don't have a chance in a trillion to stay up and Barnsley are better.
Yet you saw what happened.
Alonso-Tiago-James acting like 6 year old kids in defense.
Caballero also - a more agile goalkeeper could have saved the first.
I cannot judge the overall performance -even though I 'm disatisfied with Abraham the way he shot one of our first half chances over the roof- and I cannot judge because we were playing against an amateur team.
5 years ago WBA were a good side and we beat them 2-1 thanks to a fluke goal scored by Torres. But now I have to say they don't have an EPL team.

 

 

Barnsley tho could have been much different if they had made the most of their chances and scored 1st.

1 thing that showed me how much Tammy has to learn is how he ran right over to the corner flag after he scored celebrating when there was still some time to score.

 

From all Ive picked up on we created a lot of chances last season. our problem was not putting them away. (Apart from the back 5 of course)

So we now have the players that can put them away. Whats happened?

[cosmicway 1,259]

In the third goal the nos 3 and 24 were lost at sea, walking around like beach picnic.
24 was James. The 3 ?

[Special Juan 27,104]

I noticed the corner curse struck us early in the game yesterday again, not beating the first man.