Chelsea 2-1 Crystal Palace

[Fulham Broadway 16,424]

Just now, DDA said:

Some of these players are evidently out of their depth but Potchs brand of football is...

I don't even know what it is. Weak defensively... random attacking wise and without pens this season we would be utterly fucked.

Yeah we've had the most pens, most missed chances and worst disciplinary. 😁

This is obviously penis envy of previous squads FA Cups, PL Titles and CL wins

[robsblubot 3,259]

Just now, LAM09 said:

Or our manager is crap. He doesn't know what he's doing, and that's clear for all to see with his insistence on playing Colwill out of position.

Our match winner probably wouldn't have even been on the bench were it not for the suspensions. 

Playing a CB as FB is the oldest trick in the book pretty much done everywhere!
Azpi was a FB who played in CB occasionally. It's his prerogative to make the FB more defensive or attacking.

Giving minutes to attacking FBs in attack is also very common, and current;y being done at my home town team Gremio, with a new talented 20yo called "Cuiabano" and he's actually pretty physical (still has trouble defending and reading the game).

[nyikolajevics 2,438]

Well, we won. Number 6 at the Bridge this year, depressing but at least not 5.

 

Petrovic, Gusto, Gallagher and Nkunku deserves a high five. Mudryk and Jackson had their moments aswell, overall they are too wasteful.

 

Maatsen.. Oh my god. I fail to see what he would be like if he was playing well. Feeding strikers with crosses? Shots from distance? Passes inside the box horizontally? What’s his purpouse on the field?

 

If Lavia and Nkunku can boost the team, we can slowly climb up a bit. Castle, Brighton, Manchester United and West Ham aren’t so far away, both on the table and on the field. 

[Chellion 10]

The fact is that our team is too young and inexperienced to compete at the highest level. We're mid table club atm and hope the rest of the season will give us some bright glimpses for the future. But cant really wait for the season to end and poch can work his magic at the summer break. If the same shit continues at the beginning of the next season then poch out.

[robsblubot 3,259]

Just now, nyikolajevics said:

Maatsen.. Oh my god. I fail to see what he would be like if he was playing well. Feeding strikers with crosses? Shots from distance? Passes inside the box horizontally? What’s his purpouse on the field?

 

If Lavia and Nkunku can boost the team, we can slowly climb up a bit. Castle, Brighton, Manchester United and West Ham aren’t so far away, both on the table and on the field. 

Maatsen has pace, which is why he started. Almost scored, but lacked quality.

Lavia looked pretty average to me, but early days.

Nkunku just needs to remain healthy... 🤞

Mudryk needs some consistency before becoming a 90min player. The second half wasn't cool... w/ heavy touches and in and out of the match.

[OneMoSalah 8,616]

Scraping a 2-1 v Palace in this manner has to be alarm bells for the higher ups though. Surely? There is still so many questions and not enough answers. Poch has a lot of work to do.

Second half we were so far off it, so many passengers. Physically. Terms of duels etc such a poor effort.

Swapping Gusto who was an outlet for us on the right to the left also killed us.

[bluesman2610 1,232]

Can we bring in a defensive assistant coach who will just work on the defending when out of possession? We are dire at defending crosses too many ball watchers. 

[ZAPHOD2319 3,908]

We have a team of kids. That is not going to change. Hopefully they get some experience, but even then, we will still be a team of potential players. The Roman days of getting top players at the peak of their careers are definitely gone. We can only hope these kids come together quickly. Screaming we are no longer a force in the world…. well no shit, we are not. I can only hope we get better fast. 

[NikkiCFC 7,606]

Half season now 25 points. On the way to 50 but I think it will surely be more with Nkunku back and guys having more time together. Last season we had 44. So when season finishes if you look this way you will say congratulations Mr. Poch, you improved us 10 points. And I think we really should considering it's completely new team. 

[robsblubot 3,259]

Just now, bluesman2610 said:

Can we bring in a defensive assistant coach who will just work on the defending when out of possession? We are dire at defending crosses too many ball watchers. 

The answer is above... the players are too young and don't yet know how to read the plays in order to react in the best way in defensive situations. Like when to anticipate and go for the tackle, versus close down the run/space. It's all part of experience and quality, but say even if Colwill will become a great CB/(D)FB one day, he'd still need to develop that aspect.

[robsblubot 3,259]

Just now, NikkiCFC said:

Half season now 25 points. On the way to 50 but I think it will surely be more with Nkunku back and guys having more time together. Last season we had 44. So when season finishes if you look this way you will say congratulations Mr. Poch, you improved us 10 points. And I think we really should considering it's completely new team. 

Yup and we talked about this during pre-season. That also has a cost, on top of the overly youth side.

[LAM09 6,559]

15 minutes ago, robsblubot said:

Playing a CB as FB is the oldest trick in the book pretty much done everywhere!
Azpi was a FB who played in CB occasionally. It's his prerogative to make the FB more defensive or attacking.

Giving minutes to attacking FBs in attack is also very common, and current;y being done at my home town team Gremio, with a new talented 20yo called "Cuiabano" and he's actually pretty physical (still has trouble defending and reading the game).

It only works if the person being asked to do the job is up to the task. If you think Colwill is doing an adequate job, this convo should end immediately.

I've not once said I have an issue with CB's or FB's playing in different positions; my complaint is the personal choices. A brief look up at the positions Maatsen has played: Ian Maatsen - Player profile 23/24 | Transfermarkt . Your support for Poch is admirable, despite him making the same mistakes week in, week out. 

Are we a PL winner or, arguably, a CL-calibre side, probably not. However, we are far from the midtable fodder that Poch is slowly turning us into.

7 minutes ago, ZAPHOD2319 said:

We have a team of kids. That is not going to change. Hopefully they get some experience, but even then, we will still be a team of potential players. The Roman days of getting top players at the peak of their careers are definitely gone. We can only hope these kids come together quickly. Screaming we are no longer a force in the world…. well no shit, we are not. I can only hope we get better fast. 

We bought Nkunku and are heavily linked with Osimhen. I wouldn't say they're gone, just not a regular.

Edited December 27, 2023 by LAM09

[Magic Lamps 11,463]

On the night it was a positive one for once. Nothing wrong with the desire and fight today.
Disasi and Badi are still clumsy, Maatsen and Caicedo remain absolutely pathetic players, broja and Jackson are wasteful wanna be strikers. The rest did quite well. 
 

in the grand scheme of things this squad has years until it can challenge provided it stays together. We saw glimpses of its potential but no real end product. We always rely on luck to win. It will be enough to survive but not much more . Still a lot of dark years ahead  

[bluesman2610 1,232]

Just now, robsblubot said:

The answer is above... the players are too young and don't yet know how to read the plays in order to react in the best way in defensive situations. Like when to anticipate and go for the tackle, versus close down the run/space. It's all part of experience and quality, but say even if Colwill will become a great CB/(D)FB one day, he'd still need to develop that aspect.

I also agree with the team being young but defensive positioning should be drilled into these guys. If you can read the game well a lot of these kinds of goals don't happen. Look at Silva it's only that his body can't keep up with his brain anymore - but when we first got him he was one of the best CB in the PL because he could read the game. Like if you don't have exceptional pace like a Rudiger for instance you have to read the game well. And none of the players we have back there are doing that, hence the chopping and changing of the partnerships.

[NikkiCFC 7,606]

1 minute ago, LAM09 said:

 However, we are far from the midtable fodder that Poch is slowly turning us into.

We were mid-table last season without Poch as well with 4 different managers. 

[NikkiCFC 7,606]

7 minutes ago, bluesman2610 said:

Can we bring in a defensive assistant coach who will just work on the defending when out of possession? We are dire at defending crosses too many ball watchers. 

Poch was CB. 

[bluesman2610 1,232]

Just now, NikkiCFC said:

We were mid-table last season without Poch as well with 4 different managers. 

Exactly Poch can't put the ball in the net for them and he can't stop them from having mental lapses during the game. That is on the players a manger can only do so much, but as said this team is very young and these are the growing pains. We have experienced a lot of success but that was a different time with players who were forged in fire. We will get back it just won't be for a few years.

[LAM09 6,559]

2 minutes ago, NikkiCFC said:

We were mid-table last season without Poch as well with 4 different managers. 

How many players have we bought since within the past 12 months?

There's been drastic changes within that time.