mwblue10

Anjorin just scored a pretty fantastic goal. Agreed, he looks to be a player.

Genuine question - have you watched him play? He's amazing. Not going to single-handedly transform our team right away, but he is arguably our most promising young player.

Rudiger played on the left of a back 3 under Conte, I know it's not exactly the same but he should be able to handle it in a back 4.

I haven't seen any news regarding James being ready to play, has he been back and fully training? I know Frank said he was close, but I was unaware that he was close enough to play this weekend.

Rudiger and Christensen would be our starters for me

I really liked how he handled Vardy's runs, kept with him nicely and really limited his scoring chances.

Were Willian and Luiz pretty tight? I never even noticed, so that is an interesting thought. I can live with a poor performance, it happens, but like you said, the effort and commitment he showed yesterday was completely pathetic. Watching on TV, it really looked like the crowd was laying into him, especially after one of his misplayed passes - quite a number of spectators jumped up and were gesticulating in his direction.

It’s funny because it’s not realistic to write off our chances of making top 4 after we are only 1/19th of the way through the league schedule. I’m glad you brought up Arsenal. They are without question playing with less experienced players - they started 2 teenagers against Burnley, and they are arguably weaker at the back than we are. I get that we haven’t looked great yet, but that’s my argument, as hardly anybody on this forum is accounting for the fact that we have players who will improve this season. I see time and again the same “we lost Hazard, he saved us time and again, we can’t replace him”, and while this is true, so true is the fact that Abraham will improve as the season goes on, Jorginho seems to have adapted fully, Christensen will only get better now that he’s playing regularly, Mount is on the up and up, Pulisic is still finding his feet and should be very important as we go. Not to mention, Kante has been playing with a knock, Willian should end up contributing heavily despite his shocking cameo yesterday, and we have a multitude of very important players out with injury. Are we going to win the league? Hell no. But it’s crazy to say our top 4 chances are gone already. You mention circumstance - if anything, our current circumstances enhance my argument that it’s too early to write us off.

Definitely not his forte, nor Christensen’s, but Rüdiger should be able to ping a few long balls when needed. Not to the standard of Luiz of course, but better than the others. Thought Zouma worked hard today and put in a good shift.

Funny that you talk about being realistic but in the same breath you’re writing off our top 4 chances after 2 games. Top 4 is still absolutely within the realm. We were never going to rattle off a long unbeaten run to start this season, like we did last year.

I think we all need to remember that this is nowhere near our complete team/squad. We will get better as the season progresses. It takes time to implement new ideas, especially with the young guys playing. Add to the the injection of Loftus-Cheek, Hudson-Odoi, James, and Rüdiger, and I think we will be quite pleased with our performances as we go. Top 4 is still very much achievable.

Oh give it a rest.

It’s a wonder we managed to hang on for a point, after that second half display. Willian was embarrassing, I get he may not be match fit but he wasn’t even trying. Pedro’s decision making in the final third is horrible. Started the game so promising too. Just need to be more clinical.

sh*t, I’d swap him for Kylian! Ok that’s a bit harsh, maybe.

Just turned 25. I hope we don’t go for him, I also heard he had a very poor season. Would rather we went all out and got someone world class. Tough to say who though. Romagnoli wouldn’t be a bad idea, maybe Koulibaly but Aurelio is a nightmare. Someone said Tah, I actually like him as well. A couple Germans at the back, partner him with Rüdiger.