Ernie_blue

Sign players in the summer, probably miss the January window then back to normal. Wont be hit that hard.

Kovacic wasnt great against a poor Malmo team when pressing, second half they stopped pressing and we had plenty of time on the ball. We have done what is expected of any Premier League given the lack of competition. Players like Emerson, Christensen and CHO need at least 5 or 6 games on the trot, doubt it will ever happen though.

Even Huddersfield would be doing better tonight.

Perfect game to try something else. Go 4231 second half and mix things up.

The whole box of beer will be gone at this rate.

Lovely jubbly

You do realise the semi final stage is when most clubs take the competition serious, it's one of those comps if you win it then it's another trophy and if another club wins it well it's only the league cup. Just need to look at the lineups. 12 easy games out of 16 would boost your stats.

Is physically weak and slow which makes him easy to bypass. I'm guessing the systems relies on him being the main outlet for the other players, if that option is gone then it can be easier to intercept the ball, get past Jorginho and you only have Luiz and Rudiger to deal with.

You do realise I said 12 out of 16

Facts are including tonight 12 out of 16 fixtures have been relatively easy which bumps the stats up. Yeah you have to win them but it cant be ignored. It's like assist stats when someone passes the ball 2 yards and the other players smacks it in the top corner it counts as an assist, you just need to look at things in greater detail.

What's that to do with adding all competitions to the stats? People seem to forget its alot more than stats, or still fighting for top 4 or being in a cup final. We have been f**king terrible for a good while now, the football isn't good to watch and the manager has shown no tactical nouse to change anything. All the manager has shown is stubbornness, fair enough you stick to how you want to play but at least show you can tweak things here and there to try and get results and performances back on track. It's ok though because we are still fighting for top 4 after surrendering an 11 point lead.

Derby and Bournemouth at home, a game against Liverpool which lets be honest if you win it's the greatest comp and if you lose no one cares, abit like the competition as a whole. Forest and Sheff Wed at home before the Utd game. Let's not even get into the Europa league games, the teams have been terrible in it. The stats are still pointless because it includes all comps, might as well throw in friendlies while we are there. I find stats pointless all round tbh, I'm sure City was actually creating a chance in the games Pep was managing.

Pointless when one manager has played some of Europe's worst teams, had an easy league cup run and a couple of easy ones in the fa cup.

Pedro has an injury so you would expect CHO to play

Jorginho is never coming off even how badly he is playing and that's always an issue. The only way you are getting at a team who is sitting back is playing wide. Like you say you could play 4231, what did Kovacic do? We have been trying to answer that question all year. You could ask Willian to play one wing, CHO the other and say stay wide and cross the ball. Like you say bring Giroud on and go 2 up front, play 3 at the back, the bench isn't the best but there are options. How does every other team get on in the PL with less quality. All we get to see is the same formation and same subs. Treat yourself Sarri it was a cup game.