All Barco no bite

I don’t know wether it’s a bit of a small club mentality creeping in or wether it’s just further degradation of the beautiful game by modern ‘tactics’ but this notion that our forwards must also be defenders does irk me somewhat.
I think we’d all be in agreement that two of the best Chels sides of ‘recent’ memory would be that early Jose side and the Carlo teams.
Now I could be misremembering but I don’t think any of Robben, Drogba, Joey Cole or Duff were particularly lauded for their defensive contributions. The same goes for a Drogba, Anelka, Malouda approach.
We took the game to other sides, made them game plan for us not the other way around.
Like I touched on our strength is in our attack, we should play to that and for me that involves getting all our best attackers on the pitch at once to give us the best chance.
Looking at it this way, would you trust JP, CP, Rogers and Stevie to score more than you would trust Hato, Fofana, Levi, Lacroix & Gusto not to concede?

If we are going to play with wing backs, I think our best central 3 are Josh/Lacroix/Colwill

Closer to Victor Meldrew

Martinez - Huge upgrade on Sanchez and offers some sanity at the back, by no means a world class keeper though. Everything relies on Penders being who we hope he is.
Acheampong - Good to see him having a break out season under Alonso. Would much rather invest the time in him than Fofana.
Lacroix - Good signing, solid.
Fofana - Just really average, don't get how he still gets so many minutes. Can only assume its his salary compounded with his attitude if he's sidelined. Has to be moved on in summer.
Hato - I like him, but he's not a wing back. Full back or CB.
Lavia - Great player but needs a solid partner next him. Think him and Barco would complement each other well.
RJ - RCB or back up CM. Still our captain and love him, had some brilliant shots from the edge of the box and covered a lot of their counter attacks. Think he's built for the RCB role here under Alonso.
Neto - CRAP. Float another cross into Raya's arms while you're at it you cabbage. Also kisses his mum on the lips still. Sell.
Rogers/Palmer/Pedro - Elite trio, Alonso can't be scared to hook any of them sooner though. Estevao should have come on much sooner, even if that meant going back 4 and keeping all these on the pitch.
Gusto - what is he good at?
Esteavo - My sweet prince, i will always love you.
Welbz - Dat guy, should have come on sooner.
Pep - want to see him starting games at LWB from herre on.

I think we need to calm down a bit. Palestra and Caicedo walk back into this team when fit and hopefully in the next couple of games Pep makes the LWB role his own. We need a CM in January and we're cushty. We're playing the most exciting football we've played since 14/15. One loss against the league champions with a cacophony of officiating errors doesn't change that. On another day Gabriel sees red within the first 10, their second goal is ruled out for Konsa's man handling of Rogers in the build up and we're walking away with at least 1 point. Everyone said before the game it was going to be an Arsenal win but a narrow 2-1 loss has everyone sh*tting the bed.

I think we need to calm down a bit. Palestra and Caicedo walk back into this team when fit and hopefully in the next couple of games Pep makes the LWB role his own. We need a CM in January and we're cushty. We're playing the most exciting football we've played since 14/15. One loss against the league champions with a cacophony of officiating errors doesn't change that. On another day Gabriel sees red within the first 10, their second goal is ruled out for Konsa's man handling of Rogers in the build up and we're walking away with at least 1 point. Everyone said before the game it was going to be an Arsenal win but a narrow 2-1 loss has everyone sh*tting the bed.

I was hoping he was going to be this seasons Victor Moses. Bang average winger turned brilliant wingback. Not looking likely....

Doesnt offer enough end product. I dont really have an issue with him as he has survived the summer cull and the manager obviously see's something in his game. Im genuinely interested to see what Alonso can do.
IMO Neto is a far less effective Willian. Dare I say it, but I'd much rather have kept George, who on here wasnt good enough, but had more redeeming qualities than Neto and would have saved us spending on Gittens, Garnacho and Neto (circa 150 million).
Always do this, but probably good to compare how both George and Pedro handle the season and finish with the better stats. Put George in my Fantasy team ahead of Neto so that's my take on it.
It's also why Im keen for Alonso to work some magic with the squad he has (if possible) and be given 18 months to sort out the mess he has inherited from the past 3 seasons.
Madueke hasnt kicked on since moving to Arsenal, didnt really impress at the world cup, glad he's no longer here, think I'll eventually say the same about Neto, but hope he can up his game while he's here, he's probably a demon on the five a side kick abouts.

I think we need to calm down a bit. Palestra and Caicedo walk back into this team when fit and hopefully in the next couple of games Pep makes the LWB role his own. We need a CM in January and we're cushty. We're playing the most exciting football we've played since 14/15. One loss against the league champions with a cacophony of officiating errors doesn't change that. On another day Gabriel sees red within the first 10, their second goal is ruled out for Konsa's man handling of Rogers in the build up and we're walking away with at least 1 point. Everyone said before the game it was going to be an Arsenal win but a narrow 2-1 loss has everyone sh*tting the bed.

Some quality doomsaying going on in this thread! The only disappointing thing other than the result was the fact we have put in better performances against weaker Arsenal teams.
The game reminds me of Liverpool beating Arsenal early last season, Arsenal played well but were outdone by the then-Champions and everyone proclaimed Liverpool as the inevitable back-to-back winners. The referee luck will turn against Arsenal at some point, maybe not this season but eventually things will no longer go their way.
I don't buy the "defensive" issues seeing as if that were actually true, then Arsenal would have scored 5 or 6. I think back to Sarri's 6-1 loss to Man City for an embarassing, statement loss.
An extra midfielder wouldn't solve this issue, certainly not a playmaker like Lamine Camara. Or "better" defenders. A change of attitude and a desire to win needs to happen. The team let Arsenal get away with murder in the way they treated Morgan Rogers.

Because we admit that mistakes were made. Top four is a decent shout after all the clown show that has been happening for the past four years. Investing 1.5B does not translate to automatic success because 30 Disasis and Garnachos for 1.5B is not the same as 15 Cole Palmers foe 1.5B.
At least the owners have finally admited they have no clue and gave a man with reall football knowledge the keys. Now let's wait and see what happens next, Alonso talked about "phase 1" of rebuilding the culture being done. To suddenly think we must talk about a title challenge is silly. We will get there, but at the moment it's small steps, four years of wrongdoings can't be undone in a few months only.
Let's see how the next "phases" look first, but if you ask me I do believe that Alonso will start next summer's pre-season by talking about winning the PL as the main target. It won't be a long project anymore. Now we got a world class GK and front three, we just need one great midfielder next to Caicedo and one or two very good center backs next to Lacroix and we are good to go.

I partially agree, but I don't agree that possession = control. In fact, the ability to deliberately cede possession is what stopped Fulham and Brighton from being able to defend deep and counter-attack in their preferred style, and against many (if not most) of the teams in the league it will solve our problem against low block defences.

We need to be able to do both, and at will.

PSG really set the standard for this last season. In our game they absorbed our best 20-30 minutes and then absolutely flattened us but crucially, they didn't give up any big chances in that 20-30min period. Half-chances and possession yes, but that made the killer blows from Kvaratskhelia et al worse.

I think we need to calm down a bit. Palestra and Caicedo walk back into this team when fit and hopefully in the next couple of games Pep makes the LWB role his own. We need a CM in January and we're cushty. We're playing the most exciting football we've played since 14/15. One loss against the league champions with a cacophony of officiating errors doesn't change that. On another day Gabriel sees red within the first 10, their second goal is ruled out for Konsa's man handling of Rogers in the build up and we're walking away with at least 1 point. Everyone said before the game it was going to be an Arsenal win but a narrow 2-1 loss has everyone sh*tting the bed.

Pleased with the performance overall and we competed with them properly for the first time in the blue Co era (which is scandal in itself).
When you compare it to last year under Resenoir where we were scared to attack until 75 mins, Alonso has bought us a good way forward. We know there’s areas for improvement but we were good for a draw.

Damage?
It's game 3. We lost to the best side in the country away from home.
I doubt we pick up anyone in January. But right now the team is good enough to finish top 4. And it's good enough to beat every other side.

Only Chelsea fans could look at a player like Reece James and claim hes a noose around the neck, the f**k is wrong with you people.
Hes in the middle of the park because we have no one else to play that role, he is one of the best RB`s in the league and should be played there, but currently hes having to fill a role for his manager.
Honestly, this forum lately has lost its collective minds.

Martin Odegaard keeps winning games for this sorry incarnation of an Arsenal team, and yet people here are doubting whether we should trust in a player of Reece James' calibre post-injury.

He’s not holding the team to ransom.
We’re lucky to have him. He’s playing midfield because we’re short on numbers, which is really annoying. His fitness is the best I’ve seen for years.
If he stays fit all season… I say start him at right back next season.

Neto is a winger, Hato a left back or LCB. Gusto a full back, James a full back, and Lavia is broken.
Too many playing in roles they have no business playing against a top side.

Our front line did ok but flattered to deceive at times.
Part of the reason is not having proper wing backs. We needed to move their defence around and Neto and Hato struggled. Palestra is a game changer i think. Especially for Palmer.

He lacks acceleration. It's a big reason why he struggles to beat defenders on the dribble. He is very quick when running on to balls or covering ground but he lacks the quickness and sharpness of top level attackers.

Now I didn't mind Madueke as much as some folk on here, and stuck up for him regularly. But I did realise his limitations and accepted that he was young player who, I hoped, had the capacity to improve.
Neto is everything Madueke was. His one method of beating a player is generally kicking it ahead of himself and hoping to out race his opponent. His decision making at the crucial moment is often wrong. His crossing badly needs improving. For me, Madueke was better in the air. More of a threat when he got in the box. And defensively, (arguably), offered more effort and certainly more physicality than Neto. Like Madueke, Neto's body language and reactions often aren't great. RJ bollocking him him the other week for not chasing back is a good example.
Neto often slows our attacks down. He isn't direct and agressive like Estevao. He isn't brave in the moments you want him to be brave.
He's OK as squad player, making up the numbers. Useful in some circumstances coming off the bench. Just like Madueke.

Whether to mark him with one man or none ?

Estevao needs more game time

Neto is good in a Madueke kinda way.
I can't think of any circumstance where I would pick him over Estevao.