Bob stark

Yes you can, as long as you don't ask him to do build up stuff (receiving ball with back to goal under pressure).

Yes the last one is the key. If we truly want to be consistent we definitely need more control. We would have seen fans complaining about Alonso defensive/dinosaur tactic if we drew our two games which let's be fair could have easily happened.

Not sure we were in control though, we conceded a lot goals and a lot of chances. Is the way we play the last two games ideal? Maybe not but I don't care. I just want to see fun football. The only thing I was worried about 343 especially with no Europe is minutes for other attackers.

I'm not sure having 30% possesion is a good idea but what has really worked in the last two games was that we scored from our 1st chance. Football is so much easier if you score first and early.

I assume by control you mean more possesion. It got nothing to do with midfield. Very similar to vs Fulham we played in low/medium block 343. So it is very difficult for us to get the ball back.

This is not about Chelsea, it is about how Fulham defend and attack.

I will wait and see. Looks quite stiff. It does not matter as long as we play back 3

Our next opp is Luton

Why do we look good in offense? Arbeloa football is just insane. Our first goal is simply not possible. The same thing for our 3rd goal. This is impossible.

I found a lot opinion on this forum to be absolutely bizzare. You can like/rate/not rate a player but the strength of the weakness of our player is so obvious

Few point from me Positive Front 3 specifically Palmer. If Palmer can recover his form, we will have a very good season. Lacroix He had a very good debut. Back 3 in low/mid block mean he didn't feel like he left palace. Acheampong Josh I thought was excellent. I pointed out Palestra 1v1 defense problem Josh on the other hand is very good at this. Negative 3 attacker + 7 defender One game is fine but it is hard to do this for whole season. Furthermore this is not an ideal setup for the makeup of the squad Roger defense. This is back to back game where he need to defend more. I gave him a break for Sociedad game but same problem vs Fulham.

The question with Lacroix is that what happen if he is being asked to defend big space but our setup vs Fulham was very similar to Palace so not sure this question is answered. I though he had a very good game.

This days it is hard to asses player real number because everyone is playing psr/FFP game. But there is a clear trend of big fee for player with smaller wages.

Now let's talk about Chelsea. Offensively, it is similar to the post that I wrote before. 343 but sometimes one of the dm drop so you build in 4-1 shape. This suit James as he is not a midfielder (he is not comfortable receiving the ball with back to goal) but this also mean Colwill will receive the ball in lb position, not sure this suit him. Not sure there is much to talk about offensively. The front 3 were good Palmer was fantastic. But Fulham gameplan was so strange. Many say we look dangerous in transition but a lof of them were harmless turnover. Fulham ran this very risky build up where they empty the middle so when the lost the ball 💀💀 💀 bizzare stuff. Playing with just 3 attacker is very hard. Palmer many times managed to get something even when he was being double teamed but this is not a good plan long term. Preferably, you want to get something either from your wb or from your midfield. Let's talk about defensively, it was legit 532 mid block. It is rare to see big team do this anymore. When you have a lot of talent especially attacker, most of them are not comfortable being asked to defend for long period of time so you run press ball but Alonso played 6 defenders + a dm. The 1st goal was bad mistake by sanchez and Rogers being late defensively. 2nd goal was 100% on Colwill. Most of the time when fans blame cb, it is not that simple because if you expose them any CB will be poor but this time, it is on Colwill. It is very hard to protect wide cb from long ball, you just need to win your duel. It was a good result and imo fine perfomance but not sure I like 6 defender. It got nothing to do with the system, we simply have too many attackers to play this system.

Finally new season start and I can do proper analysis on real game. Let me start on Fulham first. I have never watched arbeloa team but this is what I called tactico football. Super wide build up, two CB very wide with gk as the "middle" cb. I don't have to tell you why this is very risky. You can already see the problem. You basically cannot have any turnover as we have 3 attacker in the middle vs 0/1 defender. Somebody decided to kick a bad long ball. It is not even close. Death . Fulham RCB had just received the ball all the way on the right sideline, of course he is late.

This is fine. But I don't like the lineup at all. Very Tuchel result oriented lineup

This has been reported to be false. The only way this deal happrn is if villa and us don't need Jackson n Rogers number for uefa stuff.

The 1st one yes, the 2nd one is arguable.

Not sure this is an extension, more like a paybump

They didn't sign tielemans n Santos thinking these players will "improve" the team. They are in europe, you need numbers.

I don't consider villa to be in contention for top 5 this season. They are in cl with 7 new starters

It is bizzare to read many who expect much.

Playing Mudryk = ready for insane decision. It is fine if you are a midtable club, you are probably will be safe. If you are fighting for relegation, every point count.

It is so much better for Mudryk to play for Strasbourg than Coventry

The idea of bomb squad is to force the player to move.