Spiller86

You should change it to JorginhoisPele just. Gol would be so confused during your next little battle.

I'd challenge this dkw. I don't think it's a English thing. I'd say it's the same challenge I had when Frank was appointed. He didn't have the managerial record to manage a club like ours and unlike Frank doesn’t have the huge playing record and status at the club to try and compensate. I've said before that there are managers who can get a club to midtable and those who manage big clubs and win titles. They aren't always mutually exclusive. I think we'd hoped he could go Pochettino and do both. At this stage I am not seeing it. Now I'm not going to come on here after every loss and bag him but at the same time I'd be immensely surprised if he is managing us next season. Tuchel was never a long term prospect and the ownership change didn't help him, but I think we'd have been better off having him see out the year with Aubameyang etc coming in and then trying for a manager with more top level chops next year if it didn't work out than moving for Potter who hasn't really addressed any of the issues we saw under Tuchel.

Post of the day. As you say, the idea of playing Jorginho in front of a back four is crazy at the best of times in England but with RLC as his partner you've got to question the cognitive capacity of the management team. Agree on the comments on Aubameyang and the current approach too. Truth is it is a poor set up. Hate to say it but are any of the tabloids running a Liz Truss style Potter v Wet Lettuce comp yet?

I said before the game that Arsenal are weak as piss and we should take care of them easily. Which we should. I discounted our increasing Arsenalification as a football club. We are the ones who are now weak and tepid. Partey bossed us. How or why Potter persists in playing two attacking midfielders next to Jorginho I have no idea, especially after Zakaria played so well midweek. Even worse, How could you justify a starting midfield that features Jorginho, who is slow as a wet week, and RLC, who tracks back about as well as Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink. We were hopeless exposed from the off. It is becoming incredibly apparent to me that without Kante and James, this may not actually be a top 4 team.

Injuries aside, Arsenal are weak as piss and we should be beating them comfortably.

Agreed. The thing that caught my eye goose were the sweeping left to right passes out to the wings. Potter doesn't seem to have worked out his midfield yet, but I hopes he gets some good minutes to show himself and doesn't end up like Saul with very few opportunities and then eviscerated for being rusty when he barely played.

Huge stuff up, I mean surely Pulisic was man of the match for his 5 yard pass to Havertz to score a worldie from outside the box

Happy with a point on the balance of the game, even though we should have pinched three points after such a late pen. Not having an extra defender on the bench to come on at the end perhaps hurt us.

Mentally and physically frail is a nice way of describing Christensen. I have a feeling he was told by one too many coaches or hangers on over the years how good and special he was. Could never be trusted in the tough moments without 2 other actual defenders next to him.

"More than a club" though apparently 😄

Men against boys again tbh. Especially after the red card which has to be one of the worst decisions I've ever seen in the CL. Ovrebo himself would have been ashamed of that one.

A dominant display. What struck me was how easily we were able to hold the ball under physical pressure. We just held them off and kept the ball all night, men against boys in that regard. Kudos to Aubameyang for his finish. Opportunistic but he was in exactly the right spot to take advantage of the error. Not cutting back and then complaining when the ball didn't go to him. Attacking the goal taking the simple approach. For me reflecting on the likes of Costa and Eto'o this was a hallmark. Put yourself in position in the box to score the tap ins.

All our good first team keepers go through this phase. I remember fondly those who were saying Cech was washed about 6 months before he won us the Champions League. Mendy will come good once we sort our defence. Kepa on the other hand has some fundamental flaws in his game and I'll say it again is too short to be a top class Premier League keeper. Be careful what you wish for.

Ran into a cul de sac and then passed a yard to a guy who then scored a screamer. You're generous to call it an assist Mod!

Spot on on all counts Mod. Particularly on Potter. This is the same naive nonsense that wanted to purchase Ronaldo in the summer. I fear for him and us, but this is our lot post Roman sadly.

Anyone catch this classic? https://www.goal.com/en-au/news/batshuayi-fooled-chelsea-transfer-false-promises-conte/bltddccd3a7554ea138 All Conte's fault of course. Maybe Michy, it was because you were entirely useless with or without the ball everywhere outside the six yard box?

Oh naturally I think there will be pushback as we saw last time. But in the end money talks for those who buy clubs to make money. Note that it was City and Chelsea, both privately owned, who first pulled the pin and PSG and the big fan owned German clubs didn't join. The parasites will always find ways to make money off their investment. They don't see it as being steward of a football club and it's history and fans but as a money making exercise.

Many fair points made in here. A couple of points to add: - I think we're likely going to need two top class midfielders to replace Kante and Jorginho in the coming years, I fear for the club once Kante leaves, I think much of our quality relies on his ability to cover the pitch in both directions. - I believe James will eventually move inside ala Kimmich which may mitigate this partially. - I think overall runners and distributors work better in England than pure passers. The game is largely built up in the backline now and the role of the midfielder seems to be more about clever positoning and movement to break the lines with the ball and clever pressing without it. - Rice and Bellingham are two good English options, Rice is more of a traditional holding player but seems to do well in the English system which is similar to our approach in recent years. In the end it depends on price.

Nominally yes, but that is before you consider that for the parasites owning the club is about making money and that you can never make enough. One thing for certain with Roman is that it was never about money for him.

He'll be right. His movement was good and once we open up a bit and stop playing turgid nonsense he'll get more chances.

Oh dear we're already at the give the kids a chance phase of the downturn!

Agreed. Tuchel only had to win the big ears to win everyone over. Good luck Potter... Some marginal improvements, but still too much slow U shaped passing and turning back inside or backwards when wide rather than taking risks. He'll need a bit of time to shift that out of them. I would say that approach is predicated on having a DM who can cover counters. I look forward to seeing Zakaria in the Jorginho role in coming weeks.

Yes he is less of a liability when further forward. Note the role his lack of pace played in their goal. Honestly if we want to stop conceding goals there is an easy answer.

Maybe it wasn't Tuchel who was the problem? Bring back Roman!

Until we needed to defend a counter. Then the same old issues emerged.