bournemouth are doing a good job. their long balls into the channels are scaring the defence into staying deep, but our midfield and front four are making no adjustments because they are playing well with the ball. that's created a huge gap between matic, fabregas and the back four. it is very easy for one pass to have them running at mikel. it is also another reason why courtois is important, his aggressive starting position could get the back four up the pitch.

 

mikel is really uncomfortable out of position but what I think guus needs to do is close the gap between those lines. either bring more players behind the ball and play less on the front foot or push the back four up the pitch and have begovic stand further away from his goal. miazga on would improve our defending (you would assume) in terms of individual decision making but we'd still concede chances.

Edited April 23, 201610 yr by g3.7

Is it just me or has Willian been poor? 

 

He was positive but I still think he can give more.

Is it just me or has Willian been poor? 

 

He's playing as well as he has all season.

 

The only difference is he's not smacking in free kicks and Hazard, Fabregas and Pedro are all playing better.

 

Willian is just a consistent 7/10 player. He only looks good when others are poor.

Crazy isn't it ? One simple pass through our midfield and they are running at our defense. It wouldn't happen if Makelele was here you can guarantee that, he would sit there and stop anything coming through. We need someone like him right now, Matic was that for the first half of last season but he doesn't seem to want to do it anymore.

 

I know! I can't understand, we used to be tight in defence and when the opponent broke, but now, we're on our backfoot in a second. We have been undone so many times this season. I thought it was Fabregas' fault initially, but it's more than. Positionally we're all wrong. 

Crazy isn't it ? One simple pass through our midfield and they are running at our defense. It wouldn't happen if Makelele was here you can guarantee that, he would sit there and stop anything coming through. We need someone like him right now, Matic was that for the first half of last season but he doesn't seem to want to do it anymore.

 

Matic lacks the agility and turn of pace to really excel as a DM, would like to see us sign Kante or even give Chalobah/Ake a chance next season.

Edited April 23, 201610 yr by the special one

He was positive but I still think he can give more.

His passing in particular just seems even more reckless than usual. 

Mikel making ivan look good

Perhaps that us guus plan cause i can think of no other reason to play him there

Matic lacks the agility and turn of pace to really excel as a DM, would like to see us sign Kante or even give Chalobah a chance next season.

true or maybe not rely on one player to do the defense midfield work. Fed up with this 4-2-3-1 and letting Fabregas ( yes he plays good ) "protect" the back four.

Positive in relation to Willian has to mean looks busy right?

Great job guus ffs everyone can see the damn mistake you made.

Guus didn't read the poll this time

Is it just me or has Willian been poor?

He's showing once again why he isn't a #10

He's not decisive enough to play there.

Playing wide he gets to chase lots of lost causes and track back lots and get a pat on the back for his "great work rate".

Defensively, we're clueless and so disorganized, in time like this, player's individual ability is put to test but they also fail in that regard.. shamble...

 

Offensively, we didn't seem to be capable of building up play, all we could do is just attack through in the obvious manner..

 

It's a good goal from pedro in his 1st chance but he should really have rolled the ball to costa in his 2nd chance..  

If a youngster put in the same performance that Mikel put in, they would have been taken off. I'm tired of the youngsters getting such a raw deal at this club, it's like the club wants them to fail.

Well I guess if we concede a 2nd he will probably realize, or hopefully the fans remind him

He's showing once again why he isn't a #10

He's not decisive enough to play there.

Playing wide he gets to chase lots of lost causes and track back lots and get a pat on the back for his "great work rate".

Baffled as to why we are so hesitant to give Hazard games as a #10. 

Mikel has to have something on hiddink no other reason

Tbh cant wait to see the back of hiddink

Just tuned in. Saw the scoreline and felt good. But I'm getting the feeling that the scoreline is a bit misleading about the performance?

So happy Eden finally scored!!

Exceptional tracking back then by Eden. Fought hard and won it. Amazing scenes!

Great run from Baba!

Oh, unlucky, great cross from Rahman, Costa unlucky not to finish it.

Great ball by Baba!

Wasnt offside

Is it just me or has Willian been poor?

We have too many who are inconsistent, love Willian and he was significant previously. Cahill is uneven, we need week in week out consistency, give or take being human, but that seems out of date nowadays, unless we look at Terry of course.

Baffled as to why we are so hesitant to give Hazard games as a #10.

No idea, he's easily our best suited play to play there.

Pedro would probably do well with a run of games on the left too.