Oh how i miss the likes of Lamps, Ballack, Essien etc.

1 hour ago, RIP Mourinho said:

Oh how i miss the likes of Lamps, Ballack, Essien etc.

At this rate I'd take a Jokanovic or a Jiri Jarosik. 

9 minutes ago, ForeverCarefree said:

At this rate I'd take a Jokanovic or a Jiri Jarosik. 

Only if Jokanovic is coming in as a manager 

2 hours ago, Brutos said:

16 hours ago, dansubrosa said:

I did notice one thing, we have completely lost control of midfield when we subbed Baka last night, that’s probably more down to Fabregas but you got to admit Bakayoko must have been covering decent amount of space in first half.
I completely agreed with him getting subbed as it was only a matter of time before he gets sent off, but maybe it is just him being in terrible form for so long? 
Surely our board isn’t that stupid to spend such a fortune on a midfielder, especially considering how long the saga has dragged on for.
What I am hoping for is we sign a replacement this summer, but keep Bakayoko. He improves tremendously next season, and then we have great options for midfield.

I actually thought I was just imagining that, as soon as Cesc came on we we getting overrun in midfield completely lost all midfield battles which put us under immense pressure

I don't think the substitution is the reason behind that, it's something that has been happening all season, no matter who we put in there next to Kante. We have played two top quality games all season (away to Atletico Madrid and home against United) in every other game, we have dominated one half and completely lost control in the other half. We tend to play well against teams that sit off us, but as soon as we start getting closed down quickly, we crumble. It was no different against Leicester at the weekend. We were comfortable in the first half because Leicester weren't getting in our faces, as soon as the second half started, they were chasing everything and we couldn't handle it. I have seen it happen with Bakyoko in that midfield, with Fabregas and with Drinkwater. We are playing too slow, we are trying to play an Italian style of football in the Premier League and it's just not working this season.

Seen this image shared a lot on social media. He has indeed become a bit of a laughing stock now. 

It’s a picture of Bakayoko and Kate McCann with the headline asking ‘who’s the most careless in possession’. 

His confidence is going to take a hounding here and we need to cut our losses before he becomes utterly worthless.

 

 

On 9/21/2017 at 20:56, Drogbaholic said:

im glad he’s okay but he needs to be careful. I follow him on snapchat and I notice he usually snaps when driving. Needs to stop doing that.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but he had a bad start back in September and it's been downhill since then.

Turns out he is a better driver than he is a footballer though.

 

 

Wish I could be that sh*t at my job and still afford a car like that. Life's unfair.

Thought he actually looked a lot better in the second half pressing high and winning the ball. A few darting runs through the middle too. 

I agree, his second half was better, suddenly he won tackles and was more confident with the ball. 

Hopefully a strong end to the season and build on it for next year. 

1 hour ago, RIP Mourinho said:

Thought he actually looked a lot better in the second half pressing high and winning the ball. A few darting runs through the middle too. 

His first touch was shocking for a majority part of the game. Cahill's diving header and his touch afterwards summed him up for me. 

Sadly I don't see a good player in him at all, I think he lacks the football IQ to ever make it at top level here. 

The biggest thing you notice with Bakayoko though is confidence, the United match (which I don't think he played particularly well in like so many others do) he did take on players with ease and get himself in good positions, however, sadly gave the ball away afterwards. But regardless he was confident in that match and we saw a different player, since then we haven't seen that confidence.

His best three games of the season where he's actually been good are Atletico away (his best performance for me), Arsenal home (when he was subbed on) and Huddersfield Town (scored and played a good game). But even when he's confident he still lacks the quality to impact the game, so that's where I give up with him as a player. When you've got somebody like Kante playing next to him, it's just not fair to have him partnered with a player like Bakayoko, we need to take advantage of Kante's potential and get him a solid midfield partner and I truly believe we can stay at the top elite level of football for years. 

4 minutes ago, Slojo said:

His first touch was shocking for a majority part of the game. Cahill's diving header and his touch afterwards summed him up for me. 

Sadly I don't see a good player in him at all, I think he lacks the football IQ to ever make it at top level here. 

The biggest thing you notice with Bakayoko though is confidence, the United match (which I don't think he played particularly well in like so many others do) he did take on players with ease and get himself in good positions, however, sadly gave the ball away afterwards. But regardless he was confident in that match and we saw a different player, since then we haven't seen that confidence.

His best three games of the season where he's actually been good are Atletico away (his best performance for me), Arsenal home (when he was subbed on) and Huddersfield Town (scored and played a good game). But even when he's confident he still lacks the quality to impact the game, so that's where I give up with him as a player. When you've got somebody like Kante playing next to him, it's just not fair to have him partnered with a player like Bakayoko, we need to take advantage of Kante's potential and get him a solid midfield partner and I truly believe we can stay at the top elite level of football for years. 

i feel like he'll get better with confidence personally. Everyone wrote him off for his first season and a half at Monaco then ended up being in their starting 11 that beat a dominant PSG to the title. 

Although i agree that a new CM needs to be brought in. 

6 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

i feel like he'll get better with confidence personally. Everyone wrote him off for his first season and a half at Monaco then ended up being in their starting 11 that beat a dominant PSG to the title. 

Although i agree that a new CM needs to be brought in. 

When I watched Bakayoko playing in the Champions League I wasn't impressed, it's why I wasn't fussed on the idea of bringing him here. He looked like a passenger and not really an improvement on Matic. I looked over the statistics and he had better defensive stats than Matic, interceptions, tackles, covering ground (although this is Ligue 1 compared to PL which is very different) however he had worse stats in the offensive area, pass completion, assists & forward passing was less. That alone always concerned me, and when I watched him in both legs against Juve was it? He kept giving the ball away and just looked very sloppy.

So I've never had a great deal of confidence in him, I thought he was okay in the Spurs match, I thought he was VERY good when he came on against Arsenal, should have started that game actually. But since then he declined, but you can tell he's suffering from confidence, however, you can't really make those excuses, can you make those excuses for Morata? No, they're pro footballers, they have to suck it up with the money they earn. I'm all for giving him another season don't get me wrong, but I'll be furious if he starts as many games next season as he has done this season, his quality does not warrant his game time whatsoever.  

Edited April 20, 20188 yr by Slojo

Not sure if it is something we should be happy about, but I barely noticed him on the pitch today after he came on.  Cannot think of one thing he contributed, good or bad.

39 minutes ago, mwblue10 said:

Not sure if it is something we should be happy about, but I barely noticed him on the pitch today after he came on.  Cannot think of one thing he contributed, good or bad.

A few poor touches, it's a real issue. I've said this before but it's a bit of a myth that Lukaku has a poor touch, maybe he does have a higher ratio than other players but Baka's poor first touch percentage is very high.
It doesn't even matter if he's not under pressure, I just don't see him as someone who can play for a top team.

Right now he is hiding in plain sight, a bit of 'fake pressing' without actually challenging for the ball and when he gets the ball he plays a quick short pass to a nearby player to get rid of it. I guess his movement and presence shifts the defenders attention in the final third?

But I prefer this than when he had a lot of time on the ball in the first half of the season, the more he does the more mistakes he makes. 

1 hour ago, mwblue10 said:

Not sure if it is something we should be happy about, but I barely noticed him on the pitch today after he came on.  Cannot think of one thing he contributed, good or bad.

He just stands out on the left keeping Emerson company.

He has little to no positional sense, never seems to know where he should be or what he should be doing.

He has little to no positional sense, never seems to know where he should be or what he should be doing.

Some truth in that but overall I thought he did good covering when he came on today and also hit in a few low passes to the forward line. Not brilliant but better...

Sorry but Bakacatastropheyoko has to go

1 hour ago, Ernie_blue said:

He just stands out on the left keeping Emerson company.

Went back and watched some of it again.  Laughing at this now, he literally almost had his heels touching the sideline for a stretch.

For someone big and strong as him he is very timid. With the way he runs its like he is worried someone is going to touch him.

United have Matic he’s done a job / improved their starting 11

CFC have Baka

oh dear !

His last 2 performances have been decent. Nothing extravagant both ways (good/bad). Definitely a step in the right direction. 

Did he even put in a tackle? The moments I paid attention to him he just tried to look threatening from 2 feet away from a Soton player dribbling with the ball. No challenge whatsoever.

Edited April 23, 20188 yr by Valerie

Apparently fancies himself as a bit of a comedian.