Where will we finish this coming season? And what will be your top 6?

[Dixon]

6 hours ago, Strider6003 said:

I still think third, we have a run of three consecutive winnable matches before facing Spurs late November. We should be improving with Sarri's methods over these weeks.

Apart from Morata suddenly finding some form, where can you see this lot of players improving in the next month ?

Under difficult circumstances, Sarri drilled them very quickly into a unit. But I honestly  don't think there's been the slightest sign of improvement anywhere since the 3rd game of the season. We are already at our liimit with this squad. We're going to have to get by  while we continue creating too few good chances, relying far heavily on Hazard and hoping the opposition continue to miss sitters.  

My fear is what the club will do if we finish 5th or 6th, which is very possible with this squad??? If that does happen then I hope it makes  the board finally think before they pull the trigger yet again, and see that the squad needs a major overall that is going to take time and sacking yet another manager isnt the answer this time. We're not going to get away with flying by the seat of pants from one year to the next anymore.

[strider6004]

10 hours ago, Dixon said:

Apart from Morata suddenly finding some form, where can you see this lot of players improving in the next month ?

Under difficult circumstances, Sarri drilled them very quickly into a unit. But I honestly  don't think there's been the slightest sign of improvement anywhere since the 3rd game of the season. We are already at our liimit with this squad. We're going to have to get by  while we continue creating too few good chances, relying far heavily on Hazard and hoping the opposition continue to miss sitters.  

My fear is what the club will do if we finish 5th or 6th, which is very possible with this squad??? If that does happen then I hope it makes  the board finally think before they pull the trigger yet again, and see that the squad needs a major overall that is going to take time and sacking yet another manager isnt the answer this time. We're not going to get away with flying by the seat of pants from one year to the next anymore.

Agree on the need for a striker in January.

Pedro should be featuring again soon after his injury and as the punters here often suggest we have CHO and Ampadu (knee) waiting to get a chance on the wings.

[Kentonio]

14 hours ago, Strider6003 said:

BTW you avatar always catches my attention, what's the significance?

It doesn't really have a significance, its an avatar I found many, many years ago and just loved it. The image was called Helix Monkey. :)

[dkw]

13 minutes ago, Kentonio said:

It doesn't really have a significance, its an avatar I found many, many years ago and just loved it. The image was called Helix Monkey. :)

So you lick monkeys?........ 

 

[Kentonio]

Just now, dkw said:

So you lick monkeys?........ 

 

Touche sir..

[dansubrosa]

Pretty confident we will finish 3rd. We look much better than the rest, apart from Liverpool and City. 

Just need to have a very good summer window then maybe we’ll talk about winning the title! I don’t think we will find a top striker in January

[icecoolguy22]

We played 3 out of the big 6, could have done better but 5 out of 9 is decent. I reckon we will do better against the smaller teams compare to last season, already we won games we lost last season. The style we are playing, don't think home/away as we are playing our passing/possession game. In the past, we tend to play more counters at those away games, and with a bit more freedom at home, it's not easy for players to change every second game.

[Dixon]

6 hours ago, icecoolguy22 said:

We played 3 out of the big 6, could have done better but 5 out of 9 is decent. I reckon we will do better against the smaller teams compare to last season, already we won games we lost last season. The style we are playing, don't think home/away as we are playing our passing/possession game. In the past, we tend to play more counters at those away games, and with a bit more freedom at home, it's not easy for players to change every second game.

I was thinking some of that. Unlike last season i can't see us having stinking performances against the lower teams, so we should pick up a good number of points no matter what we do against the top six.

Need to keep in touch till the transfer window and try and buy a decent striker to see us thru to end of the season. Can't see us getting a top class one in the window tho. Next summer have a clear out of deadwood and also sell Morata, William, Pedro and yes, if he's not going to play in his proper position,  Kante as well. That would raise a good bit of money. Then we go all out and spend whatever it takes to get a world class striker or at least one close to it. Not some 30 year plus one tho.

[Adamrb]

Arsenal going to be tough contenders too. They have two strikers to our none!

Edited October 22, 2018 by Adamrb

[Kentonio]

14 hours ago, Dixon said:

and yes, if he's not going to play in his proper position,  Kante as well. That would raise a good bit of money.

Ah come on, we're 9 games into the season with a completely new tactical setup, and Kante is still learning his new role. Both him and Sarri both sound happy, so let's wait and see what it develops into.

[yorkleyblue]

A world-wide  acknowledged genius says we should sell Kante.    Bless!

[Dixon]

1 hour ago, Kentonio said:

Ah come on, we're 9 games into the season with a completely new tactical setup, and Kante is still learning his new role. Both him and Sarri both sound happy, so let's wait and see what it develops into.

I'm a great fan of Kante but not in his current position. He simply doesn't have the technical ability, creativity or finishing for a player in that position and he's not going to learn  them at his age.  He's undropable because of past seasons. If we're ever going to finish above City and Liverpool we're going to need more creativity and goal power from a player in his his position and he will never provide that. Let's remember at onetime Mata was our best player. Jose came in, changed his position and that was the beginning of the end of Mata at Chelsea. Oh how we could do with the primetime  Mata we had at Chelsea. 

[Kentonio]

1 minute ago, Dixon said:

I'm a great fan of Kante but not in his current position. He simply doesn't have the technical ability, creativity or finishing for a player in that position and he's not going to learn  them at his age.  He's undropable because of past seasons. If we're ever going to finish above City and Liverpool we're going to need more creativity and goal power from a player in his his position and he will never provide that. Let's remember at onetime Mata was our best player. Jose came in, changed his position and that was the beginning of the end of Mata at Chelsea. Oh how we could do with the primetime  Mata we had at Chelsea. 

He's playing the Allan role. And once again, Allan's goals/assists stats for the last 3 years..

2017/18 - 4/5

2016/17 - 1/6

2015/16 - 3/5

Do we really believe Kante can't achieve numbers like that? Really? Kante's role isn't to be some great goal scorer or creator, he's the engine of the team. The Kovacic/Barkley position is the one we should be expecting decent numbers from.

[zes]

We need to rack up as many points as we can before December. 

2nd half of the season we play the top 6 away from home mostly, will be tougher. I think we play spurs away in 2 weeks. As long as we manage draws vs the top 6 I'm not worried. We will dispatch smaller teams imo not worried about dropping silly points. A draw against manure was vital imo keeps arsenal below us still and the scum in 10th place. Will be a tight call this season, between us spurs and arsenal for 3rd/4th place. Dont want mourinho to have a sniff, dont need another team in the mix, will make top 4 tougher. 

Edited October 23, 2018 by zes

[Giordano_Bruno]

You guys gonna update this topic with overconfident predictions and cocky solutions after every single match we don't get 3 points, aren't you? 

Edited October 23, 2018 by Giordano_Bruno

[Bonzodog29]

3 hours ago, Kentonio said:

He's playing the Allan role. And once again, Allan's goals/assists stats for the last 3 years..

2017/18 - 4/5

2016/17 - 1/6

2015/16 - 3/5

Do we really believe Kante can't achieve numbers like that? Really? Kante's role isn't to be some great goal scorer or creator, he's the engine of the team. The Kovacic/Barkley position is the one we should be expecting decent numbers from.

And to be fair he can clearly hit a decent shot, as shown by the save he got DeGea to make in the second half, 

[ducavis]

6 hours ago, yorkleyblue said:

A world-wide  acknowledged genius says we should sell Kante.    Bless!

I don’t think it is a case of sell but maybe sit out a few games against lower oppositions, or come off at the 60min mark if we need a goal.

The debate was ongoing last season also, do we actually need a Kante if the opposition sit 10 men behind the ball? 

[yorkleyblue]

13 minutes ago, ducavis said:

I don’t think it is a case of sell but maybe sit out a few games against lower oppositions, or come off at the 60min mark if we need a goal.

The debate was ongoing last season also, do we actually need a Kante if the opposition sit 10 men behind the ball? 

I agree with you, but that bell-end said specifically to sell Kante - that's what I found silly.

[Munkunku]

We can sell all our midfield when Lord Bakayoko returns to run the show. 

[Ilya]

35 minutes ago, yorkleyblue said:

I agree with you, but that bell-end said specifically to sell Kante - that's what I found silly.

Sounds like perfect moment to jump in with support for his opinion. :)

I'd like to see how this year plays out. But if things stay roughly how they are at the moment - it's about resource allocation. Is Kante useful to have in the squad? Of course. If you have infinite money to buy players - should you sell him? Of course not.

If he is worth, as a classical defensive midfielder (protector of defence and destroyer of opposition attacks) significantly more than he is as a box-to-box "engine" (whatever that means) and we are not using him in his most valuable capacity - should we sell him for f**k load of money and buy a top player for one of the positions we actually do need to upgrade?

I dunno. Kante for a top-top striker? And just play Jorginho, Kovacic and Barkley in midfield? Does it change the team for the worse so obviously that anyone who proposes this as an option is clearly a bell-end?

Or Kante for a top-class different kind of a midfielder. Say, Pogba. I know I'm gonna get vitriol for this because Pogba is a dick, but football-wise - would that make the team worse?

[yorkleyblue]

Not going to get into this too much.  Even thinking about selling Kante 9 matches into a season where we are evolving into a radically different style of play is just plain silly and quite likely either a knee-jerk reaction or an attempt at a wind-up, and didn't have any of the logical argument that you have put forward, even though I disagree with you.  Who knows the future?  I know I don't, but I know I'd rather have Kante in the side than not.

Sarri is still finding out the best of all the squad, and I don't think Kante has done much wrong in his more forward position.  For all the  members here who just love their statistics, his defensive stats are good for an attacking midfielder, and he does bring a "defend from the front" ability than no other player seems to have.   

But, in answer to your last question, but without vitriol, yes, Pogba WOULD make the team worse.

[Dixon]

5 hours ago, Kentonio said:

He's playing the Allan role. And once again, Allan's goals/assists stats for the last 3 years..

2017/18 - 4/5

2016/17 - 1/6

2015/16 - 3/5

Do we really believe Kante can't achieve numbers like that? Really? Kante's role isn't to be some great goal scorer or creator, he's the engine of the team. The Kovacic/Barkley position is the one we should be expecting decent numbers from.

Kovacic has scored one league goal in three years, so that's expecting another player to become something he's not.

I say we simply put Kante back into his best position, thus provide the defensive cover Jorghino does not do.  Just look at how easily teams run thru our lightweight midfield when they do decide to take the game to us Arsenal, Liverpool and Utd all made mincemeat of this midfield when they had a go. That solves one problem if we put Kante back in his old place. Then look for a quicker, more mobile midfielder than Jorghino, one who can actually run into the opponents half, create and score goals rather accommodate a player who does little more than endless five yard  keeping the rolling with five yard passes. As things stand we'll have Kante, Kovacic and Jorghino creating and scoring half a dozen goals between them all season. Do you seriously think that is anywhere near good enough?

[Ilya]

 

1 hour ago, Dixon said:

Then? look for a quicker, more mobile midfielder than Jorghino, one who can actually run into the opponents half, create and score goals rather accommodate?? a player who does little more than endless five yard  ??????keeping the rolling with five yard passes.

Ha-ha-ha, this is very good. 

Also we need to get back to playing three central defenders. Aspilicueta is so much better as a CM.

Also bring back Moses.

Also get Hazard to track back more. He's been ignoring his defensive responsibilities.

[Munkunku]

18 hours ago, Ilya said:

 

Ha-ha-ha, this is very good. 

Also we need to get back to playing three central defenders. Aspilicueta is so much better as a CM.

Also bring back Moses.

Also get Hazard to track back more. He's been ignoring his defensive responsibilities.

You forgot also play RLC upfront/left back/goalkeeper (delete as appropriate). 

[Imran_CFC]

Can't believe people are actually entertaining the possibility of selling Kante, he is 1 of 2 world class players we have in our current squad. Even in the attacking setup we have he is absolutely vital, presently we are wide open to be counter attacked as we tend to play higher up the pitch and in my opinion he is the only player from midfield who provides us with any protection to a quick counter attack. 

It is not a surprise that Kante is not taken off even when we are in search of a late goal as he provides the team with that defensive balance.