1 hour ago, Brutos said:

We have a very good problem now in midfield and I am loving it didn't think we would be arguing over which of our on form midfielders we need to start loving it

Yeah, well one spot's reserved so we can all argue about the other two.

Just which two should be partnering Ross? 😛

2 hours ago, Imran_CFC said:

I think we have plenty of matches left in the season to share the game time around and fortunately we have a great deal of variety in the options available that it could almost be a case of horses for courses.

I would play the different options as follows:

Kova-Jorg-Kante = Against tougher oppositions who are most likely to attack and try to win the midfield battle (Liverpool, City, Arsenal)

Kova/Kante-Jorg-Mount= Against weaker oppositions who are more likely to park the bus allowing us to deviate between a 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3

RLC-Kova-Kante= Against more physical midfields

I think Frank will deviate between all the options available to him & having RLC available would just add to the options available off the bench. I think RLC will have a major say for us this season as I think he will truly get up to speed for the last 1/3rd and hopefully by than we will be in the latter stages of some cup competitions and his freshness may work in our favor.

I agree with most of that. 

Atm,  i think  the players will be happy to be part of the squad even if they're not starting every game.

However, by next season Frank will have a good idea who his first choice 11 is and go with them as much as possible, which will obviously mean some players not getting many starts and then there's even more competition next season with new signings in the summer. For starters, the only way to keep CHO and Pulisic happy would be to play CHO on the right, but he's better on the left.

A good problem to have tho.

 

 

 

 

Seems to me the last wo games we have effectively been 4-2-3-1.

Looks to me that either Jorginho, Kovacic and Kante will cover the 2

Mount, CHO, Willian and Pulisic will cover the three.

Others: Barkley, RLC and Gilmour will struggle to get pitch time unless Frank rotates..

43 minutes ago, Strider6003 said:

Seems to me the last wo games we have effectively been 4-2-3-1.

Looks to me that either Jorginho, Kovacic and Kante will cover the 2

Mount, CHO, Willian and Pulisic will cover the three.

Others: Barkley, RLC and Gilmour will struggle to get pitch time unless Frank rotates..

Agree with all this although its hard to drop either Jorge or Kovacic when Kante returns.

2 minutes ago, Andy North said:

Agree with all this although its hard to drop either Jorge or Kovacic when Kante returns.

Agree.

Yeah, well one spot's reserved so we can all argue about the other two.
Just which two should be partnering Ross? [emoji14]

Rose the Boss [emoji13][emoji13]

Poor old barkley :). The level of ridiculing makes me think he may be due a blinder.

Seems to me that too many of you think N'Golo is only competeting for the 2 in a 4-2-3-1.

I thought we buried the myth that Kanté is a purely defensive midfielder long ago. He can play ANY position in midfield.

1 hour ago, Vagabond said:

I thought we buried the myth that Kanté is a purely defensive midfielder long ago. He plays EVERY position on the field.

Fixed it for you. Kante is like God, he’s everywhere at once 

14 hours ago, Dean said:

Poor old barkley :). The level of ridiculing makes me think he may be due a blinder.

Nah... I'm probably one of the few here who actually think he's been playing alright this season and that he's a useful player to have in the squad.

Most here don't it seems so I'm actually partly having a laugh at my own expense (!)

Nah... I'm probably one of the few here who actually think he's been playing alright this season and that he's a useful player to have in the squad.
Most here don't it seems so I'm actually partly having a laugh at my own expense (!)

He moves the ball way too slow when he plays our tempo drops as soon as he gets the ball

2 hours ago, Brutos said:

He moves the ball way too slow when he plays our tempo drops as soon as he gets the ball

At Everton his was always head down and run with the ball towards the goal. He looked good there because he was surrounded by tripe. 

Barkley is average tbh, I hope we replace him next summer.

14 hours ago, dansubrosa said:

Barkley is average tbh, I hope we replace him next summer.

we don't even need to replace him, we are so stacked in midfield where we can sell him and we'll still have too many players to fill the positions, especially when RLC comes back

10/10 performance.

He's like that powerful midfielder you play with in FIFA where you hold down the sprint button and just blast through the midfield. He doesn't look it but it's the kind of performance you'd expect from the likes of Pogba

His pass to Willian before the 2nd goal was exceptional, completely eliminated Watfords midfield and opened up their defence. 

Excellent game again, I don't think the penalty is purely on him, they were all being stupid passing it to each other and Jorginho originally gave Kovacic a difficult pass where he had little choice but to pass back to Jorginho, could've been a better pass though but it is what it is, never a penalty, and our players shouldn't have been messing around like that. 

Mateo Kovacic vs Watford:
154 touches
134 passes (95.7%)
11/12 long balls
4/4 dribbles completed 
3 tackles
1 interception
7/7 duels won
1 key pass 

3 minutes ago, Frankie8Lampard said:

Mateo Kovacic vs Watford:
154 touches
134 passes (95.7%)
11/12 long balls
4/4 dribbles completed 
3 tackles
1 interception
7/7 duels won
1 key pass 

Not getting at Kovacic’s overall performance today because I thought he was excellent.

What I find frustrating however is out of the 134 passes 4.3% were not completed and two of those where attempted through balls for a one and one with the keeper. I thought they looked simple enough passes, or they were from my living room, and I’m not totally frustrated that he didn’t complete them, but both those passes were his worst passes of the day and badly over hit straight into Forsters arms. 
It almost seems that when he is faced with playing a assist ball or having a shot that a mist comes over him and he f**ks it up.

 

He was literally sensational today. He defo is the most underrated player in the league. Oozes quality throughout.

Way he's playing right now, the only thing missing in this guy is the ability to shoot. 

He has to be the worst 'shooter' in the team. 

1 hour ago, goose said:

Not getting at Kovacic’s overall performance today because I thought he was excellent.

What I find frustrating however is out of the 134 passes 4.3% were not completed and two of those where attempted through balls for a one and one with the keeper. I thought they looked simple enough passes, or they were from my living room, and I’m not totally frustrated that he didn’t complete them, but both those passes were his worst passes of the day and badly over hit straight into Forsters arms. 
It almost seems that when he is faced with playing a assist ball or having a shot that a mist comes over him and he f**ks it up.

 

He's passing the ball forward a lot though, his ball retention skills are excellent, he gets the game flowing then advances forward when needed to. He's been involved in a lot of our goals this season he just isn't the man that's usually involved in the final 3rd and that's definitely where he's lacking. 

But he's definitely contributing to the attack with the way he plays, him and Jorginho are a nightmare for other teams, I've been searching Kovacic online and he's getting a lot of praise from opposition fans, I'm glad to see he's getting recognition, him and Jorginho have been great. 

He's a world class player. Easily our stand-out performer today, and he's just oozing confidence. No ifs, no buts, no maybes. We've got a player on our hands folks. One day @Nibs and @just will come round. That day is looming fast.

12 minutes ago, Davey Baby said:

He's a world class player. Easily our stand-out performer today, and he's just oozing confidence. No ifs, no buts, no maybes. We've got a player on our hands folks. One day @Nibs and @just will come round. That day is looming fast.

You sound like my son DB. There was a period today where he miss-placed a through ball and then he lost the ball and I was moaning to my son and he's saying shut up dad, he's quality and then for the next 15 minutes or so he didn't put a foot wrong and with better finishing should have had an assist.

Must admit, bar one or two errors today (especially the f**king about which led to Watford penalty & goal) he was very decent. If he's like that every game - no issues, but I do still worry when he takes risks and loses the ball in dangerous areas and that's why Kante is still the better option for me when fit and available. But you were right on Hazard DB, who did eventually prove to be even better than Joey Cole so we'll just have to wait and see if you got lucky there or you're right again!

9 minutes ago, Davey Baby said:

He's a world class player. Easily our stand-out performer today, and he's just oozing confidence. No ifs, no buts, no maybes. We've got a player on our hands folks. One day @Nibs and @just will come round. That day is looming fast.

Don't agree with the world class tag, but he's definitely a player and he's in his mid 20's. 

If he keeps playing like this it will be interesting to see how Kante gets straight back into the team. Same with Rudiger for Zouma/Tomori.