Hard to beat a team when they put 10 players in the box and don't come out and play. I know they had their chances but they were not trying to do anything more than defend. Also it was pretty evident in the end there that the players don't trust Morata. There were a few chances when Wilian and Hazard could have played it across Morata but instead tried to fire it on goal at a tight angle. Striker situation needs to be sorted out. This is a game we should have won but if you would have asked me before the season, with everything that went on in the summer, that we'd have 16 points after 6 games, I would take that all day

5 hours ago, just said:

I think today showed where we are as a team at the moment. Sarri has got us retaining the ball better and passing neatly enough but with little cutting edge and no consistent use of width. A Pat Nevin or Damien Duff in our side would be a godsend. 

West Ham were good value for the draw, and that was without their best striker. IMO any talk of us winning the EPL this season is laughable. Getting that 4th spot is the goal this year and it won't be easy. In fact if anything happens to Hazard it will be nigh on impossible. And that's the difference with Liverpool and Citeh. They are more complete teams with more complete squads. They don't have an over reliance on one single player.

The PL game against Liverpool next week is also probably going to be the first time our defence will be put under periods of sustained pressure. So far it has been comfortable for them because they haven't faced any real quality. Let's see how they cope.

With or without luiz they wont cope mate. Not a popular opinion to have on these boards but liverpool are a really good, complete team.

Salah missing they still win. Without hazard we have no chance against the best.

10 hours ago, Old Shaggy said:

Are you having a f**king laugh? Look up the word hypocrite, and then cross reference it with all your posts abusing people for having a differing opinion on Willian to yours! f**king moron of the highest order!

I never abuse people or lower myself to personal insults like yourself. Says a lot about you tbh. Not surprised. 

10 hours ago, Old Shaggy said:

Are you having a f**king laugh? Look up the word hypocrite, and then cross reference it with all your posts abusing people for having a differing opinion on Willian to yours! f**king moron of the highest order!

Calm down, have a coffee.

1 hour ago, RIP Mourinho said:

I never abuse people or lower myself to personal insults like yourself. Says a lot about you tbh. Not surprised. 

Mate you are a special one. 

We shouldn't have gone with half of the starters for PAOK. this Europa League sh*te competition is going to be a huge pain in the ass this year. 

40 minutes ago, Old Shaggy said:

Mate you are a special one. 

Says the one that can't go on a forum without abusing someone. I'm not your mate either.

Dismal performance, never really got out of the third gear the whole game. Our best chances fall to the box to box players, it's either he's at the wrong place at the wrong time, or the rest of the attackers not up to speed in the game. The limitations of strikers showed up big time this game, neither are good at scoring, both rely on good crossing which never game, one has strength but no speed, the other way is the other way around. I thought we missed Pedro, Willian/Hazard all like ball to feet, no one is making runs behind to drag defenders out of position. I reckon without Rudiger getting injured, Cesc would have came on and probably gave us a new dimension in the past 15-20, but wasn't to be. I hate WestHam, happy to lose 3 or 4 against any other teams, but save their best for us. We let them got away with it, they were without the usual suspects to hurt us, and we never pushed enough for the goals. Unlike, Conte's first season, Sarri must find a way to manage Europa league. He may rest 5-6 players every game, but this week it showed the extra game, even travel took toll on the players.

1 hour ago, Giordano_Bruno said:

We shouldn't have gone with half of the starters for PAOK. this Europa League sh*te competition is going to be a huge pain in the ass this year. 

Agree, with the squad we have we should have focused on the league and leave that cup to the squad players to try and get through. 

We have a great midfield but I still feel we need a good attacking midfielder who can unlock defences. A striker is a must.  Maybe do a swap deal with a club with morata.

1 hour ago, Old Shaggy said:

Mate you are a special one. 

Not one our better performances, but we did ok. West Ham away is one of our most difficult fixtures - it's a London derby and they always up their game against us. I think it's a bit arrogant to expect us to be hammering a London rival away from home. For me that's a point gained, rather that 2 points dropped. Now we have a great double header against Liverpool to look forward too! KTBFFH

2 hours ago, Giordano_Bruno said:

We shouldn't have gone with half of the starters for PAOK. this Europa League sh*te competition is going to be a huge pain in the ass this year. 

Are we a big club or not?

I mean West Ham without their best player Arnautovic (scored+created 80% of goals for their team) can still get a draw and what about us?

Even if we were without a less inspired Hazard like he was that game, the quality would have fell off dramatically...

Sarri's tactics work but he doesn't have a real killer here, playing Giroud or Morata as the starter is just not having a proper goal scorer, this is why when we win it's Hazard or Pedro that stole the show or sometimes Willian.

I haven't read what has been said in previous posts on here but Matt Dickinson in today's Times says what exactly I thought about the match on Sunday. He writes an article called 'Kante fulfils many roles but he is wasted further forward' . I agree 100% with what is said , if you can find a copy read it and you will see what I mean.

2 hours ago, CFC North Wales said:

I? haven't read what has been said in previous posts on here but Matt Dickinson in today's Times says what exactly I thought about the match on Sunday. He writes an article called 'Kante fulfils many roles but he is wasted further forward' . I agree 100% with what is said , if you can find a copy read it and you will see what I mean.

Yeah, I saw that. It does sound reasonable. He concedes himself, but downplays the point that pressing and winning the ball higher up the pitch is crucial/valuable to Sarri's system. So may be that's enough. May be that's going to be main Kante's contribution and it is so important for the team that it's OK that the actual attacking threat will have to come from elsewhere.

Or may be he is right and Kante is wasted in this system and doesn't quite have a good place in it.  Which would be a great shame. But Jorginho is clearly the one player that definitely has a place/position nailed on  in this team. So may be - and this sounds unthinkable - Kante is more valuable to somebody else, than he is to us...

And may be we sell his soul to the Devil in exchange for Frank Lampard becoming 15 years younger.

1 hour ago, Ilya said:

Yeah, I saw that. It does sound reasonable. He concedes himself, but downplays the point that pressing and winning the ball higher up the pitch is crucial/valuable to Sarri's system. So may be that's enough. May be that's going to be main Kante's contribution and it is so important for the team that it's OK that the actual attacking threat will have to come from elsewhere.

Or may be he is right and Kante is wasted in this system and doesn't quite have a good place in it.  Which would be a great shame. But Jorginho is clearly the one player that definitely has a place/position nailed on  in this team. So may be - and this sounds unthinkable - Kante is more valuable to somebody else, than he is to us...

And may be we sell his soul to the Devil in exchange for Frank Lampard becoming 15 years younger.

Good post.........only time will tell my friend. Maybe as we get better and more solid we see what is up. Maybe it will fail badly and Sarri has to shift him back to give us more stability, maybe he is a goner NeXT summer if we f**k up this season........time will reveal it all.

Observations - pikeys always raise their game vs CFC, and luckily the Ukrainian missed the header at the end or we'd been 1 nil'ed again 

Team desperately needs a striker that can score, Morata has turned into a worse version of Torres, I cant see anyway back for him realistically he looks like he turning up for the massive pay checks, wont compete with the dippers, city, spuds & united  long term without a goal scoring striker contributing 20 plus in the prem league

Team relies too much on Eden and when he is either not on song or tactically nullified then its a struggle to impose the brilliant Sarri-ball in the final third of the pitch.

Made a good enough start sitting in 3rd place behind the 2 favorites, likely to drop points next round as well based upon the form book and our lack of a proper striker.  Think 4th place is the realistic goal this season and so far so good.

 

 

 

 

Hard game but it always is away to West Ham. This was their cup final.