7 hours ago, jack_super_class said:

Why does it take a defeat for that to happen though?.

Exactly.... The writing was on the wall for ages. Havertz was terrible just as he came back, but Frank started him in both games against Everton and Wolves which absolutely f**ked us over big time. It took him until Wolves to realise Havertz isn't helping the team, he's helping the other team with his form. 

Werner hasn't scored in what 10 games now? He keeping missing valuable opportunities and on top of that he's f**king woeful in the build up play. It shouldn't take him this long to realise that Werner on the left isn't working. And that's me being kind, because we don't know that for sure, we could be looking at Werner on the starting sheet again against Villa. I just don't know anymore, I don't get why CHO is sidelined all the time when he's a good talent and an actual winger. 

It's stuff like this that's f**ked us up this month. 

On 26/12/2020 at 18:53, haviet1 said:

For Villa, I fully expect Pulisic, Giroud, and CHO to start up top.

 

 

This front 3 did pretty well today in the first half.

Not sure what exactly happened in the 2nd half where the team just felt broken down and disjointed.

Good, but still not anywhere near the level he was at the end of last season. He failed quite a lot of take-ons, and seemed to get the ball caught under his feet quite a few times. Still our most dangerous player though.

I thought he would score at some point... Great that he avoided an injury here, hopefully he will score vs Man City again.

I thought 1v1 he wasn't himself against Villa.. seemed to have tired legs....hes been off a little with his end product and been a little unlucky as he could of had a some assists the last few games. 

He's created a few chances recently and although came close has not got them on target with any conviction, I hope he rectifies that quickly.

Hasn't found his form of last season yet but that is understandable after the injury setbacks. I think he needs a decent run of games without further injuries and hopefully he will hit some form.

Despite all of that though he’s still giving 100% and trying to make things happen. His attitude is top notch, grown on me a lot this season.

He needs dropping. Nowhere near last season form, on merit Hudson Odoi is miles ahead of him.

28 minutes ago, dansubrosa said:

He needs dropping. Nowhere near last season form, on merit Hudson Odoi is miles ahead of him.

Seems like history might be repeating, at Dortmund he was benched by a younger Sancho at the time that totally took over, will this happen if Lampard gives CHO the chance he deserves?

On 04/01/2021 at 01:01, dansubrosa said:

Despite all of that though he’s still giving 100% and trying to make things happen. His attitude is top notch, grown on me a lot this season.

 

30 minutes ago, dansubrosa said:

He needs dropping. Nowhere near last season form, on merit Hudson Odoi is miles ahead of him.

What a difference a couple of weeks makes!

He's a great little player but it's just not happening for him at the moment. That said, it's not happening for many of our players right now. Think on current form, CHO deserves to start and rotate him, Pulicic and Ziyech. I like Ziyech but at times he does appear a bit lazy and "can't be arsed", and I wouldn't be starting him every game either. 

 

Edited January 16, 20215 yr by Nibs

Love this guy, my favourite player in the team, but this is not the Pulisic I remember last season, he looks awful. 

Time to give him a rest and bench him for a few games, let CHO takeover. 

Hate to say it, but it's clear Pulisic need sometimes on the bench to reignite that "fire in his belly". We all know he has it.

CHO is in good form right now and deserve more minutes/starts, but miles ahead? 

Frankly, no one has stood out or perform to their potentials over the past 5-6 weeks. There's a bigger underlying issue here, than just players' form. Just IMHO.

 

 

1 hour ago, Slojo said:

Love this guy, my favourite player in the team, but this is not the Pulisic I remember last season, he looks awful. 

Time to give him a rest and bench him for a few games, let CHO takeover. 

I'm a little worried what these hamstrings injuries has done to his explosiveness.  Last year he was gliding past players and leaving defenders well behind him.   I haven't seen any of that this year.   I so hope I'm wrong and hes just not confident right now.

 

1 hour ago, haviet1 said:

Hate to say it, but it's clear Pulisic need sometimes on the bench to reignite that "fire in his belly". We all know he has it.

CHO is in good form right now and deserve more minutes/starts, but miles ahead? 

Frankly, no one has stood out or perform to their potentials over the past 5-6 weeks. There's a bigger underlying issue here, than just players' form. Just IMHO.

 

 

Pulisic is so conpetitive, and the bench might put him "FU Mode" like last year ...and Lampard said all last year he needs his players "on edge"  "with so much competition in the squad. Not hearing him say it this year. 

As soon as CHO came on, Pulisic nearly has two assists. Big chances by Werner and Azpilicueta and the narrative around Pulisic might be a bit different today. 

Neither Pulisic or Ziyech looked great today. The only thing I'm convinced of right now, is that wing #1 needs to be CHO.

 

It might have been the tactics or opponent setup that stifled him, usually he can't stop himself from dribbling and trying to score a solo goal and today both wings were trying to help the fullbacks get forward instead.

1 hour ago, sonic90 said:

It might have been the tactics or opponent setup that stifled him, usually he can't stop himself from dribbling and trying to score a solo goal and today both wings were trying to help the fullbacks get forward instead.

On one of his last overlap passes, the one that chillwell played for a corner, on the replay, Pulisic had 4 defenders inside of him. Cutting inside was completely taken away. 

Having a threat in behind him trailing the play will be helpful. As we know, Kovacic just isn't that type of player. Pulisic's options were limited for a great deal of the game. 

Thats one reason I wanted to see him move more centrally. But once CHO came on, Pulisic also came alive on the wing. 

Ziyech is a great crosser/passer of the ball, but he's not dynamic as CHO or Pulisic as a winger. I love to see CHO and Pulisic has a few games together and see what they can do. Maybe we'll see it, maybe not.

Must say, he’s been very disappointing this season. Quality is clearly there but he’s not doing it. I can understand why Lampard is playing him as he has that spark that could turn a game. Needs to show more. 

10 hours ago, sonic90 said:

It might have been the tactics or opponent setup that stifled him, usually he can't stop himself from dribbling and trying to score a solo goal and today both wings were trying to help the fullbacks get forward instead.

That’s what been irritating me about Pulisic, he tries to do it all on his own. He need to work with the team abit more.

Like someone pointed out, he should of had 2 assists, were it not for bad finishing. Hudson odoi no doubt deserves a run in the team, as hes either providing goals or assists every game. id be tempted to leave ziyech out tbh for one or two games, and esp leicester where you need to put in  shift. 

11 minutes ago, Oli said:

Like someone pointed out, he should of had 2 assists, were it not for bad finishing. Hudson odoi no doubt deserves a run in the team, as hes either providing goals or assists every game. id be tempted to leave ziyech out tbh for one or two games, and esp leicester where you need to put in  shift. 

Good Call. I'd do the same and bring Ziyech on about 65 minute mark.

Just hope Lamps is reading this and does just that!

He's starting to be annoying with his useless dribbling. His first action when he gets the ball is to run with his head on the ball. 

He's far from being the Pulisic we had last season, he supposed to be one of our key players but he's ruining us and himself. Time to give him some bench time.

We complain when players take on their man and we complain when they don't. No risk, no reward. Pulisic won two free kicks in dangerous positions (one could have been a pen). He set CHO up for one of the best chances in the match. He was all over the pitch and looked spent and frustrated the last 15 minutes. The biggest difference from last spring? He and the left fullback (typically Chillwell) don't seem on the same page. The team is playing so slow that when Pulisic gets the ball anywhere near the box he is facing defenders three deep.

I also wonder if Pulisic is nervous about adding that little extra burst of pace due to his recent injury history. We saw it a month ago though when he scored that blistering goal from Werner's cross.