In Summary:

-Pulisic on the bench

-Ziyech not in the squad for Palace

-Mount has a huge future ahead of him, played down the League cup as not being that big a deal (Ref: Mounts Pen Miss)

-Mourinho was not offering advise but having a dig (Visibly annoyed with the question)

-No developments with Rudigers outgoing

-No grudge against Alonso (sh*t Happens)

-CB Partnership is performance dependent, impossible to have same pairing for whole season in modern football.

 

44 minutes ago, Imran_CFC said:

CB Partnership is performance dependent, impossible to have same pairing for whole season in modern football.

I disagree with Lampard on that. Goalkeeper and CB are probably the two positions I don't want to see changed much. Rotation is needed now and again, but CB is not a position you can afford to keep changing game by game. 

10 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

I disagree with Lampard on that. Goalkeeper and CB are probably the two positions I don't want to see changed much. Rotation is needed now and again, but CB is not a position you can afford to keep changing game by game. 

With that said I dont see Silva being able to play 3 times a week every week. Otherwise I agree with you. Zouma would be my regular starter and either Tomori or Christensen giving Silva breathers.

20 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

I disagree with Lampard on that. Goalkeeper and CB are probably the two positions I don't want to see changed much. Rotation is needed now and again, but CB is not a position you can afford to keep changing game by game. 

I wonder if he meant defenders get bans and injuries more often now? 

3 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

I disagree with Lampard on that. Goalkeeper and CB are probably the two positions I don't want to see changed much. Rotation is needed now and again, but CB is not a position you can afford to keep changing game by game. 

Liverpool rotate. It just isn't VanDijk. It is all the same who is alosngisde him. 

Oh my gosh, our players can't play for us but got invitations for the qualification matches? What the hell is this atrocity. 

11 hours ago, opinionsarelike said:

Ah, the ghost of Sarri still haunts us to this day. Almost ruined us!

On a serious note, this is really unfair on Sarri. Hazard had his best statistical season for us under Sarri, mainly because he didn't have to play as a wide midfield player and therefore could receive the ball 15 meters further up the pitch. However, if you want to argue this point, then you would also have to argue that Lampard got bailed out last year by Pulisic (who Lampard didn't have all that much faith in early in the season) and Giroud (who played third fiddle, even behind Michy Friggin Batshuayi, for large periods of the season). Or you could argue that both Sarri and Lampard gave the correct instructions to get the most out of the offensive players they had at their disposal. It's one or the other, moving the goal posts just because one was a chain smoking tramp/failed banker/fackin' sarri (sorry) and one is a club legend isn't very nuanced or productive.

Sarri had his flaws, but he did a good job with us. He even coached Kepa, Azpi, Rudiger (who we are now willing to sell to Spurs), your best buddy Luiz and Alonso, with your other best mate Jorginho as the player screening said defenders, to the comfortably third best defense in the league. Did we play dross football at times? Absolutely, but maybe Sarri recognized that he had to keep the ball at pretty much all cost and give tactical instructions till it because tedious for the players unless he wanted to ship three goals each game?

I think in your rush to draw parallels in defence of Sarri you have over simplified. Surely Frank had more than just Pulisic last year? Abraham's early season form and the selection of Mason Mount, were, on the whole IMO, larger contributions to the more attractive, (and without a shadow of doubt, it definitely was more attractive), football we played last season than under Sarri. Not to mention SFL also got way, way more out of Kovacic than Sarri did.

I guess you pay your money and you take your choice opinions are like. Reading some posts I feel some are expecting "park the bus" no risk defensive solidity and strict tactical instructions to be followed at all times, (above all else). If so it is probably time for Mourinho MK III

Edited October 2, 20205 yr by just

We need our defense pairings to form a chemistry with each other and that can unfortunately happen only if they get a consistent run of games together and  the same goes for the DM position as well. 

 

However, having said that - I am still concerned by our lack of scoring. Inspite of a leaky defense we need to be outscoring West Brom. The amount of wasted chances is criminal. 

2 hours ago, Droopy said:

Oh my gosh, our players can't play for us but got invitations for the qualification matches? What the hell is this atrocity. 

Very shortsighted way of looking at it. Ziyech has played one half of football since March, he'll be rusty and will need to build up match fitness.

If Morocco can effectively give him a pre season that's brilliant for us and will probably speed up the time he'll be ready to fully compete in PL/CL games.

12 hours ago, brownindian said:

We need our defense pairings to form a chemistry with each other and that can unfortunately happen only if they get a consistent run of games together and  the same goes for the DM position as well. 

 

However, having said that - I am still concerned by our lack of scoring. Inspite of a leaky defense we need to be outscoring West Brom. The amount of wasted chances is criminal. 

Like defensive pairings it is also important that attacking players know each others game.

Good performance from him today....keep it simple 

Spot on from Frank today. Team, selection, tactics, subs.. Everything. 

Good performance and a great foundation for the next few games. 

Hopefully after the international break we'll have an almost fully fit squad to choose from as well. 

International break is a f**k up watch us come back lagging and slow 

 

 

12 minutes ago, Brutos said:

International break is a f**k up watch us come back lagging and slow 

 

 

You are clearly the optimist .. 😛

 

14 hours ago, Argo said:

Very shortsighted way of looking at it. Ziyech has played one half of football since March, he'll be rusty and will need to build up match fitness.

If Morocco can effectively give him a pre season that's brilliant for us and will probably speed up the time he'll be ready to fully compete in PL/CL games.

That will actually be one of the advantages of international break this season.

Frank out eh?

Good team selection, all his new signings were solid and the decision to bring back Azpi to RB was justified. Good day for Frank,hopefully the first of many.

20 minutes ago, Jangz said:

You are clearly the optimist .. 😛

 

A win like that and you want to keep momentum...I hate international breaks 

6 minutes ago, Brutos said:

A win like that and you want to keep momentum...I hate international breaks 

I think a similar thing happened to us last season as well, we had a convincing win or maybe a few and then the international break came in.

25 minutes ago, dansubrosa said:

Frank out eh?

It's only Palace though, and, most importantly, he didn't bring my favourite player on until 83 minutes. It's like he doesn't care about my feelings at all.

14 minutes ago, bluedave said:

It's only Palace though, and, most importantly, he didn't bring my favourite player on until 83 minutes. It's like he doesn't care about my feelings at all.

It's only Palace but for once our defence looked assured!

6 minutes ago, Deino said:

It's only Palace but for once our defence looked assured!

Probably included in Bats loan agreement too.. 🙂

37 minutes ago, Gol15 said:

I think a similar thing happened to us last season as well, we had a convincing win or maybe a few and then the international break came in.

It absolutely did happen last season we were on a great run and it all changed after this exact international break 

At least by the time we’re back we should have a full squad ready to go. Bar Gilmour but he’s still a prospect for now.

Cant wait to watch the next game already.