I thought is team selection was spot on, the exact team i would of picked. For some reason twitter fanboys were slating his team selection, i bet they feel like plonkers now. Interesting to see who Frank plays centre forward VS Leeds.

I'm happy clapping.

Our form has been unreal since Mendy came, have we really even lost a game besides the Spurs one in the cup? It's not just the results though it's the performances. We absolutely batter teams, I have no doubt we'll hit a stop gap at some point, that's always the case, but I'm still impressed. Lampard is doing a fantastic job so far. This is the same bloke who I said wouldn't be in the job for longer than 4 or 5 months. I believe I said he would've been gone by November in his first season. 

48 minutes ago, Slojo said:

Our form has been unreal since Mendy came, have we really even lost a game besides the Spurs one in the cup? It's not just the results though it's the performances. We absolutely batter teams, I have no doubt we'll hit a stop gap at some point, that's always the case, but I'm still impressed. Lampard is doing a fantastic job so far. This is the same bloke who I said wouldn't be in the job for longer than 4 or 5 months. I believe I said he would've been gone by November in his first season. 

To think i once called people silly for wanting him over Sarri.

We’ve got a real problem now, who do we drop for Giroud? Pulisic, Werner or Ziyech? 

The handsome Frenchman always deliver. Honestly it feels like we could go out and buy the likes of Mbappe and Lewandowski, and yet Giroud will fight his way back into the team!

Nice dilemma for Frank.

1 hour ago, jack_super_class said:

I thought is team selection was spot on, the exact team i would of picked. For some reason twitter fanboys were slating his team selection, i bet they feel like plonkers now. Interesting to see who Frank plays centre forward VS Leeds.

Think we will have to be ruthless with this one and bench Oli, Leeds will be playing high and leaving space to exploit in behind, this games begging for Werner up top flanked by Pulisic.

10 hours ago, jack_super_class said:

I thought is team selection was spot on, the exact team i would of picked. For some reason twitter fanboys were slating his team selection, i bet they feel like plonkers now. Interesting to see who Frank plays centre forward VS Leeds.

Not just Twitter fans, our Shed End match thread is also quite amusing. So many people had problems with team selection!

So basically more evidence that you can relax and enjoy the ride 🙂

We have an intelligent and articulate manager who is doing what he's doing with a large amount of information that we do not have. So when he starts Mount or Tammy or doesn't play CHO, these are not blind whimsical decisions being made. So constant whining about team selection and 0-0s during our evolution don't help in any decent debate and just sour what can be a generally upbeat mood. So much else to dicuss. So when fans get back to the stadium, I hope we give him the benefit of this optimistic caution through the entire season whatever may transpire during this period! 😃

To be honest, without being negative, the back three that played against Sevilla (I don't include Azpi) did not inspire any confidence a priori. They have been sh*t before, so it was a normal reaction to be nervous with that defensive lineup. And to tell you the truth, when they were pressing high during the first half and beginning of the second, the defence looked a bit lost and gave away the ball a fair bit. And even after yesterday's game, I still think that Emerson is a very suspect player and I would not wish to see him play very often (maybe against Krasnodar and Morecombe). Having said that, they had a pretty good game for the expectations, but let's be honest, you would not trust that backline against City or Liverpool, would you?

Now, this is Frank Lampard's thread, and I am one of the happy clappers that enjoys what he is building at Chelsea.

9 hours ago, Argo said:

Think we will have to be ruthless with this one and bench Oli, Leeds will be playing high and leaving space to exploit in behind, this games begging for Werner up top flanked by Pulisic.

On the flip side as they will be pressing high it will make sense to have a target man up top to go long to which will enable runners off him to find space.

Best Mangerial performance by Lampard without doubt spanking one of the best teams in Europe away. Well done Frank keep it up.

15 hours ago, MayosNoun! said:

I let action do the talking. 
 

The manager finally starts Giroud, we finally score against a good team. 
 

Thanks for playing anyway. 
 

 

 

So this is what your fulmination against Lampard was all about, you just wanted to see Giroud play. You don't care at all about our very good results and improvement over last season ..... it's about Giroud. It's okay, you're allowed your man-crush, just don't daydream Lampard's accomplishments away. 

Edited December 3, 20205 yr by Valerie

Good win.. but in this moment we must remember to be humble we are no where near the finished article yet and probably the draw with Sevilla was us finding our feet.. this is a team that has lost 1/3 of all matches they have played.. having said that they always raise their game for UCL so its an important milestone.. this win will give the team great confidence for the Leeds and Arsenal game.

It will be an interesting watch because for all the talk of the genius of Beisla Frank bested him twice with his Derby team to knock him out of the playoffs. But i think the last time i felt such enthusiasm was the second season of JM-II.  

So its important for us not to get carried away with such wins and also not overreact to 0-0s like some here did.. Its a long season, balance is important.

Our set-pieces where Zouma shields Giroud and then going for the far post is underrated.

Those 2000 fans did a great job.

5 minutes ago, Gol15 said:

 

It's a joke that United are that far up the table. They have no right being anywhere near those 4 teams. They are the only club out of those teams that didn't get to their position on merit. The no penalty call when we played them was a 6 pointer. We get a penalty, score and win that, and we are well ahead of them. Take away the other ridiculous VAR decisions that have gone their way and we would be well over 10 points ahead of them by now.

Leeds gave us a good game today, they are a good attacking threat. Credit to them for that, that first chance was just an exceptional ball, Mendy hesitated but I can't blame him that much, I think Zouma has to take reponsibility for his slow reactions. If Mendy had kept his run going and didn't get the ball, then it's likely a red card, and he 100% has to make a tackle with his feet because it's going to be a 50/50 out of the box. 

Either way, we are a good side at the moment, very impressed with Lampards setup. A big blow with Ziyech though, why can't we keep our team fit? 

13 minutes ago, Slojo said:

Either way, we are a good side at the moment, very impressed with Lampards setup. A big blow with Ziyech though, why can't we keep our team fit? 

Obviously there is a massive increase in muscle injuries this season and of course the schedule is the main reason for that. But comparing to other teams, we were lucky with injuries so far. For example, all the players were available for this game, which doesn't happen very often even in normal circumstances. So I don't think that is causing a problem for us at the moment, the squad depth is fantastic and that could be a big advantage over the course of the season.

Hopefully Ziyech's injury is not serious...

5 minutes ago, wizardous said:

Obviously there is a massive increase in muscle injuries this season and of course the schedule is the main reason for that. But comparing to other teams, we were lucky with injuries so far. For example, all the players were available for this game, which doesn't happen very often even in normal circumstances. So I don't think that is causing a problem for us at the moment, the squad depth is fantastic and that could be a big advantage over the course of the season.

Hopefully Ziyech's injury is not serious...

It's not so much just this season, if it was happening this season alone I wouldn't have an issue with it. But this was happening all last season aswell. Before this game it was the first time in a very long time we've had a fully fit team, and just like that one of our best players gets injured. 

Huge credit to Lampard for the victory, changed tactics slightly at half time by dropping the team deeper without the ball and pressing their midfield rather then pressing Leeds high.

Kante was also given the license to run with the ball from deep and boy did he carry the ball forward and take the attack to Leeds.

Well done Frank.  The team continues to improve and this is an exciting period and journey.  Still a long way to go to reach consistent heights, but we have a plan and are moving in the right direction.

Huge credit to Frank for driving this change, along with others.  What is also impressive is how quickly Frank is learning also.  He's giving opposing teams plenty to think about every week!

Edited December 6, 20205 yr by PhilH930

6 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

It's a joke that United are that far up the table. They have no right being anywhere near those 4 teams. They are the only club out of those teams that didn't get to their position on merit. The no penalty call when we played them was a 6 pointer. We get a penalty, score and win that, and we are well ahead of them. Take away the other ridiculous VAR decisions that have gone their way and we would be well over 10 points ahead of them by now.

I saw their first half and not they were atrocious.. West Ham should have been at least 2-3 up.. it’s been the story of their season .. they have lost 3 times yet they could be level with us..

Good to be the set piece kings again. Mount and Ziyech/James are lethal on corners and free kicks respectively.

Some takeaways from the Leeds game, many reiterating what we already know. Putting this here as Frank is directly responsible for a lot of this.

1) We play some scintillating attacking football, both while slowly building and while counter attacking.

2) We counter with devastating pace, going to be quite something to watch in the future.

3) Pulisic has that magic which few others have. I saw this one piece of incredible dribbling by someone who looked like Werner (on my phone) and wondered how Werner suddenly became SO good in tight spaces. But of course, it had to be Pulisic who does things no one else can.

4) We have hit the jackpot with full backs.

5) Mendy made his first mistake but it's just a matter of better communication. Which they will eventually better.

6) Werner is just not a clinical goal scorer (unfortunately) and we should get used to him missing many chances. And I think that's one of the reasons Frank has always opted to play another more clinical striker alongside. So I have no doubt that he will get 20+ goals this season but with a low finishing percentage. But Werner's strengths are his great movement, pace and fitness. I think we often underestimate the importance of fitness - he doesn't seem to get injured, gives 100 % all the time and is willing to run at 100kmh even at the end of gruelling games.

7) And that brings me to Mount. What a footballer, never gets injured, gives his all every game, has fantastic technique and goal scoring (positional) instinct, has a wicked set piece on him and has top class vision and dribbling ability. Full credit to Frank to believing in him and allowing him to reach these levels with us.

😎 Kante is world class once again (as we've been seeing in theblast few games). A big part of that is that he's not atrempting the final passes and sticking to a more clearly defined defensive role. And it doesn't matter who plays with him and Mount, we will dominate any midfield in the world. But Kova seems a better fit than Kai at the moment. Although Kai has many levels to go up I believe.

9) We are still defensively a little suspect and will give away chances like we did yesterday (also a consequence of the numbers we throw forward). But as long as we are reasonably solid and attack the way we do, I don't really mind!

10) Frank Lamapard is a fantastic coach and manager. We are seeing a team that is more than the sum of individuals. He's always thinking, always adapting, and rarely allows teams even a sniff in 2nd halfs. I dont believe we have ever had such an articulate manager in the recent decades. 

What's really exciting is how young we are. If you think about it most of our XI is merely getting started in their career and yet we are still looking like we can compete for the title this season already. Seven of our usual starters are 23 or under, and the likes of Kovacic and Zouma aren't excactly old either at 26. 

It's just a year and a half ago that the squad looked very old and stale. To turn it around as quick as the club and Lampard have managed to is nothing short of incredibly impressive.