I dont see Giroud or Abraham playing anywhere near well enough for Frank to even consider pushing Timo out wide. Agreed Timo is short on Confidence but for me you have to play to your strengths, not move players to Accommodate others.

I would like to see Mount paired with Kante in a 4-2-1-3 with Havertz playing just behind Timo and the two wide players permed from Ziyech, Pulisic and Callum

But thats probably why i work at a School and coach the Girls team

1 minute ago, Slojo said:

I noticed it already, I just saw the last few pages of the match thread, accounts that I've never seen before "Frank has to go now!" 

It's unreal, I've literally never seen these people before. 

Like the wind...

I certainly think the time has come now sadly. It was beautiful and exciting but we have to accept that it’s not working out anymore and make a change now.

I think we should go for 343.

2 minutes ago, Slojo said:

I noticed it already, I just saw the last few pages of the match thread, accounts that I've never seen before "Frank has to go now!" 

It's unreal, I've literally never seen these people before. 

Change direction like the wind...

12 minutes ago, The Brit said:

Here we go. People went quiet during the long unbeaten run but back they come after a couple of defeats...🙄

He gets plenty of plaudits when things are going well but the last few games have been sh*t and some criticism is warranted.

Havertz hasn’t been at it at all since he came back from COVID but keeps getting 60/70 minutes every match despite Kovacic being in decent form. 

We were labouring about not really doing much but luckily so we Wolves. He needed to make a change earlier than he did, even if it was just to our shape. 

The players look knackered though, we don’t get much rotation (partly down to injuries) even with all these games coming thick and fast. 

He’s young, he’s not got years of experience behind him but if he doesn’t start to learn and adapt I don’t think he’ll be here too long. I want him to succeed though because he Super Frankie f**king Lampard (thank god he’s not Arteta)!

3 minutes ago, dansubrosa said:

I certainly think the time has come now sadly. It was beautiful and exciting but we have to accept that it’s not working out anymore and make a change now.

I think we should go for 343.

No thanks

3 minutes ago, dansubrosa said:

I certainly think the time has come now sadly. It was beautiful and exciting but we have to accept that it’s not working out anymore and make a change now.

I think we should go for 343.

Can't believe people are calling up time on Frank after two bad results.

There was always going to be huge pressure on him this season, but it' still early days. That said, tricky game against West Ham next and if we lose that we will go into the game against Arsenal Boxing Day with the media no doubt labeling it the loser gets the sack match!

2 minutes ago, Munkworth said:

He gets plenty of plaudits when things are going well but the last few games have been sh*t and some criticism is warranted.

Havertz hasn’t been at it at all since he came back from COVID but keeps getting 60/70 minutes every match despite Kovacic being in decent form. 

We were labouring about not really doing much but luckily so we Wolves. He needed to make a change earlier than he did, even if it was just to our shape. 

The players look knackered though, we don’t get much rotation (partly down to injuries) even with all these games coming thick and fast. 

He’s young, he’s not got years of experience behind him but if he doesn’t start to learn and adapt I don’t think he’ll be here too long. I want him to succeed though because he Super Frankie f**king Lampard (thank god he’s not Arteta)!

Want to clarify. No problem with constructive criticism. It’s the ‘Lampard out’ brigade who pipe up whenever chelsea lose I get frustrated with.

10 minutes ago, forbzy said:

I agree about Havertz after the last 2 games. But I didn't see many complaints about him starting tonight when the lineup was announced. If Kova or Jorginho had started instead people would have just found fault in that instead.

Our biggest wins this season: 4:0 vs Palace, Krasnodar, Sevilla. In 2/3 Werner played as the striker and Havertz as the attacking midfielder.

But Lampard just decided that Werner is going to be a winger and he loves Kante so Kante effectively benched both Jorginho and Kovacic, even though he is far more efficient when he is playing as a box-to-box midfielder and not as DM. When he is free from his position he can make a run forward and then Lampard is using him properly but that happens maybe once per game now.

We can't organize a normal attack anymore, we can only score when a full back crosses the ball, fact is Lampard hasn't been using our key players in their best positions and as time passes by we look more and more average in attack.

Mount will start every game, even if he can't get to have almost any influence in the final third part from assisting from the corner kick, part from 1 great assist to CHO in the CL that is.
Kante will play every game even if he can't help our attack at all these days when Lampard is using him as the DM.

But Kovacic that is a great link between defense and attack can't get to start a game even if he hasn't done anything wrong. Jorginho is almost forgotten even though he has actually had very similar numbers as Kante when he played and he was also involved in our biggest wins this season as well. Pulisic has been struggling with being fit and yet Lampard will even play him at RW even though he is statistically better as the LW.

This means that Lampard chose to use several players outside of their best positions just because he wants the 4-3-3, Kante/Havertz/Werner/Pulisic are statistically better in a different role and with different tasks than what Lampard wants them to do, no wonder the only real chances come from Chilwell and James in recent games at least they are just doing their regular roles.

This is what happens when you forget what used to bring you results, the new toys in Werner and Havertz look shiny but they can't get the job done, specially since Lampard simply insists to play them even outside of their best position. Lampard could have played also with 3 at the back this game, in time we shall see if he can make his own 4-3-3 work like Sarri did, or if he can't make it work at all, it's up to him to fix the tactics.

Everton were missing James which is one of their best players and we just lost to Wolves that didn't even have their best attacker Raul Jimenez. Everyone is coping with something, we just need to make the best out of what we have and we still have a whole lot more than these teams but we aren't using our players in the best way and that's a fact.

Now for my opinion, I don’t think he could have done much for the Everton game - I fully accepted that loss because they were fantastic, probably their best performance of the season. No shame in that.

For tonight, he made some terrible decisions such as swapping Pulisic and Werner. Every man and his dog can see that Pulisic is so much more effective on the left so I have no idea what he was thinking. I really think Chilwell and James should have stayed back after Wolves equaliser, to protect a point as I was worried they’d nick it on the break and they did. Disappointed Lampard didn’t think of that.

Hopefully he’ll learn from tonight and make some changes but it clearly doesn’t help that Pulisic isn’t match fit yet and the rest of wingers are out. The rest of team were rubbish though, with the exception of Silva who have been fantastic every game for us (Apart from West Brom!) I really hope James and Chilwell’s form is just temporary because if they carry on this form we’re in trouble.

8 minutes ago, The Brit said:

Want to clarify. No problem with constructive criticism. It’s the ‘Lampard out’ brigade who pipe up whenever chelsea lose I get frustrated with.

Oh sorry...

LAMPARD OUT!!!!

...for extra training sessions with the first team because they’re playing like sh*te!

Is that better?

11 minutes ago, Nibs said:

Can't believe people are calling up time on Frank after two bad results.

There was always going to be huge pressure on him this season, but it' still early days. That said, tricky game against West Ham next and if we lose that we will go into the game against Arsenal Boxing Day with the media no doubt labeling it the loser gets the sack match!

I reckon Arteta will be sacked before then.

Given they looked so knackered in last 20 minutes, I don’t think extra training is what’s required Munkworth.

Edited December 15, 20205 yr by The Brit

8 minutes ago, Gol15 said:

he loves Kante so Kante effectively benched both Jorginho and Kovacic, even though he is far more efficient when he is playing as a box-to-box midfielder and not as DM. 

Kante has been fantastic since Frank moved him in to the DM position, one of our best players. I’ve said he’s a box to box player but I’ll admit to be wrong there, of all the criticisms you could throw at Frank this is not one of them!

Just want to see a reaction now. 

Werner needs to sit out for a game and come back as striker. Havertz needs a rest. 

Mount can play wide for a game, Billy can get a run out with Kovacic. 

Backline is fine. Need to just shuffle the middle a bit.

1 minute ago, The Brit said:

Given they looked so knackered in last 20 minutes, I don’t think extra training is what’s required Munkworth.

8 minutes ago, Munkworth said:

Kante has been fantastic since Frank moved him in to the DM position, one of our best players. I’ve said he’s a box to box player but I’ll admit to be wrong there, of all the criticisms you could throw at Frank this is not one of them!

Spot on. For anyone to suggest Jorginho is the answer is laughable. Guy passes the ball slowly and sideways and is very slow - exactly what you don’t want when playing Wolves. Kante helped minimise the damage. Mount, Havertz/Kovacic lost the midfield battle in the second half.

I think that unbeaten has carried some false hope if im honest. 

We havent beaten a decent side all season, certainly not a top 10 side. The result in sevilla was great although it was largely 2 b teams with little to play for. 

We have scored a decent amount of goals, but alot have come from set pieces and penalties. From open play, I still dont think we have found much fluidity.

Werner and Havertz currently make morata look prime drogba in terms of fight and aggression, both have offered very little, and take zero responsibility to earn a result at the moment. 

On the plus side, we have improved defensively, Werner and Havertz can and will only improve, we are still yet to put out a full strength attack for a consistent run of games.  

Title talk was massively reaching, we are a new side, with an inexperienced manager, and group of players that need to gel. I think we will do well to replicate last season in all honesty, especially with the added threat of spurs to the top 4 places. 

31 minutes ago, Munkworth said:

Kante has been fantastic since Frank moved him in to the DM position, one of our best players. I’ve said he’s a box to box player but I’ll admit to be wrong there, of all the criticisms you could throw at Frank this is not one of them!

It's unreal isn't it, I don't know what goes on in that lads head. Kante has been the best he's been in years and Gol15 wants to move him because "hEs BeTtUr BoX tO bOx", it doesn't f**king matter... What matters is the system, our system doesn't need a box to box player since most of the time we play in the oppositions half and build up slowly. 

28 minutes ago, The Brit said:

Spot on. For anyone to suggest Jorginho is the answer is laughable. Guy passes the ball slowly and sideways and is very slow - exactly what you don’t want when playing Wolves. Kante helped minimise the damage. Mount, Havertz/Kovacic lost the midfield battle in the second half.

we actually got worse when Kovacic came on

9 minutes ago, Slojo said:

It's unreal isn't it, I don't know what goes on in that lads head. Kante has been the best he's been in years and Gol15 wants to move him because "hEs BeTtUr BoX tO bOx", it doesn't f**king matter... What matters is the system, our system doesn't need a box to box player since most of the time we play in the oppositions half and build up slowly. 

You sound like Sarri. We'll see if it works by the end of the season. Mount is doing a semi-Kante role instead of Kante now anyway...

Edited December 15, 20205 yr by Gol15

I notice both Everton and Wolves defended deeply and counter attacked effectively.

A commentator on Astrosports was saying we were wasting our attacking moves with crosses aimed at Giroud when he had three men around him, it was pointless. He said if the crosses were on the bye-line we would score more. He also added if they were pin-point crosses they might work yet our crosses were not pin-point.

Although Werner did not play well it might be worth moving him to the middle against WHU. If he is in the middle then we need to ask who is going to find him with the ball, Jorgy has done it once or twice yet who else?

We look tired recently and it might be the CL match followed away to Everton after a short break and then away again at Wolves.

Moyes has got rid of the flair players to play big athletes and he will be up for counter-attack with Antonio and Yarmalenko eager to run against us.

Frank needs to earn his crust now and either change the system or change players in key positions, he has a little time to prep for this unlike the last two, make it count Frank.

 

 

 

Edited December 15, 20205 yr by strider6004

7 minutes ago, Strider6003 said:

I notice both Everton and Wolves defended deeply and counter attacked effectively.

A commentator on Astrosports was saying we were wasting our attacking moves with crosses aimed at Giroud when he had three men around him, it was pointless. He said if the crosses were on the bye-line we would score more. He also added if they were pin-point crosses they might work yet our crosses were not pin-point.

Although Werner did not play well it might be worth moving him to the middle against WHU. If he is in the middle then we need to ask who is going to find him with the ball, Jorgy has done it once or twice yet who else?

We look tired recently and it might be the CL match followed away to Everton after a short break and then away again at Wolves.

Moyes has got rid of the flair players to play big athletes and he will be up for counter-attack with Antonio and Yarmalenko eager to run against us.

Frank needs to earn his crust now and either change the system or change players in key positions.

 

 

 

Biggest problem i see in terms of attack recently, we cross from too deep far too often, instead of being patient and working the ball to the byline. 

1st half Pulisic got in behind 3 or 4 times, and we almost scored each occasion. 

2nd half James and Chilwell were crossing from the 18 yard line or deeper with 3 centre backs watching the ball come in and dealing with it comfortably, which is pretty much what we did against everton. 

The goal today came us actually getting to the byline, as it did against leeds for girouds opener. I dont know whether it is because Giroud is playing, so they are instructed to look for the early cross, but we really need to be more patient in the build up, and get behind teams more often, because that is when opportunities arise, not from trying eye of needle beckham crosses. 

 

22 minutes ago, charierre said:

we actually got worse when Kovacic came on

Yeah I said that to Loz in the match thread. But he’s the reigning player of the season 🤯so gets a pass 🙄