With Kante, Loftus Cheek, Hudson Odoi and hopefully James making an impact, there's quite a bit to look forward to. 

Azpilicueta was looking quicker than I've seen in a long time. 

Willian looked like he actually cared a bit.

Alonso did alright as he normally does as a wingback.

The backline was pretty good and if it weren't for the manager having a bad day in goal it would've been a clean sheet. 

 

2 points off City and same points with Spurs who is 3rd. Not too depressing. Would love to get something out of Pool game.

Above all it's just really fun to watch us this season. Lampard should get a ton of credit for giving the academy boys their deserved chances for us and not just be sent on loan every season and boy have Mount, Abraham and Tomori taken the chance. All three have been some of our best performers this season and soon we'll also have Hudson Odoi, James and Loftus Cheek in the fold as well. And that is really exciting.

He's rectifying errors which is always a promising sign. As a young manager he was/is always going to make them but it's how he reacts that counts.

Sheffield United game was horrendous game management and today he learned his lesson, despite Wolves scoring twice I thought we managed the situation really well.

On 11/09/2019 at 23:17, Davey Baby said:

 

We deserved to be stuffed by Utd because we were vulnerable every time they got the ball. We were always going to concede goals. We played right into their hands. Against Leicester and Sheffield Utd, both at home, we were very lucky to get a point, as they both totally outplayed us in the second-half. Frank may be putting a spin on it but the performances aren't mostly there at all. We can't defend a set-piece to save our lives, we are all over the place defensively and we concede way too much space. We are in for a long tough season in my opinion because the PL is full of very good managers, who have earned their jobs on merit, unlike ours. I have always been in favour of Frank being boss but let's not kid ourselves about the task in hand. I think people are going to be very surprised about where we finish up. This season represents an almighty steep learning curve for Frank, and he doesn't have the luxury of having a dressing room full of leaders and characters. Lose the next two games and pressure builds and he will be scrutinised like never before.

 

Edit: I hope he surprises me but I don't expect this season to be great.

I think we will finish fourth, I was wondering about 3 cbs after our last match. It will be interesting to see if SFL sticks with it.

I think it suits us and having Mount and Abraham that are mobile up front helps too.

 

I tell you what, with how we are playing we could easily cause an upset next week. Stick with the 3-4-3 Frank, it suits us so much more.

Credit to him for switching it up yesterday. With Emerson out and Dave struggling he switched to a system that protected the defence and got the best from Alonso.

Rudiger coming back in helped too. Kovacic keeps getting better with more freedom and Willian had his best game for a long time. That's without mentioning Tammy, Mount or Tomori.

In truth 5-2 flattered them and we should have scored at least two more. I said two weeks ago that there will be days where we will be frustrating and naive but also days where we are superb to watch. Today was one of the latter. We haven't played like that since Conte's first season. Lets hope that gives us a boost going  into a tough week with two big games.

Double post

Edited September 15, 20196 yr by Spiller86

Yeah credit to Lampard for adapting and trying something different. I didn't expect him to go three at the back, so that was a surprise that worked effectively. 

Lampard will become a top, top manager.

The way he assesed the situation yesterday and adapted accordingly was very encouraging to see.

Likewise with the way he's managed the youngsters in Abraham, Mount and Tomori and i am fully confident he'll get the best out of the likes of Hudson Odoi, RLC and James as well.

I hope he sticks with 343 it suits us much more. Only problem is where does Loftus Cheek fit in that formation?.

Just now, jack_super_class said:

I hope he sticks with 343 it suits us much more. Only problem is where does Loftus Cheek fit in that formation?.

Don't think he will for now at least.

I had to be done against Wolves to protect our backs from their wingbacks but i bet we will see 4-2-3-1 again against Valencia.

 

1 minute ago, Sindre said:

Don't think he will for now at least.

I had to be done against Wolves to protect our backs from their wingbacks but i bet we will see 4-2-3-1 again against Valencia.

 

Id be surprised if he changed it with a win and performance like that.

17 minutes ago, jack_super_class said:

Id be surprised if he changed it with a win and performance like that.

It's allright for the odd one off game to throw an opposition manager off guard but I very much hope he does not have it as a default formation for any real period of time. It won't be a suitable formation Tuesday or against Liverpool.

Valencia are in a mess and it's a type of game we must take the initiative on while Liverpool tend to devour any team that plays that formation as they take maximum advantage of the space between wing backs and outside CBs, although that said us (under Conte) were the exception to that rule.

Best way to play Liverpool is to give Kante and Rudiger pain killing injections (then rest them up until the next international break if need be) and play them the exact same way we did in the super cup and at The Bridge last season. 

Our season won't depend on one match against Liverpool this early in the season.

I wouldn't complain if we go with three CBs as I think we look more comfortable than we did under Conte.

It's Franks decision though.

 

4 minutes ago, Strider6003 said:

Our season won't depend on one match against Liverpool this early in the season.

I wouldn't complain if we go with three CBs as I think we look more comfortable than we did under Conte.

It's Franks decision though.

We clearly won't be finishing above Liverpool this early in the process but the head to heads especially at The Bridge are a chance to put a marker down for the long run to show them we will be competing with them once the squad has developed and filled out that bit more.

A victory on Sunday would send that type of message out.

1 minute ago, Argo said:

We clearly won't be finishing above Liverpool this early in the process but the head to heads especially at The Bridge are a chance to put a marker down for the long run to show them we will be competing with them once the squad has developed and filled out that bit more.

A victory on Sunday would send that type of message out.

I don't think we will win playing 4-4-2 at Anfield don't think our m/f balance is right and our defence looks shaky. Despite conceding two yesterday I thought we looked better defensively and our midfield looked good too.

8 minutes ago, Strider6003 said:

I don't think we will win playing 4-4-2 at Anfield don't think our m/f balance is right and our defence looks shaky. Despite conceding two yesterday I thought we looked better defensively and our midfield looked good too.

The games at Stamford Bridge.

24 minutes ago, Argo said:

The games at Stamford Bridge.

Good to know except Liverpool will play the same albeit without the Anfield choir.

I like that 3 at the back, Kante back to add a bit more in midfield, i think we could do them.

So this weeks Frank's a good manager and tactically aware 

Bravo !!!

Question for you - How much do you think our leaky defence is down to defensive organisation rather than individual mistakes/personnel? 

My view would be that it is down to the defence being disorganised. Undoubtedly having Kante and Rudiger would help massively but we should still be able to keep a clean sheet. 

1 hour ago, JM7 said:

Question for you - How much do you think our leaky defence is down to defensive organisation rather than individual mistakes/personnel? 

My view would be that it is down to the defence being disorganised. Undoubtedly having Kante and Rudiger would help massively but we should still be able to keep a clean sheet. 

Bit of both for sure. 

The defensive organzation needs work. 

9 hours ago, Nevamind said:

Bit of both for sure. 

The defensive organzation needs work. 

I think part of the problem with that is that we have no senior CB's playing... for years we have had a proper leader in the CB position and while Dave is captain I do feel you need a CB to organise things that cant be AC or FT as they dont have that quality as yet Zooms is never going to be a leader IMO so that causes positional difficulties