Super Frank Lampard

[Argo]

5 hours ago, Slojo said:

I would have taken beating Brighton, Everton, Southampton and West Ham and losing to Tottenham and Arsenal away than the other way around. 

In a purely results driven season I'd agree but I actually feel better doing it the other way round at this point.

We demonstrated for the first few months that we are capable of going on runs against lesser teams but still had question marks about us in big games, especially away as we hadn't won a big six away game since Alonso's double at Wembley. Even though we played well against Liverpool and City we still needed a win against a big six rival, the longer it gone on the more the young lads would start wondering if they're capable of beating our rivals. I think those wins in North London have helped removed the monkey off our back a bit and will hopefully do wonders for the development and mentality of the young guys.

[Gol15]

On 02/01/2020 at 15:00, Ernie_blue said:

World class gets branded around too easy, Jorginho and Kovacic are not world class. KDB is world class, Messi is world class, Van Dijk is world class, world class is the elite players.

Jorginho was the top passer in his first PL season, he is the only player from our team besides Kante that was listed in the top 100 players for the 2019 year, he was in that list last year as well. Pep wanted him, we only managed to sign him because of Sarri. In his best role as the deep playmaker he is a world class player.

Lampard didn't make him a better player, he was already this same player last season, the only thing that happened is that time passed so he is more involved in defensive task, he adapted more to the league, I don't think Lampard had much to do about that.

People can say whatever they want about Sarri but he proved that his system works, we got 3rd place in the league without a proper striker and won Europa league with him insisting on his tactic and that can't be taken away from him, he actually did in fact deserve to continue being our manager with the results he made.

[Slojo]

1 minute ago, Argo said:

In a purely results driven season I'd agree but I actually feel better doing it the other way round at this point.

We demonstrated for the first few months that we are capable of going on runs against lesser teams but still had question marks about us in big games, especially away as we hadn't won a big six away game since Alonso's double at Wembley. Even though we played well against Liverpool and City we still needed a win against a big six rival, the longer it gone on the more the young lads would start wondering if they're capable of beating our rivals. I think those wins in North London have helped removed the monkey off our back a bit and will hopefully do wonders for the development and mentality of the young guys.

You have a good point, it's a big monkey off our back and I guess if we did lose them games, a lot of us would still be concerned about our big game record. But still, the league is more of a marathon than it is a sprint, points are more important. 

But look at the way we are playing when we come up against the other teams, it goes from hero to zero, absolutely no urgency against Brighton who are one of the worst teams in the league against the top 6, they're awful. I'm just praying we sort ourselves out. 

[Ernie_blue]

1 hour ago, Gol15 said:

Jorginho was the top passer in his first PL season, he is the only player from our team besides Kante that was listed in the top 100 players for the 2019 year, he was in that list last year as well. Pep wanted him, we only managed to sign him because of Sarri. In his best role as the deep playmaker he is a world class player.

Lampard didn't make him a better player, he was already this same player last season, the only thing that happened is that time passed so he is more involved in defensive task, he adapted more to the league, I don't think Lampard had much to do about that.

People can say whatever they want about Sarri but he proved that his system works, we got 3rd place in the league without a proper striker and won Europa league with him insisting on his tactic and that can't be taken away from him, he actually did in fact deserve to continue being our manager with the results he made.

Jorginho is not world class, end off. Theres only a select few of players that are world class and we only have 1 player in our squad.

[Gol15]

4 minutes ago, Ernie_blue said:

Jorginho is not world class, end off. Theres only a select few of players that are world class and we only have 1 player in our squad.

Kante. Fair enough I take it.

[Brutos]

Jorginho is not world class, end off. Theres only a select few of players that are world class and we only have 1 player in our squad.

One season under Pep and he will be called world class

[Gol15]

40 minutes ago, Brutos said:

One season under Pep and he will be called world class

Last season if he had been there with Pep, as the top passer everyone would call him the new Xavi of Pep most likely.

But I get it, you might want to call only the top 20 players as world class, Kante is among those.

[Gol15]

In case someone missed it, Frankie before the game:

"When you analyse the three games we lost, they give you a bad feeling. You see we have created 50 chances but no goals. Southampton we didn’t play that well. But we need to take our chances. It’s easy to say unlucky and things like that. But we have to get things right and we work on that in training. We need to find that killer instinct."

 

[ducavis]

On 03/01/2020 at 17:34, Brutos said:

One season under Pep and he will be called world class

Looking at it now, I can’t see how he would have worked out under Pep. Imagine a midfield of Jorginho, De Bruyne & Silva? Sure they would have been silky in possession, without the ball it would have been a nightmare. Rodri is struggling to replace Fernandinho in the middle of the park as things stand.

[Deino]

On 11/01/2020 at 02:31, ducavis said:

Looking at it now, I can’t see how he would have worked out under Pep. Imagine a midfield of Jorginho, De Bruyne & Silva? Sure they would have been silky in possession, without the ball it would have been a nightmare. Rodri is struggling to replace Fernandinho in the middle of the park as things stand.

That's quite the strawman though, Pep would probably tweak his strategy around him. Jorginho might even be converted into a false something

[ducavis]

2 hours ago, Deino said:

That's quite the strawman though, Pep would probably tweak his strategy around him. Jorginho might even be converted into a false something

Fair point.. Jorginho’s skill set though is more of a specialist, you can’t stick him at the heart of defence, not mobile enough for a fullback or a winger.

Edited January 13, 2020 by ducavis

[Guest Sindre]

Lampard is a smart man. But right now he's managing us like he's some thick idiot.

Not learning from his mistakes and it's getting really, really frustrating.

[Slojo]

31 minutes ago, Sindre said:

Lampard is a smart man. But right now he's managing us like he's some thick idiot.

Not learning from his mistakes and it's getting really, really frustrating.

Needs to stop playing players on reputation. A big error in his management I've seen so far, besides that. I've still been really impressed with him, I think he's done a great job. 

[Scott Harris]

3 minutes ago, Slojo said:

Needs to stop playing players on reputation. A big error in his management I've seen so far, besides that. I've still been really impressed with him, I think he's done a great job. 

Same. He's getting it wrong with the midfielders, I thought Jorginho and Kovacic's partnership was the most settled of the lot, even if it meant we were a bit more open defensively. But since he's changed things, nothing has really changed in our defensive game, it's as poor as ever, but now our attacking game is suffering too. Overall though, I am happy with how Lampard is doing things. I like that he is using the squad too. It's good to see that everybody is getting games and a chance to prove themselves. It helps to work out who is and who isn't good enough, it also helps to work out areas where we need improving.

[Gol15]

Totally dominated the game, unlucky that the attackers can't finish that's all. At some point you need to see that the players in our attack are mostly on a learning season.

[jack_super_class]

Should of started Emerson today in a game where we dominate possession, playing Azpi is pointless. Needs to drop Mount who has been average for several games.

[Slojo]

1 minute ago, Gol15 said:

Totally dominated the game, unlucky that the attackers can't finish that's all. At some point you need to see that the players in our attack are mostly on a learning season.

Yeah we dominated a game against the team with the least possession % in the league, we barely created any chances. 

[Scott Harris]

1 minute ago, jack_super_class said:

Should of started Emerson today in a game where we dominate possession, playing Azpi is pointless. Needs to drop Mount who has been average for several games.

The thing with Emerson is that he likely wouldn't have made a difference. He has had plenty of chances to prove that he can this season and he's not done it once. Azpilicueta isn't a good attacking full back, but I have seen nothing from Emerson that suggests he is either, and at least Azpilicueta does have games where he makes a difference. I never see Emerson swinging in crosses like James does, he never attacks the defenders either, the most he will do is support the winger, but every full back can do that. These were supposed to be Emerson's strengths when we signed him, but he's never shown it. There is a reason why Lampard keeps playing Azpilicueta, and it's because he knows he is more likely to get something out of him than he would with Emerson.

[jack_super_class]

9 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

The thing with Emerson is that he likely wouldn't have made a difference. He has had plenty of chances to prove that he can this season and he's not done it once. Azpilicueta isn't a good attacking full back, but I have seen nothing from Emerson that suggests he is either, and at least Azpilicueta does have games where he makes a difference. I never see Emerson swinging in crosses like James does, he never attacks the defenders either, the most he will do is support the winger, but every full back can do that. These were supposed to be Emerson's strengths when we signed him, but he's never shown it. There is a reason why Lampard keeps playing Azpilicueta, and it's because he knows he is more likely to get something out of him than he would with Emerson.

I disagree Emerson at the start of the season i thought was really good then he got injured and hasn't been the same since. Just the fact he can use hes left foot is enough for him to start over Azpi. Plus Emerson nearly scored.

Edited January 18, 2020 by jack_super_class

[Gol15]

15 minutes ago, jack_super_class said:

Should of started Emerson today in a game where we dominate possession, playing Azpi is pointless. Needs to drop Mount who has been average for several games.

What if I told you that Azpilicueta and James are among our highest rated players this game?

[jack_super_class]

1 minute ago, Gol15 said:

What if I told you that Azpilicueta and James are among our highest rated players this game?

James yeah, Azpi not for me. Apart from James everyone was poor.

[Gol15]

Just now, jack_super_class said:

James yeah, Azpi not for me. Apart from James everyone was poor.

Our top rated players from this game:

James 7.6

Azpilicueta 7.2

Kante/Christensen 7.0

Our attack was poor, our subs even more poorererer

[jack_super_class]

1 minute ago, Gol15 said:

Our top rated players from this game:

James 7.6

Azpilicueta 7.2

Kante/Christensen 7.0

Our attack was poor, our subs even more poorererer

I dont know what Azpi did to get a 7.2 rating. Barkley played better when he came on than Mount though.

[Scott Harris]

Just now, jack_super_class said:

I disagree Emerson at the start of the season i thought was really good then he got injured and hasn't been the same since. Just the fact he can use hes left foot is enough for him to start over Azpi.

I thought the opposite. I thought everybody was massively overrating his performances. It only looked like he was doing well because there wasn't much happening on the left side of the defence. Every team was attacking us on the right. Also, going forward, it was Mount that was doing all of the attacking on the left, Emerson didn't do much of anything. I couldn't pick out one game where I can remember him doing anything that stands out. I would love people to actually show me moments where Emerson did good things, because I couldn't tell you one thing he did that was so great.

[2211]

9 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

I thought the opposite. I thought everybody was massively overrating his performances. It only looked like he was doing well because there wasn't much happening on the left side of the defence. Every team was attacking us on the right. Also, going forward, it was Mount that was doing all of the attacking on the left, Emerson didn't do much of anything. I couldn't pick out one game where I can remember him doing anything that stands out. I would love people to actually show me moments where Emerson did good things, because I couldn't tell you one thing he did that was so great.

Bang on Scott!

Like you I literally can't think of one match where I thought to myself 'Emerson was really good today'.