22 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.

Why is he not signing a LB though? We are way too narrow on the left, and will get punished playing Azpi on the left. What happens now if James is out for a while?

1 minute ago, ducavis said:

Why is he not signing a LB though? We are way too narrow on the left, and will get punished playing Azpi on the left. What happens now if James is out for a while?

We have Lamptey on the right who looks actually quite useful though much shorter.

1 minute ago, Strider6003 said:

We have Lamptey on the right who looks actually quite useful though much shorter.

I actually wonder how his height will affect his career. 

4 minutes ago, ducavis said:

Why is he not signing a LB though? We are way too narrow on the left, and will get punished playing Azpi on the left. What happens now if James is out for a while?

It could be because we haven't yet been able to find somebody that is good enough or we have found somebody, but it's not realistic for us to sign that player in this window.

8 minutes ago, Strider6003 said:

We have Lamptey on the right who looks actually quite useful though much shorter.

We need a LB if he doesn’t rate Emerson & Alonso.

7 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

It could be because we haven't yet been able to find somebody that is good enough or we have found somebody, but it's not realistic for us to sign that player in this window.

I hope he isn’t fixated on Chilwell. 

Just now, ducavis said:

I hope he isn’t fixated on Chilwell. 

Same. I don't really rate Chilwell that highly, and even if I did, I don't think we could sign him in this window.

6 minutes ago, ducavis said:

We need a LB if he doesn’t rate Emerson & Alonso.

I agree though depends on who is available and at what cost.

I think getting the right players in for the defence can possibly wait until the summer but the attacking end of the pitch needs freshening up this window if we want to stay in the top 4.

Not scoring a single goal against the likes of West Ham, Bournemouth, Newcastle is seriously poor.

If we're honest as well as played against Burnley we was struggling in that match until we got that penalty.

 

1 minute ago, 2211 said:

If we're honest as well as played against Burnley we was struggling in that match until we got that penalty.

I thought we got the rub of the green against Burnley too.

The hard part for frank is knowing who to drop or replace with new players, what does he need to change things, i would play Kovacic and Jorginho, as Kante isn't adding to the teams chemistry atm.

2 hours ago, ducavis said:

We need a LB if he doesn’t rate Emerson & Alonso.

We will find out on Tuesday I suspect. If he starts Lamptey at RB so he can play Azpi out of position at LB then you know he really doesn't rate the othe LB options

Let's all calm down guys (I sit here after many pints) we are 4th and yes we know Kante shouldn't of played and we need a left back  a new keeper, an centre back but Frank's in charge, not the Burke last season, or moody teenage girl before, or misery guts toss pot before now in North sh*tty London, " we got super Frankie lampard"

The team is disjointed. Frank just needs to scrap this formation and start back from scratch and play the players in form. We're in the business end now.

Dropping barkley proved a key mistake today.

Fine if you want Kante to start. Then drop Jorginho. We dont need towo midfielders who offer little to nothing going forward against a low block.

To be honest seeing the team play like this under Frank hurts more than any previous manager. And honestly we have had periods with each of them where we have been really poor.

This turgid, predictable football we are watching now though is so awful and made worse for me by having our legend in charge and not being able to solve the puzzle.

Double post.

Edited January 19, 20206 yr by axman2526

12 hours ago, ducavis said:

Why is he not signing a LB though? We are way too narrow on the left, and will get punished playing Azpi on the left. What happens now if James is out for a while?

He wants Chilwell who is also bang average going forward.

Frank's struggle to balance the midfield is becoming a major concern. It seems he doesn't want to play Kovacic beside Jorginho anymore and I'm wondering whether that has to do with him worrying about defensive frailties. My argument to that is that Kante in the team isn't even improving our defence because he is playing upfield on the pitch. I don't have the stats with me but I think we have conceded as many goals under Kovacic-Jorginho as we are doing under Kante-Jorginho/Kante-Kovacic. The difference, however, is that even though we conceded goals under Kovacic-Jorginho, we were scoring goals from every part of the pitch. Now getting one goal from our striker is even lucky. I'd rather we score 4 goals and concede 2 than score no goals and concede a late lone goal.

29 minutes ago, Frankie8Lampard said:

Frank's struggle to balance the midfield is becoming a major concern. It seems he doesn't want to play Kovacic beside Jorginho anymore and I'm wondering whether that has to do with him worrying about defensive frailties. My argument to that is that Kante in the team isn't even improving our defence because he is playing upfield on the pitch. I don't have the stats with me but I think we have conceded as many goals under Kovacic-Jorginho as we are doing under Kante-Jorginho/Kante-Kovacic. The difference, however, is that even though we conceded goals under Kovacic-Jorginho, we were scoring goals from every part of the pitch. Now getting one goal from our striker is even lucky. I'd rather we score 4 goals and concede 2 than score no goals and concede a late lone goal.

I posted a lot of stats about our midfield in the Kante thread. We do actually concede fewer goals per game when Kante plays, than when he doesn't.

The best pairing statistically out of the three pairs you mention is Kovacic/Kante.

Interestingly playing Mount in midfield has the most positive impact on our goals against. Consistent pressing higher up the pitch probably ...

41 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

I posted a lot of stats about our midfield in the Kante thread. We do actually concede fewer goals per game when Kante plays, than when he doesn't.

The best pairing statistically out of the three pairs you mention is Kovacic/Kante.

Interestingly playing Mount in midfield has the most positive impact on our goals against. Consistent pressing higher up the pitch probably ...

That's mostly down to how bad we were defensively at the start of the season, Kante missed most of those games, when we were playing with Zouma and Tomori at the back who were still very green. Believe it or not we've actually reached a much better stability at the back since. 

Is it shoe horning Kante into the team, because he doesn't offer the Attacking prowess of Kova, or the ball playing of Gorginho, he really should be our springboard from in front of the back four.

It’s clear the squad needs freshening up. Lampard has done an incredible job this season and he has overachieved. 
 

As far as signings go, the club may have to consider slightly overpaying to secure their targets so that we can improve the squad. 
 

The problem will come if the RIGHT signing isn’t available at any price. We don’t want be buying our 3rd or 4th target. What should the club do then? 
 

We do need investment though...and quickly. 

52 minutes ago, JM7 said:

It’s clear the squad needs freshening up. Lampard has done an incredible job this season and he has overachieved. 
 

As far as signings go, the club may have to consider slightly overpaying to secure their targets so that we can improve the squad. 
 

The problem will come if the RIGHT signing isn’t available at any price. We don’t want be buying our 3rd or 4th target. What should the club do then? 
 

We do need investment though...and quickly. 

Loan players in the interim. Off my head players like Cavani, Isco, Mariano, Rodriquez are not getting games and may be convinced to go out on loan.

9 minutes ago, ducavis said:

Loan players in the interim. Off my head players like Cavani, Isco, Mariano, Rodriquez are not getting games and may be convinced to go out on loan.

Cavani could be decent but not convinced that Isco would be available for loan. Even if they were, loan players of that quality would come with a big loan fee.