22 minutes ago, Gol15 said:

The club simply can't risk with having only Tammy and Michy. Giroud just didn't play well in his last game when he was the starter and while it's unfair to judge him for one bad game, it's most likely due to his performance in training that he doesn't get any chance, Lampard has been fair when it comes to that, if the player shows during practice that he's good enough he'll get his chance.

The club has been too nice to the players, Cech wanted to stay in London no problem we sold him to Arsenal, Matic wanted to go to Mourinho no problem, Mata to ManUtd no problem...No way that we should help Spuds in any way by selling them Giroud, I just don't see why we would do it. He just needs to be a professional till the summer, Lampard has said that his attitude was on point during the whole transfer window. 

I think we are misunderstanding eachother.

I am arguing we should have signed a striker so Giroud could leave. Not that we should have sold him regardless.

 

11 minutes ago, Sindre said:

I think we are misunderstanding eachother.

I am arguing we should have signed a striker so Giroud could leave. Not that we should have sold him regardless.

 

I also think that we should have signed a striker this last window.

12 hours ago, Sindre said:

He's wanted to leave since last summer due to not being first choice. Now he's been kept against his wishes for two transfer windows. He's not motivated to be here and someone like that is no good. Look at Eriksens performances for Spurs before he was allowed to go to Inter. 

He signed a new contract at end of last season - so actually wanted to stay. Wouldn’t have signed it if he’d had an inkling he’d be used so little

Don't want to seem gloomy but without any signings I feel we might struggle a bit end of the season. The freshness and surprise factor is gone. Frank has chosen the path with the setup and I don't think he will tinker that anymore.

Ruben is the only positive thing to wait and hope to make a difference.

1 hour ago, evissy said:

Don't want to seem gloomy but without any signings I feel we might struggle a bit end of the season. The freshness and surprise factor is gone. Frank has chosen the path with the setup and I don't think he will tinker that anymore.

Ruben is the only positive thing to wait and hope to make a difference.

Also missing pulisic I reckon

Also missing pulisic I reckon

That too. Signing new players usually is a boost for a team. We didn't get one dispite Frank very publically demanded players. That could have a bad ring for his efforts to make us win again.

I don't blame the club too much for not finding suitable players. There probably wasn't anyone fitting our plans.

Our biggest rivals Tottenham and ManU found new players so I am guessing it is a matter of time when they go past us in the table.

If Frank manages to hold 4th place he has done massively well.

Just read that Eddie Newton has left our staff for a position at Trabzonspor. Did I miss anybody posting about it here?

1 hour ago, evissy said:

That too. Signing new players usually is a boost for a team. We didn't get one dispite Frank very publically demanded players. That could have a bad ring for his efforts to make us win again.

I don't blame the club too much for not finding suitable players. There probably wasn't anyone fitting our plans.

Our biggest rivals Tottenham and ManU found new players so I am guessing it is a matter of time when they go past us in the table.

If Frank manages to hold 4th place he has done massively well.

Depends if they end up improving them or not, time will tell.

sorry but ive been patient enough with frank, its time to go. Tactically inept, had no idea what hes doing playing the same way week in week out and expecting us to magically start winning.

Not sure if Mount is secretly his son because he puts up stinker after stinker and yet never gets dropped.

Board is stupid as well and needs a refresh

I still think Frank is doing a superb job given the Transfer ban when he arrived and the Club's decision not to back him and strengthen the squad where possible in the January window. We are still 4th in the Prem, have qualified for the KO stages of the Champions League and Frank has done what most of us had prayed for,  even demanded, by blooding youngsters that have come right through the Academy, so can rightly be considered "proper Chels". It is therefore TOTALLY unfair to criticise Frank for anything going on at present. The results are not brilliant, especially at home and our inability to "kill the game" against teams there for the taking is very obvious. His post match presser after Leicester, was superb. Honest, relevant, prepared to talk about the difficult decisions but tactful, and just a little bit critical, so in summary, a good balance that nobody, least of all the players, could disagree with. We just need to get Pulisic and RLC fit and firing and find a way to get Tammy scoring again or of fitting Giroud into the XI.  I personally would stick with Willy between the sticks !!

4th place will be a tremendous achievement for Frank and the Club and I for one must admit that I thought we would be lucky to finish in the top half this season.

5 minutes ago, 2020 Fan said:

sorry but ive been patient enough with frank, its time to go. Tactically inept, had no idea what hes doing playing the same way week in week out and expecting us to magically start winning.

Not sure if Mount is secretly his son because he puts up stinker after stinker and yet never gets dropped.

Board is stupid as well and needs a refresh

CLEARLY A FAN FROM N17 !!!

24 minutes ago, 2020 Fan said:

sorry but ive been patient enough with frank, its time to go. Tactically inept, had no idea what hes doing playing the same way week in week out and expecting us to magically start winning.

Not sure if Mount is secretly his son because he puts up stinker after stinker and yet never gets dropped.

Board is stupid as well and needs a refresh

So you've changed your mind about playing da yoof?

Just read that Eddie Newton has left our staff for a position at Trabzonspor. Did I miss anybody posting about it here?

Didn't see it posted could a the rest of our season also he seems like a very well respected behind the scenes

1 hour ago, Upsetter said:

So you've changed your mind about playing da yoof?

Has that twat snuck in again?  FFS @coco, I thought you were going to put a decent lock on the gate this time.

 

 

ooops - banned already - that must be some sort of record.

Edited February 3, 20206 yr by yorkleyblue

The Giroud situation is simple you can't on one hand say he's not motivated to play then expect him to come in of Tammy gets injured why should be be motivated them, let him go it doesn't matter if we have only two strikers left, if he wants to leave let him he wants his spot in the national team.

I've noticed Frank often complains about our inability to kill off games and being not clinical enough with goalscoring chances. While there's a lot of truth to it, I think our problems at the back have just as much influence on our performances and results this season.

Take last match vs Leicester. Even if we scored a couple of goals early on, how confident are you that we'd have been able to control the game and not concede, given how few clean sheets we've managed so far? Once they settled into the game, Leicester looked much more organized and dangerous and we were extremely lucky to earn a point there.

I was never a big fan of Mourinho's tactics but one thing he did right in my opinion is he always builds his team from the back, defence first. As long as you keep it safe at the back there's always a chance you can get a result. I think it's obvious that Frank wants to play a more open and attacking football, but currently he doesn't have enough indiidual quality upfront to turn these ideas into goals while his inability to organize the team defensively makes us very vulnerable especially when our own attack breaks down. One example is Martinelly's goal vs Arsenal that started with our own corner, the kind of goal that any decent manager would be absolutely livid about, that's schollboy defending, and we have mastered that under Frank. 

I don't know who in his staff is in charge of the defensive part of training, but something's clearly not working. It's one thing to blame players for individual mistakes, like Kante's slip which was unfortunate, but I'm talking about more than that. Players are supposed to work together as a group, each should know their task and yet more often than not we're all over the place when defending, especially against counter attacks.

Edited February 3, 20206 yr by abramovich

5 hours ago, evissy said:

That too. Signing new players usually is a boost for a team. We didn't get one dispite Frank very publically demanded players. That could have a bad ring for his efforts to make us win again.

I don't blame the club too much for not finding suitable players. There probably wasn't anyone fitting our plans.

Our biggest rivals Tottenham and ManU found new players so I am guessing it is a matter of time when they go past us in the table.

If Frank manages to hold 4th place he has done massively well.

And yet both desperately needed a striker, spuds ended up with no one after begging us for Giroud and Utd have got erm, some bloke who was tossing it of in the Chinese league. 

10 minutes ago, abramovich said:

I've noticed Frank often complains about our inability to kill off games and being not clinical enough with goalscoring chances. While there's a lot of truth to it, I think our problems at the back have just as much influence on our performances and results this season.

Take last match vs Leicester. Even if we scored a couple of goals early on, how confident are you that we'd have been able to control the game and not concede, given how few clean sheets we've managed so far? Once they settled into the game, Leicester looked much more organized and dangerous and we were extremely lucky to earn a point there.

I was never a big fan of Mourinho's tactics but one thing he did right in my opinion is he always builds his team from the back, defence first. As long as you keep it safe at the back there's always a chance you can get a result. I think it's obvious that Frank wants to play a more open and attacking football, but currently he doesn't have enough indiidual quality upfront to turn these ideas into goals while his inability to organize the team defensively makes us very vulnerable especially when our own attack breaks down. One example is Martinelly's goal vs Arsenal that started with our own corner, the kind of goal that any decent manager would be absolutely livid about, that's schollboy defending, and we have mastered that under Frank. 

I don't know who in his staff is in charge of the defensive part of training, but something's clearly not working. It's one thing to blame players for individual mistakes, like Kante's slip which was unfortunate, but I'm talking about more than that. Players are supposed to work together as a group, each should know their task and yet more often than not we're all over the place when defending, especially against counter attacks.

Our defense has been a problem for the last few years, Conte dealt with it by playing for the counter attack and minimal possession, Sarri with maximum possession in order to prevent counter attacks and easy goals and Lampard IMO tried from the very start of the season to simply outscore the opponents and that doesn't really work when the team is missing so many chances.

Clearly it's a problem that 3 managers couldn't fix in a time period of a year and Lampard inherited it so it will take time to fix the defense, one good way to put it under the rug for some time is to buy Sancho and a striker in the summer. We are much more vulnerable to the counter attack than last season and it's something that really needs to be looked at, Lampard's tactic puts too many players high up the pitch and marking has been a problem as well, some of our issues should be solved by simply training away some bad habbits but it's not possible to solve it all like that.

1 hour ago, Gol15 said:

Our defense has been a problem for the last few years, Conte dealt with it by playing for the counter attack and minimal possession, Sarri with maximum possession in order to prevent counter attacks and easy goals and Lampard IMO tried from the very start of the season to simply outscore the opponents and that doesn't really work when the team is missing so many chances.

Clearly it's a problem that 3 managers couldn't fix in a time period of a year and Lampard inherited it so it will take time to fix the defense, one good way to put it under the rug for some time is to buy Sancho and a striker in the summer. We are much more vulnerable to the counter attack than last season and it's something that really needs to be looked at, Lampard's tactic puts too many players high up the pitch and marking has been a problem as well, some of our issues should be solved by simply training away some bad habbits but it's not possible to solve it all like that.

Sarri was not just about maximum possession yet squeezing space between the lines and players keeping in position. This was why Barkley was so used more often as he didn't need to move too much.

The problem was the fans did not like Sarri's style yet Frank has inherited the Conte and Sarri squads so without any incoming transfers is changing the style in his first season in the EPL.

 

17 hours ago, Strider6003 said:

Sarri was not just about maximum possession yet squeezing space between the lines and players keeping in position. This was why Barkley was so used more often as he didn't need to move too much.

The problem was the fans did not like Sarri's style yet Frank has inherited the Conte and Sarri squads so without any incoming transfers is changing the style in his first season in the EPL.

 

Square pegs, round holes

9 minutes ago, Ewell CFC said:

Square pegs, round holes

The only amusing thing is Utd seem in a similar with predicament with turnover of managers and acquiring different players yet we have the better trophy haul in the last three years.

They have one Europa, we have League, Europa and FA Cup.

Of course there are no guarantees about the future and I would not be surprised if Pep calls it a day at the end of this season either.

Another thought I have about talent, are we seeing the fall in standards due to kids growing up with computer games?

 

I don't think that we should under estimate the effect that RLC might have when he is fit. Although we know him mostly as a CM or DM it was Antonio Conte that stated that he saw Reuben as a potential striker, saying "he has very good technique, good personality and is good one vs one. I truly believe that if we can get RLC on the pitch, as well as having Pulisic fit and firing, these will be like the new signings that we are missing and will completely change our season. 

1 hour ago, Strider6003 said:

The only amusing thing is Utd seem in a similar with predicament with turnover of managers and acquiring different players yet we have the better trophy haul in the last three years.

They have one Europa, we have League, Europa and FA Cup.

Of course there are no guarantees about the future and I would not be surprised if Pep calls it a day at the end of this season either.

Another thought I have about talent, are we seeing the fall in standards due to kids growing up with computer games?

 

We aren't seeing a fall in talent, just more clubs competing for top talent. 

In 2010 a top player would play for Chelsea, United, Madrid, Barca or Bayern Munich. 

In 2020....6 teams in the PL, 2 in Germany, 3 in Spain, 2 in Italy, 1 in France.

5 clubs have become 14, bound to see less top talent. 

1 hour ago, bisright1 said:

We aren't seeing a fall in talent, just more clubs competing for top talent. 

In 2010 a top player would play for Chelsea, United, Madrid, Barca or Bayern Munich. 

In 2020....6 teams in the PL, 2 in Germany, 3 in Spain, 2 in Italy, 1 in France.

5 clubs have become 14, bound to see less top talent. 

Not sure I agree with the 2010 as you have excluded the Italian clubs though do agree now with the likes of Man City and also Leicester and Everton being more aggressive in their search for better players it increases the competition.

 

18 hours ago, Strider6003 said:

Not sure I agree with the 2010 as you have excluded the Italian clubs though do agree now with the likes of Man City and also Leicester and Everton being more aggressive in their search for better players it increases the competition.

 

TBF the Italian teams were all in a bit of the doldrums at that time, not the same draw as the other leagues mentioned certainly not their 80/90's highs. They have only really come back into the glamour lights over the last few years (only my opinion of course)