4 hours ago, BordeauxBlue said:

I went apoplectic when he lazily tripped someone in the 89th-ish minute and they then feigned cramp and had a ball to lump into the box. 

You and me both.  I would have subbed him out of anger, but that's why I'm too emotionally involved to ever manage Chelsea (forget the lack of qualifications and experience!).

47 minutes ago, PhilH930 said:

You and me both.  I would have subbed him out of anger, but that's why I'm too emotionally involved to ever manage Chelsea (forget the lack of qualifications and experience!).

Lack of qualifications and experience is not a problem if you want to manage Chelsea 😁😁😁

He's not a centre forward no matter how talented he might be.

FFS stop playing him in that position I think there's a very good player in him, but it's not at centre forward 

5 hours ago, BordeauxBlue said:

I went apoplectic when he lazily tripped someone in the 89th-ish minute and they then feigned cramp and had a ball to lump into the box. 

I think the guy actually tripped himself. Shouldn't have been a foul 

But still. No idea how havertz is still getting a run in the side.

not good enoughs

sell him 

11 hours ago, bisright1 said:

I think the guy actually tripped himself. Shouldn't have been a foul 

But still. No idea how havertz is still getting a run in the side.

He doesn't help himself look innocent when he seems to have the blood pressure and reaction times of a galapagos tortoise. 

1 hour ago, BordeauxBlue said:

He doesn't help himself look innocent when he seems to have the blood pressure and reaction times of a galapagos tortoise. 

The tortoises has a better first touch mind.

Now this man was a true generational talent:

 

21 hours ago, The Rising Sun said:

He's not a centre forward no matter how talented he might be.

FFS stop playing him in that position I think there's a very good player in him, but it's not at centre forward 

Yeah but where??? He was absolutely sh*t at everywhere he played. The only thing that impresses me about Havertz is his timing on forward runs but that’s about it!

On 05/02/2023 at 02:41, axman2526 said:

Now this man was a true generational talent:

 

Remember him getting grief at the start? Had words with a fan behind the goal once.

Wasn't bad though was he ?😆😁😁

The frustration with Kai is that everything he does has to be flashy and clever. 

On 04/02/2023 at 16:00, enigma said:

He must have been incredible at Bayer Leverkusen, because I'm yet to see anything of that and he's now in his third season here.

He is basically your nickname. After all these games I still don't know what he is good at or what his best position is. Not saying he is a bad player and hasn't contributed but it's hard to make sense of him. Unfortunately Mount is very similiar, I am also not sure what he is actually good at and what position he should play. I feel like our managers don't know either and that's part of why we are so bad going forward as somehow all of them insist on Havertz and Mount starting games no matter what.

Edited February 7, 20233 yr by reparto corse

On 04/02/2023 at 09:13, Sexyfootball said:

No idea why Potter thinks Havertz is the answer up front. The best option we have is clearly Aubameyang. The only good run of results Potter has had with us was the 5 straight wins, when Auba started 4 of them, and scored in 3 of them.

 

Aubameyang shouldn't be stepping foot on the pitch for us again. It's no shock he's been dropped as soon as we hire someone to come in and help with our mentality.

Aubameyang is a cancer to most sides, look how much better Arsenal got when Arteta cut out the toxic attitudes (Auba).

3 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

Aubameyang shouldn't be stepping foot on the pitch for us again. It's no shock he's been dropped as soon as we hire someone to come in and help with our mentality.

Aubameyang is a cancer to most sides, look how much better Arsenal got when Arteta cut out the toxic attitudes (Auba).

We are won 6 drawn 2 lost 2 when Aubameyang has started this season, and won 6 drawn 5 lost 8 when he hasn't. When you are struggling for goals, playing your best clinical finisher would seem to be a no brainer to me, especially when the "data" shows that your results are massively better when he plays.

Potter decided he wasn't going to play him way before this mentality guy was even a factor. Be interesting to see what the mentality guy makes of Havertz 🙂 

12 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

We are won 6 drawn 2 lost 2 when Aubameyang has started this season, and won 6 drawn 5 lost 8 when he hasn't. When you are struggling for goals, playing your best clinical finisher would seem to be a no brainer to me, especially when the "data" shows that your results are massively better when he plays.

Potter decided he wasn't going to play him way before this mentality guy was even a factor. Be interesting to see what the mentality guy makes of Havertz 🙂 

Havertz and Auba both need to go.

You see auba give up whenever he comes on the pitch now, moan at others, lacks any link up play. 

6 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

Havertz and Auba both need to go.

You see auba give up whenever he comes on the pitch now, moan at others, lacks any link up play. 

I think Auba is basically gone already. Agree on Havertz.

They won't be the only two by a long chalk either, and I would imagine half the squad are on borrowed time ... 

 

6 hours ago, reparto corse said:

He is basically your nickname. After all these games I still don't know what he is good at or what his best position is. Not saying he is a bad player and hasn't contributed but it's hard to make sense of him. Unfortunately Mount is very similiar, I am also not sure what he is actually good at and what position he should play. I feel like our managers don't know either and that's part of why we are so bad going forward as somehow all of them insist on Havertz and Mount starting games no matter what.

Both of them won us the CL so I know at least one manager that made both work well and at the same time...

1 hour ago, Gol15 said:

Both of them won us the CL so I know at least one manager that made both work well and at the same time...

What about the PL though ? We are a country mile away from competing to be Champions.

Since we last won it, we've finished 30 points, 26 points, 33 points, 19 points and 19 points off the pace, and with barely half a season gone we are already 20 points behind Arsenal for this season.

We clearly need better players than Havertz and Mount (amongst others) if we have any genuine aspirations to get back to the top ... regardless of who is the manager !

1 hour ago, Sexyfootball said:

What about the PL though ? We are a country mile away from competing to be Champions.

Since we last won it, we've finished 30 points, 26 points, 33 points, 19 points and 19 points off the pace, and with barely half a season gone we are already 20 points behind Arsenal for this season.

We clearly need better players than Havertz and Mount (amongst others) if we have any genuine aspirations to get back to the top ... regardless of who is the manager !

Arsenal finished 25 points behind last year. 

Man city finished 18 points behind Liverpool and then won it by 10 odd the next year. 

You're either competing, or you're miles behind.

Our team is good enough to compete next year and i expect it's going to be a season more up for grabs than any other. Arsenal in Europe, city and Liverpool in transition/crisis. United reliant on Rashford and Casemiro. 

1 hour ago, bisright1 said:

i expect it's going to be a season more up for grabs than any other. 

I think we might have seen the end of the 90+ point seasons for a while ... 

On 24/05/2020 at 06:42, ducavis said:

 

He is a tricky one to assess.......and reminds me a lot of Dele Alli. 

Well, this guy called it for sure. 

sell him please

not good enough

13 hours ago, Sexyfootball said:

What about the PL though ? We are a country mile away from competing to be Champions.

Since we last won it, we've finished 30 points, 26 points, 33 points, 19 points and 19 points off the pace, and with barely half a season gone we are already 20 points behind Arsenal for this season.

We clearly need better players than Havertz and Mount (amongst others) if we have any genuine aspirations to get back to the top ... regardless of who is the manager !

While that may be true, it doesn't help any player that we have changed quite a few managers since we won the league last time.

https://breakingthelines.com/opinion/kai-havertz-a-prospect-at-a-crossroads/

Some fans seem to understand this, others just don't get Kai Havertz as a player. This article sums him up pretty well. It's no surprise Kai looks more effective when he plays false 9, but there's a primary goalscorer playing either on the wing or alongside him. 

Or more importantly when there's an out and out striker and Kai can play in the number 10 hole. When he isn't the centre of attention he can ghost into the box to try and score goals. If you watch when he's the striker he still gets a few chances per game. Now if we played with an actual striker then that would be at least two players getting a few goal scoring chances per game since Kai will have more space and freedom to make runs into the box undetected. 

Basically he needs to not be the main goal threat in the team, ironically when he's not the main goal threat he could potentially be the main goal threat if that makes sense. His goal in the ucl final sums it up. When the defenders are focused on the primary striker, it allows Kai to attack the space vacated. He understands this very well, hence why when he plays up top he readily vacates this same space for other players around him. The problem then lies in the fact that he is the player that should be exploiting that same space. 

Nkunku plays pretty much the same position, however he's more of a dynamic player. Whilst Nkunku is an attacking mid he's evolving into a sort of striker support. It would be a mistake to play Nkunku up top because then he loses part of what makes him effective.

I want Felix to sign permanently, but Kai, Felix and Nkunku would effectively be operating in the same areas. It is difficult to play all three at the same time unless its a 4231 with losts of positional rotation. 

Seems Pulisic and Ziyech will be gone in the summer. Madueke looks decent, but isn't good enough to be a direct replacement just yet. He still very raw therefore, seems imperative we sing Felix so he's an elite wing option alongside Sterling and Mudyrk (too early to call him elite,  but he looks the real deal). That would give us 4 wingers and with Nkunku and Kai primarily operating in the number 10 position (Felix could rotate there too and you could have Nkunku on the right or left) your attacking support players are set. However to see all of these players flourish a world class number 9 is needed. He unlocks Kai, but also the rest of the team.

I think a switch to a 4231 next season and really for the rest of this season unlocks a lot of the players. The 433 that GP wants to play reminds me a bit of Lamps one, the Mount and Gallagher duo in midfield I hope is only because of necessity because that doesn't work its the same as Mount and Kai in a midfield 3. Enzo/Kova/Kante/Zak and one other CM is the ideal lineup for next season. Mount and Gallagher can play as number 10s or rotate one of the wing positions since Mount can 100% play left or right in a 4231 I would expect Conor to be able to do the same.

Edited February 8, 20233 yr by LongtimerLurker

9 minutes ago, LongtimerLurker said:

https://breakingthelines.com/opinion/kai-havertz-a-prospect-at-a-crossroads/

Some fans seem to understand this, others just don't get Kai Havertz as a player. This article sums him up pretty well. It's no surprise Kai looks more effective when he plays false 9, but there's a primary goalscorer playing either on the wing or alongside him. 

Or more importantly when theres an out and out striker and Kai can play in the number 10 hole. When he isn't the centre of attention he can ghost into the box to try and score goals. If you watch when he's the striker he still gets a few chances per game. Now if we played with an actual striker then that would be at least two players getting a few goal scoring chances per game since Kai will have more space and freedom to make runs into the box undetected. 

Basically he needs to not be the main goal threat in the team, ironically when he's not the main goal threat he could potentially be the main goal threat if that makes sense. His goal in the ucl final sums it up. When the defenders are focused on the primary striker it allows Kai to attack the space vacated. He understands this very well, hence why when he plays up top he readily vacates this same space for other players around him. The problem then lies in the fact that he is the player that should be exploited that space. 

Nkunku plays pretty much the same position, however he's more of a dynamic player. Whilst Nkunku is an attacking mid he's evolving into a sort of striker support. It would be a mistake to play Nkunku up top because then he loses part of what makes him effective. I want Felix to sign permanently, but Kai, Felix and Nkunku would effectively be operating I'm the same areas so makes it difficult to play all three at the same time unless its a 4231 with losts of positional rotation. 

Seems Pulisic and Ziyech will be gone on the summer. Madueke looks decent but isn't good enough to be a direct replacement just yet, seems imperative we sing Felix so he's an elite wing option alongside Sterling and Mudyrk. That would give us 4 wingers and with Nkunku and Kai primarily operating in the number 10 position (Felix could rotate there too and you could have Nkunku on the right or left) your attacking support players are set. However to see all of these players flourish a world class number 9 is needed. He unlocks Kai, but also the rest of the team.

I don’t think Felix is an option as Atletico will demand a €120m fee. Personally wouldn’t touch him at anything over £50m, and I don’t see where he fits. He isn’t a winger, and we have already signed Murdyk for a large fee at LW where he could potentially operate, at 10 we already have Nkunku & Mount, and he can’t operate as a sole 9. Even if Pulisic leaves, we are better off buying a LW who is more dynamic and offers us variety to what Murdyk offers.