Yesterday was really concerning. After the game Frank spoke about the lack of tempo and the need to switch the play faster and take risks, but that wasn't the problem, the problem was we were too keen to do those things, we didn't really play with a pattern or a structure and we lacked composure. Rudiger and Zouma were way too keen to hit those diagonals as fast as possible, to dire affect. Bournemouth let them have the ball as much as possible and sat deep, knowing neither could do anything with the ball. In their defence however, they lacked options. We were nowhere near cute enough to break them down, our movement has been poor for a while now, we are not giving our opponents enough to think about. It's not just about tempo, as Frank keeps saying. You can play too fast, with not enough thought. It's about coaching. Fact is, we're getting out-coached right now, by very poor teams. West Ham, Bournemouth, Everton, even City, all on dire runs, but they beat us. We were very lucky at home to Ajax and away at Valencia, and extremely fortunate to qualify. Worst of all, players are losing their form, Willian, Jorginho, Kante, Zouma, Tomori, Emerson, Pulisic, Willian, et al. They were all playing well but they've noticeably dipped, and that's where the manager earns his money. How do you get them to regain their form again? It's not all about hard work, as Frank keeps insisting. You've got to be good at this management lark, and it's not easy, and the people you're up against are no mugs. You have to be clever. Right now the indications are alarming, but I never expected top 6 in the first place, let alone top 4. Top 4 is totally out of the question for me, when you look at our fixtures. Almost every single one of our hard games is still to come, and we're not good enough. Frank has work to do and a lot to learn. I hope we give him enough time to find out if he's good enough.

 

Regarding our players, it would be nice if Kepa made a save from time to time, you know, just for the bantz factor. We need a top notch CB more than anything in my opinion, and we need to play James, possibly even as a DM. Mount, Tammy, CHO and Pulisic will score and assist a lot of goals in the future, so I'm not too worried about that, but we need options, and right now we don't have any, none that fill you with confidence anyway.

 

Honestly, I'd swap Pedro, Willian. Batshuayi and Giroud for one player such as Richarlison or Zaha, somebody that can play as a striker or on the flanks, and someone with a bit of edge. Sure, they wouldn't be my first choice, and they might not automatically get in the side, and their fees would be prohibitive anyway considering they would come at vastly inflated fees, but they would potentially improve us in the here and now and they would certainly be able to compete for a place.

 

Oh yeah, and we also need a LB, obvs. Emerson is one of those players that doesn't quite take the bull by the horns. You want him to grab his chance, to make the spot his own, but there's something missing. Good player, I'd have him in the squad, but he strikes me as someone who's none-too-bothered whether he's first choice or not. It's definitely a position Frank will be looking to strengthen.

 

Tottenham next. A win would be sweet. They're bang in form and we've really dipped. A win there would make us all feel a whole lot better. It might be just the game to revitalise us but I fear the worst. Thankfully there's no midweek fixtures this week. We could do with the rest.

7 minutes ago, Davey Baby said:

Yesterday was really concerning. After the game Frank spoke about the lack of tempo and the need to switch the play faster and take risks, but that wasn't the problem, the problem was we were too keen to do those things, we didn't really play with a pattern or a structure and we lacked composure. Rudiger and Zouma were way too keen to hit those diagonals as fast as possible, to dire affect. Bournemouth let them have the ball as much as possible and sat deep, knowing neither could do anything with the ball. In their defence however, they lacked options. 

I have the feeling those diagonals were part of the coached plan to get the wide players up the pitch to deliver crosses. Some missed or went to the opposition but for me a wasted tactic as Abraham could not do anything with the crosses. It was a waste of Jorginho and made us too predictable.

11 minutes ago, Davey Baby said:

Bournemouth let them have the ball as much as possible and sat deep, knowing neither could do anything with the ball. In their defence however, they lacked options. We were nowhere near cute enough to break them down, our movement has been poor for a while now, we are not giving our opponents enough to think about. 

Agree.

14 minutes ago, Davey Baby said:

Honestly, I'd swap Pedro, Willian. Batshuayi and Giroud for one player such as Richarlison or Zaha, somebody that can play as a striker or on the flanks, and someone with a bit of edge. Sure, they wouldn't be my first choice, and they might not automatically get in the side, and their fees would be prohibitive anyway considering they would come at vastly inflated fees, but they would potentially improve us in the here and now and they would certainly be able to compete for a place.

I would keep Willian the others I agree could go. Willian beats his man and does put in crosses.

52 minutes ago, Davey Baby said:

Honestly, I'd swap Pedro, Willian. Batshuayi and Giroud for one player such as Richarlison or Zaha, somebody that can play as a striker or on the flanks, and someone with a bit of edge. Sure, they wouldn't be my first choice, and they might not automatically get in the side, and their fees would be prohibitive anyway considering they would come at vastly inflated fees, but they would potentially improve us in the here and now and they would certainly be able to compete for a place.

This is it for me, a lot of people say Zaha or Chillwell would be too much money, but why not get rid of the deadwood and put all the funds towards certain players, then all of a sudden your net spend goes down and your chances of possibly getting a top 4 spot (and the extra money that brings in) goes up.

The Bournemouth game was not pleasant. Negative atmosphere. Perhaps the most positive comment leaving the ground that I heard was "we deserved a draw"

Willian is coming in for a lot of stick. Often in these situations someone becomes the fall guy but don't agree it should be Willian. He didn't have the greatest of games but he was far from lazy. The stuff he tried did not come off...this happens.

Pullisic needs to work harder off the ball, exciting when he gets it but he can spend ages not being involved.

On balance though I don’t think we are too away from getting things right. Wish we would take more shots though all the build the play with no end product is frustrating.

 

 

On 15/12/2019 at 07:14, loz said:

On 15/12/2019 at 06:45, Malcolm9 said:

Alonso can score as well, it is a shame he isn't quicker. Get Tomori back in the squad as to.

If Alonso is brought back it will be two weeks before people are asking why on earth Frank is picking him. We have two full backs who are simply not good enough and we need to bear with it until a replacement is brought in. Alonso is more suited to being an attacking wing back but defensively he is a car crash that even Anthony McPartlin's career couldn't recover from.

Very true but against the weeker teams we went on a 7 game winning streak with Alonso on the pitch. He was exposed against ajax and i am sure he must have reacted negatively to Frank blaming him for the goals . He would definitely have helped against westham everton and Bournemouth with his attacking insticts instead of playing that clueless emerson who offer nothing in attack or defence. It is no co incidence that Pulisics form has tailed off with Alonso out of the team. They both used to look for eachother and Alonso would drift outwide to create space for pulisic to cut inside