Just now, Hensi said:

Can we just get rid of Ziyech, Pulisic and Alonso and find some adequate replacements? Not just get rid of them, show them the door with haste. Azpi is clearly no longer suited to play on this level but I guess we arw stuck with him until James is back.

On top of all that deadwood we have in the squad, we payed 100 mil for a season ticket holder to spectate games from the VIP lounge and his only good use is a shirt hanger nothing else.

I am just fuming after this game, literally. We battered this lot 3 times in a row last season and now we are too afraid to put up a fight against them. I wont be surprised if we end up out of the Top 4 once all games in hand are played.

P.S. The feeling of knowing Mourinho sold 2 players who are now literally carrying their teams and arw scoring against us on every opportunity they have, is simply marvellous.

Losing Salah and KdB has haunted us for at least 6 years and it will continue to haunt us a couple more

Just now, Jangz said:

It should not be that difficult to compete if Arsenal and Palace can do... we can atleast try to win.. TT keeps rotating and rotating now he doesnt know his best 11.. his formation isnt wrking.. too passive.. 

That is a big problem, and to be fair to the forwards they need regular mins on the pitch to build a rhythm. Lukaku has been poor but he isn’t helping by constantly changing the players supporting him.

1 minute ago, carrickblue said:

I can remember when a side winning 12 league games in a row seemed an impossible feat - achieving it was celebrated hugely. Now, it happens every year. Just shows the PL is not a competitive league anymore.

Starting to think the Premier League is becoming a "Farmers League" these days.

Who can compete with City for the foreseeable future?

Just now, Hensi said:

 

P.S. The feeling of knowing Mourinho sold 2 players who are now literally carrying their teams and arw scoring against us on every opportunity they have, is simply marvellous.

yeah man.. sterling kdb for Oscar.. give me a brick wall.. I hope we dont do the same mistake again and show patience with Havertz and Mount and also play them in their prefeered positions too FFS..

Come on lads and ladies, another game we lost by a goal scored by an ex-Chelsea player. What else is new? 

4 minutes ago, wizardous said:

Well, it's not easy to admit, but we lost to a better side. Probably the best in the world at the moment. And that is not a problem, the attitude is. We looked genuinely scared.

That's what pissed me off the most. We played them 3 times under Tuchel without any fear, both times we played them this season it was the complete opposite. We were never in the game today, it was only because of decent defending from the back 3 that we stopped City scoring earlier.

How many times did we get into a position where all that was required was a well weighted ball? Maybe 3 or 4 times in the 1st half.

That was the game plan, it was pretty much the same as we setup in all 3 games last season, the only difference was the final balls were horrendous. Then you have Alonso, Sarr, and Azpi in the build up, and it made it difficult to play through the press. 

Not good enough, Lukaku had 2 chances that a star striker should be making the difference. 

Tuchel will take some stick, and rightfully so, Mount should alsways start these games, but it this game highlights the difference between the 2 sides. When we dont have our strongest 11 on the pitch, we struggle to execute the game plan, City have built a squad full of players with a certain technical level, that can seamlessly rotate without much difference. 

The club need to back Tuchel, we missed out on Hakimi, we didnt get Kounde, and thats why we are going into this game with theikes of Sarr and Alonso having to play, no disrepect to either, but they wouldnt be in Citys squad, let alone starting big games. This is what we are competing against. 

Special goals win tight matches, Kante should have taken one for the team but in all honesty,  we got what deserved from the match 

Alonso being booked set the scene for what was a difficult afternoon...Alonso/Sarr/Kovacic were caused massive problems and also created their own

Trying to keep possession instead of risk is the basis of our problem, far too much side and backward  passing

Ziyech and Pulisic possibly confirmed their taxi out of the Bridge, simply not good enough

Lukaku needs to hold the ball up better though the number of times he makes runs for us to pass backward when in good positions is frustrating

The ball forward though when delivered just isn't good enough...are we overrating some of our players? 

Top four now is the aim, must win games against Brighton and Spuds are on the horizon otherwise we could be looking at this season that could have been but finished disappointingly 

4 minutes ago, carrickblue said:

I can remember when a side winning 12 league games in a row seemed an impossible feat - achieving it was celebrated hugely. Now, it happens every year. Just shows the PL is not a competitive league anymore.

Yep, it used to be something special, now it's a common occurence, same with winning the league with 30+ wins.

Just now, Scott Harris said:

That's what pissed me off the most. We played them 3 times under Tuchel without any fear, both times we played them this season it was the complete opposite. We were never in the game today, it was only because of decent defending from the back 3 that we stopped City scoring earlier.

if we look back atleast in one game we were very lucky with Aguero missing a penalty and the zouma tackle on sterling which was one all day long.. i wouldnt reach too much onto that.. The UCL final was the one where we looked competitive.. 

 

Really disappointed by that.  The result is not a surprise, but the lack of belief and continued lack of any sort of quality or idea in the final third is awful.  It is really frustrating and difficult to watch.

- Lukaku with back to goal is not an effective player.  Well pointed out in thread earlier that numerous times he messes up simple passes to him. That aside, he has no service whatsoever
- Ziyech.  I don't know where to start.  Lack of pace will always hold you back in Premier League, but he doesn't offer much else. Technically poor as well missing simple passes - he overhit one throughball by 20 yards. 
- Pulisic.  Anonymous.  Way too many touches and got very slow on the ball.  Attacks break down when he receives the ball
- Odoi.  Has age on his side and seems to have all the tools until it matters.  This season guilty of missing one on ones.  Today said it all - took a freekick that never got off the ground, 30 seconds later had a crossed chance on his left foot under zero pressure that went out of play
- Werner didn't look like he wanted to be on the pitch. I'm over him altogether
- Mount.  Should have started, but is not a true attacker
- Havertz must be really out of favor to have all the above ahead of him

It is just not good enough for a club of our ambitions.  Sometimes the truth hurts, but the lack of output from all the above will always prevent us from being anymore than a cup team.  The system is also too negative, although understand why TT puts more faith in our defense than attackers. 

Edited January 15, 20224 yr by PhilH930

Beat by a much better team. Doesn’t help that a team who plays with wingbacks have the two best in Prem League missing through injury. The likes of Alonso, Ziyech and Pulisic shouldn’t be near our starting 11.

2 minutes ago, Deino said:

Losing Salah and KdB has haunted us for at least 6 years and it will continue to haunt us a couple more

What may be worse, it's haunting this forum in perpetuity 

2 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

That's what pissed me off the most. We played them 3 times under Tuchel without any fear, both times we played them this season it was the complete opposite. We were never in the game today, it was only because of decent defending from the back 3 that we stopped City scoring earlier.

Yeah people keep speaking about our forwards but I'm more disappointed in the attitude. Players played like they were scared.

it's time we give Havertz a couple of games as a false 9

6 minutes ago, Luca Vialli said:

We need a huge clearout in the Summer. Our forward play is just non-existent.

And who is going to pick the replacements?

We don't have a Lampard or Drogba anymore who you can count on. They have De Bruyne and it shows. 

Too many of our bigger players like Pulisic Ziyech Lukaku Kovacic Alonso and so on just didn't perform and when that happens all at the same time you don't have a hope. 

We can't persist with Pulisic and Ziyech they just aren't good enough, they are not young potential.. They should be at a level where they can consistently perform but they can't. 

We seriously need to move a good chunk of these guys on. 

We play a lot better with Havertz up top than Lukaku. He’s such a limited footballer and it shows when we are up against a team of Cities quality. We have got worse after breaking our transfer record. Like City we just play better without a forward and if we did need one we should of bought someone who suits our system and not just a big number 9.

Our forward line is just non existent, Ziyech makes me miss Willian and I can’t stress enough how shocked I am about that. Pulisic is never at the races.

Werner needs a run of games, he may be frustrating but at least you feel he impacts a game. This may feel like a reactionary post but Jorginho is still our top scorer once again.

I would like to see us drop the back 5 and go into a 4-3-3 to allow for my creativity through the middle. Especially now our wing backs are out long term. 

Just now, azpi28 said:

it's time we give Havertz a couple of games as a false 9

While true, we just rotate the problem.  Why not Havertz and Lukaku at the same time.  It worked nicely against Spurs until Havertz had to go off.  We need to try something different going forward.

1 minute ago, Valerie said:

What may be worse, it's haunting this forum in perpetuity 

Exactly! We are cursed!

1 minute ago, Scott Harris said:

Yep, it used to be something special, now it's a common occurence, same with winning the league with 30+ wins.

I suppose on one hand City's dominance is nothing new in the sense that Ferguson's United won it 3 years in a row a couple of times and 4 years out of 5 at least once - it feels that the gap to City is huge at the moment. They are so bloody consistent and persistent.   

Well that was sh*t wasn’t it.. James and Chilly are crucial to our system it’s clear to see, Alonso and Azpilicueta are far too slow and can’t cross not dynamic enough for a wingback system.

Rom poor didn’t win a header but in fairness barely got any service as the final ball from the lads behind him were atrocious. Desperately need a Fabregas/Mata type of player the best strikers in the world wouldn’t score in this team.

2 minutes ago, ducavis said:

That is a big problem, and to be fair to the forwards they need regular mins on the pitch to build a rhythm. Lukaku has been poor but he isn’t helping by constantly changing the players supporting him.

I agree quality was lacking accross the front three. Pressing was poor, down to game time I think. But the final third quality has been lacking for a long time especially since chilly and james have been out. But Lukaku couldnt even hold the ball up today. Personally I liked havertz up with him, he has far more quality than any of our others.

Depressing. What is more depressing is how far backward we have gone since the CL win.