Not the most memorable match, but at least we're through.

Just hope the final isn't a repeat of what happened against Corinthians 9 years ago.

5 hours ago, Nibs said:

Havertz is a bit of a conundrum. On his day, looks the classiest player in the squad. But sometimes he just strolls through games and other times, worse still, he has the "can't be arsed" look about him. Reminds me a lot of his countryman Ozil, who too was a class player but all too often failed to turn up and in the end the supporters turned on him.

The clock is ticking Kai - time to roll those sleaves up and put a bit more effort in and prove you are the real deal.

 

might help if he played on a consistent basis with in form players; right now everyone is out of form except Kepa and Mendy.  Ziyech is another one that ghost's through 2 games out of 3.  

1 hour ago, Jezz said:

Not the most memorable match, but at least we're through.

Just hope the final isn't a repeat of what happened against Corinthians 9 years ago.

That is the current concern as we don't seem to have come back from holidays yet. Bar Dave and Kepa.

Player fitness is a big concern, after 45 min some of our players looked death. Kovacic didn't want to run, azpi forced himself to run.

 

9 hours ago, abramovich said:

Not to excuse the sh*t performance but it looked like our players struggled with the combination of heat and humidity, it was especially apparent in the second half when opposition looked much more comfortable and mobile.

Still, that display was quite depressing. Unless we step up big time, Palmeiras wll wipe the floor with us come final time.

Pretty much everyone losed their one on one battle constantly except mount and kante who came in as sub.

9 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

Was no different under Lampard. Werner was sh*te, Havertz had flashes but struggled, Ziyech has been better under Tuchel, Mount is hit and miss, Hudson-Odoi was poor, Pulisic was terrible. The attackers are no better now than they were under Lampard, which suggests to me that it's a player problem.

If you are talking about lamp 2nd season then you are right, Lamp first season was completely different story.

Pulisic, tammy, willian and giroud were very good under Lamp in his 1st season. CHO has just recovered from nasty injury so I gave him a pass.

 

As bad as the team is:

• in the league cup final
• in champions league group of 16 and I’ll be surprised if we don’t make last 8
• in fa cup round 6
• easy 3rd in league and can still finish 2nd
• in final of club world cup

we are yet to win anything, our forwards are garbage, the mid field is ageing, we rely on the oldest outfield player in the league and our two best wing backs are out. 
 

spuds just lost to Southampton, United drew with Burnley and are out of cup

there are still only a very few teams in the world that would start favourite against us. 

Concerning when temp coach apparently stated he was happy with Roms  performance, where is that lean speedy, aggressive goal scorer that masqueraded as decent at Inter Milan, Havertz ain’t no wide left player, no real control in midfield, we desperately need a ball player in the Cesc mould, who’d find these runs the Fwds make, give Werner the starts Ron’s had, he’ll score more…….

3 hours ago, ozboy said:

As bad as the team is:

• in the league cup final
• in champions league group of 16 and I’ll be surprised if we don’t make last 8
• in fa cup round 6
• easy 3rd in league and can still finish 2nd
• in final of club world cup

we are yet to win anything, our forwards are garbage, the mid field is ageing, we rely on the oldest outfield player in the league and our two best wing backs are out. 
 

spuds just lost to Southampton, United drew with Burnley and are out of cup

there are still only a very few teams in the world that would start favourite against us. 

Perspective!

It's a beautiful thing when you can look at it like that. 

Hopefully something changes and soon. We don't want to say we never saw the best of Tuchel or him getting the best out of this group in future. 

Lukaku for example, he's got some blame but the team and the tactics also letting him down. I don't even bother counting anymore the amount of times he tries to bend a run past the defending line and pointing to where the ball should be delivered but it's (pass) never been attempted. Not sure if it's a lack if vision, skill to execute or just wanting to pick the lazy and safe sideways pass all the time but can genuinely only remember Kovacic putting him through on goal against Villa (not sure if right team). 

He's an almost 1 in 2 striker everywhere he has been so everything points more to user error rather than the product itself. 

1 hour ago, abister1 said:

Lukaku for example, he's got some blame but the team and the tactics also letting him down. I don't even bother counting anymore the amount of times he tries to bend a run past the defending line and pointing to where the ball should be delivered but it's (pass) never been attempted. Not sure if it's a lack if vision, skill to execute or just wanting to pick the lazy and safe sideways pass all the time but can genuinely only remember Kovacic putting him through on goal against Villa (not sure if right team). 

He's an almost 1 in 2 striker everywhere he has been so everything points more to user error rather than the product itself. 

Problem for me is he is a counter attacking striker and expects the ball to be played into space in front of him.

We are a posession based team so the opposition sits deep and tries to dispossess us. There is not much time to look up and see the pass and determine where Lukaku will run before someone is trying to disposes you.

Really you need a striker to be comfortable coming towards the ball and turning his defender or playing a midfielder into space. 

Not sure Lukaku has this in his game.

He is not great with receiving long balls either.

Aguero might have suited our system, Lukaku does not yet he does act as a decoy while other play occurs and can score tap-ins and the odd headed goal. 

 

 

5 hours ago, ozboy said:

As bad as the team is:

• in the league cup final
• in champions league group of 16 and I’ll be surprised if we don’t make last 8
• in fa cup round 6
• easy 3rd in league and can still finish 2nd
• in final of club world cup

we are yet to win anything, our forwards are garbage, the mid field is ageing, we rely on the oldest outfield player in the league and our two best wing backs are out. 
 

spuds just lost to Southampton, United drew with Burnley and are out of cup

there are still only a very few teams in the world that would start favourite against us. 

That’s wrong, we did win something already, when we defeated the winner of the Europa Cup (Villarreal?) in August at that the start of this 21/22 season.  I am counting that!

14 hours ago, ozboy said:

As bad as the team is:

• in the league cup final
• in champions league group of 16 and I’ll be surprised if we don’t make last 8
• in fa cup round 6
• easy 3rd in league and can still finish 2nd
• in final of club world cup

we are yet to win anything, our forwards are garbage, the mid field is ageing, we rely on the oldest outfield player in the league and our two best wing backs are out. 
 

spuds just lost to Southampton, United drew with Burnley and are out of cup

there are still only a very few teams in the world that would start favourite against us. 

This looks good on paper and yes we are still challenging for honours but these are just plasters covering up gaping wounds to the real problem.

We've spent more than enough money where the only reasonable option is to challenge on all fronts. 

A club that has the standard of City, Chelsea, Pool and Utd. A season is only acceptable if you challenge for either the league or champions league or at the very least look good doing so. City are in a class of their own, Liverpool look good, Utd are dreadful and we are in the middle. We look dreadful but are on a tight rope between having a season that looks really good on paper or really bad. That fine line shifted positively when Spurs helped us get top 4 and when we narrowly beat City in the CL. 

 

15 hours ago, ozboy said:

we are yet to win anything

Incorrect. 

Now that Tuchel and Mendy are back, feeling a bit more confident about this.

 

On 10/02/2022 at 17:37, Munkworth said:

Incorrect. 

Ahh, this pic takes me back to happier times when you didn't have to force it so it probably did fit.

Hopefully another title sparks some joy in this side because lately they've all looked numb and annoyed at all times. 

2 minutes ago, Brigadeiro Mk II said:

Ahh, this pic takes me back to happier times when you didn't have to force it so it probably did fit.

Hopefully another title sparks some joy in this side because lately they've all looked numb and annoyed at all times. 

I remember being very annoyed when I had an obstacle in my way at work that was highly paid and suppose to be an asset not a hinderance on my work.