53 minutes ago, Argo said:

Until he's branded a "sh*tter" 18 days after a big triumph with 12 positive reactions it's not in the same league I'm afraid. 

Ah. Good to know that these things are properly graded. How else would we know what players can be criticised and what degree of criticism is acceptable. Also good to know that you are the arbiter of where that bar is set. God forbid we get people having different opinions.

 

 

 

Edited December 27, 20223 yr by erskblue

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, WhiteWall said:

Agree totally Scott, I have been saying it for a long time. I can't work it out because I look at Brighton and they're full of running, all game long. Potter and his team have been here long enough now, why do these players all look knackered after 50-60 mins. Gallagher was grimacing whilst stretching before coming on for Christ's sake.

 

Potter really hasn't been here long enough at all. It's been 3 and a bit months, and 6 weeks of that has been taken up with the world cup. To judge Potter properly, he needs a full transfer window and full season. Impossible to judge a coach in arguably the toughest season in PL for a while, taking over a team that was in poor form from the start of the season along with key injuries. I mean Kante hasn't even played a second under Potter. James has barely played under Potter. 

Stunning that you play someone who can defend in midfield and we look a different beast. Props to Zakaria on a good debut display. Helped Jorginho play his more natural game as well.

So it was a back 3 basically lol.

Really enjoyed the first half. Nice to be able to say we played with sharp passing, pressed well, showed commitment to the cause and finished well.

James gets injured and we revert back to form, sitting off, surrender the ball, stop working hard and look awful in the final third.

We needed the win and if we can perform like the first half regularly we will be a good watch again.

Zakaria defensively was fine.  Zakaria with the ball was less so. Gave the ball away a couple of times on critical part of the pitch. 
 

Hard season this one. 

3 hours ago, evissy said:

Zakaria made a mistake and we almost conceded.

Jorgi played him a hospital pass, he had no chance with it.

Potter is still not good with subs. Waiting until the 80th minute and let's them creap back in to the game for 20 minutes before reacting.

You could see Havertz, Sterling and CP slowed down and he waits ages to take the later 2 off and does not use Hutch or Carney. 

Luckily for us Bournemouth we're sh*t in the final 3rd.

14 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

It's interesting because the ones affected the most seemed to be the players that have been at the club the longest. Sterling still looked full of running by the time he was bought off, but Mount, Havertz, Pulisic, Jorginho, they had all faded quite badly. They became sloppy and you could see that they didn't want to run as hard as they were in the first half. I don't know what we have been doing with these players, but they certainly don't look as fit as other squads in the league.

This with bells on.

When GP moved to your club and I started watching your games... I was shocked to the physical status of the players. Something very wrong has clearly been done on that side of things for years and it'll take time to sort it out. One of the strengths of Potterian teams is that they can play intense football for 90 minutes - not the case (yet) in Chelsea and probably months away from being the case in Chelsea.

12 hours ago, ozboy said:

Zakaria defensively was fine.  Zakaria with the ball was less so. Gave the ball away a couple of times on critical part of the pitch. 
 

Hard season this one. 

Watching the highlights and dear God that ref was appalling, like Anthony Taylor levels of uselessness. 

Not just his godawful decisions but he was so far behind play at times it was embarrassing, fat prick definitely had a good Christmas day.

Happy for the win. Good 1st half but poor 2nd half. 

15 hours ago, enigma said:

Potter really hasn't been here long enough at all. It's been 3 and a bit months, and 6 weeks of that has been taken up with the world cup. To judge Potter properly, he needs a full transfer window and full season. Impossible to judge a coach in arguably the toughest season in PL for a while, taking over a team that was in poor form from the start of the season along with key injuries. I mean Kante hasn't even played a second under Potter. James has barely played under Potter. 

But i am not talking about Potter, about tactics, formations or even the pattern of play that i am yet to see. That i fully understand takes time to develop and may involve some "blood on the dressing room floor" before he gets the team fully respecting him and doing as he wants.

I am talking about basic fitness and conditioning. These players can rarely last more than an hour, they are continually getting joint and muscle injuries and for me lacks an element of unity. A team that runs its bollox off and goes through a tough physical fitness regimes binds together. If Ziyech is on the pitch and a ball is pumped behind into the channel, does anybody think he's busting a gut to get back and double up to support James tracking back. 

15 hours ago, ozboy said:

Zakaria defensively was fine.  Zakaria with the ball was less so. Gave the ball away a couple of times on critical part of the pitch. 
 

Hard season this one. 

Tbh when I mentioned Massive Midfield Overhaul, Zakaria, RLC, and Gallagher aren't here next summer. 

I was convinced that our defence were trying there hardest to give away a comedy goal the whole game.

Otherwise 3 points, clean sheet.  But losing the plot for the last 15 minutes were hard to watch.

and Reece ....such a blow yet again.

As for our players being tired.

a look thru the internet and Conte, Sarri and Tuchel have all mentioned players being " tired"..

Dunno if it's only us , but we don't even play a style that is as energetic as most other teams do we ?

First half looked like an improvement. Looked to play with sharp short passes but the difference was being positive out wide, amazing when you cross early you can score! Although second half we went back to not taking on defender stopping passing back or inside.
We dropped 10-15 yds second half and allowed Bournemouth back into a game they weren’t in. Frustrating thing is when we broke into their half running at goal we didn’t create one breakaway chance.

Very hard to watch second half, atmosphere was poor. Last ten minutes where I was in the MHU fans were going through songs of old players or discussing how poor the second half was. we need 90 minute performance against City or we will be in for a long night.