2 hours ago, Andy2461 said:

Ziyech played well 

kai seemed so much better playing off the striker 

Its his position. Why we don't do this regularly rather then undermine the confidence of each of the players by playing them in unfamiliar roles is beyond me

just got back from match imho lads stood up mainly today , few duffs mount , koulybali  not on game.  hall is young and hes not good enough for a defensive role . otherwise team looked hungry and most put in a good game . and we got the result . last 5mins needs a rethink. 

.

Given the run we are on I'd have happily taken three points from an offside 95th minute winner after being up against it for the whole game and defended 87 shots on target.

However it wasn't remotely that bad and, in addition to the three points, there were some positive signs.

Silva -,  inevitably first class

Hall - amazed at some of the criticism he has got in recent weeks with some saying he should be sold. Yes he hasn't been perfect but he is 18 years old and a hell of a lot better an option on the flank than a far more experienced Cucurella. Hope Potter sticks with him at least until Chilwell is back in contention.

Chukuwuemka and Badiashile - both can be pleased with their performances and staked a claim for a lot more playing time.

Ziyech, Gallagher and Havertz all looked a gear up from their recent performances.

Overall - lot better attitude throughout most of the team and some indication of a little fight in a fair few players 

Meanwhile when under the cosh hanging on at the end...f**k me Jorginho is a liability. Its like playing with ten men under pressure. 

Don't care how we got it, we just needed that win. Any result is a massive positive for us in hopefully gaining some confidence and the feel good factor back. 

These really are the moments where the performance is less important than the the result.

I thought everyone looked a bit better today without setting the world alight. I'm not keen on the criticism of some of the lads, Chalobah, Hall and Gallagher in particular and i thought they done a good job today with plenty of room to improve.

Have to say was quite touched seeing the Vialli tributes ❤

KTBFFH

Overall I really enjoyed this game.

The highlight was always going to be the tribute to Luca as it was done so beautiful, what came after was the side show to it.

Former teammates, lovely video, vialli shirts. Perfect job CFC.

Game itself had what I was asking for. Gritt, hard-working players and effort in there. Short on quality from a few, but I cannot question they gave it a good go and did the minimum they should.

2 hours ago, Droyman said:

We have our usual 'issues' ie wobbly moments at the back and nobody to put the ball in the net, HOWEVER, like against Fulham we were the better side today and unlike against Fulham we got our just reward - 3 points!  I liked the look of Badiashile, if this new fella sitting in the stands is half decent and we can get the walking wounded back off their crutches we should start to see some 'growth'.  As Ken Bates once said in his programme on the first day of the new season 1983-84 after our worst ever finish the season before - "a lot of people were pressuring me to sack John (Neal) at the end of last year but instead I decided to back him - I did this because  there were a lot of injury issues last year and FRANKLY A LOT OF THE PLAYERS WERE QUITE SIMPLY NOT GOOD ENOUGH - the rest is as we know history.

Its blatantly obvious quite a few of our players now are 'quite simply, not good enough'

Christ i had forgotten that i actually remember that

Probably not as accurate as @mojofor many but here is how I rated the lads:

 

Kepa - 9, distribution was spot on, made two excellent save and one "how the heck did he save that" save. Vital clean sheet. Loses a 10 for the poor fist to a cross that he just about recovered on.

 

Chalobah - 7. He had a stinker last match bit this is what we expect from Trev today. Sold, they got no joy on his side until Dave came on.

 

Silva - 10. Did not put a foot wrong. Clean sheet, helped his new team mate settle well.

 

Badiashile  - 8 . Zaha wanted none of him after a few battles. He probably thought "ah no Reece James I can have some fun". Nope, hit this French big Wall. Calm, very cool head on him based on this game. That is important.

 

Hall - 7. That ball in, what the second minute, somebody needed to be making a run to tap that. Quality ball to Auba that he wasted. Defensively not as strong, but he is a midfielder playing LB.

 

Jorginho- 6. Standard performance, just Jorgi being Jorgi.

 

Mount - 5. Poor display, offered no quality in the final third. Did his defensive work at least.

 

Gallagher - 7. Offered a bit more than Mase in attacker, but his main points come from graft and hurrying them off the ball.

 

Carney - 6. Some good moments, worked hard. Did not get as much of the ball as I would have liked.

 

Havertz - 7. He got the winner and worked hard. End quality was not great and the 2 headers missed were poor. He should be getting a 10 with a header hattrick. 

 

Ziyech - 8 Hollywood Hakim came with his bag of tricks, his radar was off for most of it but did put in one superb corner and came up with the assist for the winner. Importantly he also worked hard.

 

Subs

 

Aubameyang- 5 Got in twice, nothing came of it. 

 

Other subs made no impression for me, least not in a good way. 

Edited January 15, 20233 yr by axman2526

Only two games but it's encouraging that we're starting to dominate games and "win" the XG's comfortably again (both today and Fulham we were above 2 for XG scored and below 1 for XGA).

One of my big worries pretty much all season was how we were starting to lose the control of games we had under Tuchel, Sarri and even Lampard at times.

Hall looked very vulnerable defensively  and not much end product yet but clearly has promise, Carney didn’t get enough ball but didn’t really take his chance. Badiashile bar one error was competent and fairly quick use of the ball. Overall though it looked like a pickup team with not that much of a team effort. Just not clicking as a unit. 

4 hours ago, just said:

And I'm just going to order another Estrella Liam. Oh, one of my flip flops just fell off.

😄 

Actually the film was brilliant. It is called "The Quiet Girl" in English and I would highly recommend it. 

Did just enough to win the game, not pretty or convincing but that's the state of the team at moment. Kepa made a couple of good saves at nil all, could have been in a lot more trouble had they scored first. Energy was better, created some decent chances, and Havertz finally scored one. Say whatever about Havertz, he's the only one in the team capable of scoring a few goals. A full week rest ahead of the next game, hopefully better things to come.

1 minute ago, icecoolguy22 said:

Did just enough to win the game, not pretty or convincing but that's the state of the team at moment. Kepa made a couple of good saves at nil all, could have been in a lot more trouble had they scored first. Energy was better, created some decent chances, and Havertz finally scored one. Say whatever about Havertz, he's the only one in the team capable of scoring a few goals. A full week rest ahead of the next game, hopefully better things to come.

Yes, he should have scored a few today. The first header he missed was awful.

Back home from the game. Maybe not the greatest game but got the win. Some excellent tributes to Luca and great to hear his name shouted out during the game. Beers before and after the game. The hip flask of whisky came in handy. Maybe a couple of hip flasks for the next game as one may not be enough for me and the others I go to the games with. Especially if the weather is a bit nippy!

A great chant during the second half: "We Are Staying Up." Haven't heard that in a good few years.

14 minutes ago, Boyne said:

Back home from the game. Maybe not the greatest game but got the win. Some excellent tributes to Luca and great to hear his name shouted out during the game. Beers before and after the game. The hip flask of whisky came in handy. Maybe a couple of hip flasks for the next game as one may not be enough for me and the others I go to the games with. Especially if the weather is a bit nippy!

A great chant during the second half: "We Are Staying Up." Haven't heard that in a good few years.

Nothing better than a bit of gallows humour.

The maligned players seemed to carry us a bit today. Ziyech in particular who was very dangerous.

Also Gallagher's best game for us so far?

What a sorry-assed club atm... 😡

Much better, though we have to start turning dominance into goals. Conor was outstanding in his work rate, Kepa made some good saves and the new guy, Badiashile, had a promising debut. If only we had a striker.. At least should keep the Potter boo-boys quiet for a week.

 

4 hours ago, WhiteWall said:

Christ i had forgotten that i actually remember that

Sticks in my mind for some reason too, I was only a young boy but I went to the last game of the season the year before 0-0 v Middlesbro, I remember getting on the pitch with my uncle after the other results came in and had gone our way. We turned up for the first game of the following season a 4-0 hammering of Derby (Derby were one of the pre-season favourites to go up) and I believe it was written in that particular program,  Dixon, Speedie, Nevin, Rougvie, Hollins (coming back?) a few signings from the lower leagues and Scotland and we were transformed!  Imagine if we'd simply sacked John Neal at the end of the season instead of backing him, I wonder where we would be today.

I think it was excellent performance. Mount in right hand channel making constant underlap with winger staying wide is one of my favorite way to use Mount. 

Kai need to improve either his finishing or his back to goal play to play st. Right now he is a classic jack of all trade master of none. 

Silva was brilliant as usual, he is definitely my motm.

Jorgi, I thought played very well. 

Badi showed his rawness at times but he is tall and left footed. I thought he had a good game. 

Hall was also very good.

Gallagher was playing with tons of energy, running around everywhere. The best part of Gallagher is his gamemanship. We have too many good guy, we need more a$$hle

Ziyech I thought was terrific. When you have winger playing well and taking on people, it just open up space for everyone. 

 

 

Thought the performance was alright. Mentality a lot better though, which makes you wonder if the news Boehly is backing Potter had anything to do with it. 

Ziyech did well. Hopefully gets a run at RW. 

Still thought Havertz and Mount were frustrating but they did their part. 

Midfield looked shaky in transition. 

 

Kepa and the backline share MOTM for me. Lot of composure and all looked very calm when both under pressure and with the ball. Badisahile looked very good on his debut and hope he keeps it up. Would keep that same backline + James for the rest of the campaign. 

18 hours ago, loz said:

Meanwhile when under the cosh hanging on at the end...f**k me Jorginho is a liability. Its like playing with ten men under pressure. 

 

18 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Jorginho- 6. Standard performance, just Jorgi being Jorgi.

 

9 hours ago, Bob stark said:

Jorgi, I thought played very well. 

And there ladies and gentlemen we have the Jorginho conundrum.  🤣

6 hours ago, fester said:

 

 

And there ladies and gentlemen we have the Jorginho conundrum.  🤣

Bob has since admitted he was on magic mushrooms when he made that post.