Did I imagine Emre Can outpacing Sterling? 

Just now, Dean said:

My original post was in relation to KK, but I’m sure everything you say here is valid.  I think it has a lot to do with confidence too with Havertz. I think they all want to win. We’ve been pretty unlucky in some of our recent games, including the first leg of this one. I saw some fancy stat somewhere about how we should have had x amount of points more in our last x many games than we actually got. Anyway, let’s hope Havertz and others can find the same form in the PL. 

When it comes to Koulibaly, I think there is a big mismatch in style with him. In games like today and Leeds where we force ourselves to play a bit more defensive for periods of a game, he's great. He has a ton of protection in front of him and his mobility isn't constantly being put to the test. He can just sit, focus on his positional play and defensive qualities around the box. In the Premier League, he's a lot more exposed because we are the team expected to push up. We push forward a lot more and there will be situations where he finds himself needing to deal with the opposition breaking on him. In a 1v1 against pacey players or players with tricky feet, he just doesn't have the agility to deal with it so losses all composure and makes a desperate tackle. There were a few instances in the first half against Leeds where this happened, as soon as we scored and went defensive, things changed and he looked rock solid.

For you Fritz ze champions league is over.

Top performance, great effort, well done lads 👌

Chilwell, Havertz, Kepa did great. We saw when Sterling went brain-dead that our players have a f..king low self-confidence. 
I will not comment on the tactics, let's just enjoy the result. .Hope we can build on this.

Edited March 7, 20233 yr by Dragos

Fantastic game and atmosphere tonight! Mind you, we could do with a bit of controlling the game once we get in front rather than inviting them forward. I’m not sure about the subs, to be honest. I thought they were weird and a bit defensive, looked like he wanted a 352 towards the end. In any case, we got through and, as with the game against Leeds, I’m delighted. Looking forward to travelling to Leicester now!

7 minutes ago, Term_X said:

That's lovely! I'm surprised they didn't manage to get Jose in there though or are my eyes deceiving me? There's even a tiny Torres lmao.

Get in, think we look so much better in this back 3 which begs the question why potter has been so adamant to move away from it. Hopefully we can kick on now and gain some momentum for the rest of the season and who knows maybe bring back big ears number 3.

 

 

 

1 hour ago, BordeauxBlue said:

 

 

I'll just mention in passing that Bellingham looked pants. Didn't pass the eye test for a 150million touted player... 

Didn't notice till late in the game but Bellingham looks to be carrying an injury with one knee strapped. Even so he was still pretty strong despite being very closely marked in what was a competitive midfield battle all night.

1 hour ago, TheCeleryKing said:

 

 

See we do much better when we do not ‘win’ possession.

 

In my opinion that's one of the key takeaways. We have a strong defence and fast attackers. We can afford to let other teams have the ball and play on the counter like Liverpuddle does. Its kind of more exciting although also frustrating when the opposition has the ball for long stretches.

26 minutes ago, Brigadeiro Mk II said:

That's lovely! I'm surprised they didn't manage to get Jose in there though or are my eyes deceiving me? There's even a tiny Torres lmao.

I’m not sure why but he’s been edited out of this version, on the real thing he’s featured.. to the left of Hazard.

1 hour ago, TimesUpPotter said:

 we might not score 2 goals in a game again so surely it's a night for celebration and positivity!

You're some tulip.

 

What a great Birthday present.

Almost as the a nice as the 4-2 over Barca in 2005. 18 bloody years ago, seems like last week. 

March 8 2005

We definitely deserved to go through, were the better team over both games, at times we played some bloody good football,  if only we could 'finish' more chances! for periods in games we look a bit shaky and yet at other times we look imperious, if we could keep that up for 90 minutes we will be some team.

Now the injuries are clearing and Potter has finally had some time to work with some of his best players we are slowly starting to improve,  lets hope that keeps on being the case, I'm hoping that by the end of the season we are starting to really 'fire' on all cylinders.  To think that we still have Kante to return yet, lets hope that we 'push on' starting with Leicester.

Edited March 8, 20233 yr by Droyman

50 minutes ago, Liam said:

You're some tulip.

 

That what we call scouse plants now?

Calling it now, we draw Spurs next.

3 hours ago, Dean said:

Thank you. I’m sure you’re right. But say you’re the manager of a top European side about to play Chelsea in the CL. You could watch a video of Chelsea against, say, Southampton (or any other low ranked team we’ve struggle against) and say to your players - “look how defender x struggles when under pressure” and incorporate that into your game plan. What prevents that when it’s a European match? Also, is it true that the European teams don’t press high up the pitch? Id say we were pressed pretty hard and high up / in our area for several  periods of tonight’s match. 

Nothing and maybe 😊

2 hours ago, ozboy said:

Didn't notice till late in the game but Bellingham looks to be carrying an injury with one knee strapped. Even so he was still pretty strong despite being very closely marked in what was a competitive midfield battle all night.

I thought he was pretty strong over all, although I thought it was a poor challenge from him on Reece late on.

The 2 Dortmund players that caught the eye for me were Guerreiro and Reyna. Both caused us problems at times.

Hope all the "Potter Out" monkeys here watched "Poundland". I wonder who they would have supported when Chelsea couldn't win a one ticket raffle. Great memories of a more turbulant, but imho, far more enjoyable time.

4 hours ago, ozboy said:

In my opinion that's one of the key takeaways. We have a strong defence and fast attackers. We can afford to let other teams have the ball and play on the counter like Liverpuddle does. Its kind of more exciting although also frustrating when the opposition has the ball for long stretches.

He should have been sent off with a straight red. Already hate the guy. I really hope he goes to Spain when he leaves Dortmund this summer or next.

5 hours ago, Term_X said:

Cracking banner. No Jose or Robbie though and JT and Ossie twice

3 hours ago, Bebe1980 said:

Nothing and maybe 😊

🤷‍♂️