6 hours ago, yaz said:

Surely we can't just erase Palmer's goals and assists to assess where we would have been without him. Someone else would have filled in and gotten some of those goals.

It would be like taking away every save Petrovic and Sanchez made and saying ''without Petrovic and Sanchez Chelsea would have lost every single game this season''.

Exactly why I don't even bother with hypotheticals like that. You can't just draw such conclusions like ake away one person and that's where we would be. 

8 hours ago, Argo said:

My worry is we bring experience in for the sake of it.

It won't work if said players were has beens or never weres, case in point United still being sh*t despite having Varane and Casemiro.

Both Varane and Casemiro were past their best imo. They definitely paid way too much for the latter. 
 

if we bring in experience they have to come in and justify a first 11 place which neither of the above have done at Utd.

 

Every single manager say the same thing. How you want to play is really determined by your player. 

 

😁😁

3 hours ago, Bob stark said:

😁😁

Never gonna happen at spurs with Levy. 

8 hours ago, timetowaste said:

I can only say that it's admirable how much you're backing Poch. I think the only game I've missed in the second half of the season was Villa last weekend, but almost every other game has been well below par and it's been largely down to Pochettino's tactics.

I'm just looking at it from a more realistic point of view. I don't even think Poch is a top manager and if we are to get back to the very top he will need to be replaced eventually.

I don't recall watching any game this half of the season (outside of pool and arsenal of course) and thinking we deserved to lose, we've almost always had more and better chances than the other team. You can dislike or disagree with his tactics but like I said there's no magic tactic that's going to stop our players from making individual mistakes or to learn how to shoot. It's all part and parcel of dealing with young players.

7 hours ago, Bob stark said:

😁😁

He's a strange bod is Pisstercockloo. After the game midweek the poor old SKY reporter interviewing him brought up the stat that his team have let in more set-piece goals than any other EPL team. You could tell Ange had the raging hump but to say he wasn't bothered about it and never gives any thought to defending set-pieces was plain mental. I like him as a bloke but do not rate him tactically at all. 

19 hours ago, timetowaste said:

I genuinely can't understand the u-turn some people have made on Poch's position. Am I missing something? Is this just a case of remembering the last game? Because just 3 weeks ago we drew to one of the worst teams in premier league history and just 10 days ago we got battered by Arsenal 5-0. 

Which is why I keep repeating my view that we should look past the results, and concentrate more on the performances and signs of progress.

We have seen very few signs of genuine progress. The spurs game was a good result, and a bit of fighting spirit was welcomed, but in terms of his system and organisation, we have yet to see an identity form.

19 hours ago, Victor90 said:

Jim you could name League Two teams that have had it worse in that area.

You're not putting things into perspective. When you're at the top and winning everything, only to sink all the way down is a big thing, especially when your rivals who you once laughed at are doing much better. It's taking candy away from a baby situation, there's a reason Chelsea is being mocked more than clubs who are in relegation, because we're expected to be one of the elite clubs. 

I dont give a f**k what anyone else thinks about Chelsea. Particularly arsneal fans....and the like. f**k em all.

17 minutes ago, nonotnowjim said:

I dont give a f**k what anyone else thinks about Chelsea. Particularly arsneal fans....and the like. f**k em all.

Absolutely f**k every one of them. 

18 minutes ago, nonotnowjim said:

I dont give a f**k what anyone else thinks about Chelsea. Particularly arsneal fans....and the like. f**k em all.

Arse wipe so called fans are the most obnoxious, delusional f**king arseholes out there. 

And one more thing, f**k arsenal. 

21 hours ago, Drogba1 said:

I think that last season was so bad that people have set the bar so low for Poch now.

 

Sky News reported that without Cole Palmer, we would have been 18th on 28 points after the Arsenal game.

 

Has Poch really been a good coach, or have we just added a world class prospect to our attack?

I agree but there is also the other side of the coin in that Poch may have got that world-class prospect out of him!

33 minutes ago, Mod said:

I agree but there is also the other side of the coin in that Poch may have got that world-class prospect out of him!

maybe.....

....or maybe he is coasting on the fumes of Pep....

12 hours ago, 19seventyone said:

Both Varane and Casemiro were past their best imo. They definitely paid way too much for the latter. 
 

if we bring in experience they have to come in and justify a first 11 place which neither of the above have done at Utd.

 

Sign a strong striker like Osimhen that will be at his prime and a strong defender.

For the rest we can only hope they don't get injured and that's it, we don't need a full 180 turnaround from the already made decisions, we can still finish top 6 despite everything.

13 hours ago, 19seventyone said:

Both Varane and Casemiro were past their best imo. They definitely paid way too much for the latter. 
 

if we bring in experience they have to come in and justify a first 11 place which neither of the above have done at Utd.

 

Yes I agree.

We keep hearing about how experience is the silver bullet yet 11/14 of the Porto lineup were part of the 12th place finish and out of the 3 that weren't 2 got replaced by equally/more experienced counterparts (while the youngest squad in the league finished 2nd).

If lack of experience is the biggest issue we wouldn't have got into this mess in the first place.

3 hours ago, just said:

He's a strange bod is Pisstercockloo. After the game midweek the poor old SKY reporter interviewing him brought up the stat that his team have let in more set-piece goals than any other EPL team. You could tell Ange had the raging hump but to say he wasn't bothered about it and never gives any thought to defending set-pieces was plain mental. I like him as a bloke but do not rate him tactically at all. 

He reminds me a bit of Scolari.

Excellent plan A but no adaptable plan once managers started figuring it out.

26 minutes ago, Argo said:

He reminds me a bit of Scolari.

Excellent plan A but no adaptable plan once managers started figuring it out.

To be fair the fact that he had Spurs challenging for top 4 after losing Harry Kane is still an overachievement

 

Last season they finished 8th with Kane scoring 30 goals

If we genuinely look as good in the next 4 games as we did against Villa/Spurs I'd be on board for him staying another season

5 hours ago, just said:

He's a strange bod is Pisstercockloo. After the game midweek the poor old SKY reporter interviewing him brought up the stat that his team have let in more set-piece goals than any other EPL team. You could tell Ange had the raging hump but to say he wasn't bothered about it and never gives any thought to defending set-pieces was plain mental. I like him as a bloke but do not rate him tactically at all. 

I actually like the guy but I did smile at Rory Jennings' nickname for him. Imposter-coglu. 

4 hours ago, Drogba1 said:

To be fair the fact that he had Spurs challenging for top 4 after losing Harry Kane is still an overachievement

 

Last season they finished 8th with Kane scoring 30 goals

While he has done well overall a lot of it came initially with his tactics with the fullbacks in midfield and wingers wide catching teams off guard which is why I drew similarities to Scolari's start (in my opinion the best football we've ever played in a 2/3 month period) with Bosingwa/Cole bombing forward and Mikel/Deco dictating play from deep.

Like Scolari, when teams started figuring the system out he hasn't/can't seem to adapt, their record since our first win vs them has been as mid as it gets.

18 hours ago, just said:

He's a strange bod is Pisstercockloo. After the game midweek the poor old SKY reporter interviewing him brought up the stat that his team have let in more set-piece goals than any other EPL team. You could tell Ange had the raging hump but to say he wasn't bothered about it and never gives any thought to defending set-pieces was plain mental. I like him as a bloke but do not rate him tactically at all. 

Think he's getting some unfair stick, Pep was in a struggle for top 4 in his first season, if rumors are to be believed he told Roman we would need 12 new players to play his way, he's done a fairly decent job considering they have perhaps the best striker on the planet. On the poch element I'm very much Poch in for now, he's made some mistakes this season for sure (especially around the defence) but has been up against it since day one. 

In terms of players who have really done it at the top level and we know are proven quality he has had: 

 Tiago, Chilwell, James, Sterling. Personally have never rated Sterling and then we have barely seen the world-class full back. Everyone else is a guessing game quite honestly. Add to that an injury list that would cripple any team. And despite this, I see players that are clearly still playing for the manager and patterns of play developing. Add to that we aren't really in a position to attract a top manager right now, the best person for the job next year is Poch again. That said, if by December next year the top 4 race is well out of reach again, I'd say it's time to roll the dice

On 04/05/2024 at 01:16, WhiteWall said:

De Zerbi

He believed the hype. 

19 hours ago, just said:

He's a strange bod is Pisstercockloo. After the game midweek the poor old SKY reporter interviewing him brought up the stat that his team have let in more set-piece goals than any other EPL team. You could tell Ange had the raging hump but to say he wasn't bothered about it and never gives any thought to defending set-pieces was plain mental. I like him as a bloke but do not rate him tactically at all. 

I personally like poste. His football is interesting to watch

Interesting Angie asked for squad overhaul in public, funny that manager asked for that under Levy usually didn't stay in the job for long after that. He has his unique style, and win or lose he's sticking with it, so that's some credit for him. On the other hand, his style is high risk and high attrition, never going to last the whole season like that.