Just now, Sexyfootball said:

We're definitely creating more opportunities and scoring more goals than last season. 

44 in 25 now vs 50 in 50 last season.

Granted we are conceding slightly more (33 in 25 vs 62 in 50), but on balance it is improving, albeit more slowly than we would all like, mainly due to inexperience and injuries.

That's because of the change from a back 3 and our players not missing as many easy chances compared to previous seasons. The way we play though is exactly the same. Slow build up from the back (often giving it away cheaply in our own half) Too safe in midfield. Never creating a flurry of chances and putting the defence under constant pressure, it's always just one chance here and then another one there 15 minutes later. 

I want this style of football gone from the club and I won't start backing Pochettino until he's removed it. I've seen managers go into clubs and force instant change, especially the best ones. There is no excuse for Pochettino to not do the same.

6 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

That's because of the change from a back 3 and our players not missing as many easy chances compared to previous seasons. The way we play though is exactly the same. Slow build up from the back (often giving it away cheaply in our own half) Too safe in midfield. Never creating a flurry of chances and putting the defence under constant pressure, it's always just one chance here and then another one there 15 minutes later. 

I want this style of football gone from the club and I won't start backing Pochettino until he's removed it. I've seen managers go into clubs and force instant change, especially the best ones. There is no excuse for Pochettino to not do the same.

We weren't really playing a back three most of last season though.

Infact ironically it was when Potter moved to that formation we started scoring more under him.

12 minutes ago, Argo said:

We weren't really playing a back three most of last season though.

Infact ironically it was when Potter moved to that formation we started scoring more under him.

We were never away from the back 3 for a sustained period. At one point he would even play Sterling and Pulisic as wing backs. There was also the whole missing easy chances thing. We still miss them now, but not as badly as we were at the beginning of the season or any point last season.

Nothing has really changed dramatically in our game since Pochettino arrived.

4 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

We were never away from the back 3 for a sustained period. At one point he would even play Sterling and Pulisic as wing backs. There was also the whole missing easy chances thing. We still miss them now, but not as badly as we were at the beginning of the season or any point last season.

Nothing has really changed dramatically in our game since Pochettino arrived.

I could swear he dropped the back three mid game against United and didn't bring it back until Leeds at home but happy to be corrected.

Stats suggest we are on the right track. Fans suggest...well... something else.

 

Looking at the big picture yesterday reminded us of the importance of lethal frontman. The level in the Prem is so high with every team an average one won't suffice. Arsenal is arguably top 3 team in England. Currently they are 2 wins out of 7 relying on Havertz to lead their line. We have all seen what that is like. 

They are crying out for a new striker. They will probably snatch Toney for big money. They are hunting for that Prem title.

We are looking for a lethal frontman as well. But we are not hunting for that title. I think we should just go on with what we got. If Broja is considered one of the brightest attacking prospects in Europe, lets give him a fighting chance by playing him week in week out. I am up for some horror games if at the end of it we know whether Broja is all that or not. We have tried paying 100m for a frontboy. Let's not do that again. 

Pochettino quoted on the club web site : 

‘If we go to Middlesbrough and we start the game as we started on Saturday, we are going to find it more than difficult. We have to use Preston as an example where we need to start matches like we started the second half.’

Sounds to me like the low intensity, backwards and sideways passing stuff is NOT how Pochettino wants us to play  The growing pains of a young squad ... 

35 minutes ago, evissy said:

Looking at the big picture yesterday reminded us of the importance of lethal frontman. The level in the Prem is so high with every team an average one won't suffice. Arsenal is arguably top 3 team in England. Currently they are 2 wins out of 7 relying on Havertz to lead their line. We have all seen what that is like. 

They are crying out for a new striker. They will probably snatch Toney for big money. They are hunting for that Prem title.

We are looking for a lethal frontman as well. But we are not hunting for that title. I think we should just go on with what we got. If Broja is considered one of the brightest attacking prospects in Europe, lets give him a fighting chance by playing him week in week out. I am up for some horror games if at the end of it we know whether Broja is all that or not. We have tried paying 100m for a frontboy. Let's not do that again. 

Arsenal's issues run deeper than a striker imo. 

Martinelli and Saka are underperforming and their depth is poor. All Arteta signings mind you. 

9 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

Pochettino quoted on the club web site : 

‘If we go to Middlesbrough and we start the game as we started on Saturday, we are going to find it more than difficult. We have to use Preston as an example where we need to start matches like we started the second half.’

Sounds to me like the low intensity, backwards and sideways passing stuff is NOT how Pochettino wants us to play  The growing pains of a young squad ... 

No Poch team has played that way so the people moaning about it now with us simply can’t get it in their head that this is what happens when you change the entire playing squad in 18 months plus bringing in youth players. 
 

If you listen to the post match interview he was pissed because we showed no intensity or desire in the first 45. We have suffered from this from Conte days and these are different players so this seems like a cultural issue. In the last say 5-8 years we have this tendency to start slow against lower opposition and I don’t remember having this issue in the early Roman days. 
Conte talked about it, Sarri did, Lampard did, Tuchel did and now Poch, they all talked about player motivation at Chelsea.

I do wonder if this is a culture issue that slowly found its way into the club.

3 minutes ago, El regreso said:

I do wonder if this is a culture issue that slowly found its way into the club.

It's the only explanation when its the common denominator under 5 different managers. I remember Sarri first brought it up in a presser when he said it was difficult to motivate these players. It's turned us into a cup team. 

This is why I was hoping the incentivized contracts sorts this out. 

Edited January 8, 20242 yr by Sconnie Blue

17 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

It's the only explanation when its the common denominator under 5 different managers. I remember Sarri first brought it up in a presser when he said it was difficult to motivate these players. It's turned us into a cup team. 

This is why I was hoping the incentivized contracts sorts this out. 

It could simply be the generation of players rather than club "culture" ?

Generation Z are notoriously difficult to manage in the workplace ... just want to spend all day on their phones, different set of values vs previous generations, won't accept criticism, tend to feel entitled, demonstrate a lack of effort, motivation and productivity ... all quite well documented. 

It only needs things to be handful of percent off and that's the difference between winning and drawing, or drawing and losing, in professional sport.

 

32 minutes ago, El regreso said:

No Poch team has played that way so the people moaning about it now with us simply can’t get it in their head that this is what happens when you change the entire playing squad in 18 months plus bringing in youth players. 
 

If you listen to the post match interview he was pissed because we showed no intensity or desire in the first 45. We have suffered from this from Conte days and these are different players so this seems like a cultural issue. In the last say 5-8 years we have this tendency to start slow against lower opposition and I don’t remember having this issue in the early Roman days. 
Conte talked about it, Sarri did, Lampard did, Tuchel did and now Poch, they all talked about player motivation at Chelsea.

I do wonder if this is a culture issue that slowly found its way into the club.

If we have new players, new managers, new owners and you say it’s a cultural thing, this must be from the players. So why do you think it’s just Chelsea players or across the board? Doesn’t seem to be at every club. But it really is off putting, so much now I rarely go to the Bridge and often switch off the tv. 

13 minutes ago, Kev56 said:

If we have new players, new managers, new owners and you say it’s a cultural thing, this must be from the players. So why do you think it’s just Chelsea players or across the board? Doesn’t seem to be at every club. But it really is off putting, so much now I rarely go to the Bridge and often switch off the tv. 

Possibly because we have the youngest squad ?

Thiago Silva is visibly frustrated with a few of them at times LOL, let alone the manager pulling his hair out on the side-lines 🙂 

59 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

It could simply be the generation of players rather than club "culture" ?

Generation Z are notoriously difficult to manage in the workplace ... just want to spend all day on their phones, different set of values vs previous generations, won't accept criticism, tend to feel entitled, demonstrate a lack of effort, motivation and productivity ... all quite well documented. 

It only needs things to be handful of percent off and that's the difference between winning and drawing, or drawing and losing, in professional sport.

 

You may be on to something. Could be that certain players haven't grasped 'the standard', of what it takes to compete in the league. Arsenal tried last season but ultimately it wasn't enough. Leading the league by Christmas and yet 9 wins in 14 matches later, they still fall short to City. City have an abundance of ruthless killers playing under a manager that benches/sells anyone the moment they haven't had 'the standard' rubbed off on them. 

League will be so much better once Pep f**ks off. 😂

 

10 hours ago, evissy said:

Stats suggest we are on the right track. Fans suggest...well... something else.

 

Directionally that is an encouraging view.  Fan patient is thin at best, and there are countless games I want to see more identity and intensity from the start,  But, I like the pattern above, albeit nicely covered by 4 wins in the last 5 games. 

On 08/01/2024 at 13:54, Sexyfootball said:

It could simply be the generation of players rather than club "culture" ?

Generation Z are notoriously difficult to manage in the workplace ... just want to spend all day on their phones, different set of values vs previous generations, won't accept criticism, tend to feel entitled, demonstrate a lack of effort, motivation and productivity ... all quite well documented. 

It only needs things to be handful of percent off and that's the difference between winning and drawing, or drawing and losing, in professional sport.

 

I wouldn't stretch this out to a generational issue, I see it as a leadship issue. And that isn't Poch, that's leaders within the dressing room. 

Listening to Mikel's podcast recently where Terry, Lampard and others have spoken about the dressing room and stories of what used to happen. I know its a different world now and some of the cut throat attitudes wouldn't sit the same way, but we've been lacking real leadership for a while. Thiago is really all we've had and you need a core of players that are going to lead the way, week in, week out, setting the standards and driving results. Others see it and match it. 

Whilst I love RJ, I don't think thats his style, same with Chilwell. Palmer looks like he has that ethic from his city days and might be the seed that sprouts but we've had a team of followers since our last title. 

Bellingham, whilst extreme, is a perfect example that real leaders still exist in younger players.

On 08/01/2024 at 15:21, Sconnie Blue said:

Arsenal's issues run deeper than a striker imo. 

Martinelli and Saka are underperforming and their depth is poor. All Arteta signings mind you. 

Looking at them not sure if they have issues. At this very moment they don't have a clear spearhead in the attack and immediately their football looks like Chelsea's; a ton of of huff and puff with healthy amount of possession without any kind of end result. 

Just trying to illustrate what having an "Eto'o" as the striker does to a team. This is exactly why Gambling-Toney is rated at 90m and Osimhen is 130m. 

 

On 08/01/2024 at 08:54, Sexyfootball said:

It could simply be the generation of players rather than club "culture" ?

Generation Z are notoriously difficult to manage in the workplace ... just want to spend all day on their phones, different set of values vs previous generations, won't accept criticism, tend to feel entitled, demonstrate a lack of effort, motivation and productivity ... all quite well documented. 

It only needs things to be handful of percent off and that's the difference between winning and drawing, or drawing and losing, in professional sport.

 

Not sure I agree about it being about culture. I feel like every generation always calls the younger generation "difficult and lazy and entitled" in one way or the other. Before Gen Z bashing, there was millennial bashing for spending all day on the internet, and before millennial bashing there was gen X bashing for spending all day on the tv during the MTV days. The baby boomers probably got bashed at some point as well by their parents. Point being every older generation is going to bash on the younger generation so I don't think there's anything different about gen z in that regard. 

Our squad is just young IMO and lacks leaders.

Edited January 9, 20242 yr by Frankie8Lampard

We play like sh*t game after game and fans will suddenly forget it two days later and bring out the stats to make it seem like we have been better than we are. Then we play again and suddenly they are hit with a dose of reality.

Edited January 9, 20242 yr by Scott Harris

Pathetic performance that was. 

Should be ashamed of themselves.

Poch is awful, the sooner this idiot is sacked the better. I imagine it won't be during this season but hopefully the board are looking at performances and get rid at the end of the season.

Terrible manager, but equally, truly terrible squad full of players who can't control a ball, pass a ball, dribble past a single player, stay switched on, etc... So what the f**k is anyone supposed to do with them? I'm sure a better manager could do a bit more, but not much.

I cant stand him. Baffling decisions.

Enzo looks way worse under him than he did under Potter and Lampard, seriously what is the plan to get the most out of Enzo?

How can you scout Middlesbrough and play that left combination of Thaigo Silva and Colwill against their only threat?

Some managers inspire their team in the big games, Poch speaks as if we are lucky just to be there. 

Embarrassing club at the moment.

Takes off Madueke when he was our brightest spot, and takes off Gusto who offered tiny bit of threat for Alfie who’s a center back.

The man is clueless. Sack him. 

Starting to lose all trust. Some baffling decisions today. 

- Facing a low block and our only recognizable striker starts on the bench. 

- Madueke our most promising attacking all game and gets subbed off over Sterling. 

- Enzo only midfielder capable of breaking through a low block, gets subbed off so Gallagher can get his full 90. 

- Broja comes on with zero tactical instructions. 

- Pointless Gilchrist cameo.