Real Madrid 2 Chelsea 0

[kev61]

4-5-1 in this game and hope we get lucky from a set piece.

[kev61]

17 hours ago, Ham said:

So she was front and centre for all of the successful signings too?

Serious question  - who were the successful ones?   and if you compare the successful ones and the utter garbage, how would she look?

I'm not calling you out - my memory is poor.

[Michael Tucker]

17 hours ago, Ham said:

So she was front and centre for all of the successful signings too?

Yes, but kev doesn't want to acknowledge that - he wants someone to blame!

[kev61]

12 minutes ago, Michael Tucker said:

Yes, but kev doesn't want to acknowledge that - he wants someone to blame!

Michael you need someone to help you onto Bondi beach on your Zimmer frame.You know it will do you good!

Sorry mods a bit of banter tis all👍

[Michael Tucker]

47 minutes ago, kev61 said:

Michael you need someone to help you onto Bondi beach on your Zimmer frame.You know it will do you good

Hugely humorous, kev. Not (even if I understood what you're going on with!.

47 minutes ago, kev61 said:

Sorry mods a bit of banter tis all👍

Is that what it was. kev? 

[kev61]

12 minutes ago, Michael Tucker said:

Hugely humorous, kev. Not (even if I understood what you're going on with!.

Is that what it was. kev? 

Of course it was michael.I have no agenda,do you?.

[Michael Tucker]

1 hour ago, kev61 said:

Of course it was michael.I have no agenda,do you?.

Then I guess that nobody does.

[bertles86]

4 hours ago, kev61 said:

Serious question  - who were the successful ones? 

Pedro, Luiz, Kante, Alonso, Rudiger, Giroud, Kepa, Jorgi, Kova.

[kev61]

17 minutes ago, bertles86 said:

Pedro, Luiz, Kante, Alonso, Rudiger, Giroud, Kepa, Jorgi, Kova.

Thanks for that I'll take your word for it.

[Original 21]

After yesterday’s inexcusable shambles of a performance, I’d rather we had anyone but Lampard in charge against Madrid. I hope at least he gives us a chance and plays 3 at the back. But I’m not convinced he has a clue really. 

[Mark Kelly]

58 minutes ago, Original 21 said:

After yesterday’s inexcusable shambles of a performance, I’d rather we had anyone but Lampard in charge against Madrid. I hope at least he gives us a chance and plays 3 at the back. But I’m not convinced he has a clue really. 

That result was entirely on the bell ends in blue .

[chara]

4 hours ago, Mark Kelly said:

That result was entirely on the bell ends in blue .

Although I agree Mark..just a point...because I hate that f'inf away kit...they were not in blue..and I fail to see why it is necessary to change the team colours when there is no shirt clash.

Regardless of the team when they come to SB unless there is a clash I almost demand they play in their "proper" colours.. a win against any side is enhanced when they trudge off in traditional kit😉..!

[CarefreeMuratcan]

1 hour ago, chara said:

and I fail to see why it is necessary to change the team colours when there is no shirt clash.

Regardless of the team when they come to SB unless there is a clash I almost demand they play in their "proper" colours.. a win against any side is enhanced when they trudge off in traditional kit😉..!

Agreed entirely. Every team wants to maximise the marketing for every kit to increase those kits' sales. It's annoying. We should be in royal blue in all games except against Everton away. 

[Holymoly]

If Frank plays 4-3-3 for this one then I fear he has already been infected by Potteritis.

Wolves was a free hit and shows a continuation of the squad not to give much of a stuff for the club. That said I was disappointed Lampard stuck with much of the same old tut. He is a spporter. He has been watching every game this season I'm sure. Surely he can see the inherent weaknesses and the inability of certain players to undertake the most basic duties of their position. You HAVE to go three at the bank Frank as that loads bullets into the only attacking weapon we have, the wing backs. Your only job thereafter is to draw diagrams for the rest of the players to show then where the goals ar situated on the pitch and then explain to them that they have to move the football between the posts, preferably of the opposition. You may also have a go at explaining the concept of offside although I accept this may be a step too far for many of the players on the team.

If you lose by more the three goals please ensure the players have to hitch hike back on their own.

 

[chara]

3 minutes ago, Holymoly said:

If Frank plays 4-3-3 for this one then I fear he has already been infected by Potteritis.

Wolves was a free hit and shows a continuation of the squad not to give much of a stuff for the club. That said I was disappointed Lampard stuck with much of the same old tut. He is a spporter. He has been watching every game this season I'm sure. Surely he can see the inherent weaknesses and the inability of certain players to undertake the most basic duties of their position. You HAVE to go three at the bank Frank as that loads bullets into the only attacking weapon we have, the wing backs. Your only job thereafter is to draw diagrams for the rest of the players to show then where the goals ar situated on the pitch and then explain to them that they have to move the football between the posts, preferably of the opposition. You may also have a go at explaining the concept of offside although I accept this may be a step too far for many of the players on the team.

If you lose by more the three goals please ensure the players have to hitch hike back on their own.

 

I agree HM but in fairness to Frank he was damned whatever the lineup...as much because of the options he had as wanting to save certain players for RM.

There were no goals in any formation he had from the starting 11 and the bench...PEA has not played forever and to my mind is not worth the picking as things stand...given the Havertz is Havertz as Sterling is Sterling with an enthusiastic but little guile Conor it was just a matter of if Wolves could find a goal..which they did..a very good one at that although I still blame Cucu for ball chasing rather than paying attention.

Looking at the rest of the season I am seriously questioning  if Chelsea will even get past the  40 points mark although surely another 4 points is possible..sigh.

[Blue Orca]

23 hours ago, kev61 said:

4-5-1 in this game and hope we get lucky from a set piece.

Definitely 4-5-1 , keep V jnr and benzema quiet and nick a goal if possible. 0-1 or 1-1 would be great

[Blue Orca]

16 hours ago, bertles86 said:

Pedro, Luiz, Kante, Alonso, Rudiger, Giroud, Kepa, Jorgi, Kova.

Wow, I'd take 71m Kepa out of that list and most of these would be dwarfed by the mistakes like Lukaku, bakayoko, batshuayi, and werner. 

[xceleryx]

3 hours ago, Blue Orca said:

Definitely 4-5-1 , keep V jnr and benzema quiet and nick a goal if possible. 0-1 or 1-1 would be great

Not having a genuine holding player in midfield renders virtually any back four system as pointless right now, it just leaves us far too vulnerable through the middle of the pitch. A back three helps mask that a little because the extra CB is able to step up into some of midfield spaces, plus it maximises both Chilwell and James our best two attacking outputs. 

[Michael Tucker]

9 minutes ago, xceleryx said:

Not having a genuine holding player in midfield renders virtually any back four system as pointless right now, 

When do you think that the geniuses who own the club will wake up to this? We've bought just about every type of player, other than a genuine holding player, and spent a kings ransom doing it.

[kev61]

What does a "holding midfield player" look like.

Can someone tell me any player in any team in any league that has a designated holding midfield player?

It's all fluid as it should be in midfield depending on the opposition.

Honestly it drives me nuts!.

 

 

[xceleryx]

40 minutes ago, Michael Tucker said:

When do you think that the geniuses who own the club will wake up to this? We've bought just about every type of player, other than a genuine holding player, and spent a kings ransom doing it.

Hopefully this summer. 

I'll be seething if we go into next season with Enzo having to shackle his game just we can accomodate creatively and technically inferior midfield partners  up the pitch. 

[bertles86]

2 hours ago, kev61 said:

Can someone tell me any player in any team in any league that has a designated holding midfield player?

Rodri
Palhinha
Casemiro
Tchouameni
Kimmich
Rice

[Holymoly]

3 hours ago, kev61 said:

What does a "holding midfield player" look like.

Can someone tell me any player in any team in any league that has a designated holding midfield player?

It's all fluid as it should be in midfield depending on the opposition.

Honestly it drives me nuts!.

 

I think that ever since the advent of Football Manager we've all become fixated with these names for specialised positions when in reality they're just called football players. Back in the school yard everyone used to follow the ball like seagulls following the farmer ploughing his field (hmm...becoming a bit Cantona-esque there) apart from the speccy who couldn't kick a ball and was told to play RB and stood there all game picking his nails. Well the professional game isn't too far removed from that today, granted the flock of seagulls is a bit more dipersed but you don't have the defenders standing on the 18 yard line while the ball is up the other end of the pitch, and similarly you don't have a midfielder standing 3 yards in front of that. Holding midfield is just a role that one of the midfielders should fill when the situation demands and there is no reason to allocate that to a specific player as if that were the case then the team becomes easy to play against as you will always know where a particular player is going to be. There is no reason to expect that out of a midfield three of say Kante, Fernandez and Kovacic for example that one of them can't drop back and assist the defense when required. If you allocate that to a specific player then you run the risk of being overrun if they find themselves out of position when required. All you need to do is make sure that professional footballers can tackle (and in our cases that all outfiled players can kick a ball into the opposition's net).

Edited April 10, 2023 by Holymoly

[Sciatika]

On 09/04/2023 at 01:21, kev61 said:

4-5-1 in this game and hope we get lucky from a set piece.

I'd consider a 5-3-2. Subtle, I admit, but keeping the wing backs deeper and flooding the midfield (having Kante is like having 4 rather than 3). We don't have any height up front so players that have the pace to counter.

[Michael Tucker]

24 minutes ago, bertles86 said:

Rodri
Palhinha
Casemiro
Tchouameni
Kimmich
Rice

Asked, and answered.  Thankyou.