Bournemouth 0 Chelsea 0

[Mark Kelly]

7 minutes ago, Miguelito07 said:

*puts tin hat on*

erm....I actually thought we played well yesterday. I know we didnt score but it wasn't a shit show

It absolutely wasn't but by the same token in my opinion Poch actually made it harder for us by the personnel he chose and where he played them. 

[Blue_in_TX]

 

[Max Fowler]

1 hour ago, paulw66 said:

Poch out. Took 5 league games. 

 

We have 12 injuries.

 

The funny thing is, it seems as though this site is populated by grown men. 

Not the injury excuses again, please.

Honestly, how many of those injured players will help us put the ball in the back of the net?

That is our problem. Not conceding goals.

And that's the board's fault - not Poch's. We are woefully under equipped in forward areas.

[Max Fowler]

44 minutes ago, Miguelito07 said:

*puts tin hat on*

erm....I actually thought we played well yesterday. I know we didnt score but it wasn't a shit show

We needed a reaction. We didn't get one.

[paulw66]

3 hours ago, Max Fowler said:

Not the injury excuses again, please.

Honestly, how many of those injured players will help us put the ball in the back of the net?

 

The injuries don't excuse everything, but of course they are not helping. Look at the bench. 2 goalies and 3 kids. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Gurj SS]

4 hours ago, paulw66 said:

Poch out. Took 5 league games. 

 

We have 12 injuries.

 

The funny thing is, it seems as though this site is populated by grown men. 

James, Caicedo and Nkunku were injured for the game yesterday, the rest wouldn't have made the slightest bit of difference as they are gap fillers. We'll have to just get used to James being an injury prone captain. Caicedo doesn't score goals. Nkunku is injured long term. We had Chilly and Palmer start on the bench yesterday, what makes anyone think Poch would have used a more attacking lineup if he had more players to choose from... If he had gone with Chilly for Colwill and Palmer for Ugochukwu then fair enough injuries played a part, but he couldn't even do that against a relegation level side; I think people are living in lala land if they think Nkunku coming back will mean us playing with 3 attacking players behind a striker; when he has had options he has stuck Chilly on the LW, when he finally gets two wingers on the pitch he drops Chilly and sticks a with a CB at LB.

It's nothing to do with Poch out, I was never Poch in but regardless it's not about that, it's about being able to beat Bournemouth with 8 of your regular 11 players; it's being able to find a way, if he can't do it against Bournemouth how will he ever do it against stronger opposition in bigger games who will also have better players.

[Max Fowler]

50 minutes ago, Gurj SS said:

James, Caicedo and Nkunku were injured for the game yesterday, the rest wouldn't have made the slightest bit of difference as they are gap fillers. We'll have to just get used to James being an injury prone captain. Caicedo doesn't score goals. Nkunku is injured long term. We had Chilly and Palmer start on the bench yesterday, what makes anyone think Poch would have used a more attacking lineup if he had more players to choose from... If he had gone with Chilly for Colwill and Palmer for Ugochukwu then fair enough injuries played a part, but he couldn't even do that against a relegation level side; I think people are living in lala land if they think Nkunku coming back will mean us playing with 3 attacking players behind a striker; when he has had options he has stuck Chilly on the LW, when he finally gets two wingers on the pitch he drops Chilly and sticks a with a CB at LB.

It's nothing to do with Poch out, I was never Poch in but regardless it's not about that, it's about being able to beat Bournemouth with 8 of your regular 11 players; it's being able to find a way, if he can't do it against Bournemouth how will he ever do it against stronger opposition in bigger games who will also have better players.

The reason why our bench has no forward options is because we don't have enough options up front. Simple.

Hence why we are going to get another creative player and centre-forward in January.

I don't blame that on Poch, I blame it on the board, but please don't blame it on injuries either folks.

[Floyd25]

Bored on night shift and had a case of deja vu so…..spending the money that we have and finishing mid-table or less actually isn’t acceptable, how long do we wait until we get success, how long is a piece of string?

I understand it,  but I don’t like the idea behind rebuilding a squad with kids and sticking them on 7 year contracts and expecting to make profits on them if it doesn’t work out, that’s my entitlement for you I guess. It hasn’t been done before in this way so we need to be very patient….yea there’s a reason it hasn’t been done before in this way.

How long do you give these players and how long before you admit defeat and buy more experienced players, one, two, three years? We’re going to need to see some progress between now and next season towards Europe again, or we will come unstuck with FFP. 

On the pitch these experiments with Colwill at left back or Chilwell at left wing need to end, we have injuries but Maatsen isn’t one of them. Also, yes finishing chances is our biggest problem, but we don’t create enough clear cut chances anyway, how many  has Jackson had? Although his all round game is poor at the moment, can’t hold a ball up and he’s clumsy on the ball.  How many times do we put a low cross across the box for it to be cut out, I must of counted at least 10 from Gusto…the way we play is as predictable as you can get and we have zero leadership, just hoping that people coming back from injury can make a huge difference, creatively we’re pinning all our hopes on Nkunku. 

Edited September 19, 2023 by Floyd25

[chiswickblue]

9 hours ago, Max Fowler said:

The reason why our bench has no forward options is because we don't have enough options up front. Simple.

Hence why we are going to get another creative player and centre-forward in January.

I don't blame that on Poch, I blame it on the board, but please don't blame it on injuries either folks.

Players that would play up front or in the three behind the striker and are currently injured: Broja, Nkunku, Chukwuemeka, Madueke.

You could make a case for having another centre-forward in the squad given Broja has been out for a while, but you can't prepare for so many injuries in the same part of the team.

[Thiago97]

Just a side not from the Bournemouth game.......and yes it was a long international week etc etc. How bad was that cameo from Chilwell off the bench ? I appreciate he only had 10-15 mins or whatever it was, and its not always easy off the bench. I thought he looked terrible and all over the place.

I really think we are approaching the point where Maatsen needs 4-5 games starting and seeing if this changes the dynamics of our play. We would be stupid to not at least give him a chance to start games.

[Miguelito07]

46 minutes ago, Thiago97 said:

Just a side not from the Bournemouth game.......and yes it was a long international week etc etc. How bad was that cameo from Chilwell off the bench ? I appreciate he only had 10-15 mins or whatever it was, and its not always easy off the bench. I thought he looked terrible and all over the place.

I really think we are approaching the point where Maatsen needs 4-5 games starting and seeing if this changes the dynamics of our play. We would be stupid to not at least give him a chance to start games.

I agree on Maatsen. BUT what we should be doing is sticking with a first 11 for a few games. This chopping and changing is also a cause of us being crap (and removing Colwill from LB and sticking either Maatsen or Chilwell) 

[paulw66]

12 hours ago, Max Fowler said:

The reason why our bench has no forward options is because we don't have enough options up front. Simple.

Hence why we are going to get another creative player and centre-forward in January.

I don't blame that on Poch, I blame it on the board, but please don't blame it on injuries either folks.

 

We have 8 (senior) forwards in the squad.

We had four forwards unavailable through injury on Sunday.

But injuries are not to blame for us not having enough?

[paulw66]

1 hour ago, Miguelito07 said:

I agree on Maatsen. BUT what we should be doing is sticking with a first 11 for a few games. This chopping and changing is also a cause of us being crap (and removing Colwill from LB and sticking either Maatsen or Chilwell) 

Chopping and changing? 9 players that started v Forest started v Bournemouth

[Mark Kelly]

As simplistic as this sounds I honestly believe , and I don't know why Poch doesn't , switching Colwill out for Chilwell ( even if Disasi is replaced by Colwill)  and playing Mudryk in Chillwell's place and bring Enzo back into the pivot and play Palmer or Sterling behind Jackson and we are immediately a better balanced and attacking side.

Personally I think he has a real deep rooted fear of being outmuscled by bigger more powerful players at set pieces so it's stopping him doing this . 

[Max Fowler]

1 hour ago, paulw66 said:

We have 8 (senior) forwards in the squad.

We had four forwards unavailable through injury on Sunday.

But injuries are not to blame for us not having enough?

Considering Poch wants to add another forward and creative player in January, that tells you everything you need to know.
We should have known we would get a similar season out of Mudryk.
We should have known that two of our recently signed forwards (Nkunku and Maudeke) are injury prone.

But let's be honest, neither Broja, Chukwemeka or Madueke are first-team players when everyone is fit.
Okay, Chuk had a great game against Liverpool and could have made a difference.

But are you hearing yourselves? We spent £1 billion on new players and this is why we can't beat Bournemouth?

Actually, this is why we can't beat Bournemouth, we're woefully under-equipped in forward areas.
 

@chiswickblue

[paulw66]

3 minutes ago, Max Fowler said:

.

But let's be honest, neither Broja, Chukwemeka or Madueke are first-team players when everyone is fit.

 

 

But everyone isn't fit, and that's the problem.

3 minutes ago, Max Fowler said:

 

But are you hearing yourselves? We spent £1 billion on new players and this is why we can't beat Bournemouth?

 

Not what I said at all. I just said it doesn't help.

 

[chiswickblue]

17 hours ago, Max Fowler said:

Considering Poch wants to add another forward and creative player in January, that tells you everything you need to know.
We should have known we would get a similar season out of Mudryk.
We should have known that two of our recently signed forwards (Nkunku and Maudeke) are injury prone.

But let's be honest, neither Broja, Chukwemeka or Madueke are first-team players when everyone is fit.
Okay, Chuk had a great game against Liverpool and could have made a difference.

But are you hearing yourselves? We spent £1 billion on new players and this is why we can't beat Bournemouth?

Actually, this is why we can't beat Bournemouth, we're woefully under-equipped in forward areas.
 

@chiswickblue

How big do you expect the squad to be? We already have 27 players (plus Bergström, Washington, Sarr, etc.) for a season that's unlikely to be more than 42-44 matches long. You can't keep stockpiling players in case of injury. We already have three left-backs and six centre-backs. One more striker could have helped, but there's no good value in this market and it would give us a problem when Broja is back.

[xceleryx]

52 minutes ago, chiswickblue said:

How big do you expect the squad to be? We already have 27 players (plus Bergström, Washington, Sarr, etc.) for a season that's unlikely to be more than 42-44 matches long. You can't keep stockpiling players in case of injury. We already have three left-backs and six centre-backs. One more striker could have helped, but there's no good value in this market and it would give us a problem when Broja is back.

Not to mention just how huge our summer was generally speaking, which went right down to the final minutes trying to offload the likes of Lukaku, Ziyech and so on. The idea that we were going to remedy every issue was always wishful thinking from the beginning, irrespective of the approach taken. 

And before anyone say "well we could've just signed x instead of these young players". It's a far easier process signing a Santos, Ugo, etc than it is trying to sign a higher profile of player. 

[Dwmh]

Finally watched this and it wasn't nearly as bad as advertised here.
Some of the finishing was close but not quite rather that outright poor.

Generally pretty much everything was better than the previous 3 games and we played 4 defenders not 5 (with mostly 3 and Gusto as a WB/WM and Colvill settling in as 3rd defender whenever anyonen pushed up alongside Solanke).

I call this game progress.  Overdue progress.