Manchester United 2 Chelsea 1

[Backbiter]

1 hour ago, Ham said:

We've had this conversation many times before Max.  It's not just about the lack of starters, it's continually having no options off the bench to change things up and give the starters a break.

Injuries breed injuries.

 

Indeed. And, arguably, suspensions, as our fit players are forced to spend more minutes on the field due to a lack of viable subs, and consequently rack up more bookings.

[Max Fowler]

1 hour ago, Ham said:

We've had this conversation many times before Max.  It's not just about the lack of starters, it's continually having no options off the bench to change things up and give the starters a break.

Injuries breed injuries.

Of the injured, Fofana, Chilwell and  Nkunku would be starters for me.  The former was the best young CB in the country when we bought him. Had he not been injured, Silva would have been benched.

Okay, but it's not a "crisis".

You also entirely fail to criticise the board for signing injury prone players and put it all down to bad luck. We knew Fofana was an injury risk, we knew Nkunku was too. We also know that Chilwell and James are chronically injured and yet made them captains. 

And we also can't put suspensions down to bad luck because its our own ill-discipline that is costing us. We haven't made excuses for a few weeks now, let's not start this again. We have plenty enough available to win tomorrow.

In case you hadn't remembered - United have got Martinez, Mount, Eriksen, Casemiro, Sancho, Evans and Amad out.

[Holymoly]

Moving house today so won't see the game but I just hope Manure don't decide to turn up tonight for once. I've got a funny feeling though. Pochettino needs to get us fired up without going over the top. A lot of maturity needed in this scenario.

[ROTG]

25 minutes ago, Holymoly said:

Moving house today so won't see the game but I just hope Manure don't decide to turn up tonight for once. I've got a funny feeling though. Pochettino needs to get us fired up without going over the top. A lot of maturity needed in this scenario.

Hopefully it is the theatre of dreams for the Chelsea team tonight

[Mark Kelly]

26 minutes ago, ROTG said:

Hopefully it is the theatre of dreams for the Chelsea team tonight

Makes a change from the "Bridge of sighs" 

[paulw66]

15 hours ago, ROTG said:

We also have 7 days between games to get the 1/2bn first team who are fit prepared. 

We played Sunday. We play tonight. 

We have 8 games in December. 

[paulw66]

16 hours ago, Dwmh said:

Of which Chilwell has made a difference in the past and Nkunku might in the future.
 

 

Well those two would definitely be impactful on the first team now. 

The others provide depth, which as Ham says, helps relieve pressure on those starters. Gusto, for example, might not be first choice, but he would have played on Sunday, and if James gets a knock, he plays. 

The bench tonight is going to have very few serious options, when it would be very useful to have players like Madueke and Chukwemeka, 

16 hours ago, Dwmh said:

 

We just played a side with 4 teenage starters in it - anyone mention that apart from me?

 

Why does anyone care about Brighton? We are talking about our absent players.

15 hours ago, Max Fowler said:

If we had Bettinelli, Petrovic, Beach, Chalobah, Maatsen, Gilchrist, Sarr, Brooking, Castledine, Stutter, Washington and Matos out you would be like OMG WE HAVE 12 PLAYERS INJURED.

Sure. 

As above, players like Chuk, Madueke, Gusto are not necessarily first choice, but they are needed. Games of football, especially now you can make 5 subs, are not about 11 players.

[Max Fowler]

4 minutes ago, paulw66 said:

Well those two would definitely be impactful on the first team now. 

The others provide depth, which as Ham says, helps relieve pressure on those starters. Gusto, for example, might not be first choice, but he would have played on Sunday, and if James gets a knock, he plays. 

The bench tonight is going to have very few serious options, when it would be very useful to have players like Madueke and Chukwemeka, 

Why does anyone care about Brighton? We are talking about our absent players.

Sure. 

As above, players like Chuk, Madueke, Gusto are not necessarily first choice, but they are needed. Games of football, especially now you can make 5 subs, are not about 11 players.

Madueke is needed, you’re right. He’s needed to sell so we can generate cash for someone half decent.

Gusto is only needed to stop our captain James getting injured every week. Chuk I’ll give you - he’s a miss.

[paulw66]

10 minutes ago, Max Fowler said:

Madueke is needed, you’re right. He’s needed to sell so we can generate cash for someone half decent.

 

Look at tonight's subs bench when it is announced, and then think whether or not it would be helpful to have him on it.

We will have 2 GKS, and a couple of unusable kids.

11 minutes ago, Max Fowler said:

 

Gusto is only needed to stop our captain James getting injured every week. Chuk I’ll give you - he’s a miss.

Quite. Both are needed. So are Chilwell and Nkunku. 

With no Gallagher and Ugochukwu, it would be more than handy to have Lavia. 

[Max Fowler]

5 minutes ago, paulw66 said:

Look at tonight's subs bench when it is announced, and then think whether or not it would be helpful to have him on it.

We will have 2 GKS, and a couple of unusable kids.

Quite. Both are needed. So are Chilwell and Nkunku. 

With no Gallagher and Ugochukwu, it would be more than handy to have Lavia. 

We also have 1 game a week and this is one of very few mid-week games we will have all season. Look, we agree these are handy players to have out - the main thing I am arguing is it's not a crisis by any stretch of the imagination.

[Max Fowler]

You have to say now we are coming up against United, I am really glad we have the squad, manager and owners we do compared to them. I think we largely have a group of good lads, good owners and a good manager. We need to improve yes but there are some likeable characters in our squad - yes including our Ukrainian winger!!! (how young we all look though, it's like a year 11s class with teachers thiago and sanchez in the front row)

 

 

Edited December 6, 2023 by Max Fowler

[paulw66]

17 minutes ago, Max Fowler said:

We also have 1 game a week and this is one of very few mid-week games we will have all season. Look, we agree these are handy players to have out - the main thing I am arguing is it's not a crisis by any stretch of the imagination.

Yes agreed, although right now, in December, it is 2 games a week.  Annoyingly all the players will come back just at the time we get back to 1 game a week.

[Max Fowler]

6 minutes ago, paulw66 said:

Yes agreed, although right now, in December, it is 2 games a week.  Annoyingly all the players will come back just at the time we get back to 1 game a week.

Again, any response to the board's short-sightedness in terms of those players being injury prone in the first place?! Fofana was a risky signing and has proved to be one. Making James and Chilwell captains was also an error. And Nkunku had a lot of recent knee problems meaning we should already have another top striker on our books but don't.

For me, putting that all down to luck is an easy get out from that reality.

[Max Fowler]

Yes Steinberg

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/dec/06/todd-boehly-mauricio-pochettino-chelsea-manchester-united-erik-ten-hag?CMP=share_btn_tw

[Mark Kelly]

16 minutes ago, Max Fowler said:

You have to say now we are coming up against United, I am really glad we have the squad, manager and owners we do compared to them. I think we largely have a group of good lads, good owners and a good manager. We need to improve yes but there are some likeable characters in our squad - yes including our Ukrainian winger!!! (how young we all look though, it's like a year 11s class with teachers thiago and sanchez in the front row)

 

 

I saw that earlier and it was headlined that it was Pochettino and the coaching staff showing them videos in an attempt to avoid the yellow cards that we are piling up.

I think your headline is the right one and someone in the media was making yet more anti Chelsea mischief. 

[Mark Kelly]

4 minutes ago, Max Fowler said:

Again, any response to the board's short-sightedness in terms of those players being injury prone in the first place?! Fofana was a risky signing and has proved to be one. Making James and Chilwell captains was also an error. And Nkunku had a lot of recent knee problems meaning we should already have another top striker on our books but don't.

For me, putting that all down to luck is an easy get out from that reality.

I believe the point being made by Ham and later by Paul is that despite who gets the blame for it , we do need to be able to rotate players , especially now the colder weather is upon us which leads to more muscle related injuries and that when other sides have three or four players out injured the media start banging the drum about "injury crises" and they have steadfast ignored any injury issues we have had  especially considering up to recently we have had 12 players unavailable , purely because we "signed everybody" and  purposefully  neglecting the fact that we sold , what was it , 16 first team squad members in the summer. 

I think they think once we sold those players we shouldn't have bothered replacing them because "Chelsea" 

[paulw66]

5 minutes ago, Mark Kelly said:

I believe the point being made by Ham and later by Paul is that despite who gets the blame for it , we do need to be able to rotate players , especially now the colder weather is upon us which leads to more muscle related injuries and that when other sides have three or four players out injured the media start banging the drum about "injury crises" and they have steadfast ignored any injury issues we have had  especially considering up to recently we have had 12 players unavailable , purely because we "signed everybody" and  purposefully  neglecting the fact that we sold , what was it , 16 first team squad members in the summer. 

I think they think once we sold those players we shouldn't have bothered replacing them because "Chelsea" 

Yes. All of this. 

 

[Ham]

1 hour ago, paulw66 said:

We played Sunday. We play tonight. 

We have 8 games in December. 

Let's not get all fixated on facts Paul....

50 minutes ago, Max Fowler said:

We also have 1 game a week and this is one of very few mid-week games we will have all season. Look, we agree these are handy players to have out - the main thing I am arguing is it's not a crisis by any stretch of the imagination.

Was about to respond to this and then Mark took the words out of my..... thumbs. 

[Dwmh]

50 minutes ago, paulw66 said:

Yes agreed, although right now, in December, it is 2 games a week.  Annoyingly all the players will come back just at the time we get back to 1 game a week.

1 game a month in January.  

Well one on the 13th, with the next PL game on Jan 31st.
One or two cup games, maybe a third if we beat newcastle in LC

[paulw66]

4 minutes ago, Dwmh said:

1 game a month in January.  

Well one on the 13th, with the next PL game on Jan 31st.
One or two cup games, maybe a third if we beat newcastle in LC

Yes, and that will be when we have a full squad. 

[Max Fowler]

1 hour ago, Mark Kelly said:

I believe the point being made by Ham and later by Paul is that despite who gets the blame for it , we do need to be able to rotate players , especially now the colder weather is upon us which leads to more muscle related injuries and that when other sides have three or four players out injured the media start banging the drum about "injury crises" and they have steadfast ignored any injury issues we have had  especially considering up to recently we have had 12 players unavailable , purely because we "signed everybody" and  purposefully  neglecting the fact that we sold , what was it , 16 first team squad members in the summer. 

I think they think once we sold those players we shouldn't have bothered replacing them because "Chelsea" 

Who is the media banging the drum about injury crises? I don't see them banging on about it with any other team, nor underreporting our own injury issues. The usual "whole world is against us" conspiracies rearing their boring and ugly head again.

[paulw66]

8 minutes ago, Max Fowler said:

Who is the media banging the drum about injury crises? I don't see them banging on about it with any other team, nor underreporting our own injury issues. The usual "whole world is against us" conspiracies rearing their boring and ugly head again.

Spurs.

Sky had a nice full graphic the other day, showing all the players out injured, by position. 

The list was par for us. 

[Backbiter]

5 minutes ago, paulw66 said:

Spurs.

Sky had a nice full graphic the other day, showing all the players out injured, by position. 

The list was par for us. 

And Newcastle.

[Max Fowler]

42 minutes ago, Backbiter said:

And Newcastle.

And there's a graphic from Sky showing our list of injuries this season and another one from last season

 

 

 

[Max Fowler]

49 minutes ago, paulw66 said:

Spurs.

Sky had a nice full graphic the other day, showing all the players out injured, by position. 

The list was par for us. 

I mean I am actually bored of this argument it's so trivial.

There's Sky from one month ago calling our injury "crisis" - a "crisis".

https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/12988367/how-much-time-do-you-have-pochettino-clears-up-injury-crisis