Football: “WHAT THE F*CK WAS THAT”?

[Jordan La Cabra]

Now I know how a Liverpool fan feels, watching my team have a keeper like Caballero playing!

ETA: And he’s just gone and pulled off a stunning save.

[Consigliere]

BHA have played quite well. Too bad they have no goal scoring threat. Nice and neat build up play which inevitably comes to nothing. Caballero is pants.

 

ETA. I see Kicker are reporting that Arsenal have made their first official offer for Aubameyang: €50m.

[Jordan La Cabra]

Good first half: both teams look good going forwards but both equally poor at the back.

In what could be his last game at Chelsea, Batshuayi has been pretty good. He’s held the ball up well and played some nice touches linking with Hazard and Willian; finishing has let him down a couple of times so far.

Three penalty shouts: two for Brighton and one for Chelsea. I think John Moss has got two out of three right; the first for Brighton was as clear a penalty as you’re likely to see.

[Dolorous Gabe]

1 hour ago, JordanJH1993 said:

It would be excellent business, if it happens. Džeko is a player I’ve always liked, and I was disappointed Chelsea didn’t try to sign him when Man City were letting him go.

What a few days ago looked like being a horrendous window for Chelsea might actually turn out good. The disappointing part is that, again, it is purely reactive. If we end of with Džeko and Emerson it will just paper over the clear cracks in our bizzare transfer policy. 

I love Edin, but man did he inspire some hate from other City fans. I changed seats because I was near a handful of "fans" who would spend their whole time during matches lambasting him.

One thing I will say is that he needs to be playing very regularly to be at his best. He needs to the main man up front. And even then, he's very erratic, fairly unreliable. He misses easy chances then puts away much harder ones, has days when the ball just won't stick to him.

But I did love the guy precisely for all his weirdness (and the 2nd goal against QPR in 2012 which made the winner possible). It was like having a superior version of His Bermudan Highness The Goat in the squad!

[Jordan La Cabra]

@Dolorous Gabe, I noticed he has a knack for scoring the spectacular. Didn’t know he also had a knack for missing easy chances - thanks for that! LOL

The point you make about him needing to consistently play is concerning, as, after all, Morata was a £60m signing, so despite his poor form, I’d still expect him to be first choice. Though, he did score at a respectable rate for Man City, despite never being the main man. One of Mourinho’s weirdest comments was after Man City had won the 13/14 league title, he said Džeko was the player of the year. Probably Jose trying to undermine Suarez that season, but still shows how well Džeko did that year, even if he started the season as third choice striker.

 

A really strong second half from Chelsea. Some of the link up play from Hazard and Willian - who has been our best player of late - was exquisite. 

Another clean sheet, even without our first choice keeper. Our defensive record is better this season than it was last season.

Disappointed Conte didn’t give Barkley minutes, but I presume that was because he had to use one of his substitutions on Christensen’s head injury. Delightful pass from Musonda, who came on instead, for Moses’ goal, though.

[Rorshach]

So we’ve started a game at home, after a Martinezque spell (again), and we gift West Brom a goal within seven minutes.

West Brom. 

I didn’t really want Allardici as our manager, but thought «okay, he’ll get a shot». 

He didn’t have much leeway, seeing as I have hopes for our ambition. And now, if the board has some ambition as well, plans are being laid to get a competent manager in the summer. If Samuele stays over the summer, next season if f*cked.

[polishgenius]

Arsenal splatting Palace today.

[Mark Antony]

Yeah that Lacazette goal was filthy. 

[Dolorous Gabe]

1 hour ago, JordanJH1993 said:

@Dolorous Gabe, I noticed he has a knack for scoring the spectacular. Didn’t know he also had a knack for missing easy chances - thanks for that! LOL

The point you make about him needing to consistently play is concerning, as, after all, Morata was a £60m signing, so despite his poor form, I’d still expect him to be first choice. Though, he did score at a respectable rate for Man City, despite never being the main man. One of Mourinho’s weirdest comments was after Man City had won the 13/14 league title, he said Džeko was the player of the year. Probably Jose trying to undermine Suarez that season, but still shows how well Džeko did that year, even if he started the season as third choice striker.

That was why I thought it worth mentioning.

Even I, who really liked him and defended him a lot, accepted that he could be incredibly frustrating. Great goalscorer no doubt, just incredibly uneven in performance.

Yaya was our best player in 13/14. He had an amazing season. Not sure what happened to Negredo. For 2-3 months he looked a world beater then it all went pear-shaped, seemingly for his whole career. Aguero was injured a lot but was banging them in for fun when fit. But it was definitely Edin's best season in a City shirt.

[polishgenius]

Horror injury for James McCarthy. Got his leg in the way as Rondon went to shoot and snapped his shin. Complete accident, Rondon was in floods of tears apparently.

[Daemon the Leaner]

Heh, that was boring. We were so slow and unsharp in the midfield, especially Mata and Matic. Lingard was pretty invisible too. Pogba did well but he bottled a clear chance of doing the break. Martial looked lazy but what a goal he scored.

At least we got the 3pts. Hopefully we manage to annouce Sanchez any time soon, his arrival is going to be a good breath.

Given his last performances, I'd clearly throw Mata out of the squad instead of the Chilean.

[Consigliere]

Scrappy but I'll take it. Burnley are tough to beat. It was really annoying though just how much selfish play there was from us and this is not something new either. I've said this before - Lukaku makes so many good runs but he is surrounded by selfish players who rarely look to pick him out.

[Rorshach]

29 minutes ago, polishgenius said:

Horror injury for James McCarthy. Got his leg in the way as Rondon went to shoot and snapped his shin. Complete accident, Rondon was in floods of tears apparently.

Rondon definetly was in tears. Didn’t do anything wrong, really - horribly unlucky.

Also unlucky for McCarthy, but I would have put serious money on him being injured first. Still have no idea why he was preferred over other options.

Oh, and #Allardiciout

[polishgenius]

1 hour ago, Consigliere said:

Scrappy but I'll take it. Burnley are tough to beat. It was really annoying though just how much selfish play there was from us and this is not something new either. I've said this before - Lukaku makes so many good runs but he is surrounded by selfish players who rarely look to pick him out.

Even Pogba offended a couple of times on this score.

Poor Rashford, when he came on, tried but his passing was shocking. I think that even though Jose is clearly trying to keep (unusually for him) the confidence up by continuing Rashford's record of playing in every game so far, it might be necessary to just drop him for a game or two and see if he can reboot the system.

[Consigliere]

1 hour ago, polishgenius said:

Even Pogba offended a couple of times on this score.

Poor Rashford, when he came on, tried but his passing was shocking. I think that even though Jose is clearly trying to keep (unusually for him) the confidence up by continuing Rashford's record of playing in every game so far, it might be necessary to just drop him for a game or two and see if he can reboot the system.

I think Rashford's goal drought has affected him. He's just trying to do too much and ends up not doing the basics right and being selfish. I expect him to play against Yeovil though.

[A Horse Named Stranger]

On 18.1.2018 at 11:00 PM, polishgenius said:

It's a fair point that it wouldn't be just Hazard. As I said though I don't think they should go near Neymar, he's clearly poison, and Lewandowski would be a strange one considering he's a year younger than Benzema and a year older than Bale. He's obviously better than Benzema right now, sure, and not a pace-reliant player or anything, but it seems a curious idea to replace aging galacticos with one in the exact same age bracket.

Lewandowski's injury history looks somewhat better than Bales though. My memory might be wrong there, but I can't recall a serious Lewandowski injury. And Lewandowski is inline with the Galacticos idea of having the best player (or at least the biggest names). And as I don't see Messi leaving Barcelona any time soon, Neymar and Lewandowski are arguably the next best thing.

On 19.1.2018 at 2:31 PM, Horse of Kent said:

Been expected for so long that it does not rankle too much. I don't blame him for wanting to go, but maintaining the pretense for so long that he was considering renewing when everyone knew it was a lie seems unnecessary. Though nowhere near as good a player, Meyer will be worse if he leaves given all the club has done for him. No doubt he would settle straight back into bad habits as soon as he left Tedesco and returned to attacking midfield.

Basically this. In other news, Gladbach seems to be confident, that they will get Oxford back soonish. At least that's how Eberl sounded.

Also T-ROD xd. So Köln isn't dead just yet. This is gonna be interesting, as I can reasonably see them clawing their way back. They have a midtable team quality esp. with their injured players coming back for the second half of the season (like Jonas Hector). Assuming Bremen loses to Bayern tomorrow it's just 4 points to the play-off spot (well and the goal difference which is probably beyond repair).

Hint for the Liverpool fans, if Köln drops, Hector would be a decent left back, and Horn quite a good goalkeeper. I am curious if they will stick around for a year if Köln dropped, or if they left the club.

[polishgenius]

Well, the Mikhi-Sanchez swap deal looks set pending medicals. Let's hope both teams can get a better attitude out of their new guy than their old one.

[Mark Antony]

I’m surprised it’s a straight swap but I guess it makes sense since Sanchez would have walked in a few months.

if they can get Aubameyang I think it’s a decent window for Arsenal though it might be hard for Wenger to fit Lacazette/Ozil/Mhki/Auba in the same 11?

[polishgenius]

39 minutes ago, Mark Antony said:

if they can get Aubameyang I think it’s a decent window for Arsenal though it might be hard for Wenger to fit Lacazette/Ozil/Mhki/Auba in the same 11?

I think the sensible approach would be put Ozil out on the left- he's the one leaving, so it'd make sense to play the other three in roles they are used to. All three can play on the right as well as their central role, so you'll presumably see the two forwards sharing time between center forward and wing with Mkhi drifting around no10.
And then getting an actual left sider in summer to slot into a group that are otherwise used to each other will make the whole thing much easier.

[Consigliere]

I think its ended up being a good deal for both clubs. If Arsenal sign Auba then I think that will give the club a short term morale boost but I don't think Auba+Mkhi will make Arsenal any better. Afterall having Özil+Sanchez for a few years did not translate to a title challenge due to Arsenal failing to adequately address the issues in midfield and defence. Auba+Mkhi do nothing to address these long standing issues.