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Football: the winter break


Iskaral Pust

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Damn, it looks like I've missed an awesome 1st half in the Bournemouth/Watford game. 

As for our game, Rafa has set Newcastle up the way I expected him to and they are proving to be difficult to break down. I'm kinda expecting one clinical counter from Newcastle to sucker punch us and see the game out 1-0. It's also become blatantly clear that Valencia is finished. His decline started last season and is in full swing now. Valencia/Mata was absolutely the worst combination that Solskjaer could have picked for our right side. 

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3 minutes ago, Consigliere said:

Damn, it looks like I've missed an awesome 1st half in the Bournemouth/Watford game. 

As for our game, Rafa has set Newcastle up the way I expected him to and they are proving to be difficult to break down. I'm kinda expecting one clinical counter from Newcastle to sucker punch us and see the game out 1-0. It's also become blatantly clear that Valencia is finished. His decline started last season and is in full swing now. Valencia/Mata was absolutely the worst combination that Solskjaer could have picked for our right side. 

Yup. Would have definitely seen a Young-Alexis partnership on the right side. Hopefully both of 'em are gonna come into the 2nd half.

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Alexis was terrible apart from the assist, but hopefully that's a match-fitness thing and he comes more into it. Or just isn't played coz if these games have proven anything, it's that the assertion that our squad lacks depth is laughable at least in attack.

The Christmas period has given us some really good results but we do still need to prove we can beat the teams above us to really be in that race for the CL.

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7 hours ago, Soylent Brown said:

They're certainly attacking with more freedom, and everyone's happier and more positive, but watching tonight it kind of felt like it was a bunch of dudes each just doing their own thing, rather than anything else.

Well, Lukaku and Pogba did lack collective mind in 2nd half. But apart from these 2 chances where players simply didn't have the vision clear enough to pass the ball, we actually tried to create a lot collectively, especially in 1st half. For sure I'm aware that there was near zero movement around the ball at some point, fatigue played there.

6 hours ago, Mark Antony said:

They play Spurs the 13th at Wembley 

I don't usually say this sorta things, but I honestly think that the most important about this game will be the way we set up and envision it, rather than the score. Considering our record at Wembley, I'll take one point as a heroic performance, but what I want first and foremost is us to play & press high.

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9 hours ago, mormont said:

It's almost as if the manager was the problem.

The managers job is too manage, which he clearly wasn't doing very well. But it's also the players job to play. And they were doing a shite job at that.  Equal amounts of blame if you ask me. 

I used to have to play for my dad as manager, which was a fucking nightmare. And I never swanned around like a big tart like most of these fuckers did.  

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Teams just seem to be working out that if you sit back and defend deep against Chelsea, you have a good chance of getting a positive result.

For all the attacking players we had in our starting line up, it was ridiculous that we were unable to create more opportunities. Some of the best passing in the game actually came from our two centre backs - they were two of the only players that showed any kind of urgency to get the ball forward quickly. 

I would like to see Sarri give Fabregas a chance in a game like this; he created more when he came on as a sub in the second half than Jorginho did the entire game. Maybe against opposition that are going to try bring the game to us, Fabregas may not have the mobility Jorginho does, but in games where will have most of the ball, Fabregas is needed, because his ability to take a touch, look up and play a ball forward quickly is rivalled only by Luiz in our squad. Too often the likes of Jorginho and Barkley play two touch but it's always side to side.

Given that we have Willian, Pedro and Hudson-Odoi all injured, it would be nice if we had Pulisic around.

 

ETA: https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11668/11597568/chelsea-and-monaco-close-to-cesc-fabregas-deal

Chelsea's transfer policy...

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1 hour ago, BigFatCoward said:

The managers job is too manage, which he clearly wasn't doing very well. But it's also the players job to play. And they were doing a shite job at that.  Equal amounts of blame if you ask me. 

Given Mourinho's track record, surely most of the blame falls on him. It's a universal truth that a toxic work environment = poor employee morale = low productivity. Just because we are talking about well paid footballers here doesn't make that any less true. It can't be a coincidence that every single job where Mourinho has reached a 3rd season has seen a major falling out with players combined with a drop off in performance levels.

 

1 hour ago, Ser Glendon Fireball said:

Well, Lukaku and Pogba did lack collective mind in 2nd half. But apart from these 2 chances where players simply didn't have the vision clear enough to pass the ball, we actually tried to create a lot collectively, especially in 1st half. For sure I'm aware that there was near zero movement around the ball at some point, fatigue played there.

We've actually looked more cohesive in these last few games. Previously we often looked like a bunch of players who have never played together before especially when it came to attacking. 

 

1 hour ago, Ser Glendon Fireball said:

I don't usually say this sorta things, but I honestly think that the most important about this game will be the way we set up and envision it, rather than the score. Considering our record at Wembley, I'll take one point as a heroic performance, but what I want first and foremost is us to play & press high.

I think we have to set up a bit more conservatively. A high line with both fullbacks pushed up is just asking for trouble against Spurs. They are very polished at playing through a press and exploiting space out wide. Just look at how they ruthlessly picked apart Everton who also held a high line with fullbacks pushed up. 

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Slightly unusual City lineup with Stones, Kompany and Laporte all in the team. Maybe 3 at the back or Laporte at left back? Has Guardiola completely out foxed Klopp? Is this a sign of how dire their situation is a left back? Fuck.

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22 minutes ago, Ser Glendon Fireball said:

Legend says that someday Juve will miss a good deal in a transfer window.

They’ve had some great free transfers in the last few years, especially Pirlo and Pogba.  But I’m not sure Emre Can and Ramsey will have quite the same effect.  And they overpaid for Ronaldo, giving them a time pressure window to win the CL before he declines much further.

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