That’s a bit extreme.
Henderson is going nowhere, but he does need to be moving now towards a position where he isn’t a regular starter - fulfilling the role Milner has played.
Thiago has been frustrating but his quality is screamingly obvious.
Naby and Ox are the ones who are in the danger zone, transferwise. Even then I would only want one to go.
I’d be looking to bring in one absolute belter this summer, paying whatever it takes. I can’t get past Jude Bellingham.
Complete fluke. But can’t say it wasn’t deserved. It is the second one that I’m passed off about. It’s just so lethargic from everyone. Seeing out a couple of minutes to half time should be easy enough.
Yeah I think the disruptions are more important than people think, people go off on players who have a poor game but Covid ruined a very good situation for us when others sat off for two weeks (yes some had Covid but plenty of those did not).
We needed to be perfect and we have been far from these last few weeks, get fourth and concentrate on the other games, we can compete with the very best.
Maybe next season in the league works better for us, as we will miss most of December.
Plenty to look forward to anyhow.
By the way, I’m not giving up on this league yet. Virgil is spot on. There is a long way to go.
It might seem insurmountable to bridge that gap to City, and in other seasons it would be. But this season is going to be weird, and it’s not out of the question that City could find themselves with a covid situation that costs them a few points.
We’ve got to get our act together though.
He is being asked to play the role Elliot excelled in. Basically becoming the wide right midfielder with Trent and Salah coming infield. An offensive triangle which passes and moves together and creates overloads. When it works it’s brilliant… when it doesn’t we are wide open.
The problem is Hendo can’t play that role and what keeps happening is both he and Trent are caught up field when we lose the ball which happens over and over.
You are right Hendo needs to play that no.8 box to box he was brilliant as. He is also being overplayed after being rushed back for the Euros, minimal preseason and rest and now doing huge minutes again.
You have a point @mattyhurst but it is what it is, though Chelsea played better than us today, we were overrun in midfield when they played with 3 in the back and 5 midfielders.
Only when they switched to 4 in the back and 3 midfielders did we get some control, it helped that Keïta replaced Milner. Milner is no starter anymore, no shame in that at 36 and certainly not against a top 3 side like Chelsea but he is a last 20 minutes guy nowadays IMO.
I was slightly surprised at the number of times he got caught ahead of the Chelsea players. They found he space behind him and our back line a little too easily for my liking. That’s not all on Fabinho by any means but to me shows that our overall shape and positioning was off.
Please feck off. Never a red.
I’d love to see the one that Mount left on Kostas. Media outlets seem reluctant to mention it.
There were no red card offences in the game, bored of reading about them already.
I’m actually really upset with myself for leaving Cesar off my slappable face list.
Every time I see that cunt he is moaning about something, be it onfield or off it.
See above.
For me it’s pretty simple.
Mane is a red as clear as day.
Mount’s isn’t.
You get some (today), you don’t get some (Kane on Robbo).
The consistency of these decisions also needs improving, that is also clear.
He is right up there with Richarlison on the slappable face list
Surely slapping Richarlison would hurt? It would be like slapping a pick axe.
That was what Chelsea did all game in truth. Most of their attacks down that side were through outnumbering, forcing Trent upfield to defend and then pulling Konaté across leaving the vacancy in the middle with Virg covering two players. Not sure where Henderson was all game to help provide cover (pretty sure he was on the right) but teams are certainly starting to do this more regularly.
Great game for the neutral, but obvs not for the fans as 3 pts needed to row city back in. Both teams punched themselves to a standstill first half and a somewhat fortunate Chelski 1st goal fired them up in the final 5 mins.
Overall, a draw probably a fair reflection of the game, but it feels like we gave up our lead too easily.
I could live with the pain for the pure satisfaction
I’ve got mixed emotions at the midfield right now. Milner I’ll give a pass because he’s about 40 so I’ll forgive his reaction speed being about half a second slower than everyone else, and both Henderson and Fab have just had COVID I believe so they aren’t in rhythm, but Christ that lack of form in midfield has really fucking stung the last few weeks. The three looked seriously lethargic and were second best to most balls in the first half.
I would actually play Henderson and Fab in the cup games and try to get them into some sort of rhythm.
Mount’s petulant kick out typifies that team. Fake hard asses
While your loyalty to these players is admirable. How many of Henderson, Milner, Ox, Kieta and Thiago consistently get into the starting 11 at City or Chelsea? I use the word consistently, as you need to be able to stay fit to do so. Zero?
Compare that to how many of our defenders and strikers get into them same two teams and maybe then you’ll see through the rose-tinted glasses.
Hendo and Milly are two of my favourite players, but they’ve had their time. Keita and Thiago will never be consistently fit to let us benefit from their unquestionable ability… and well, Ox never got over the injury in the CL, he shouldn’t be near a team chasing PL’s and CL’s.