Chelsea 2017/18 thread - FA Cup Champs, League chumps
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) is joined by CEO Duncan Drasdo and Financial Director Andy Green from the Manchester United Supporters Trust for a special episode on all things behind the scenes at Old Trafford including a brief history of MUST and their aims today, views on INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe so far, and the Old Trafford regeneration.
Its just sad so see a fellow Chelsea fan embarrass himself on a rivals forum like this.
Cahill is your best and most consistent CB along with Azpilicuetta. You practically said Lindelof is better then all of your CB while saying he is no good.I feel like I'm missing some sort of joke here...
My prediction is that Chelsea will fight for Europa League. Quote me on this.
You mean they will finish 3rd in the CL group? Or you mean they would be fighting for Everton for 6th place?
Eitherway, it seems you just outdid TMB on being delusional.
Cahill is nowhere near as good as Luiz. He's our best CB at attacking corners but far too error prone defensively-he tends to back off attackers and allow them too much space in and around the box.
I agree Cahill is not as good as Luiz, but Luiz himself is not good enough to play for a top team. His ideal level is some team like Everton or Liverpool. Far too error prone and cant play as a part of a back 4.
Azpilicueta is not a CB anyway and Rudiger is about level with Lindelof (just a bit more error prone). Christensen might become better than all the players mentioned but that is few years away.
I know you're a Chelsea fan but I think you're underrating Azpi and Luiz. I think they're both good enough to play for any top side in the Prem. I agree that they're more suited to a back 3 but I don't think that's a negative. Can't talk about Lindelof and Rudiger as I haven't seen enough of them to comment.
Luiz's struggles in a back 4 are overstated. He was playing through injury when peak Barca destroyed PSG; his level is comfortably above Everton and Liverpool. Yes he's more suited to a back 3 but that doesn't mean he can't play in a back 4.
Christensen has shown more for Monchengladbach than either Rudiger or Lindelof. Lindelof has made a total of 48 senior appearances for Benfica in what is frankly a pretty crap league; going from Liga NOS to the PL is a huge step in terms of pressing and pace and I think he'll really struggle to cope.
Did he have an injury during the world cup too? What about during the disastrous game vs Uruguay.
Christensen has had a very underwhelming second year at Borussia. He is nowhere near being a starter for a PL team.
I mean youll be fighting for Europa league in the 2018/2019 season.
It's amazing how we've won the league 2 out of that last 3 seasons, given how crap half our team is according to some.
Playing a 2 man midfield against top teams should no longer be an option for us, exposed
Marcelo was far worse in that game than Luiz. 6 of the 7 goals Germany scored came from his side. Fernandinho was also appalling. Luiz didn't cover himself in glory but he was hardly the worst offender.
Christensen struggled at times but the team was going through a crisis; hard to attribute too much blame when the whole side was unsettled. Hard to argue that he isn't ready to play for a PL side when he has put in his best performances against the likes of Juventus, Bayern, and Dortmund.
Let me refresh your failing memory on what a completely headless chicken Luiz was in that game. An absolute failure and disgrace to our nation. Abomination of a Captain.
Yeah I dont rate Marcelo as a serious defender either and wouldn't (ideally) want him at Chelsea either and Fernandinho even less so. That does no take anything away from the fact that Luiz is a poor CB.
Christensen is fine. He just needs game time to become consistent.
We have several limitations by the looks of it.Playing a 2 man midfield against top teams should no longer be an option for us, exposed
3-4-3 is not a viable formation with Fabregas on the pitch atleast against the top teams anyway.
3-5-2 would mean that Hazard would need to be beanched which will never happen.
4-1-4-1 would require FBs and CBs far more competent than we currently have.
The only hope is that Bakayoko and Morata hit the ground running and we keep playing like last season.
Weren't in Europe? That's a bizarre comment. It's not just the teams you play it's being in the mindset of traveling, playing multiple times in a week and adapting style to that of your continental opposition.
I'm obviously not saying he had a good game, the whole team was atrocious. How he somehow came out as the main scapegoat is utterly bizarre to me though when it should be obvious to anyone who watched the match that Fernandinho and Marcelo were far far worse. Fernandinho in particular-the reason Luiz is having to hit most of those aimless balls over the top is because no one from the midfield is making themselves available. Why this is Luiz's fault is beyond me.
Agree with the bolded for sure. Re: the 3-5-2, I could see it working with Hazard as one of the two or playing behind the two, although in the latter scenario distribution from midfield might be somewhat limited. In theory though, this would be mitigated by more crossing. Who knows, I'm excited to have a more versatile squad; I think Conte has shown that he doesn't lack for tactical flexibility and willingness to make adjustments.
Luiz was the SOLE culprit for that loss. Giving the ball away for goals opened the flood gates for Germany. His positioning was nonexistent and he was an abomination to the flag and nation. Worst performance from a Brazilian, ever. After half an hour, the game was over because Luiz had already been at fault for more than one goal, and his allround performance over what was left of the game deteriorated to nothing short of an embarrassment to his shirt, the fans who watched on and the manager who made him captain.
Luiz lost his marker for the first goal, a volleyed finish by Muller from a corner kick, but there was an element of good positional play by Mueller's team-mates, which prevented Luiz from following the forwardard, so not completely his fault.
By the time Brazil were pulled all over the show for 2-0, Luiz and his team visibly wilted in their desire to match the Germans' running, and then the collapse began.
For goals four and five-and it's a mark of Luiz, Marcelo and the others' shambolic display that "goals four and five" weren't even the end of the trampling—though, the part that David Luiz played was unforgivable, unforgettable, inexplicable. With the centre-backs split, Luiz was stationed down the right channel when his team-mate lost the ball. Did he charge back, aggressively looking to stop another goal going in? No. A half-hearted jog, a wave of the arm like he could care less at what was happening. Moments later, Brazil's CAPTAIN and first-choice central defender opted to back out of a tackle as Sami Khedira ended up making it 5-0.
A second-half challenge by Mueller on Luiz caused a moment of outrage by the defender; in truth there was nothing much in the tackle, and Mueller won the ball. A moment later, though, Luiz purposely turned in possession toward Mueller, kneeling on the ground, and tried to absolutely hammer the ball at him from about five yards. Luiz should have been sent off for a clear case of intent to hurt his opponent.
Continuing Luiz's Sideshow Bob antics of the match, he rather predictably missed the ball entirely. Perhaps that alone saved him from an early exit as the boos and insults rained down on those in yellow from the stands.
His mind was completely gone from the game by that point, but it is a 90 minutes he will hellishly relive time and time again over the remainder of his life. 2014 was supposed to be redemption for Brazil for their 1950 defeat, and Luiz had the opportunity to lead the side through to the final. What Brazil got from him instead was a diabolical individual performance in a hugely inept team display and a result to haunt everybody involved with the side for the rest of their careers and lives.
Being English, I was obviously supporting you lot but this is still hilarious. Seems like its etched in your memory for ever, unless you trounce the germans in the final sometime anyways.
Ha ha - and here's you calling out practically every fan of a supporting club on the forum and then coming up with that !
Lost away at Feyenoord.
Struggled to beat Zorya at OT 1-0 (who) ?
Lost away at Fenerbahce 3-1
Struggled to overcome Rostov 2-1 on agg.
Struggled to overcome Anderlecht 3-2 on agg.
Massive struggle to overcome Celta 2-1 on agg. and that only due to an unbelievable miss by Celta from 5m in the last minute !
The final was one of your easiest matches by far.
United fans were less than pleased with your performance in the EL. Anyone following the Caf knows that.
Don't gauge a fanbase's feelings by an internet forum.
Let's just say that some here can be a tad dramatic at times.
Nice selective results. I wouldn't expect you to know a great deal about playing in Europe but it's more about getting the team used to winning and competing several times per week whilst traveling all over the continent.
Considering how the fixtures piled up (also winning a domestic trophy), along with the injures towards the end, being victorious was a great achievement. Something Liverpool were unable to muster.
You are the epitome of a muppet in general. No I would not change half the team but with the amount of players we are selling/have sold or have gone out on loan we need a lot more signings than I would have initially thought. Its not about thinking this is Fifa or Football Manager, there is a common misconception now when squads look to strengthen and someone's first response is but what will happen to "Player X" or he wont start ahead of "Player Z" people forget you need to have a competitive squad to bring the best out of everyone, do you think that is Bayern's initial thought when they sign a player? No because it provides depth and Rotation. A lot of the players we sign isn't even about them necessarily being massive upgrades on our XI (who were fantastic last year) its about providing alternatives and competition.
United were very good in Europe last season at a much lower quality, its like saying Newcastle were good in the championship so would be good in the Prem, you literally scraped through a tournament were you had the best run of very weak teams compared to previous years and on top of that never really set the tournament a light. So judgement is definitely still out on you making the step up.
As for Bayern obliterating us, completely agree we weren't great our first 30 min let us down and we started slow and came back into the game. But this was Bayern's 6/7th game and our second so pinch of salt. I'm sure Madrid are not panicking over losing to City last night.
Batshuayi is a good striker IMO. Morata might have to battle a bit.
Yeah I think where last year we had one really good option in Costa (for the first half of the season) and Batshuayi wasn't used or really match fit when he did play, this year we have two strikers with good potential to fight it out for the spot which I definitely prefer.
Ha ha - the deflection /slight of hand here is spectacular. Let's look at your comment again shall we ? The Religion : United were very good in Europe last season.
Didn't you brush aside Arsenal with ease the other day?
I know
This is just a little banter to a poster always ready to jump down any opposition fans' throat.Last season David Luiz had exactly 1 error leading to a goal, the same as Toby Alderweireld. John Stones and Gary Cahill both had 7.
We did and we looked sharp, against Bayern we looked tired though and really sluggish, interestingly more the first half though which kind of defeats the fatigue argument because we got better the more the game went on. Hope morata and rudiger both start against Inter.
We did but it's pre season. Hammering Arsenal or getting outplayed by Bayern means nothing.
United won the competition.
The competition was/is a pile of wank. Better to win it than not of course but come on, you beat Rostov, Anderlecht, The Dog & Dock, Zorya and Ajax.
I actually googled that.
What a load of absolute nonsense. Blaming a single player for a 7-1 loss, come off it.
The point you were trying to make is you did well in europe last year and so you feel you will do well again this year.
The point hes making (the correct one) is the quality of teams you played were many many steps below the champions league and even actually at a low for that competition itself.
Hope we all understand.
Again you seem to miss the point.
Perhaps it's a Chelsea thing..
The point I was making was United are in the routine of European football. Chelsea are not.
Please keep up.
Thats like saying Leeds are in the routine of English football. Sure they are.