...::[The Footy Desk]::... (Part 2)

[Jason]

No doubt I'll say this and in 20 games time someone will be running away with it and making me look like a fool, but holy crap it feels like anyone can win the title this season. Everyone is dropping points, no game is a certainty. If any one team near the top can string together 4 or 5 wins on the bounce they are all of a sudden gonna be top of the table.

[Eutyphro]

It's true. Even United is still in it I think. Every team has their own set of issues to be honest. Let's take Chelsea, their midfield shape doesn't work. I know Lampard likes Mount, who's decent. But Mount is an attacking midfielder/winger. If you want to play with Havertz who is a pure 10 that plays right behind the striker you should preferably play Kovacic as a starter as a double pivot with Kante.

 

Also yeah Werner was terrible today and the experiment of Werner as a winger is hit and miss. I think if Ziyech plays on the right wing it becomes a more balanced option. Chelsea really has an incredible amount of quality, I also think Hudson-Odoi is very good on the right wing, but there's a real lack of balance, and Lampard needs to make some real choices to benefit the whole team in stead of play favoritism with players that cost a lot of money or that he likes. Top coaches like Guardiola, Klopp, Mourinho, Flick, have a system, an idea. Lampard does not have this. He makes a list of his favorite players and then makes the formation after. This is wrong.

As for United's issues, I think their biggest issues are that Maguire is terrible on the ball and you can't play out from the back with him, and that they don't have a great option for the right wing. Recently they tried to solve the lack of right winger by playing 442, which works as a defensive shape, but creatively is just horrible. I repeat, it's genuinely better to start Lingard on the right wing than not play with a right wing. Even a mediocre work horse can be useful to widen the play.

[TheSantader25]

If Chelsea have Ziyech and Pulisic available at the same time they can have a chance. In that way they can play them on the wings with havertz as 10 and Werner at the front. Mount and Abraham are overrated and Lampard is biased towards English players IMO. Though still sometimes he has no choice because of the injuries. 

 

I've never seen a Guardiola side play this horribly in the front. They lack creativity. I feel like Pep gives them too many instructions to the point that it kills their freedom and creativity. 

Edited December 16, 2020 by TheSantader25

[Laker23]

Pep needs to change something because it's not working. Playing two holding mids every game regardless of the opponent is painful.

 

I'm assuming this change is because of a lack of Silva, but nearly every game I watch them they do nothing, and whilst the 20 plus shot stats look pretty, the quality of those chances are abysmal.

 

 

 

 

[TheSantader25]

Jeez. What an intense game this one is. 

[Jason]

Leeds are living up the hype, absolute blockbuster entertainment every game. Though I do worry for them once Biesla goes cause I really hope they can cement them selves as a PL mainstay again, but it's so very easy for clubs coming up to get stuck in a manager merry go round.

 

As for Arsenal, it will be interesting to see who they pick up as their new manager cause they've sorta ran out of options at this point but Arteta needs to go.

[TheSantader25]

Liverpool played incredible in the first half. That's exactly how you play against teams like Tottenham. Not many teams if any can transport the ball as fast as Liverpool. 

[Lonely-Martin]

So close to stealing a point there, lol. We really should have been destroyed in that first half, but had we took our chances in the 2nd, never know.

 

But unfortunately Liverpool are off, there's no team catching them now and I'll be surprised if they lose one more. Eww!

 

Still gonna enjoy the gooners mess no less.

[Laker23]

Fantastic match. Hard to argue Liverpool didn't deserve the points, despite being predictably jammy by getting them at the end.

 

I still fully believe City will be in the top 2 come the end of the season, but they have no chance of catching Pool unless they rapidly start to get their sh*t together.

[A Nusscream]

Drop De Gea they said

 

Start Benderson they said

[Jason]

Well that was a bit of unexpected squeaky bum time in the end. Neither keeper comes out of that one looking well, but I'll take it. 

[TheSantader25]

Yeah. Nobody's touching this Liverpool. 

[Lonely-Martin]

Yep! Liverpool are off, uugh!

[Laker23]

It feels strange as hell watching City this year. Pep prioritising keeping it tight at the back, happy to hold slender leads.

[TheSantader25]

Said it right in the beginning of the season. Koeman did everything right except for offloading Suarez to a direct rival called Atleti with no replacement. This mistake is gonna cost him the job. We have to aim for top 4 at least with the way we're heading. He's lucky the election is in January and the club has no boss atm. I just hope Atletico actually WIN La liga this season. Can't stand Real winning another undeserved title. 

Edited December 19, 2020 by TheSantader25

[Jason]

10 hours ago, Laker23 said:

It feels strange as hell watching City this year. Pep prioritising keeping it tight at the back, happy to hold slender leads.

 

They've never recovered from losing Kompany. Laporte is a good player but I don't think Pep has much talent for spotting centrebacks or getting the best out of them, and he lucked out massively with Kompany who would run through walls for city regardless of who the manager was. He also keeps insisting on playing Kyle Walker who is a basically guaranteed a blunder at least one a game, that doesn't help.

[Lonely-Martin]

Lame. Didn't even turn up and not exactly beaten by a rampant Leicester, lol. Hell, Vardy looked absolutely knackered from kick off and still turned us over. Awful week for us, and just as Aurier starts to get praise, he folds back into his stupid crap. He's just a liability when we're under a bit of pressure, not good enough at all.

 

We've had some good and some bad this season so far, but top 4 will be a tough ask given just how all over the place teams are below Liverpool, who'll get no challengers this year unfortunately.

 

That said, another loss for the gooners and this spanking Leeds are taking will surely help me smile.

Edited December 20, 2020 by Lonely-Martin

[TheSantader25]

It's funny how people are acting as if United are in some sort of a crisis. I know they got knocked out of the CL but they are actually just two points behind Liverpool considering their leftover game. 

Edited December 20, 2020 by TheSantader25

[Laker23]

That game certainly lived up to my expectations of there being a lot of goals. Fantastic watch.

 

Now bring on the Christmas schedule. 

[Jason]

Listen, Biesla is a great manager and all but that was one of the most naive performances I have ever seen in my life in the Premier League.

 

He set them to not only lose, but to get battered. There was a lot of praise during the game by pundits and commentators for Leeds, how they could come back from 3 or even 4 goals down... No they couldn't. They were absolutely butchered by United in every sense of the word and never once looked like they were getting back into the game.

 

Our weakness attacking wise is breaking teams down who sit deep and park the bus but our absolute strength is counter attacking football and the way Leeds setup is exactly how Ole dreamed they would when he went to sleep last night. They were lucky they didn't concede double figures and  that is all they can take away from that game.

 

Biesla will probably keep them up this year purely because of how poor the teams below them are but I would not be surprised if they start to struggle in the second half of the season as teams figure them out on their second match against them.

[Girish]

That's gotta be the worst 3-0 win that I've seen from Chelsea. I guess we were due a bit of luck but that was really painful to watch until the second goal. Jorginho should absolutely not be starting against Arsenal... we were losing the battle in the midfield and looked much better once Kova came on.
 

And I don't even know what to say about Timo... missed a sitter and then hits the post... how unlucky can one be! At least, he's trying and not giving up.

[Lonely-Martin]

Cool. Through to as nice a semi as could have hoped.

[TheSantader25]

I've always loved the way Brendan Rodgers sets up his teams. If he was just a tad bit more pragmatic, he could really get to the next level and win some trophies. 

[Laker23]

Tough luck, deserved all three points. Two sloppy goals to concede, which hurts more because Leicester barely created anything of note.

 

Surprised Mike Dean didn't send Bruno off, the guy lives for those moments.

[Jason]

Missed the game but regardless of the performance (which sounds positive) a draw away vs Leicester is not a bad result at all, they're probably one of the top 5 teams in the league for me.

 

Hoping we can sneak in a centreback in January to help tighten up the defence though. Lindelof has his good games but we need someone who can dominate the defence every week, Maguire doesn't do it either really but Lindelof is the weakest of the two. We sorely need a Rio or a Vidic type player if we're gonna reestablish our selves.

[Girish]

Yup, there's Chelsea single-handedly saving Arteta and reviving Arsenal's season. I can already see the pundits discussing Lampard's exit the same way they were discussing Arteta's and I wouldn't blame them. Lamps has been clueless after the Sevilla game and he's repeating the same mistakes game after game. I mean, I can take a loss if we're playing good but the last 3-4 games have been piss poor. No control in midfield, looking clueless off the ball and nothing to offer in the final third. Now it's just a matter of time before RA loses patience because these are not the kind of performances that one expects after spending 200m+.

 

Edit: 3-0. lol. When things go wrong, they have to go horribly wrong, don't they?

[Eutyphro]

Yeah, the 4231 with the youngsters on the pitch is a big big improvement for Arsenal. As for Pool and City, both of them, though Pool's game is still going, seem to have games where they absolutely dominate and the opponent is nowhere.

Edited December 27, 2020 by Eutyphro

[Jason]

I'm Arteta's biggest critic at this point but that game might have been the eye opener he needed to save his job. He keeps playing the trash, some of which are his signings. They looked like a brand new team with a bunch of the young players... but then again it could be the out of the blue Arsenal wonder performance they have a habit of sometimes pulling out for derbies and finals.

[Eutyphro]

Yeah, I mean, even good youngsters are inconsistent, so they'll probably keep struggling.

Edit: Liverpool after having almost 90% possession first half seems is gonna spill the points..

Edited December 27, 2020 by Eutyphro

[TheSantader25]

Ah. Big Sam is back in the prem.