GWT: PL Matchweek 24/25

[Cassano]

Arsenal is now in 4th.

We are so bad yet in 4th lol.

 

[New Jersey]

I don’t think Liverpool really played poorly today, just seemed to not be their night and they still get something out of it. We’re five points clear of a Manchester City side who seem a bit vulnerable at the moment. Credit to Leicester.

Keep calm and stay the course. Up the Red.

 

[Chimaera]

Considering they’re down to Henderson at RB, Matip at CB, and a rack of injuries in the midfield, a point gained on City is fine.

Leicester isn’t that bad, and they’re well setup to exploit Liverpool’s injury issues along with a manager who has everything to play for. Between them and Crystal Palace, they’re some of the toughest bottom sides. They play better away, and their counter attack always gives Liverpool fits.

Clear penalty, and a few missed calls (Mane offside call was horrid), but all in all it’s ok.

I’m a bit concerned that the front three couldn’t really break down their back line, but I think there was a clear effort to be more assured in the back, at the expense of attack.

I certainly would have wanted three points, and it’s hard when the opportunity is there, but Liverpool are going to have to play better down the stretch to get it done

 

[gary69]

It's getting to AVB level, sticking to tactics that are clearly not working. All teams have to do is man-mark Jorginho and the whole thing falls apart. We aren't creative enough offensively to really do anything in the final 3rd, so we end up very vulnerable on the counter.

It's a combo of the board not bringing in proper players and Sarri being an ideologue on tactics.

Every other manager in the Premier League must be gleaming with joy at the start of the match when they see Jorginho deployed there, knowing that they will get at least half a dozen quality scoring chances. And Higuain is useless, but everyone and their mother who have watched him the past year, already knew that he's bad at this stage of his career for this level. Well, everyone but Sarri. At least he isn't dtrimental to the team like Jorginho.

Chelsea won't make the CL unless they drastically change things, at least ManU will finish ahead of them. As for next year, they'd be better off starting with Tammy Abraham as a striker and have Hudson-Odoi feeding him balls. Get rid of the lot of older players, and give likes of Loftus-Cheek, Christensen, Ampadu. Hudson-Odoi, Pulisic a permanent place in the starting line-up. Sad to say this, but it's probably time to cash in on Hazard, too. Kepa, Kante and Azpi can stay, others can be sold.

 

[robertmac43]

and just like that arsenal in a Champions League spot!

 

[Havre]

I´ve been waiting for Chelsea to go belly up for a couple of seasons - it might finally be happening.

Not a bad team of course, but playing against them you fear Hazard and you will be thinking you can more or less cope with the rest.

A somewhat similar situation defensively. I don´t think any team is "unbreakable" defensively this year in the PL (even if Liverpool are hardly conceding), but playing Chelsea you always feel you can create chances. Much more so than playing against the other top 6 except Arsenal (Spurs are often structurally quite OK, but tend to give away goals like against Watford - the amount of big individual mistakes this season is quite staggering).

Huddersfield will be huge. Stumble at home against the by far weakest team in the league and Sarri might be gone.

 

[maclean]

with Man U rising it's nice to see Chelsea imploding. I think there's still a strong likelihood of Arsenal finishing sixth, but it's good to have some hope

 

[Cassano]

with Man U rising it's nice to see Chelsea imploding. I think there's still a strong likelihood of Arsenal finishing sixth, but it's good to have some hope

We really should be nowhere near 4th ATM. Our defense is disgusting.

 

[Havre]

The thing is - to end up 4th you don't need to be that good as long as you always beat Cardiff, Huddersfield, Burnley etc. Not saying that is easy, but whenever Arsenal line-up against these kind of teams they are favourites.

It is a bit strange with the top 3 taking more points than ever, but I would still be quite surprised if any of them ended up winning the CL. I certainly don't see them dominating the later rounds like English teams did some years ago. So far in the season though they have just steamrolled the smaller teams (might just have ended this round).

 

[Burner Account]

I barely stopped to think that Henderson was playing right back. Looks like he's been studying at the James Milner School of Utility. Thinking back, it did feel like almost all of Leicester's possession and counters were targeting him.

 

[Chimaera]

Well, moving Gray over there, who has much more pace, was a good tactical change to exploit it. It doesn't help that whoever is playing RB has Matip playing with him. It would be much easier to cover it if it VVD next to them.

Henderson played out right some when he first got here under Dalglish though to poor effect. For what Klopp is asking him to do, which is play defensively, provide an outlet on occasion, he's able to do it, but I wouldn't want to see it more than a match or two.

 

[Blender]

Sarri stubbornly sticking with tactics which clearly don't work is beyond frustrating. Jorginho is abhorrent defensively but he's playing in a position where he's expected to provide cover for the centre backs, meanwhile we play the best defensive midfielder in the league further up the field. I have also noticed with Jorginho that he is really good at short passing, but for all his touches almost nothing ever comes from it, he just passes the ball around the outside casually.

Higuain is better than Morata, but he is hardly a solution to the striker problem here.

 

[Havre]

Sarri stubbornly sticking with tactics which clearly don't work is beyond frustrating. Jorginho is abhorrent defensively but he's playing in a position where he's expected to provide cover for the centre backs, meanwhile we play the best defensive midfielder in the league further up the field. I have also noticed with Jorginho that he is really good at short passing, but for all his touches almost nothing ever comes from it, he just passes the ball around the outside casually.

Higuain is better than Morata, but he is hardly a solution to the striker problem here.

Fully agree. I don't see it with Jorginho, but I guess could also be partly getting used to a new league. At the moment though teams are getting used to him. Will be interesting to see if there is a counter move by Chelsea.

 

[bleedblue1223]

The thing with Sarri though, he isn't wrong that the players aren't playing his system, but he's too much of an ideologue to adjust. At this point, if the players still aren't picking up the basics of his system, then it's on him for not teaching it well enough. Yes, the players are flawed, but in sports, the coach is replaced before the players and he has to know that. Kante can't play the Jorginho role in his system, it's not a traditional DM role. Chelsea has a major squad issue, and we've had it for years. Conte and Mourinho just covered it up because they are pragmatics.

 

[Machinehead]

Being a fan of this league is torture.

If you're in a legit title race, it's an entire season of playoff games.

 

[Machinehead]

Considering they’re down to Henderson at RB, Matip at CB, and a rack of injuries in the midfield, a point gained on City is fine.

Leicester isn’t that bad, and they’re well setup to exploit Liverpool’s injury issues along with a manager who has everything to play for. Between them and Crystal Palace, they’re some of the toughest bottom sides. They play better away, and their counter attack always gives Liverpool fits.

Clear penalty, and a few missed calls (Mane offside call was horrid), but all in all it’s ok.

I’m a bit concerned that the front three couldn’t really break down their back line, but I think there was a clear effort to be more assured in the back, at the expense of attack.

I certainly would have wanted three points, and it’s hard when the opportunity is there, but Liverpool are going to have to play better down the stretch to get it done

Given this situation, I find it slightly alarming that our only like, actual actual RB plays for Bournemouth.

 

[bluesfan94]

I assume they counted the Luiz touch as playing the ball instead of a deflection. All things considered, I think that’s a fair interpretation given that attacker was trying to go around him instead of pass it to the guy who was offside.

Also, was a clear missed pen on Keita. Shouldn’t really be any debate.

Spurs have saved 4 points late the last couple weeks. That’s huge for them since they only be 3 clear of 5th and still have several weeks with injuries.

I thought the second pass might have been offside, but I never saw a good angle. Didn't watch the Liverpool game; frustrating the way Spurs has saved points recently.

 

[YNWA14]

Too bad Sarri didn't stay in Napoli. Maybe they'll take him back.

 

[Chimaera]

I mean, he's certainly going to get an option to go back when he's whacked before long. Whether the job is open is a big debate.


As for the Jorginho bit, I don't think he's a bad player, I just think he want too much time on the ball that he won't be allowed to get in the EPL. Serie A is a slower league. It also still doesn't make sense to have Kante completely out of position to shoe horn what they're doing. His stubbornness of my way or the highway is always going to run into trouble with that Chelsea group.

 

[Burner Account]

plus you can't smoke in the technical area in England

 

[bleedblue1223]

I mean, he's certainly going to get an option to go back when he's whacked before long. Whether the job is open is a big debate.


As for the Jorginho bit, I don't think he's a bad player, I just think he want too much time on the ball that he won't be allowed to get in the EPL. Serie A is a slower league. It also still doesn't make sense to have Kante completely out of position to shoe horn what they're doing. His stubbornness of my way or the highway is always going to run into trouble with that Chelsea group.

Kante being "out of position" is critical to his system though. Sarri ball doesn't work with a guy like Kante in the 6/regista spot.

 

[Chimaera]

Kante being "out of position" is critical to his system though. Sarri ball doesn't work with a guy like Kante in the 6/regista spot.

I don't disagree. The problem is, you have one of the world's best at something else, who is being forced to play more up field.

I get that Kante is talented enough to where he can do a passing job driving into the box, being more offensive, helping create more. I do think his offensive abilities are overlooked by what he does defensively, but it isn't scoring goals or creating attack that got him nominations as the best player in the world.

But in my mind (and I'm not a top level manager, so it is what it is) I don't know if you try and shoehorn a player into a spot that isn't their most comfortable. If that means you sell Kante, buy someone who can do what Sarri wants, you do so, but they could easily buy 3-4 players Sarri wanted with what they get from selling Kante to the highest bidder. As it stands now, they're devaluing an asset (when they need to overhaul some of the squad), and potentially frustrating one of the best players they do have.

 

[bleedblue1223]

I don't disagree. The problem is, you have one of the world's best at something else, who is being forced to play more up field.

I get that Kante is talented enough to where he can do a passing job driving into the box, being more offensive, helping create more. I do think his offensive abilities are overlooked by what he does defensively, but it isn't scoring goals or creating attack that got him nominations as the best player in the world.

But in my mind (and I'm not a top level manager, so it is what it is) I don't know if you try and shoehorn a player into a spot that isn't their most comfortable. If that means you sell Kante, buy someone who can do what Sarri wants, you do so, but they could easily buy 3-4 players Sarri wanted with what they get from selling Kante to the highest bidder. As it stands now, they're devaluing an asset (when they need to overhaul some of the squad), and potentially frustrating one of the best players they do have.

To me the issue is the Kovacic/Barkley spot. We either need to go with RLC, or go out and actually get a high-end offensive midfielder. Let Kante be the utility guy doing everything, but the LCM spot has to be an offensive guy.

 

[YNWA14]

Oh Kyle Walker.

Walker's daft attempt at trolling shows City insecurity

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

Oh Kyle Walker.

Walker's daft attempt at trolling shows City insecurity

That headline is the writer's daft attempt at getting clicks.