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It’s mildly funny to me how people just gloss over how our midfield let us down last season (Partey more than the other two, but all three complicit) and blame it all on Holding. Something very similar is happening with Havertz this season. Scapegoating is very real in all of football- among fans, officials, FA, etc. the media of course thrives on it so no point going there. I just think it’s disingenuous to spend so much time and energy discussing Havertz than a player who has had roughly the same number of world class performances and stinkers, because his form actually affected our performances, unlike Kai’s. But you only see criticism for his lack of availability when that’s just one of the two football related issues.
People say that Kai is a confidence player and that if he can just get his confidence back, he’ll be better. But I don’t think the mental part of a person can be changed easily, and possibly treating his lack of confidence has a worse prognosis than the ACL repair process. As much as I root for every player on the team sheet, it’s for this reason that this deal still feels a little disappointing.
it’s important to remember that even as press/rival fans make noise about Kai, the season is unfolding as well as we could have hoped at this point. Xhaka took how many years to become the LCM we wanted? Kai deserves a full year at least before people come for his head. if he fails then he fails, but what’s the point in giving up this early?
Barcelona are just as accountable for Gavi’s injury than RFEF and de la Fuente, he’s played more 90s than any other U21 player for both club and country, this was happening sooner than later. Xavi is going to end up going the same with with Lamal if he doesn’t take this issue seriously and holds himself accountable.
Players need to be protected from these kinds of situations, it’s blatant exploitation and I’m just shocked these kids don’t speak up on it.
Find it hilarious how passionate Chelsea fans are about defending Mason Mount but shit on Havertz at every chance
havertz was their ozil in a way ig. came in as a foreign talent with huge expectations, thought he would be one of their future stars after the ucl but ended his time at chelsea with one of their worse seasons in recent history.
One is from Cobham and didn’t cost a penny tbf. But he was also very vocal about his experience at Chelsea even while he was still there.
Doing pushups/goblet squats/abs bicycle everyday for every point earned till we win the league. Day 93: 36 ab bicycles ✅
Fucking hell I thought my “10 push-ups every time I died in Elden ring” was bad, you’ll be as strong as ox by April!
Our highest expected goals against this season is 1.4. Last season we had 11 games with xGa greater than that. Our highest xGa game last season was Liverpool away with 3.9 xGa (20 shots total) and with a midfield of Partey, Xhaka, Odegaard, and Holding in defense - surely however, the issue went beyond Holding.
That amount of xG away to Liverpool has depressed me. We win that game it could have been different 😭
Do you worry if the club have broken FFP rules after all the money spent in recent years with everything happening recently? My friend who is a Chelsea fan made a good point that yes Chelsea and City are probably guilty but it is likely the other big six clubs have covered up things and broken financial rules to differing degrees
We may have used loopholes (Raya loan) but I doubt we’ve covered anything up.
This is like when the movie villain is about to get done by the hero and he goes
“You and I are not so different you see…”
“You and I are not so different Spider-Man”
Your friend just gaslit you lmao
Rice and Saka look to be starting tonight in one of England’s most useless matches this year as they’ve already qualified… Southgate is such a loser man.
Saka is a better right 8 than both odegaard and Kai. With Fabio suspended we should play a midfield 3 of rice, Kai, saka With Nelson starting right wing
Odegaard scored 15 and assisted 7 in 37 games last year, that position isn’t a problem that needs addressing
Yeah man the guy who’s played there 3 times is better than the guy who got 22 G/A from that position last season.
ELI5 the offside rule change proposed by the boss
ETA and maybe the existing one because I don’t think I get it anymore
I really wish Havertz worked out man. We’re stuck here talking about the midfield issues we have been for years.
Lcm has to be the most stacked position in the sport right now. We should be able to find a player for that spot that has high upside
There were many objections to the moving Odegaard left article which were already addressed in the article tbh, including the idea that Odegaard could be just as productive on the left, if not even more. Moreover, the article also makes this point which perhaps explains why Odegaard himself has been less productive this season:
Where Martin Ødegaard comes in (or more aptly doesn’t come in) is exploiting that increased pitch via finding those “remote spaces”. Martin Ødegaard largely attempts to find solution within the right hand side, he takes a lot of touches (which is a large reason why he retains the ball so well) and due to the open angles he operates in he’s rarely forced into playing outside of his comfort zone (which I’ll touch on later). This tends to reduce the isolations that occur on the left hand side due to him not directly accessing whoever is holding width, as well as leading to teams being able to more confidently tilt their block towards the right (as seen often with how many players always seem to be surrounding Bukayo Saka when he receives the ball)- if he doesn’t consistently attempt to access the left then the right can be clogged up more as immediate danger isn’t neccessarily present. As Pep Guardiola put it “In all team sports, the secret is to overload one side of the pitch so that the opponent must tilt its own defence to cope.” The issue with Ødegaard is that he’s really good at making the defence tilt towards the right but he’s not so good at punishing the defence for their tilting and therefore he is no longer forcing the defence to tilt- it’s entirely deliberate on their part. That’s the main problem with how the right half space is used, here (in my opinion) are the solutions.
Ødegaard at RCM means goals and that is why he will continue to play there.
When he has the ball on the right hand side of the box he is one of the most clinical players around. A couple of touches into space and he finds the corners as well as anyone. He’s not going anywhere.
His issue is that we lack central penetration and that’s because we made the mistake of relying on Thomas.
We shall sign a LCM, move Rice to the 6 earlier than expected, and Ødegaard will be Ødegaard again.
Recruitment might have dropped the ball here. I think performance on the pitch is protecting them.
I have very many unpopular opinions on this subject the same way I did when we bought Pepe, and when we bought Auba after Lacazette.
I think Kai is a good player but if you’re signing a player whose best spot is the RHS — the same spot your captain and best player plays, that’s terrible.
It’s true that the club is weirdly trying to push Odegaard back into build up roles; we have so far invested £100M in that( Vieira and Kai Havertz), yet it seems Odegaard is inevitable.
They also seem not ready to actually play Odegaard as an LCM. They instead seem to be in the market for a Luiz. We’d be starting and cementing Odegaard there as their Kai/Vieira investments pick up pace.
Basically if everything goes wrong, recruitment will have to answer for why they spent close to £100M on a solution that wasn’t solved. Because yes, Odegaard isn’t a good bulk creator, unless he learns it with time, but the people bought for it are taking so long to do it( or Vieira who doesn’t physically fit in), that there will be questions.
https://x.com/eurofootcom/status/1726529303834194145?s=46&t=NGCPQN6817S6n-WIY9c_OA
How was Vardy able to drink red bull and exercise intensely?
Striker vote will be interesting between RVP Auba and Jesus