Match Day Thread General matchday thread.

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Nobody decent will sit on the bench full stop unless you’re paying Man City wages. Good players don’t sit on benches, good players are good because they’re proving themselves in the first XI.

As ive said, Utd don’t have a back up for Lukaku. Chelsea don’t even have a top striker. Arsenal’s are yet to score. Pool have Sturridge but his injury record means he can’t be fully relied upon. Then with regards to Europe, PSG don’t have backup for Cavani, Barca don’t have for Suarez (especially as they’re selling Alcacer to Dortmund), Real don’t have backup for Benzema (and he’s gone down hill in recent years anyway). Juve sold Higuain to accommodate Ronny.

The world’s best strikers don’t have backups because other strikers are smart enough to know they won’t get sufficient game time.

Yeah but all those teams have a big enough squad to change systems and be just as lethal without their main striker.

Spurs don't.
 
Nowhere have I suggested we go toe to toe financially with Chelsea. A figment of your imagination. In fact, I stated our inability to compete on that score is why we can’t get a half way decent back up striker.

Willian was in a different discussion with Bobby.

They’re still quality players, sitting in a bench.

Batshuayi isn't a half decent backup though, he wouldn't be loaned out if he was, Chelsea felt the need to buy Giroud which tells you everything about what they thought of Batshuayi.
As I've said previously, clubs that have a world class striker generally will not have a top class back up - Spurs, Utd, PSG, Juve, Barca and Real all show that. There may literally be one or two exceptions to that rule such as City with Jesus, maybe you can say Arsenal but let's not forget, Laca was signed for big money to be first choice, things weren't going smoothly so Arsenal spent big in January to get Auba as first choice, Laca is only back up because he failed to impress. We've even tried breaking into those exceptions with the signings of Janssen and Llorente but it just doesn't work.

Utd's bench is no stronger in quality than ours. Even Pool, for as well as they spent in the summer, don't have a greater bench than us. City are the only side who has a significantly stronger bench and they've paid through the roof to get it.
 
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Batshuayi isn't a half decent backup though, he wouldn't be loaned out if he was, Chelsea felt the need to buy Giroud which tells you everything about what they thought of Batshuayi.
As I've said previously, clubs that have a world class striker generally will not have a top class back up - Spurs, Utd, PSG, Juve, Barca and Real all show that. There may literally be one or two exceptions to that rule such as City with Jesus, maybe you can say Arsenal but let's not forget, Laca was signed for big money to be first choice, things weren't going smoothly so Arsenal spent big in January to get Auba as first choice, Laca is only back up because he failed to impress. We've even tried breaking into those exceptions with the signings of Janssen and Llorente but it just doesn't work.

Utd's bench is no stronger in quality than ours. Even Pool, for as well as they spent in the summer, don't have a greater bench than us. City are the only side who has a significantly stronger bench and they've paid through the roof to get it.


Still avoids the point of why Batshuayi joined Chelsea - money. We don’t pay enough to get a half decent striker to sit on our bench. I would have gone for Rondon in the summer window.

Utd’s bench is both stronger and deeper than ours. Chelsea have a great bench. Pool is pretty good too. City is world class.
 
Yeah but all those teams have a big enough squad to change systems and be just as lethal without their main striker.

Spurs don't.

Ah right.

Must have imagined us finishing second in 16/17 when Kane missed about 8 weeks of football.
 
Still avoids the point of why Batshuayi joined Chelsea - money. We don’t pay enough to get a half decent striker to sit on our bench. I would have gone for Rondon in the summer window.

Utd’s bench is both stronger and deeper than ours. Chelsea have a great bench. Pool is pretty good too. City is world class.

Not sure about that mate.

Chelsea: Barkley, Giroud, Willian, RLC, Christensen, Caballero, Zappacosta
Absentees - Fabregas, Cahill, Drinkwater

Liverpool: Henderson, Sturridge, Moreno, Lallana, Shaqiri, Matip, Mignolet
Absentees - Lovren, Ox, Clyne, Fabinho

Spurs: Sanchez, Winks, Vorm, Llorente, Davies, Aurier, Amos
Absentees: Wanyama, Son, Sissoko, Lolmela

Not sure there's any significant difference between each one if i'm honest.
 
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Still avoids the point of why Batshuayi joined Chelsea - money. We don’t pay enough to get a half decent striker to sit on our bench. I would have gone for Rondon in the summer window.

Utd’s bench is both stronger and deeper than ours. Chelsea have a great bench. Pool is pretty good too. City is world class.

Janssen was a half decent striker before joining us, he finished top scorer in the Eredivisie before we signed him.
Llorente has a CV that most of Europe would be jealous of - World Cup, Euros, Serie A, Europa League... Hit 15 league goals for Swansea in his first season in the Prem. He was half decent before he joined.

But both of them, just like Batshuayi, were **** as back ups because they weren't anywhere near the level of the first choice striker to be good enough to compete with them and get sufficient minutes.

If Utd had a good bench they'd have brought on a good CB yesterday when Jones got injured, instead they brought on Lindelof who nearly cost them a goal. Why didn't Fellaini change the game when he came on? They have a few good players on the bench, just likes us, just like Chelsea, just like Liverpool.
 
Janssen was a half decent striker before joining us, he finished top scorer in the Eredivisie before we signed him.
Llorente has a CV that most of Europe would be jealous of - World Cup, Euros, Serie A, Europa League... Hit 15 league goals for Swansea in his first season in the Prem. He was half decent before he joined.

But both of them, just like Batshuayi, were **** as back ups because they weren't anywhere near the level of the first choice striker to be good enough to compete with them and get sufficient minutes.

If Utd had a good bench they'd have brought on a good CB yesterday when Jones got injured, instead they brought on Lindelof who nearly cost them a goal. Why didn't Fellaini change the game when he came on? They have a few good players on the bench, just likes us, just like Chelsea, just like Liverpool.


Janssen I doubt would ever cut it in the PL. it’s a huge step up from Eredivisie. Llorente is a once great striker happy to sit on a bench and top his pension up.

Utd’s defence is ****e, but that’s down to them spending large amounts of money on donkeys,

Utd, Chelsea, City and Pool all gave greater squad depth than us.
 
Not sure about that mate.

Chelsea: Barkley, Giroud, Willian, RLC, Christensen, Caballero, Zappacosta
Absentees - Fabregas, Cahill, Drinkwater

Liverpool: Henderson, Sturridge, Moreno, Lallana, Shaqiri, Matip, Mignolet
Absentees - Lovren, Ox, Clyne, Fabinho

Spurs: Sanchez, Winks, Vorm, Llorente, Davies, Aurier, Amos
Absentees: Wanyama, Son, Sissoko, Lolmela

Not sure there's any significant difference between each one if i'm honest.


Out of our bench there, Amos is a youth player. Sissoko - enough said. Aurier is an accident looking for somewhere to happen, and Lamela you’ve told us is ****e!
 
Out of our bench there, Amos is a youth player. Sissoko - enough said. Aurier is an accident looking for somewhere to happen, and Lamela you’ve told us is ****e!

Okay lets compare man for man:

Giroud > Llorente
Willian = Son
Christensen < Sanchez
Caballero < Vorm
Winks = RLC (loads of people have a hard on for RLC that i don't see lol)
Lolmela = Barkley
Fabregas < Wanyama
Drinkwater = Sissoko
Zappacosta < Davies
Emerson (unknown) > Aurier

Not sure where in the realm that Chelseas bench/squad is so much stronger than Spurs unless you don't agree on some of the above.
 
Yeah but all those teams have a big enough squad to change systems and be just as lethal without their main striker.

Spurs don't.
Kane got injured against Bournemouth last season while we were 1-0 down.
We switched to a front three of Alli, Son and Lamela with them constantly interchanging and won 4-1.
We stuck Moura in for Alli for the FA Cup game against Swansea and absolutely battered them, winning 3-0.
Then we put Alli back in against Chelsea and won 3-1 at Stamford Bridge with Kane coming on at the death when it was over.

We scored 10 goals in less than 3 matches while he was out and we rushed him back, for some reason.
We looked fine while he was injured and finally had an alternative.
He came back too soon and we were all over the place for the end of the season.

Pochettino also tried a 4-3-3 against Roma in pre-season with Lamela and Moura either side of Llorente.
They had a fairly strong side out and couldn't deal with it at all, conceding four and looking absolutely ragged at the back.
It's one friendly, so it's nothing to judge on really, but I'd like to see it given another go. Perhaps in a cup? We'll see.
 
Janssen I doubt would ever cut it in the PL. it’s a huge step up from Eredivisie. Llorente is a once great striker happy to sit on a bench and top his pension up.

Utd’s defence is ****e, but that’s down to them spending large amounts of money on donkeys,

Utd, Chelsea, City and Pool all gave greater squad depth than us.

The Prem is a huge step up but Vertonghen, Sanchez and Eriksen found it easy enough. We were hoping Janssen would be the next RVP or Ruud, not the next Afonso Alves. Llorente isn't happy at all, he's said in interviews he's struggled to adapt as a backup and also said how he would've loved to have returned to Italy when their rumours Napoli were interested. He's not happy picking up his pension at all, he's just not good enough to displace Kane.

So where is there better depth then at Utd? We've established it certainly isn't defence. We're both pretty light of quality in CM. In attacking midfield, Lamela and one of Son/ Lucas will be on the bench, just like they have Rashford, Martial and Mata. As for up top, just like us, they have no one good enough to compete with their CF.
 
We've (chelsea fans) already said that. What's your point in the discussion i'm having with NSIS?
It seems odd to be discussing a player as backup when he's arguably better than the first choice in that role.
Morata is starting for you at the moment though, so I guess it's only fair.
Giroud should get opportunities to displace him. Europa could be big for him.
 
Okay lets compare man for man:

Giroud > Llorente
Willian = Son
Christensen < Sanchez
Caballero < Vorm
Winks = RLC (loads of people have a hard on for RLC that i don't see lol)
Lolmela = Barkley
Fabregas < Wanyama
Drinkwater = Sissoko
Zappacosta < Davies
Emerson (unknown) > Aurier

Not sure where in the realm that Chelseas bench/squad is so much stronger than Spurs unless you don't agree on some of the above.

Disagree about Vorm

Fabregas and Wanayama???

Disagree about Davies.

Does Drinkwater make your bench!


What about Moses, Loftus-Cheek, Abraham ?
 
Danny Kelly made a good point on TalkSport Drive, tonight.

Mourhino is bleating on about the number three and "respect," pointing to the fact that he has won three Prem titles, but wasn't there someone else who had won three Prem titles whom Moanhino referred to as "a specialist in failure?"
 
It seems odd to be discussing a player as backup when he's arguably better than the first choice in that role.
Morata is starting for you at the moment though, so I guess it's only fair.
Giroud should get opportunities to displace him. Europa could be big for him.

Anyway wise guy, NSIS is saying that Liverpool have a very good bench, Chelsea have a world class bench and that your bench is **** relatively.

I disagree and showed man for man how Spurs bench is probably better than ours (provided everyone is fit). I don't understand why you picked out 1 striker out of it all.
 
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