Good, I’d say. Cementing 3rd is more important. As long as we win, nothing changes behind us. Gotta start having the mentality of looking forwards rather than backwards. I guess you’re right. It just looked so far over the line already. You say it doesn’t matter, but I think FPL managers who don’t have Salah in their team may disagree with you!
You wouldn't have puuled away from 5th anyway, United were already in 5th on the number of points Arsenal got to after their win.
Arsenal winning was definitely the better result for us from a footballing perspective. Sentiment-wise we always want them getting smashed but a win for them today definitely does us a favour - so long as we capitalise on it tomorrow at Fulham. Won't be easy though, Fulham need points and I imagine Poch and the players will have half an eye on Thursday's game so it's tough to tell how we'll approach tomorrow.
There's the added bonus that the EMERY OUT mob (yes, they already exist) will have to keep their traps shut as they beat Chelsea 2-0 with The £350k A Week Passenger never getting off the bench
Some Chelsea supporters are asking for Sarri's scalp already complaining that they didn't have one shot on target and it's one dimensional football. Liverpool scraped by Brighton last week by a soft penalty and had a scare today against Palace. Utd's win wasn't that convincing so I think this revival is running out of steam. Even without Kane and Son I can't see us losing tomorrow and I'm very interested to see how we do without them. A GOOD win tomorrow will set us up nicely for a win against Chelsea.
Although I'm obviously happy with the result (and clean sheet) against Chelsea yesterday, I didn't get that total sense of satisfaction in winning that game compared to other games where we've beaten them. The reason for that is because of how insipid and spiritless Chelsea were. It didn't feel like a competitive game, it had more of a pre-season feel to it. Not being funny, but in terms of an overall attacking display, that's one of the worst Chelsea performances I can remember. Because even when we've beaten Chelsea in previous games, they've shown a lot more meaningful attacking threat. Not once did I ever feel threatened by Chelsea's attack in that match. Both teams had 13 shots each in that game, but they had 1 on target. And it came in the 82nd minute from Alonso which Leno saved easily. That display from them yesterday was reminiscent of how Arsenal used to play against United or Chelsea from 2009-2015; dominating the ball, getting into good positions, but passing it without any purpose or conviction. It was way too easy to defend against. Our defence really isn't that good, yet everything Chelsea threw our way was food and drink for Koscielny/Sokratis. And though we did defend better than we have done in previous games, our defence wasn't really tested. To give a 30-year old and 33-year old centre-back pairing such a straightforward evening should say it all. If Sarri started with Giroud, put Hazard on the left and played Kante in his natural CDM role, they would have had a far better chance of getting something from the game. Instead, Giroud came on with 20 minutes to go, Hazard was moved back into his natural position too late and we were happy to just shut the game down. Then he comes out and criticises his own players to the media without taking any responsibility for the defeat. Sarri's stubbornness and tactical rigidity is going to be his downfall. And we all know how it ends for managers who start lambasting their players in public...
'I did hide in a laundry basket' After the 'spygate' scandal at Leeds, Mourinho confirmed he had hidden in a laundry basket in 2005 for Chelsea's Champions League quarter-final against Bayern Munich after receiving a two-game touchline ban. "I need to be with my players and I did it yeah," he said. "I go to the dressing room during the day so I was there from midday and the game is seven o'clock. I just want to be in the dressing room when the players arrive. I went there and nobody saw me. The problem was to leave after. And the kit man put me in the basket. It was a little bit open so I could breathe. "But when he was taking it outside the dressing room, the Uefa guys were following and desperate to find me so he closed the box and I couldn't breathe. When he opened the box I was dying." Can you imagine how much bullshit was in that basket? No wonder he couldn't breathe.
I was at the Carabao Cup game at Wembley a couple of weeks ago. We didn't play very well in the first half and we were flat out poor in the second. Chelsea barely laid a glove on us. I saw bits of your game. They didn't look like a team playing for their manager or anything like it. Okay, Chief Shop Steward Fabregas has moved on but there's a strong group of senior pro's (Hazard, Willian, Pedro, Luiz) who have cut previous managers adrift before. I reckon that they look at Jorginho taking Kante's spot and think that they could do better without this bloke. They didn't like Conte much but his tactics worked. If Sarri doesn't change, tools will be downed and.......Next!
Luiz was ok yesterday to be fair to him, but the other 3 you mention were very poor. Willian was hogging the ball and not looking up to see what options he had, Pedro against Kolasinac was always going to be a mismatch physically and Hazard in the false 9 role didn't work. Koscielny/Sokratis marshalled him well. To be honest though, it was always going to be a struggle playing without a striker. I know Giroud isn't an ideal option to start with, but he can at least offer an aerial presence in the box and can hold the ball up. He has a 4 inch height advantage over both our CBs. Alonso and Azpilicueta were crossing the ball into a six-yard area that was totally free for Koscielny and Sokratis to mop up. I get that players are expected to adapt for the manager's philosophy and ideals, but you need to use common sense as well. Why play Kante in a different position to the one that's made him so successful the past 3 years? Why play Hazard as a false 9 when he's publicly come out and said he's not suited to that position? It's like expecting Granit Xhaka to blossom into an attacking midfield role. Some players just aren't capable/suited to playing in a role that is not tailored to their strengths.
I was about to say that, whilst they looked toothless yesterday, it will be interesting to see how they play in the CC second leg as Higuain should be eligible to play then. I'm personally not convinced a 31-year old striker with well-documented attitude and fitness issues is the answer. However, he surely can't do any worse than Morata or Giroud. Also, I wouldn't expect Chelsea to perform as badly as they did against us.
All managers have a degree of pig headedness to them. MP refused to play to the strengths of Vinnie or Fernando Llorente. That was frustrating but playing your two best players in positions that nullify their best elements, to try and extract things that really aren't showing, is pretty hard to understand. Jorginho's lost at the moment. It's hard to see very much benefit in basing so much on him, especially when it neutralises Kante's best traits. Giroud did a good job for France in the World Cup. He wasn't a goal threat but he drew defenders to him and gave space and time to others. Let's hope that he continues on the bench for some time.
Wayne Rooney's said Man Utd should go all-out to bring in Poch He was then escorted out of the departures lounge so he could have the six cans of Stella and half bottle of sleeping pills pumped out of his stomach
When talking Wayne Rooney a full six pack is as rare as a considered opinion. He needs to carefully protect his alien status lest he should be chosen by Trump as press secretary. Thinking about it he would probably be quite good as Trump's collector of burgers. Wayne's World Eh!
The primary demand is they fail to get CL football. The next demand is they win all games in a PL fixture schedule designed to maximise pain for our other PL rivals.
