Listen mate, I take your point if you're saying we should have got promoted last season but didn't, we should have beaten all the teams that we've played at ER this year but haven't. And at some point we are also due a dip in form so we can't afford not to take advantage when playing well. If you didn't mean that I'm just spouting bollocks of course
The counter argument being we are so close to perfection. Few would argue that we should have won every game this season. Perhaps even fewer would argue that if Klich rolls his penalty home we see a comfortable home win and it's judged a fine performance. Ultra fine margins at the moment and in my opinion the good outweighs the bad by about a million %.
I'm saying the one up front isn't working, 1 win in 7 home games is ****, the fans know it the opposition managers know it,Bielsa needs a plan B, better plan A has failed at home.
How many did we face last season? Shouldn’t be a surprise. We bought a finisher and a pacy winger... two things we all identified as must haves from last year... but we don’t play them. So the same team has the same issues. quelle surprise.... It’s deja vu. Mange tout mange tout. This doesn’t mean he should be starting Eddie and costa... because it’s not as straightforward as chuck a goal scorer in or a winger in. This team is about a system of playing not individuals... if the new guys can’t do everything the current player in their position does AND score goals/beat a man... then they ain’t getting picked. At the moment bielsa thinks they can’t. Not saying he’s right, just saying how it is. With respect to our play falling off when we bring subs on... I think that often happens with us... but how much is shape v fatigue v state of the game? Not always easy to tell.
Teams sit back, the only option is to attack better, IMO with another striker,play Bamford or Roberts as 10 with Eddie as striker.
In football it's virtually impossible to achieve so I'm happy so accept the level we're at. Making changes could have the exact opposite effective the ones championing them think they will achieve. Whilst understanding the argument about trying something to find out, it's not one I could support at this stage given League position, results, chances created, chances conceded and performances as a whole.
Costa seems a match winner and it's unfortunate he can't be accommodated in the team at this stage. With the ball at his feet he's a joy to watch and when he went one on one against Tom Huddleston it wasn't a question of would he go by him it was an absolute certainty. Now the downside...defensively or when pressing he gave it his all of that I've no doubt. So he's not some kind of lazy luxury player who won't or can't track back. The problem is he doesn't fully understand EXACTLY where he needs to be, you could see it clearly today as other players tried to get him to adjust his positioning, he's in the vicinity but not on point. Chasing a game it wouldn't matter but today at 1-0 his defensive capabilities compared to Harrison were clear to see. Incidentally we've conceded one goal this season with Harrison on the pitch...we were 3-0 up at Bristol City at the time.
After reading a few comments, seems virtually everyone is in agreement.......we're not converting our chances. So what do we do, keep playing nearly Bamford who isn't converting any of his many chances (we all see it), and praise him for his other skills, whatever they are. Or, do we fix the problem by dropping nearly Bamford and put someone in who can take their chances and score goals........can't see the argument. Bamford is one of the strikers not converting his many chances......Harrison is the other one..............it's interesting that more often than not they're the ones subbed. When a part on your car ain't working, do you replace it, or say "it's doing a good job in other parts of the motor". Definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over expecting different results.
We’re not far away, yes it’s frustrating that we’re not several points clear but we’re top, every other team would give their eye teeth to have our problems. Bielsa isn’t an idiot overnight, the players haven’t thrown in the towel, we just have to keep the faith. Another day we’d have got 5 with the same players and the same chances.
You're not wrong in identifying our main problem. However can you tell me what you would do if having made changes results decline ? Am I right in thinking that you perceive it to be a risk free maneuver and the dropped players will return and like magic we'll just revert to what we are now ?
In our last 7 home games, the only one we've won is when we put 2 up front. So no wins out of last six home games with 1 up front, can our results decline, not by fookin much they can't 3 draws, 3 loses.
We'll never win all our games Chesh - all that means is our away form is better that our home, but we're still doing the business overall. Bielsa looked yellow pagin' at the end, I think if you want to kick some arses you might need to get in the queue..
Whilst ever we're in the automatic promotion places I'm just going to carry on accepting the decline in results and alleged relegation form. I know crazy aren't I.
It's not about how many we play up front. It's about taking your chances. Monk's team was built on being solid at the back and being hard to beat. We had Wood up top and knew if we got the ball to him he would get 20-30 goals for us. For large parts of that season we were pretty poor but sneaked loads of 1-0 wins which nearly paid off. Now we have all the ball. Best team in the league by far. Create the most chances and opportunities to score but we don't have a Wood to convert the chances. Well, Bamford ain't a Wood. But we have an untried wonder kid who has the potential to be a 20-30 goal a season man for us. We don't know do we. It's about time we found out. If Bamford played in Monk's team, we wouldn't have finished top half never mind near the play offs. I'll tell you why I am pissed off. It's clearly apparent, that we dipped after Christmas last year. The points tally shows that. By the time we realise that Bamford ain't no Chapman and he ain't getting us up, we are not going to have the buffer we need. The buffer we should be building NOW whilst we are dominating every game. The old saying "that's promotion winning form, playing badly and still winning" is turned upside down with us. We are playing well yet continuously dropping points. I don't want wholesale changes but just try something different to improve our potency in front of goal.
How much better would you estimate Pablo is than Harrison this season? I just looked up their side by side stats and out of interest I put Bamford in too: Pablo 76% pass success rate - Shots per goal 10 Harrison 72% pass success rate - Shots per goal 12 Bamford 77% pass success rate - Shots per goal 7.5 Klich is 18 shots per goal, better with the passing though at 81% https://www.fctables.com/players/
Of course it's about taking your chances,but Bamford held the ball up better, created more, than Pablo, Klich and Shako put together, so I think he should stay in and one of the others should be dropped.