One issue with the midfield three of JWP, Pierre and Romeu, is absolutely zero pace. This will give times when the defence is exposed.
I am not going to defend the defenders but Bednarek is quality and yoshida is ok. We miss a leader and I think we could have got Cahill as a short term fix this season. The problem is that some games like today the midfield give the ball away too cheaply and either under sustained pressure or undone by a counter attack. As much as I like JWP, PEH,Oriel, it's not like when we had Morgan a Victor breaking up attacks. It's a shame their opportunities have gone backwards as they were progressing nicely with us.
Just back. Lamps has Chelsea playing quite well. Might be worth putting a few quid on for the cup this year. We were poor. We gave them 2 goals in the 1st half with parks footy style errors (you don't pass the ball blindly back across your fecking penalty area). Midfield is a worry. Boufal should've started if fit. Mason should've been booked for trying to rile the crowd, tit. I wish they'd stop those bloody flame thrower thingys at the start of each half, greta thunberg must be having a bloody fit.
How did Yan do? When I saw the line up, I was pleased. Fortunately work kept me busy today. But I haven't caught any info 'cept the 4-1. Ouch.
I think the midfield has been worse than our defence this season. Pierre has been absent, Romeu trying, and I have never thought JWP good enough even when he scored a few. If he wasn't from our set up he'd be out the team. I guess part of the issue is who you replace them with. I'd have thought Slattery is worth a look after this.
Given the injuries which we had (Cedric and Djenepo are close to first names on the team sheet when fit), I had no issues with the XI selected today. Rare that I've been able to say that this season. Not that I think all 11 are good players. Absolutely not. But we can only pick from what we've got. And based on what Ralph had to pick from today, I was totally fine. Rather sadly, I was also kind of fine with the first half. We were 3-1 down because of individual errors. We have crap players, there is no hiding from that. And outside of the transfer windows (which we continue to waste, by the way), we have to live with them. Indeed, our poor defence was even weaker today due to Cedric being injured and Bednarek having a poor game himself (worryingly, that is two home games in a row now where I thought Bednarek was poor. He's the only CB we have who I thought we could rely on.) What I absolutely was not fine with was (a) the way we played the second half, almost as if we were happy to take the 3-1 defeat - I saw no urgency, no desire, no spirit; on top of no quality, and (b) the substitutions, both in terms of the personnel and the timings. The first of those two issues, in particular, is hugely concerning. I still don't believe we'll get relegated this season. We might drop into the bottom three in the upcoming weeks (which I said a few days ago), but I don't seriously believe that we'll still be there after game 38. But to be concerned about our desire, spirit etc is very unusual for me, and not a place I want to be in.