Champions League draw looks exciting and NO Barca !!!

Could have been much worse, and we have missed all the "Giants" 1st round.
Ajax should be especially good, our Kids vs their Kids !!
Valencia will be the usual technical and tough Spanish bullfight.
Lille a mixture of French flair and unpredictability.

Much more interesting this year with things in development at Chelsea, bring it on.

 

Excited about this group. Especially so as I have tickets to the Lille game as my friend is a Lille season ticket holder. Will have to sit with the french but I don’t care.

 

I'm looking forward to a few days in Amsterdam.

 

Not an easy group, but by no means the hardest we could have got.
Its very winnable if we bring our A game.

 

.....and no long treks to the nether regions of Europe !!!

 

Think this group has potential for a slip up

 

Like the 2nd half today fully backing Frank but dont take off player on a hat trick for 1 of the worst forwards we've ever had at 2.1. Everyone leaving the ground just shaking heads .

 

Have to say Frank was at fault today. Dave and Zuma were utter ****e.

 

Get rudi back kante in front and start closing out games before the players are holding on . You can see what an exciting team we could be if we weren't holding on for 45 mins

 

I didnt mind the tammy sub. He looked dead on his feet as did pulisic and mount after all the running.

I was more surprised kovacic went off as hes hes only one that is physical in that midfield.

Dave looked terrible and why did we put gilmour who looks like hes about 8 stone on. Him and jorginho and willian made us super lightweight.

Quite liked the look of tamori

 

Defence getting the blame, but as it often is at Chelsea, 2nd half the midfield was completely overrun. In addition, Jorghino, Dave and Pulisic were constantly run past, through or around. Kovacic can't do all the midfield defence himself, Jorghino can't do it at all, Pulisic and Dave were simply dreadful. Mount looks to be wasted out on the sideline. Frank will be praying for RLC and CHO to get back and Pedro to hold his good form. Even more so for Kante to return. Still some impressive play 1st half, before the fade. Zouma was pretty unlucky not to clear the ball that went in off his shin, I'm going easier on him than others. Tamori already looks better than Christensen but we need Rudi big time. One more step forward and half a step back. Was always going to be like this, keeping the faith required.

 

I’m not sure why Kovacic was taken off to be replaced by the inexperienced Gilmore. Gilmore wasn’t even listed in the team on the back of today’s match day programme. A very poor decision when we were trying to defend a narrow lead. With Kante, Rudiger and Pedro back in the side we’ll be well capable of trouncing Sheffield United in the return fixture at Bramall Lane. Sheffield had their day here and celebrated the draw like they’d won the European Cup - simple things please simple minds.

 

Time needed gentleman......Kante and Rudiger urgently reqired!!!
Frank's our man can have a couple of seasons learning his trade as far as i'm concerned,but he will make
mistakes.Not really bothered about the CL,we're not going to win it,getting out of the group would be a
great result.

 

I still think we’re missing half of our starting XI. I mean realistically Rudiger and Kante would walk into this team, as would Loftus Cheek, Hudson Odoi on one of the sides maybe and I think James will be playing over Azpilicueta very, very soon. He’s been a huge disappointment and is unfortunately nowhere near the level he once was.

With a fully fit side I do think we’ll do alright. There is quite a bit to like about us, plenty of threat up front and the type of goals from Tammy that we haven’t seen since Costa left. A much improved left back and Mount is fitting in nicely too.

Still a bit open for my liking and an awful lots get down the right hand side but the players coming back should help with that and I really wish we’d take a different approach to defending set pieces too! Seems to be our more experienced players letting us down at the minute.

I think by Christmas time we’ll have a better idea of where we’re at. At least we’re fun to watch!

 

Good review, for 60 odd minutes every game we have been excellent, then unable to keep up the pace, we struggle being able to slow down and tighten things up. Sure that will come in time and with our top players back from injury. Dave is in very poor form. He's still on the right side of 30 I believe, or just over, so age shouldn't be the problem yet. Maybe he simply needs to sit on the bench a couple of times and recharge and refocus. Again, this can happen when Reece James finally gets his chance. Would like to see Michy start a game while we are at our attacking best, and see how he fits in.Tammy can easily replace him at half time, but he needs more than 10 mins while we are under the pump, as he got against Sheffield.

 

A fair assessment.
Rudiger and Kante being missing is really costing us defensively.
****ing Zouma needs to go, not cut out for the PL imo.
Been very happy with Abraham and Mount so far, both slotted in without problem and been performing.
Mount I was confident about but Abraham I have to say I was more sceptical of at this level, hopefully he continues to prove me wrong.

 

Good assessments of our present form not too concerned at the moment - we have to remember that both manager and young players are on a learning curve and as a result we have to lower our expectations; personally I think that unless we tighten up at the back we could face a struggle to break into the top 6. Our main bugbears this season will be leadership and experience something we’ve been lacking since JT left - we’ll probably give that serious consideration WHEN we have access to the transfer market next summer.

 

That's it in a nutshell, this is a learning year, not a winning year. But by seasons end we'll have a brilliant young core of players, a few experienced ones like Kante, Rudi, and will only need to buy the odd 1 or 2 proven top class players to shoot right back into the top 4 bunfight. Forget the results and enjoy watching our new exciting style.

 

Could be a struggle for tickets because Ajax have been limited to 833 tickets for the game at Stamford Bridge and they are bound to reciprocate that for you in the Johann Cruyff Arena.

 

Still a good few days.