Tom12345

And he tried to blame others.

Two brain freezes already by Faes despite strong defending otherwise. As a CB, really need to cut it out. Despite that, he waves his hands to try to blame on others. Good for Winks to have a go at him.

Wow. Tom Cannon was loaned out. I thought he could play at this level and would be a good back up. Guess Cooper really likes Ayew.

Can we get Albrighton back out of retirement? He can deliver some good crosses for this guy?

Agree. Some will say it has to be “agreed” just like what they said about Tielemans, and when Tielemans started to play to see out his contract and then left for free they complained about mismanagement by Jon and the club. It is mismanagement to spend so much money (for us) on a 20 year old and have it protected by a 4 year contract only.

Nice one. But while I don’t agree with handing out 7, 8 or 9 year contracts like they do at Chelsea, 21m investment for a 20 year old should be protected by a contract of more than 4 years. Exactly what I said with Tielemans and see how that turned out. Head started to drop off after 2 years and we lost him for free.

Underrated, even by our own fans. I think he is still good enough for us, especially now as we play long balls again. Nonetheless, wish him all the best. Great role model. Great professional. Should be happy with what he has achieved.

Despite the negatives so far in fairness it has only been 2 games. Even for me, that is not long enough to start calling for him to be sacked. Of course I also share some of the same concerns and him not picking Ricky is an example but he is the manager and he needs to stamp his authority. I hope it is just that and what he was really saying is that he wants Ricky to submit and work harder his way. If it is a case of not recognising talent then it does not inspire confidence at all. I am not saying not to give comments, and as some of you know I do and we all do very well at FT, but perhaps let’s give him and the team more time and a proper chance to make something work. I believe we still have a team that can finish mid table if managed properly.

Yeah, that may be why JJ was waiving his arms. He was trying to set the offside trap for Iwobi, but failed as Rowe Smith was coming from the far left. But Iwobi was still in an offside position and therefore possibly interfered with play while being offside. Depends on how long you stretch the offside rule. But in any event there was interference.

Many thanks @StriderHiryu. Great work. It would be great if you also consider Ndidi’s positioning and what he does off the ball when in the DM role during our “in possession” game as part of your further ongoing analysis, as you do this much more professionally: Agree with your overall thoughts above. The only one I would add (though it is unlikely going to happen) is to replace Kristiansen with Ricardo and try to use Ricardo as another player who can help move the ball up (akin to what he was doing last season as you say).

Great stuff @StriderHiryu. Thanks for all the work. I am only into about the 11th min but given you posted here too on the topic on Ndidi’s role and the “structural” issue of our build up with him in this role, I like to add an observation for your further consideration. As you quite rightly pointed out, Fulham has set up to target Ndidi (but to be honest also Winks). I would suggest though that is giving too much credit to Fulham in the way they “targeted” Ndidi. If we observe more closely, Fulham may perhaps not have targeted Ndidi more than Winks. This is not something that only Fulham does too. If we look throughout the game, you will see that actually Ndidi did not get the ball that often in that double pivot position. So the problem is not so much Fulham has set up a trap for Ndidi. I have counted many occasions when Faes or Kristiansen (who are usually closest to Ndidi) chose not to pass to Ndidi (either because they don’t have confidence in Ndidi or to put it nicely they knew of the “trap”) but more importantly had no option to pass to Ndidi in the first place (because Ndidi was himself running behind Fulham players or not get into right positions to receive the pass). I believe Ndidi knows himself he is not great on the ball so it is his way of not trying to get the ball. This is a problem if you are supposed to play that role “structurally” for the team. When he is further up as an AM, his positioning becomes so much better so I think he is capable of getting into good positions but he may not wish to when playing as a DM. I have long analysed this but I have not the computer skills (in terms of doing graphics or videos) or the professionalism as you so I would leave to you to consider as part of your ongoing analysis which I thank again.

I agree with you that Skipp needs to come in for Ndidi to help us beat the press and connect our defence with midfield. Winks alone struggled because he had no one to help him. As Enzo said, we need to rely on a game plan and his was to always have more in numbers in the area around the ball to help us get the ball upfield. This is why Ndidi is not suitable to play there and Ricardo, as you say, was so important as an inverted RB who can come up to help Winks. Even if Kristiansen is great at attacking, which he is not or not doing much of it, he cannot do that if we can’t even get up the pitch. Further, just like Winks, he has little option in passing so he often bombs his pass. It is clear Ricardo needs to start and Ndidi has to be dropped (unless he plays as AM but then you question whether we may as well start Ayew, McAteer or Alves there). What I am more worried about is whether Cooper sees this. He clearly has an issue with Ricardo and he is so far making a similar mistake as Rodgers was in starting Ndid as DM during the last 3 years of his tenure. Ndidi clearly doesn’t want to play there too - just watch the number of times he gesture to his teammates to pass backwards or to another player when he could have gotten into a better position to receive the ball.

There are quality players excess to need at Chelsea. The following cannot even make the squad. Maybe we can get a few on loan? Must be better than the likes of Reid? https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-13773939/amp/Gary-Neville-blasts-Chelseas-ugly-plain-wrong-approach-throwing-players-scrapheap-treating-devastated-academy-graduates-like-commodities-insists-owners-look-TERRIBLE-not-tough.html Raheem Sterling Ben Chillwell Romelu Lukaku Kepa Arrizabalaga Armando Broja Trevoh Chalobah David Datro Fofana Deivid Washington Angelo Lucas Bergstrom Tino Anjorin Alex Matos Harvey Vale

Too early to tell. But so far a few concerns: - it seems like we don’t have much of a possession game plan - playing Ndidi as DM, dropping Ricardo, and putting Ward on the bench is really concerning as a reflection of Coopers - Mavididi, Ricardo and Skipp must start ahead of Reid, Kristiansen and Ndidi - Coopers play like as if we don’t belong like a Championship side preparing for a cup tie against EPL opposition. Be more positive. Have guts. We still have a decent team if we play it.

He still has Ndidi out there. It shows he is the same as Rodgers. Just can’t see it. At least Enzo saw that he doesn’t belong as a DM.

This is all on Coopers so far. Wrong team.

I mean we need to play with a winning mentality like we belong. Cooper has never won anything. I wonder if he has that in him to get the team to play like we are winners. When we won the league, we didn’t fear. Last season, we played like we were supposed to win the league. We can’t approach games like we are second class. This is what I mean.

Brain fart from Faes. We needs to have one every second game. He was trying to blame the keeper though.

Brain fart from Faes. We needs to have one every second game.

This guy is good. Wish he is our player. We are helping Brighton with increasing his value this year.

Normal for any team playing against Man City. It could have been us.

Won’t happen but I would bring Mavididi, Ricardo and Skipp for Reid, Kristiansen and Ndidi.

As boring as Enzo’s game was, I was quietly hoping to see what we can do using his style in the PL. I was just hoping we can add some flair. Right now, we really can’t even control play or the ball for more than a minute even against a mid table team like Fulham.

It really feels like we are a Championship side trying to beat a EPL club in a club tie.

Not saying I am saying Kristiansen is a great passer. I don’t understand why he starts ahead of Ricardo. I hope Ricardo gets on at halftime for him and Justin moves across as LB.