funkyrobot

Some very harsh scoring on here. Great performance.

KDH has fully embraced the Chelsea lifestyle. What a Hipster.

Outstanding against Man U

Tbf Gilmour was outstanding against Man Utd. Best player on the pitch for me. I think Brighton fans will be disappointed with this sale.

I heard you say this on the podcast as well Ric. Faes has switched and has played both games against Spurs and Fulham as our left sided CB with Vestergaard on the right. As has been pointed out, it’s probably because Cooper is worried about Vesty getting exposed for pace with his new (not particularly successful) system of two permanent holding midfielders and using the left back as the additional attacking player.

I bet BDCR plays again, maybe Cooper will shift to his preferred RW spot but I can see him picking him. He’ll play Ward and Thomas with a midfield of Hamza, Skipp and Soumare. Ayew up front. It could be painful. Only positive might be he’s forced to play Mavididi and Ricardo from the start.

Not convinced tbh by any tactical decisions Cooper is making so I question this switch to the left irrespective of Vesty’s lack of pace. I understand Faes’ frustration and despite clearly being unpopular on here, I actually think he’s one of our better players, he’s a decent footballing centre half who can defend. He might make the odd mistake but that’s the same as every one on the team. If he does leave there’ll be a big gap in our defence that can’t be covered by Coady because he’s as slow as Vesty nor by Okoli because he doesn’t look ready to be a regular based on his pre season and certainly seems less able with the ball at his feet.

Why can’t Verstergaard be on the left of the back 3? He’s slow in whatever position he plays in, he’s going to get caught out for pace whether he’s the player on the left, middle or the right.

Surely an easy fix for this would’ve been for Cooper to be more flexible and allow Faes to continue to play in the position that he did successfully last season, with Vesty on the left hand side. Cooper has created some of these issues because of his stubborn approach. This has annoyed Faes. Ricardo, Mavididi, Cannon and the fans and hasn’t helped us on the pitch. The recruitment has been poor too but the playing side is Cooper’s fault.

Yeh agreed. He’s got Ayew who can operate in that role, hold the ball up and be nuisance at centre forward. Against Villa he should do that - start with Vardy and replace when he’s knackered with Ayew. Then play Mavididi on the left from the beginning. He’ll contribute way more than Reid who was only an occasional LW and more much frequently a rotation RW option at Fulham.

Jota loves an elbow, gave one to Thomas in the same cup match that Ricardo got his leg broken.

Where has this myth come from? He’s far less effective at defending than Mavididi is!! I agree with the Ayew comment though. Personally I just don’t think Cooper likes Mavididi. Don’t forget he was trying to bring Zaha in as a LW.

Tbf he was sub in half of those games and subbed off in the other half. He completed 90 minutes only once all season. He also played significantly more as a RW than a LW. So we have bought a squad player from a mid table team and then we are playing him in his less effective position ahead of one of our best, most productive players whose best position is LW. Cooper hasn’t helped himself with this selection. It makes no sense.

Reid’s been predictable but he’s been anything but safe! It’s remarkable that he started after having a stinker against Spurs, if he starts against Villa after being a liability v Fulham then Cooper will put himself and Reid under massive pressure with the fans.

I didn’t see any significant attempts to help defensively other than shuffling back positionally. He didn’t create any problems for Traore or help VK. No tackles no interceptions.

No stats are needed to say that during preseason and these first two games BDCR has not contributed and shouldn’t be in the starting 11. His continual presence must be creating issues within the squad. There’s absolutely no way Mavididi will be happy with the way he’s being treated at the moment. Not saying Mavs alone is the answer but at the moment it must be as baffling for him as it is for some of us that he’s being benched for Reid.

The player reviews will tell u loud and clear who the worst performers were. 😬

Thank god for that. As we’ve all seen from his time at the club, Patson is very much our saviour in waiting. Can’t wait for him to be back.

It would be nice to see the guys that aren’t going to play in the prem get some game time against Tranmere. Up and coming lads that can’t usually expect to start considering the sheer quality ahead of them in their respective positions. Of those, there’s a lad called Ricardo Pereira and another one called Stephy Mavididi that are worth checking out. Hopefully Cooper will start them or maybe give them 10 minutes when the game is done/gone.

JJ is getting a good portion of the blame for that 1st goal because he was out of position and was soft as fcuk, trying to play for winning an obstruction rather than actually trying to stop the goal.

What’s happened to the player ratings page? Desperate to give a few 10/10’s.

Tbh I don’t think you can pinpoint blame on Vestergaard or Faes for today.

Mavididi offers way more grit than BDCR.

There’s nothing in the first two games that would suggest BDCR would be anything other than an absolute liability coming on to the pitch with 20/30 mins to go.

Being back up to Daka would’ve quickly resulted in becoming the starter as it did in The Championship because a fit Daka is not as good as an unfit Vardy past his best.