I have a feeling it’s going to be the Gyokeres day. Leeds are in town for today’s game and we must have practiced some more fluidity among the new signings after a disjointed Man Utd game. We won’t see Eze in the line up today unfortunately but it’s a done deal and he will soon join the pack.
Havertz picked up an injury. He was a direct competition to Gyokeres considering Mikel’s system and his preference to play a #9 who excels in dirty work rather than scoring. The primary reason he didn’t sign a striker so far and have tried to push Havertz, Merino, Trossard in that role. Not that any of them were total failure but we lacked a 20 goal a season player and someone who could make a difference on his own in games where the opposition just likes to sit back and defend. With Gyokeres, we are trying to fix that problem. Havertz’s injury is sad news, at worst – he was a back up to Gyokeres if the Swedish fails to deliver or picks up an injury. But the silver lining out of this I feel, is that, he now knows it’s all him we got and he doesn’t have that additional pressure to score in order to keep his place for the next game(s).
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Leeds were the Championship leaders, finished with 100 points and are always a threat. We can’t take them lightly. Chelsea thrashed West Ham last night, announcing themselves in the Title run, and with Liverpool eyeing an Isak move, Pep throwing money anywhere and everywhere, it would be a very tough season. We won the Man Utd game in a very dirty display and we just need to build on it. Lets go out there and win, keep ourselves 6/6 points and there are some massive games coming up from next week – Liverpool, Man City and Newcastle in next 4 games.
In the team news, we won’t have Kai available due to his knee injury. Norgaard also has some discomfort and will not be available. The RB situation is a bit messy, both White and Timber are a doubt for the game and it would be interesting to see who Mikel prefers if they don’t make it. I am guessing one of MLS and Kiwior would have to do it in the worst scenario. Jesus will be out for some more months, while everyone else is fit for the game.
I am expecting a back 4 of MLS, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori unless one of the White or Timber are available. It would be the usual midfield of Odegaard, Zubimendi, Rice with a front 3 of Saka, Gyokeres and Madueke. Martinelli might not make it, because Mikel loves his new suits and Martinelli had a stinker last weekend. I am a Team Gabi but unless he gets back his old self, I won’t complain if Madueke starts ahead of him. After all, we need to know if the 52m GBP we spent was worth it.
Farke, Leed’s manager, was very clear about his approach in his pre-match conference. He promised an attacking game and that he won’t sell out their DNA by going defensive and parking the bus. Well, we love these kinds of oppositions. I am pretty sure they won’t change, Bielsa’s shadow stays with you till eternity. It would be an exciting game and one of those where Odegaard might gets his praise.
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What’s your prediction? I am hoping we get to see the mask celebration today at Home for our new no 14. Saka doesn’t like 2 bad games in a row so he will score one too.
2-0 to the boys, with a much better performance compared to last game; also preparing for the next week’s 6 pointer against Liverpool at their home.
Right, that’s all for today. Man City playing Spurs in about a minute, it’s a bit of a pickle because both of them can’t lose the game so i would take it if both of them drop points. Let the Spuds cherish 1 point after losing on Eze. It happened again.. It happened again..
Cheers
Wicksy
I said “could easily” not will. The reason it could easily contain those players is because Nwaneri is apparently the understudy / backup for Ode and the other 3 have cost us a combined £180 million. If we don’t start them and lose Arteta will be under pressure as to why did you spend so much to not start players / why did you buy those players if they’re not good enough. Start them and lose and it’s “Anfield away is always a difficult place to go”. With our defence including GK more or less picking itself and Rice and Zubi in front of them we have a solid back 7.
What absolute bollocks the ref disallowing the Fulham. The Chav player ran into King when he was dragging the ball and turning.
Farcical
Player conning the ref
Chavs seem to be stuck in 2nd gear with Fulham looking the better side for the first half.
Garnacho glu d to his phone rather than watching his teammates.
Sums the cnut up..
TRVL/ Marc
I was thinking a draw with Pool being suspect in defence. They need a good CB and replace Robertson who is past his sell by date.
VG to score? Probably if he gets the right service from Eze and Ode if they both play. Rice is not an AM being too slow and laboured so if Rice is 8 then very little is likely to happen on the left.
Rice at 6 Eze at 8 and Noni at LW and Saka RW and we could actually win.
I’ll say 2:2 draw
Chavs ruin Fulham’s party in the dying seconds of the first half
Feel sorry for Fulham junior just said. The better side who should be drawing 1:1.
2nd half should be good
You have to feel for Fulham with decisions against them.
Tony
I thought Saka was out injured tomorrow?
Tony—there’s no doubt that Fulham were the better side for the first 52, but after that late tally Chelsea put on a professional clinic in the 2nd half…Fulham barely threatened them for the better part of 40 minutes…I’m sure Chelsea’s a bit worried about Delap going down, especially with Palmer out and both Nkunku and Jackson on their way to Milan and Bayern respectively…fuck me they know how to sell their assets, regardless of their repsective CVs
couple pieces of business—(1) looks as if Isak will be in Liverpool before the window closes now that Newcastle has brought in Woltemade from Stuttgart…(2) the Spurs have acquired Simons, which could prove to be a seminal purchase for this club, especially along side the likes of Kudus…still think they need a better #9, notwithstanding the anamolous performance by Richarlison last week…(3) no wonder Pool has spent a shitload of money this summer, they made about 265M in outgoings transfers…we haven’t produced that sum in sales during MA’s 6 years combined (I doubt we’ve even totaled a third of that)
TRVL
Agree with that but I can’t help feeling had King’s goal stood, Fulham could have pressed that advantage.
The Ref and VAR were very poor.
Spuds being full throttle Spursy losing to B’mouth And should be 3:0 down.
Spuds with no shots on goal in 62 minutes but we’ve been down that road when having a bad day at the office.
Xavi Simmons should help and make them tick better. Spuds will take points off the top 6 but won’t mount a title challenge but might get lucky with a cup as they did in Europe.
Should be an interesting game tomorrow, bud.
Let’s not forget Spuds are at home lol
TRVL
Look at the size of our squad – no way we can go into the season with the amount we’ve spent without shifting a few bodies.
I think everyone pretty much assumed that Trossard and Kiwior were both on their way but Tross has signed a new contract and the talk about Kiwior has gone completely silent.
If we had everyone fit our bench options could look like this:
Kepa
Skelly
White
Kiwior
Mosquera
Nørgaard
Madueke
Trossard
Martinelli
Nwaneri
Havertz
No way you can keep all of those players happy and have a functional team that has any familiarity of player together.
ManU gone from winning and dominating at Old Trafford to 2 all with Burnley.
They really are a shambles.
as I suggested earlier, the Spurs will be a hot/cold side until Frank can coach some of the “bad” Ange-related traits out them…they could be a much more consistent squad come the second half of the season
this Burnley/United affair is a good watch…Amorim had better pray that they can find a way to take all 3 or it’s gong to sound like a Roman colosseum at Old Trafford at the final whistle
Marc—are you sure that Havertz will be a “bench” option??? one thing we’ve seen so far, albeit an incredibly small sample size, is that MA has gone to the bench much earlier than in the past, which should alleviate some of those concerns…I still think that if Noni has some success on the right flank during Saka’s absence that we could see Saka on the left (or at least a whole mess of switching up sides during each match)…if this were to happen, Tross and Marts could be rattled by their lack of minutes, unless Havertz is out for an extended period and they get some time up top…as such, it will be quite intriguing to see what our little MIT does with his starting group tomorrow
looks like Chelsea have pulled out of their Jackson loan move, which btw had an obligation to buy clause, after Delap pulled up lame…I figured as much…if he wasn’t such a tempermental headcase they probably would have kept him, unless someone met their high fee demands…he does make sense for them, in that he supplies something that neither Delap nor Pedro provides, a true vertical option…not to mention he’s had a good connection with Palmer…I still would take him over Havertz, even though both have struggled in front of goal
United have been swarming a very game Burnley side for the last 15…Sesko has looked rather dire thus far in his rather brief time at United…too soon to properly assess, but considering their struggles to find a proper number 9, the pressure will mount in relative short order if that narrative doesn’t change
Bruno might have just saved his manager’s ass…at least until after the break
Always happy to see Spuds drop 3 points and Manure still being shit after so many rebuilds.
For me that’s Karma for old Red Nose’s conniving theatrics over time in games and tell his squad to butcher player by accumulation of fouls by a number of players so no yellow cards.
Manure destroyed Reyes at OT with a systematic fouls. Had to be taken off and never recovered for me and was sold.
Two teams I detest dropping points bodes well for our weekend.
How bad is Richalison? Another Anthony for me. Not suitable for PL or any pro football
Amorim might need an industrial-sized shovel to clean up his gameday diapers!!