2020/21 Carlo Ancelotti

[matty1878]

But... I haven't seen a team do a number on that like City, other than United, since November.

We really did nullify them bar, let's face it, a huge stroke of luck for their first goal - and then their quality told (and obviously KDB's quality led to that first goal).

That's positive, because it shows that when we have a plan these players can stick to it and fulfil it. We just dont' have enough going the other way, or the options to change it - the latter is on recruitment. Recruitment, recruitment, recruitment. It all boils down to that – for 5 years it, on the whole, hasn't been good enough.

Really can't read much into a game against city. They've won 34 games in 4 months. That's more that a lot of teams win in 2 seasons - us included.

We're still nowhere near a complete team. We have some nice pieces but lots of weaknesses. Players that don't really complement each other, and only one player that really has the consistent ability to unlock almost any defense - and he's been injured.

The biggest issue for me (amongst others) is the breakdown between our pretty solid defence and our two very good attacking players. There's a missing link in midfield. We bought really well in that area in the summer with 3 quality players - but we've not had the 3 of them together on the pitch since November I believe.

Richarlison and Calvert-Lewin are exciting - but only if we can both get the ball to them in quality areas AND support them. We got a glimpse of what the looked like in September/October, but we haven't really see it since.

I know we don't like to admit it, but we're still a team in transition and it's to Carlo's credit that he's got us challenging as far up the league as he has.

I'm encouraged that he's building defensive solidity into our DNA and I'm hopeful that next season with a few more astute bits of business we'll look like a much more coherent and exciting proposition.

If we squeak into Europe this season then it's s massive bonus.

amazing posts you can’t pretty sum it up as good as these

 

[John from Bootle]

We're still nowhere near a complete team.

Don't worry @Lanolin will be along shortly to tell you that our players aren't as 'bad' as you think, despite there being zero evidence to suggest they're actually better than what you think. Basically, it's just his opinion, but lets look at some facts...

Richy - on course for scoring the most goals in a season in England.

DCL - having his best ever season.

Keane - best season for us.

Gylfi - best season bar one.

Mina - best season for us.

Iwobi...

Gomes - has been consistently inconsistent in his time here

Coleman - obviously not better than when we finished a 'lofty' 5th in Bobby's first season.

I could go on, but I think I've made my point: There's zero evidence to suggest these players are any better than what we've seen from them this season. but some posters will still insist they are. Very odd. Very, very odd.

 

[Lanolin]

Don't worry @Lanolin will be along shortly to tell you that our players aren't as 'bad' as you think, despite there being zero evidence to suggest they're actually better than what you think. Basically, it's just his opinion, but lets look at some facts...

Richy - on course for scoring the most goals in a season in England.

DCL - having his best ever season.

Keane - best season for us.

Gylfi - best season bar one.

Mina - best season for us.

Iwobi...

Gomes - has been consistently inconsistent in his time here

Coleman - obviously not better than when we finished a 'lofty' 5th in Bobby's first season.

I could go on, but I think I've made my point: There's zero evidence to suggest these players are any better than what we've seen from them this season. but some posters will still insist they are. Very odd. Very, very odd.

Well yeah, it’s just my opinion. What else would it be? Did you think I had a ‘badometer’, that conclusively proves exactly how bad each individual player is? I think the players are capable of playing better football than you evidently do, as I said the other day, you’re welcome to disagree with me. You can even do it without being a bellend if you want.

 

[Egil Olsen]

The problem for Ancelotti is that for almost 15 months he has resorted to ad hoc solutions, and has rolled the dice. For this strategy to make sense at all, we depend on qualifying for Europe. If we can not do that, we are about where we were before Ancelotti took over.

That is, we have wasted 15 months that we could use to build a system, given us a direction, for a short-term mindset that failed. Our competitors will be even better next season. Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal have had seasons below expectations. We do not have enough capital to close the gap in this way alone. For me, it is not necessarily Ancelotti who is the problem, but the strategy of the club.

 

[Zatara]

Right Back is absolute priority someone who gives us equal threat on either side instead of everything getting congested down our left. A Right Forward and Attacking Midfielder are equal priority to me as they will mean we can cope without James and when he is fit use him sparingly. Finally a goalkeeper to challenge Pickford. If we get all of them then I think it is fair to judge Ancelotti at the moment he is making best of the Franksteins monster that he has been given to deal with. Many people say we have the 8th best squad in the league. So far he has got us to the last 8 of both Cup competitions where we got knocked out by the 2 best teams in the country. We also knocked a top 8 side out in both competitions. In the league we are currently 7th and can still finish anywhere from 4th to 10th so we are on course to at least finish where the squad would expect to finish. I said last night I thought he could have used subs better but we don't know what injuries players might have been carrying.

Really can't read much into a game against city. They've won 34 games in 4 months. That's more that a lot of teams win in 2 seasons - us included.

We're still nowhere near a complete team. We have some nice pieces but lots of weaknesses. Players that don't really complement each other, and only one player that really has the consistent ability to unlock almost any defense - and he's been injured.

The biggest issue for me (amongst others) is the breakdown between our pretty solid defence and our two very good attacking players. There's a missing link in midfield. We bought really well in that area in the summer with 3 quality players - but we've not had the 3 of them together on the pitch since November I believe.

Richarlison and Calvert-Lewin are exciting - but only if we can both get the ball to them in quality areas AND support them. We got a glimpse of what the looked like in September/October, but we haven't really see it since.

I know we don't like to admit it, but we're still a team in transition and it's to Carlo's credit that he's got us challenging as far up the league as he has.

I'm encouraged that he's building defensive solidity into our DNA and I'm hopeful that next season with a few more astute bits of business we'll look like a much more coherent and exciting proposition.

If we squeak into Europe this season then it's s massive bonus.

Injuries have played a major role and we are clearly having a better season than last year

But i would like to see us play a little more on the front foot

We cant play on the front foot with a higher line when we have Keane at centre back and/or Holgate ar right back.

This means that the defence is deep and the midfield naturally sits deeper to protect the defence and/or to pick up the ball from them....in turn this means the forwards are deep and closer to the midfield, or isolated.

We need that right back position filled along with one or two midfielders who can carry the ball or pass the ball once they pick it up from defence...and ideally a massive upgrade on Keane (which we have in Mina but he also lacks pace).

 

[BirkenheadBlue]

Don't worry @Lanolin will be along shortly to tell you that our players aren't as 'bad' as you think, despite there being zero evidence to suggest they're actually better than what you think. Basically, it's just his opinion, but lets look at some facts...

Richy - on course for scoring the most goals in a season in England.

DCL - having his best ever season.

Keane - best season for us.

Gylfi - best season bar one.

Mina - best season for us.

Iwobi...

Gomes - has been consistently inconsistent in his time here

Coleman - obviously not better than when we finished a 'lofty' 5th in Bobby's first season.

I could go on, but I think I've made my point: There's zero evidence to suggest these players are any better than what we've seen from them this season. but some posters will still insist they are. Very odd. Very, very odd.

Well you've just said it's the best season for three of them (at least). By that logic, you would have been saying last season "there's no evidence to suggest these players are any better than what we've seen from them this season"... and yet here we are...

 

[BlueStevie35]

Have a look at the underlying statistics. When was the last time we had more possession and more shots than the opposition. It is getting embarrassing.

Football isn’t played on stats

 

[Thomasc]

We were always losing yesterday’s game, so how we lost it is kind of irrelevant.

Its more the way that that we play against teams like Burnley, Newcastle, Southampton and Fulham at home which concerns me far more.

This team haven’t taken a game to the opposition since Fulham away and that was only for half the game.
They sussed us out and battered us in the second half.

 

[COYBL25]

Really can't read much into a game against city. They've won 34 games in 4 months. That's more that a lot of teams win in 2 seasons - us included.

We're still nowhere near a complete team. We have some nice pieces but lots of weaknesses. Players that don't really complement each other, and only one player that really has the consistent ability to unlock almost any defense - and he's been injured.

The biggest issue for me (amongst others) is the breakdown between our pretty solid defence and our two very good attacking players. There's a missing link in midfield. We bought really well in that area in the summer with 3 quality players - but we've not had the 3 of them together on the pitch since November I believe.

Richarlison and Calvert-Lewin are exciting - but only if we can both get the ball to them in quality areas AND support them. We got a glimpse of what the looked like in September/October, but we haven't really see it since.

I know we don't like to admit it, but we're still a team in transition and it's to Carlo's credit that he's got us challenging as far up the league as he has.

I'm encouraged that he's building defensive solidity into our DNA and I'm hopeful that next season with a few more astute bits of business we'll look like a much more coherent and exciting proposition.

If we squeak into Europe this season then it's s massive bonus.

Bravo.

 

[Terrarian]

He needs another midfield, second season running. We have been hit very hard with injuries to our new players to be honest and the rest are shithouses as we all know. Our midfield has had major injuries right through it for 2 seasons running now, you can't really account for that, so even Brands deserves a little slack on that front I suppose.

 

[GwladysBlue]

We’re going to finish 8th or something and this fella is going to be praised to high heaven for it.

£12m a year for this supposed tactical genius to park the bus in literally every game and try and capitalise on an opposition mistake or set piece.

This is beyond boring now. We should be getting a lot more bang for our buck for the wage he’s on and the money we’ve spent.

We brought in older players trying to get success this season and it’s completely backfired.

Thanks, Carlo.

 

[Terrarian]

We got some sparkling football for seven games and then injuries hit, we just never got our mojo back did we.

 

[GwladysBlue]

We got some sparkling football for seven games and then injuries hit, we just never got our mojo back did we.

You can’t sign James and expect him to be an integral member of the squad because his injuries have been known for years.

Extremely naive by Brands and Ancelotti.

Another wasted opportunity, this season.

 

[Terrarian]

We’re going to finish 8th or something and this fella is going to be praised to high heaven for it.

£12m a year for this supposed tactical genius to park the bus in literally every game and try and capitalise on an opposition mistake or set piece.

This is beyond boring now. We should be getting a lot more bang for our buck for the wage he’s on and the money we’ve spent.

We brought in older players trying to get success this season and it’s completely backfired.

Thanks, Carlo.

The bang for buck thing should be directed at players who earn winners wages when they don't get anywhere near winning anything. I have no clue how but the wages for average players needs capping.

 

[messymascot]

In the run in we have 6 games against top half teams 2 home 3 away and 4 against bottom half teams 3 home 1 away. At the start of the season we battered 2 bottom half teams a home so we maybe need to go back to that philosophy for the 3 home games. Maybe use the wall against the top half sides as that got us results in games against better teams. I'm sure Ancelotti will suss it out.