2020/21 Carlo Ancelotti

[BlueToff]

Our attacks break down cos some players cant even play a 5 yard pass at times.

Yes our build-up is slow, but our main issue is stringing passes together.

I watch every other team and they manage it with ease, pass and move, sure you can blame the manager, but I've never played the game above U16 Sunday League and I know how to pass and move, expecting a manager having to teach pro players this concept is breathtaking.

Yeah, it is. But... they have to surely start working on something else then so that they can, y'know, pass five yards?

Maybe there's only so much he can do, but then you have to again point to the recruitment over the past 5 years, including Brands' time here.

 

[bicycleheader]

I agree we should be trying to build something. At this very present moment in time I’m struggling to see what we’re building. Up until about the new year I could’ve said well we’ve learned how to grind out results despite playing poorly, but that looks to be levelling out now and we’re left with dour football that isn’t getting results.

Before anyone starts banging on about calling for the manager to be sacked, no that’s not at all what I’m saying. I am interested to see how he goes about turning this around.

Mike stop talking about grinding and banging, and get behind the boss





(after Saturday)

 

[pedro789]

It’s a transitional season. We’ve got to expect ups and downs.

Hopefully next year we’ll see a real identity and style to the team.

Carlo will always play around with systems and there’s nothing wrong with that. But he does need to settle on a preferred formation.

For me (and assuming there won’t be massive spend in summer) it’s 4-4-1-1. If James plays it should be as 10.

I thought 4-3-3 looked good early in season but teams sussed it out quickly and our right hand side got targeted with overloads all the time.

Playing a 3 means Doucoure shuttling out to right and we’re getting picked off through the middle.

It’s the right hand side that needs sorting in summer - fast, dynamic full back and wide player.

 

[mrb85]

Yes, he should get more on it given he gets a hand to it. But, he was decent. He makes some good stops, his kicking was good and he was commanding in the area. Olsen has conceded 12 goals in 4 games and couldn't pass to a giant. He's not the answer either, as much as Pickford isn't.

There's levels of blame you can attribute to players. Silva was allowed to run into 10 yards of space, on his stronger foot, and get a shot off from the edge of the box. That's on Sigurdsson not tracking and Keane and Godfrey not pushing out because they were scared of getting done - Jesus did it all night and Keane didn't have a clue.

After that, Pickford should get more on it, but it should never have been him having to make a save in the first place, should it?

But using that criteria no goalkeeper would ever be taken as the culprit for any goal. The fact is he had a shot of only medium difficulty to keep out. It's in games like this that you absolutely need your keeper to be 100% on his game.

 

[consho]

This is where Carlo went horribly wrong.....With three games coming almost on top of each other it was easy to see how to prioritise team selection in relation to the prospect of picking up points....the selection shown is the line up for the game against Fulham, the only one of the three whee we had a reailistic chance to pick up three points, so what does the massively experienced manager Carlo do... he puts out a weakened side instead of playing his strongest side which would have included Keane, Mina and for balance Iwobi. He then could have rested probably 70% of that line up against Man City, a team that was on a run of 16 successive wins and to everyones understanding way better than any other team in the league. In other words a game in which the Blues had little or no chance of picking up points. He would then have been able to revert to his strongest line up against Liverpool, a game in which a rested full srength lineup would have had an excellent chance of getting a result. The net result now is that we have lost Mina through injury, Doucoure and Richarlison, two of our more important assets have had to play through two full games in the space of a few days needlessly, and we will probably have nothing to show points wise from the three games by Saturday evening. Obviously his post will receive lots of thumbs down but I am entitled to an opinion he same as everyone else and I believe that, not for the first time this season, the managers selection choice is open to criticism.

 

[ToffeeTim]

View attachment 118279
This is where Carlo went horribly wrong.....With three games coming almost on top of each other it was easy to see how to prioritise team selection in relation to the prospect of picking up points....the selection shown is the line up for the game against Fulham, the only one of the three whee we had a reailistic chance to pick up three points, so what does the massively experienced manager Carlo do... he puts out a weakened side instead of playing his strongest side which would have included Keane, Mina and for balance Iwobi. He then could have rested probably 70% of that line up against Man City, a team that was on a run of 16 successive wins and to everyones understanding way better than any other team in the league. In other words a game in which the Blues had little or no chance of picking up points. He would then have been able to revert to his strongest line up against Liverpool, a game in which a rested full srength lineup would have had an excellent chance of getting a result. The net result now is that we have lost Mina through injury, Doucoure and Richarlison, two of our more important assets have had to play through two full games in the space of a few days needlessly, and we will probably have nothing to show points wise from the three games by Saturday evening. Obviously his post will receive lots of thumbs down but I am entitled to an opinion he same as everyone else and I believe that, not for the first time this season, the managers selection choice is open to criticism.

There is no doubt the selection against Fulham was poor and part of the reason we lost. It was a team picked with the City game in mind and it didn't make sense.

 

[MrGrumpy]

How many of those games at Anfield have we actually deserved to win I can name two.

Beckford when we went 2-1 up and then another one of inept keepers decided to take out Maxi Rodriguez for no reason and the second one involved AJ 1 on 1 with Pepe Reina and all he had to do was lift it off the ground.

There might be one or two closer to 1999 but for the life of me I can't remember.

The JP one, we had 2 balls cleared off the line

 

[Goat]

View attachment 118279
This is where Carlo went horribly wrong.....With three games coming almost on top of each other it was easy to see how to prioritise team selection in relation to the prospect of picking up points....the selection shown is the line up for the game against Fulham, the only one of the three whee we had a reailistic chance to pick up three points, so what does the massively experienced manager Carlo do... he puts out a weakened side instead of playing his strongest side which would have included Keane, Mina and for balance Iwobi. He then could have rested probably 70% of that line up against Man City, a team that was on a run of 16 successive wins and to everyones understanding way better than any other team in the league. In other words a game in which the Blues had little or no chance of picking up points. He would then have been able to revert to his strongest line up against Liverpool, a game in which a rested full srength lineup would have had an excellent chance of getting a result. The net result now is that we have lost Mina through injury, Doucoure and Richarlison, two of our more important assets have had to play through two full games in the space of a few days needlessly, and we will probably have nothing to show points wise from the three games by Saturday evening. Obviously his post will receive lots of thumbs down but I am entitled to an opinion he same as everyone else and I believe that, not for the first time this season, the managers selection choice is open to criticism.

Im sorry but on what planet is that a weakened side?

The issue is that Carlos strongest side is vastly different to everybody else's strongest side.

 

[consho]

Im sorry but on what planet is that a weakened side?

The issue is that Carlos strongest side is vastly different to everybody else's strongest side.

So you think that neither Keane nor Mina are worthy of a first tea m start.In the context of what was achievable points wise over the three games he played a wekened side against the weakest opposition when in my opinion he should have played to his strengths and set his starting line up as strong as possible against the weakest of the three opponents. in effect he cost us three points againts Fulham by prioritising teh City game, one which any sensible follower of the premier league would realise waas beyond our capability

 

[BlueToff]

Im sorry but on what planet is that a weakened side?

The issue is that Carlos strongest side is vastly different to everybody else's strongest side.

It's not that it was weakened - it's that it had no discernable shape or system. And you can't argue otherwise. It was crap, completely imbalanced and set the tone for a crap performance - and we know a fair chunk of these players need no excuse to turn one of them in.

 

[BornBlue76]

We have such useless players.. I don't know how Carlo gets anything out of them. Its a miracle we're not in the bottom half.
DCL - so what if he has been England # 2 to Kane and learnt to take his chances.
Richy - ok so what he actually starts for Brazil as a forward.
James Rod - I mean.. sure he might be a creative genius with a wand of a left foot and the vision of superman.. how does that help?
Digne - might be the most chances creating LB in England if not Europe.. but you know
Doucoure - So he has an engine of a diesel truck and can go for 120 minutes
Godfrey - might be the fastest back in the league and built like a brick house but what does that matter
Keane - winning aerial battle and pinging cross field passes like Pirlo all season.. how does that help
Pickford - Might be England number 1 but all those mistakes
Allan - sure he is all nuggety and can drive the ball forward and pass.. but he's not Gueye

So there is the best we have.. how can we hope to compete with that lot hey? I mean have you seen the other teams in the league? The personnel Saints, Fulham, Newcastle, Leeds have.. I mean lets not even try compare to Leicester or Aston Villa.. West Ham?? Forget it.. No way this mob could actually find a pass, space or string enough passes together to actually get passed the half way line without have to go back to the keeper first (then back to defense, then back to the keeper, then Davies, then Keane, the Mina, then Davies... you get the point).

Then you throw in Bernard, Gomes, Davies, Sig, Coleman.. any two of those in the team completely nullifies anything the above 9 players might bring to the side.. totally. It only takes one bad apple to make the whole bunch worthless.

If its not clear what my message is .. its this:
Everyone saying what do you expect from Carlo with a team like ours? The above is what you are saying.
That a team with those players throughout its ranks are too useless to actually try play football with any discernable style. Fans who are questioning why tactically we seem so devoid of confidence are called negative.. when in fact we are the ones that believe in the players! I don't believe we need to be throwing the baby out with the bathwater! I believe we have a seriously talented group of players that are far better than we give them credit for and are not being allowed to express themselves and play to their full potential.

I believe Carlo can get them there... I really do and I want nothing more than him to turn this ship around.. but right now we are as rudderless and disjointed as any time in the last few years... otherwise why are we here? To make up the numbers?

 

[Goat]

So you think that neither Keane nor Mina are worthy of a first tea m start.In the context of what was achievable points wise over the three games he played a wekened side against the weakest opposition when in my opinion he should have played to his strengths and set his starting line up as strong as possible against the weakest of the three opponents. in effect he cost us three points againts Fulham by prioritising teh City game, one which any sensible follower of the premier league would realise waas beyond our capability

I honestly dont think Mina and Keane would have changed that result much.

Unless they were going to turn into Pirlo and Zidane.

For me Mina and Keane are our best pairing, but I keep reading that Holgate was our best CB 18months ago and Godfrey is a future World Cup Winning CB.

I like all 4 of our CBs, I think they all are very decent, we could improve on them, but it wouldn't be easy, I don't think.

But to suggest a team in which Mina and Keane don't play is weakened is a touch silly.

 

[Goat]

It's not that it was weakened - it's that it had no discernable shape or system. And you can't argue otherwise. It was crap, completely imbalanced and set the tone for a crap performance - and we know a fair chunk of these players need no excuse to turn one of them in.

At no point have I even attempted to defend the performance, it was shocking, but personally I don't lay the blame at Mina and Keane being missing.

 

[consho]

I honestly dont think Mina and Keane would have changed that result much.

Unless they were going to turn into Pirlo and Zidane.

For me Mina and Keane are our best pairing, but I keep reading that Holgate was our best CB 18months ago and Godfrey is a future World Cup Winning CB.

I like all 4 of our CBs, I think they all are very decent, we could improve on them, but it wouldn't be easy, I don't think.

But to suggest a team in which Mina and Keane don't play is weakened is a touch silly.

Why would they have needed to turn into repicas of Pirlo and Zidane against Fulham and why if you think they are our best central defensive paiing do you not believe that a starting line up with them on the bench is not weakened

 

[Goat]

Why would they have needed to turn into repicas of Pirlo and Zidane against Fulham and why if you think they are our best central defensive paiing do you not believe that a starting line up with them on the bench is not weakened

I think playing Holgate and Godfrey against a team who had scored about 6 goals all season was a decent gamble.

Do I think the team was weakened, possibly, cos I consider them our best pairing, not many agree, for loads, Holgate and Godfrey are, what is Carlos best 11?

When everybody is fit, refreshed and ready, which team does Carlo pick? We don't know, cos its never happened yet.