2022/23 Frank Lampard

[TheBigIguana]

Jesus Christ I give up.

Almiron has 9 goals in 3 and a half seasons and now has 7 in 3 months. Do you really think he just suddenly became a 5x better player or is it maybe possible going from Steve Bruce's sludge to a real attacking team and system contributed a little bit?

Honestly there are a lot of similarities between Almiron and Demarai Gray.

 

[MikeH72]

Almiron has 9 goals in 3 and a half seasons and now has 7 in 3 months. Do you really think he just suddenly became a 5x better player or is it maybe possible going from Steve Bruce's sludge to a real attacking team and system contributed a little bit?

Honestly there are a lot of similarities between Almiron and Demarai Gray.

DCL has a 1 in 4 record throughout his career and then randomly scored 16 in a weird set of training sessions in front of no fans, what’s your point?

 

[ToffeeTim]

Almiron has 9 goals in 3 and a half seasons and now has 7 in 3 months. Do you really think he just suddenly became a 5x better player or is it maybe possible going from Steve Bruce's sludge to a real attacking team and system contributed a little bit?

Honestly there are a lot of similarities between Almiron and Demarai Gray.

He's in great form in a team in form, but it won't last forever. You can't consistently score from long range unless you are an elite player, and I don't think he is.

 

[TheBigIguana]

Dominic Calvert-Lewin has a 1 in 4 record throughout his career and then randomly scored 16 in a weird set of training sessions in front of no fans, what’s your point?

Yeah if you ignore the good matches he's really bad.

And my point is that "the player's aren't good enough" is doing a lot of work for a manager who regularly puts out teams that cannot generate and attack for entire halves of football.

 

[TheBigIguana]

He's in great form in a team in form, but it won't last forever. You can't consistently score from long range unless you are an elite player, and I don't think he is.

I agree, but this is all the more reason why Howe is doing a superb job and Lampard can't get his team to score a goal per game.

 

[MikeH72]

Yeah if you ignore the good matches he's really bad.

And my point is that "the player's aren't good enough" is doing a lot of work for a manager who regularly puts out teams that cannot generate and attack for entire halves of football.

Yeah that’s exactly what you’re doing with Almiron here.

 

[ToffeeTim]

I agree, but this is all the more reason why Howe is doing a superb job and Lampard can't get his team to score a goal per game.

Howe has been provided with like £200m net to spend. Lampard had maybe 10m net and had his best attacker sold.

 

[TheBigIguana]

Yeah that’s exactly what you’re doing with Almiron here.

I'm not? I think Almiron is playing much better and is much improved. What you're ignoring is that the improvement came because he had a better manager and that it matters.

 

[TheBigIguana]

Howe has been provided with like £200m net to spend. Lampard had maybe 10m net and had his best attacker sold.

And yet he's beating the crap out of teams starting attackers not a part of that spend.

 

[Daveysgingerlovechild]

It's not worth arguing with Lord @TheBigIguana folks. After he had us all off on Iwobi I'm convinced he's a footballing sage and we should just go with what he says.

So, with heavy heart, that's a Lampard out then, yeah?

 

[ToffeeTim]

And yet he's beating the crap out of teams starting attackers not a part of that spend.

I'm not going to argue at all that Newcastle and Howe are doing well, because they are by far the most improved side in the league, but they are an example of spending sensibly and we were an example of spending foolishly over a prolonged period. We weren't going to right the wrongs of several years of mismanagement in the 9 months that Lampard has been in charge.

They straight away improved the spine of their team, but they have spent significantly more in the last year than we did. You can't ignore that point, especially when the squads the manager's inherited were similar in quality. We sold our best attacker and basically spent that money on the defensive spine (we will know in May if that was the right call). They spent about £200m, including one signing which beat our club record by a considerable margin.

Villa finished above us last season, and comfortably so, but just lost 4 nil to Newcastle. We were far more competitive than they were. You can't just compare us with Newcastle. We just need to make sure we finish higher in the league than last year to prove there has been some degree of improvement.

 

[TheBigIguana]

I'm not going to argue at all that Newcastle and Howe are doing well, because they are by far the most improved side in the league, but they are an example of spending sensibly and we were an example of spending foolishly over a prolonged period. We weren't going to right the wrongs of several years of mismanagement in the 9 months that Lampard has been in charge.

They straight away improved the spine of their team, but they have spent significantly more in the last year than we did. You can't ignore that point, especially when the squads the manager's inherited were similar in quality. We sold our best attacker and basically spent that money on the defensive spine (we will know in May if that was the right call). They spent about £200m, including one signing which beat our club record by a considerable margin.

Villa finished above us last season, and comfortably so, but just lost 4 nil to Newcastle. We were far more competitive than they were. You can't just compare us with Newcastle. We just need to make sure we finish higher in the league than last year to prove there has been some degree of improvement.

I don't really want to do it because they have done more to build the side than we've been able to. I understand that.

At the same time if you're OK with giving Frank a pass on 11 goals in 13 games I think it needs to be pointed out that they scored 9 in 2 with a front line of Wilson, Almiron and Murphy and even if you somehow rate two of those as elite players the gap there is just simply too large.

 

[Bluerobins]

Newcastle destroyed us with a front 3 of Wilson, Murphy and Almiron (I know he can't stop scoring suddenly but still). It isn't all about the players.

Wilson is a very good goal scorer just injury prone.

 

[ToffeeTim]

I don't really want to do it because they have done more to build the side than we've been able to. I understand that.

At the same time if you're OK with giving Frank a pass on 11 goals in 13 games I think it needs to be pointed out that they scored 9 in 2 with a front line of Wilson, Almiron and Murphy and even if you somehow rate two of those as elite players the gap there is just simply too large.

I don't rate any of them as elite, but as a collective they are better than our front 3. A fit Callum Wilson is a massive threat in this league. They also have better supply because Guimaraes is better going forward than any of our midfielders. They also have a lot of creativity from Trippier, which we have lacked at full back.

I don't really rate any of our forwards or wide players. I'm not at all surprised we have struggled to score. I was saying it all summer long and I haven't changed my mind on the ability of our forwards.

 

[MikeH72]

I don't really want to do it because they have done more to build the side than we've been able to. I understand that.

At the same time if you're OK with giving Frank a pass on 11 goals in 13 games I think it needs to be pointed out that they scored 9 in 2 with a front line of Wilson, Almiron and Murphy and even if you somehow rate two of those as elite players the gap there is just simply too large.

They don’t have to be elite players to be easily better than our absolute wasters though do they?