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Team News Fume

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This positivity is great to see. We have to distinguish between the short-term and long-term though.

Lampard has impressed with his man-management so far. He realises the position we are in and it's all hands on deck. He knew he couldn't go all Roy Keane on things with nothing ever being good enough by the standards he showed in his own career.

If everyone is starting from a clean slate, you accept that at face value. I'm sceptical of Iwobi and some others suddenly coming good and maintaining that consistency though. Things are not what they were with millionaire contacts anymore and whilst he clearly has some talent, it's the ambition and drive which I would question, along with that of several other players.

We need to put the relegation issue to bed as soon as possible but it's actually after that period that proves the acid test. I want the players to put in a shift regardless.

I think Lampard might successfully revive one player at the club, possibly Iwobi, but there are embedded, longer-term problems amongst the cohort of non-performing players and I expect in the cold light of day Lampard will want to move as many of those players on as he can.
 
I thought it was common knowledge that Iwobi was getting picked by Carlo, and I am sure Raf, because of how good he was in training. even posted in the match thread on Saturday when the team was announced, that Iwobi must be doing his world beating training again to get picked after the mare he had at AFCON
 
The thing that raised my eyebrow more was 442 given how much we've struggled with just 2 CMs this season rather than Iwobi being in the the team. Ultimately Gray was out so it wasn't surprising to seem him or El Ghazi come in.
 

I hope that Lampard will be picking players for the team based on their performances in training AND in the first team. We all know that Iwobi trains well, every coach he has worked under has said so, but that has very infrequently translated into performances on the pitch. He played very well at the weekend, and long may that continue, but if he trains well but plays poorly in matches I hope he isn't maintained in the side, that has happened too much in the past with no success.
 
Frank's way.
Furey1878 said:
The thing that raised my eyebrow more was 442 given how much we've struggled with just 2 CMs this season rather than Iwobi being in the the team. Ultimately Gray was out so it wasn't surprising to seem him or El Ghazi come in.
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Spot on.

I could find plenty of times on here when our local *experts* keep saying that we can not win with a 4-4-2.
The best game in a long time when our 2 CM got the job done. Having the option of throwing AD into the mix is not a bad thing.

* I was being polite :)
 
As well as he played, this is still only one game, what you want is consistency, let's wait and see how the rest of the season pans out. We have a lot of players who play in his position and for me Gray, Richarlison, Gordon and even Townsend are ahead of him, he has a long way to go before getting in the team ahead of any of them.
 
Addressing the efforts of Iwobi and Van de Beek in order, Lampard said: “It was hard to pick a man of the match out of those 11 players but, for me, it was Alex.

“The reason was the work ethic he showed, his fitness throughout the game, the way he picked up the positions we wanted off the ball and kept wanting to receive the ball and drive and play.

“He played because he trained so well and that is something I stand behind strongly as a coach.

“Sometimes you pick a team and people outside don’t understand why you pick a player.

“I understand that, too.

“But when someone trains as well as he has [he deserves to play]. All I want is for Alex to have belief and feel the talent he has – I am not sure I expected that 90 minutes of work-rate. He hadn’t played for me... and, wow, I thought he was outstanding.


Think we all gave a collective "sigh" when we saw Iwobi & Kenny on the teamsheet.
It worked....very well in fact.

Now the trick is getting those 2 in particular performing until our injuries start to clear up. Then to keep competing for a place.

Who's next ? Rondon & Tosun ?
 

No player has a divine right to start come what may.

I don't think anyone was expecting that level of performance from Iwobi. He was a completely different player. Strength, pace, desire.

I wish him well and it should benefit us. I do recall people saying he was a changed player under the previous manager for several much lesser performances. I want him to deliver consistently. No one expects perfection but that level of desire he showed on Saturday should be a given for any player (and sadly isn't at many clubs).

Lampard may well be one of those Manager's who most players will go the extra mile for because he shows belief in them. Let's hope so.
 
You can't argue with the logic, but someone who pulls his finger out once is different than someone who consistently hits that level. My guess is Iwobi will let him down in the not too distant future.

Hopefully it's a perfect match of personalities that encourages the best out of our players but when we've had 3 prior managers who couldn't then there must be an issue somewhere. It's one of the reasons why we have struggled over the last few years as everyone gets a clean slate and might be good for a while but old habits are hard to shift. By that point the manager is in trouble and they leave and so the circle continues. This has got to be the likes of Iwobi and Gomes' last chance regardless of how well they train.
 
Neiler said:
It also what it says to other players as well - Iwobi trained better than you all week and plays - what are you going to do about it?

Sets standards and sorts the men from the boys.
Click to expand...
Possibly firing a wee reminder to Dele but in a much less confrontational way. Better man management.
 

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