Chicken Field

Maybe, I think football at premier league level has moved away from playing a number formation, it is more complex than a 442 or 4231, but my point was mostly that we play with 2 holding midfielders, not three, all indications are that Tielemans will be deployed in that role.

Maybe but we have basically played 442 since he arrived and all the pre-season game, so would be strange to change it now.

Interesting that people seem to think he is more of a second striker and would work better with Watkins in the Diaby role, I get that Archer has different qualities and lacks the work rate that Watkins offer, but from what I have seen of Archer he is a pure out and out striker, seems to be all about getting into positions and finishing attacks, what I've seen of him, which is limited, he has little to offer in build up play. Surely the 2nd striker role in our team is more about the build up/playing out wide, hence we signed a winger to play that role?

I believe it is to "prevent" Vitoria from buying players that we have identified but deemed not ready for Aston Villa yet.

Agree with most but would be extremely surprised to see us go from 2 center mids to 3. Can't see luiz, tielemans and Kamara starting at the same time. Also don't think we will see Torres and Mings start in center back together too often.

Except for one horrendous pass, Olsen looked more than capable today, decent distribution, assured and good sweeping. I like that instead of discarding him, like must Villa fans would do, Emery actually works with the players, tries to improve them and build confidence. (Still 10 minutes to go, let's see if a jinxes it)

Just for context, last season only one club had two players score 15+ in the premier league, which were Arsenal with Martinelli and Ødegaard who both scored exactly 15 goals each. But I do agree we need more goals from elsewhere to compliment Watkins, rather than replace him.

I agree a lot to this! A free kick (and bookings) should not be determined by how hurt someone is or how hard the player falls, it should solely be judged by the "attackers" actions. I get really frustrated when players are punished for staying on their feet, or when bookings ar given because the other player rolls around/screams really loudly.

I thought he looked really good with the ball at his feet, but that there were some really really poor decision making and vision. There were at least three times in the game where he could/should have passed/crossed early for easy really big opportunities, where he didn't, which made med think that he is nowhere near ready for premier league football.

I think its because he said he wanted to play Champions league football, (and maybe turned us down) which some took as a personal attack against us. Never read anything that indicates he's a bad apple, seems hardworking and honest imo.

I actually kind of sympathised with Potter, they actually played pretty dominant football, they just werent winning, the squad was a mess. Lamps is an awful football manager. I think the top will be interesting this season. I defo see Chelsea displacing Newcastle, newcastle to me still havent good a great squad and have champions league football next season, I truly believe that last season they were mainly running on a high from the season before, kind of like Leicester when they became champions. Last seasons sky 6 must have been the weakest for years too, they all (except city) looked pretty poor in europe too. I personally see them displacing arsenal too, as the same arguement as above, theyll have champo football and have a pretty small squad I also see them displacing Spurs, especially if the lose Kane No way they get anywhere near City. The rest look kind of fragile imo..

My gut feeling is that with Poch, after getting rid of so many players and not having europe, that they will actually be very strong this season, especially if the get a striker and defensive midfielder in.

I think it's pretty straight forward, he'll be given pre-season, where Emery will assess if he trusts him to be part of the squad or not. I would also consider, if emery doesnt trust him, if we should sell him whilst his stock is high, he'll be 22 in January, an unsuccesfull loan would destroy his market value.

Is the offside rule change official? I have seen it a lot on social media but not seen any official confirmation (havent looked for it either tbf).

Out of curiousity, did Asensio sign for PSG?

Or taking Phillps placeon the bench and as a homegrown player in the squad registration

I think the reason for this is that they sucessfully managed to get rid of badically all deadwood, now they just need some quality. Their wage structure surely is much lower than the redt of the sky 6?

At today prices, my though was that the Nkunku price is extremely reasonable. 25 year old attacking midfielder who manager 35 goals last season and 23 this season. Althoug logic would say that Chelsea have destroyed the FFP rules and should not be able to afford anything

I actually think this could be a positive, create a saudi super league and make the Premier league fall a bit closer to reality, whilst not losing most of the top teams. Introduce stricter financial rules here and europe and let the Saudi league be where all the money is. I struggle to believe that it will be able to steal must premier league fans whatever they do (for example, they could easily have created a super league with 20 new teams, majority of fans have a tiny bit of loyalty and will stay with their teams imo)

My predicition is that we will soon reveal the signing of Joel Robles

I personally feel like konsa is a decent option to have at right back but that even though emery prefers that his right backs mainly defend, they do still sometimes attack and dribble/challenge the opposition, Konsa has basically nothing to offer in that department

It was actually partially meant as a genuine question as he has been a hot topic of discussion on this thread many times, just curious to how it started. My second paragraph, which is written in awful english, was basically me trying to say that I do not find him to be a realistic option, just an opinion. I was not trying to stop any discussion, feel free to continue the discussion if you like.

Ĥave we even been linked to wan bissaka? We talking about a player they bought for 50m and basically played every game since december at Manchester United

It really is. My personal opinion, is that the biggest difference is that they can afford to and their fans allow players to develop, whereas our fan base typically expects performances from the off.

I just dont agree with this, especially Brighton will sign players and wait seasons before they slot them in, this is imo what makes them so successfull, eases pressure, lets them adapt to UK and premier league training. Klopp often does the same, fans will get annoyed as he wont use new players till they are properly implementet