The College Dropout

You expected 0 goals, 0 assists and behind Muphy, Almiron, Joe & Isak out wide?

Had to check if his name is actually Daniel.

The problem was Trippier letting the cross in. Botman gets trapped under the ball but his spacing looked ok. Burn didn't anticipate the cross position at all and was easily beaten. Pope can arguably tip that wide or out for a corner. Isak didn't follow Ayling who scored. Ayling was Isak's man. He's a striker playing at LW after all. I made this point when he signed about him playing wide. He's never played without an actual wide midfielder tracking fullbacks.

Neither do I. But it is an easier game than Brighton. Brighton are actually good in real life, Chelsea are not.

On paper - styles - Spurs was a much better match-up for us. I had lots of confidence we would win that. Down to the "if we score early, it could be comfortable". Lots wrong at Spurs in the lead-up too. That was perfect timing tbf.

Brighton have performed better all season though. Spurs beat Brighton the way they've played all season. Outplayed for most of it, Kane clinical when it matters. Likewise Brighton have had a lot of matches where they've outplayed the opposition only to lose or draw. So aye Brighton can underperform in both boxes but their performances have been better than Spurs all season. Certainly in the last 6-10 matches. Also - our style of play is better suited against Spurs than Brighton. Brighton's style of play - inviting the press, playing around the press, overloading central areas, runners from wide in behind - is our weakness. A team that sit back but also try and play it out badly is right up our street.

No, we can lose and still finish above Liverpool's best if we win the next 2. I fancied us to beat Leeds and get at least 1 point between Arsenal and Brighton then finish it at Leicester. I would still take a draw against Brighton. Beat Leicester.

This was entitled tbf. A bad season aye but we could've supported SBR way better.

Yeh, of course, you can. Burn cannot simultaneously mark the winger and the fullback. That is called an overload, my friend. I remember this article from a long time back https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/apr/30/tactics-jose-mourinho-chelsea-atletico-madrid

If he has an ankle issue, he cannot train at full intensity. It will be light workload + matches.

I do think Arsenal should have taken it to the last day. Southampton & West Ham is 4 points dropped in any circumstance. If they held on against Liverpool then they are still 1st. It sounds harsh but if Arsenal had finished 90+ points. You couldn't say the choked it in any circumstance. 87 would be a good tally but they were looking at 90+ about 6 games ago. Similar to us again. We would've taken 68 points in August or even February. Now? Disappointing considering where we were after 33 games

The RB isn't Burn's man, it's Isak's. Bamford is it? Beating Burn and Botman in the air is poor aye. For such big lads, they aren't all that in the air.

This has very little to do with the quality of squad. City have Walker, Lewis, Akanji, Ake, Stones, Laporte & Dias to play in defence. That's light on numbers but the quality is sky-high. Central midfield options include Phillips, Gundogan, Rodri, KDB, Silva, Foden. The quality is another level.

Add Nathan Ake to the relegated player to top club list.

There's no excuse for fatigue, but that doesn't mean it isn't happening to many in the team. None of them have played at this high level for so long. Even Tripps has not played this many league games since the Burnley days. Said in another thread. Partey has looked cooked for a few weeks now. He's not played tons of games, but he's physically shot. It's the intensity of the league. It took Rodri 2 seasons to get up to speed. And even then half City matches he can stroll about on the ball.

Arsenal have the same problem as us. A really good XI, but when they lose 1 or 2 key players. The drop-off is huge. They coped with the Jesus injury well, playing Trossard up top. They needed a Leicester season where pretty much their entire XI needed to be in-form and injury free for the entire season and that hasn't happened. They've ended up playing their 4th & 5th choice starting CB who are nowhere near it. Tierney, Jorginho & Vieira are not near it. Then Xhaka & Partey lost form. That Sporting game cost them big time. Lost Saliba and Tomiyasu and they've never recovered from that. The extra UEL games didn't do anything for Partey's legs who seems to suffer serious stamina issues. Not "in-game" but through a season.

Maddison has more goal contributions in a more challenging league, in a worse team than Szoboszlai. Szoboszlai might be a better player; I've never seen him play. But not sure how you've come to this conclusion.

Liverpool have been pants away from home. I should've stuck with my gut. I'm praying one of them is injured in the warm-up. I would be in the top 50k worldwide had I stuck with plan A. Now facing dropping out the top 100k.

Of the three remaining games, it's the second-best fixture. Chelsea at home has drawn to Forest, Everton and Lost to Brentford, Arsenal, Brighton, Villa and Southampton. Best results have been beating Bournemouth and Leeds at home and getting a point at home against Liverpool.

Praying we don't concede early again. It's going to make everything so nervy.

Lads might be tired. But it's bad.

You can be intense without trying to press the GK and both CBs. Brighton play without fear and practice playing through a press relentlessly. They always know where to be. Where to pass. The last two times we’ve come up against a team whose tactics don’t favour us we’ve lost without scoring.

Their play is very structured. Not ‘off the cuff’ at all. Their form second half of the season has been patchy. If they get 87 points you can’t criticise them too much. That is a big total. Considering they got 50 points in the first 19 games any less than 85 points total is a big drop.

Haway man. Chelsea have won 1 league game in the last 8 or 9. Worst manager in the league. They have bags of talent but there’s nothing to fear.

Agreed. It’s Tony Bloom who is the main man.