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Half-Season Review - The 45-Minute Wonders?

I do not know what some fans expect us to be, we have been awful for a couple of seasons now and Conte has a MAJOR job to turn us around since getting the job. He has made a couple of ( what look like being great signings) in Kulu, Bentacur, Romero and Biss is looking better over the last couple of weeks. He has also managed to turn round our fighting qualities at the end of games ( how many have we turned round?). Of course the football could be better but i for one now feel the game is not over until the final whistle and that is a lot better then it used to be.

It takes time and i know fans want it and we want it now but its not as easy as they seem to think. I know fans are wanting ( yet ANOTHER change) but is does not work that way. I HOPE we give him the time and another couple of windows to boost the squad and then see where we are.
 
A couple people above said a B- grade, which I think is about right. We'd have taken the position where we are at the start of the season, but its how we got here which reduces the grade.

I'm not quite sure how we're 4th in the league given our football has often been pretty desperate and the longer the season has worn on the less control we seem to have had in games. Getting out of our CL group is where we should have been, but we made bloody hard work of it. I'm not sure why performances have gone backwards since second half of last season given we signed a few players in the summer, but we haven't been at the same level.

I don't have huge optimism for the rest of the season given that I can't believe that if we continue with this standard of performance, we won't slip a couple places in the league and finish say 6th-7th.

If I put my optimist head on it says that we'll likely make 1-2 signings in Jan as Paratici isn't there to just sit on his hands and Conte will want action. Plus being out of the league cup I think is a blessing given it gives a handful of free midweeks before league games. On that basis, we should continue the challenge for 4th and whether we get it or not might depend as much on whether Liverpool click back into gear as much as what we do
 
parklane1 said:
It takes time and i know fans want it and we want it now but its not as easy as they seem to think. I know fans are wanting ( yet ANOTHER change) but is does not work that way. I HOPE we give him the time and another couple of windows to boost the squad and then see where we are.
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a small minority I would think
 
I think after we got some of our transfer business done early and how last season finished expectations were very high. Probably everyones main gripe is the way we set up and play. But going into the break in the top 4 and in the last 16 of the champions league how many teams would love to be in that position? Sadly in my opinion our 2 worst performances have been Utd and Arsenal. The losses to Liverpool and Saudi Sportswashing Machine were very unlucky of the 4 goals we conceded 3 were absolute gifts and I thought we were extremely unlucky to lose both games especially against Saudi Sportswashing Machine. As with against Leeds it just reinforces the need for our defence to be upgraded in several positions. Another plus or luck for us is that Liverpool Chelsea and Utd all started the season badly. Whether they pick up as the season goes on remains to be seen and I think if we can finish in the top 4 again this season it will be a bigger achievement than it was last year.
The other ball ache for us is that Arsenal and Saudi Sportswashing Machine are doing better than expected. Saudi Sportswashing Machine not being involved in Europe is a big plus for them this season
I think where we finish in the league will be more about how the previously mentioned teams fare when the season resumes but I am not optimistic as all the "top" teams we have played so far have beaten us.
 
Top 4 and still in the CL is a great place to be, but by and large I've not been enjoying watching us this season. Something is not quite right, and it's hard to say exactly what from the outside. Do we just need better players? Hopefully.
 
Daisuk said:
Top 4 and still in the CL is a great place to be, but by and large I've not been enjoying watching us this season. Something is not quite right, and it's hard to say exactly what from the outside. Do we just need better players? Hopefully.
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What really bugs me is that even when we look like we're attacking it's often so half hearted. I get running down the clock and conserving energy, but we can't keep giving away so many cheap goals if that's how we want to do things.
 
Nexus1967 said:
I think after we got some of our transfer business done early and how last season finished expectations were very high. Probably everyones main gripe is the way we set up and play. But going into the break in the top 4 and in the last 16 of the champions league how many teams would love to be in that position? Sadly in my opinion our 2 worst performances have been Utd and Arsenal. The losses to Liverpool and Saudi Sportswashing Outfit were very unlucky of the 4 goals we conceded 3 were absolute gifts and I thought we were extremely unlucky to lose both games especially against Saudi Sportswashing Outfit. As with against Leeds it just reinforces the need for our defence to be upgraded in several positions. Another plus or luck for us is that Liverpool Chelsea and Utd all started the season badly. Whether they pick up as the season goes on remains to be seen and I think if we can finish in the top 4 again this season it will be a bigger achievement than it was last year.
The other ball ache for us is that Arsenal and Saudi Sportswashing Outfit are doing better than expected. Saudi Sportswashing Outfit not being involved in Europe is a big plus for them this season
I think where we finish in the league will be more about how the previously mentioned teams fare when the season resumes but I am not optimistic as all the "top" teams we have played so far have beaten us.
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It wasn't the defeats to utd and them, it was the manner of them.
That is worrying and I'm sure conte is making a point of it.
 
Jordinho said:
What really bugs me is that even when we look like we're attacking it's often so half hearted.
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I think that comes from the lack of quality at wing backs. Its means that in a 3-4-3 we're really just attacking with 3 players. Wing backs are so important in Conte's system
 
Gutter Boy said:
To win the league. Not to be able to beat forest reserves
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Correct. He said: "To be competitive and to fight to be a title contender and to try to get a place in Champions League you need at least three transfer windows more to improve and to be in the same level as the other clubs." HOWEVER, none of these games are in a vacuum, and that game against Forest was one where the thinness of our squad was laid bare. And was also close to the end of a run of 6 game sin 43 days.
 
90291Spur said:
Correct. He said: "To be competitive and to fight to be a title contender and to try to get a place in Champions League you need at least three transfer windows more to improve and to be in the same level as the other clubs." HOWEVER, none of these games are in a vacuum, and that game against Forest was one where the thinness of our squad was laid bare. And was also close to the end of a run of 6 game sin 43 days.
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Our squad isn't thin. We've got 25 senior players - 2 for each position and 3 spare. It's just not been well rotated, so they are all either exhausted or rusty.
 
Bedfordspurs said:
I agree
But it doesn’t mean you can’t highlight that when people complain about the performances tin can just ignore the injuries
They have an impact
It’s part of the reason certain teams have done better and others haven’t
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Meh.

Injuries are a factor of football. It's not a justifiable excuse. You can either deal with them and still perform or you can't.



Sent from my XQ-BC72 using Fapatalk
 
Bishop said:
Meh.

Injuries are a factor of football. It's not a justifiable excuse. You can either deal with them and still perform or you can't.



Sent from my XQ-BC72 using Fapatalk
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who said it’s an excuse? It has to be considered a factor in teams performance
Teams with less injuries always do better
 
SpurMeUp said:
1. Conte spirit is the difference between a loss and a win in a game like today.

2. We need to fight to hold the ball when we turnover possession. And we need to know when a pass to break quickly is on, and if it simply isn't, recycle the ball better.

3. Our back 5 is our weakest area of the team. Obvious now. But wasn't so clear a couple of months back.

4. Kane, Kulu and Son are quality forwards. We need a back 5 with comparable quality and heroics.

5. I am relieved, more than anything, that we finally have strength in midfield. Pre-Conte it was a long time since Dembele, Modric strutted their stuff. Still more to come from our 4 main CMs but finally we have players with ability in the middle.
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Point 3) is a good one. We knew our defence was a bit iffy, but it’s proved to be worse than we thought.

We badly need a top level CB and RWB (depending on Doherty, but so far he seems inconsistent). Would tranform us hugely and hopefully the RWB would also add to attack.
 
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