comment by SWTN - Judas is number 1 (U7916)
posted 3 minutes ago
comment by BrummieBlue! (U3487)
posted about an hour ago
Close call that, thought we were going to capitulate in that 2nd half.
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We kind of did tbh. Kante had a poor game, and when that happens a midfield 2 ain't good enough. I would have taken Mount off 2nd half. Not because he did nothing wrong, but once we lost the midfield he was out of the match. Anyway, I predicted a 1 1 draw so should accept it.
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As the 2nd half went on I was thinking I'd have bought on Kovacic instead of Pulisic rather than Willian and go three in the middle to shore it up there because we were getting overrun.

I would have left Mount on, as Frank did, purely because he's more of a goal threat than Pulisic.

What I wasn't legislating for, was what a liability Willian was and completely justified my thinking - all good in hindsight though!

comment by thebluebellsarablue (U9292)
posted 3 minutes ago
comment by BrummieBlue! (U3487)
posted 12 minutes ago
comment by thebluebellsarablue (U9292)
posted 19 minutes ago
comment by SWTN - Judas is number 1 (U7916)
posted 10 hours, 43 minutes ago
Being agnostic i could not give a feck
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God forgive you!

Am christian myself.

but love dave allen, who said, I am athiest, thank god😉👍
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I used to love Dave Allen as a kid - one of my all time favourite comedians!

I never realised until I saw a documentary a few years ago that he used to get death threats from the IRA!!

What a sad world it is where folk can't laugh at themselves!
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oh aye, ra threatened dave over his pope sketches.

and now the ra play the dave allen progressive card against the church!

little bitta po!itics, as Ben Elton said!

Great british and irish strength...laughin at our own stupidity and folly.😄
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This was always my favourite sketch!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY5egAXK3zE

I forgot to put my prediction in Biggish.

I was waiting until I saw the line up. I saw it, then got distracted by the Ashes, switched back for the KO and remembered on 11 minutes!

Bizarre game but fantastic atmosphere. First 25 minutes was at fever pitch. Another learning curve. Hopefully go on a little run now

Nick yeah those three games were never going to be easy. Having to play Utd at OT, Liverpool in Istanbul and then back to face a very good Leicester side within our first week was always going to be a big ask and probably about as difficult a first week as we could have got with the exception of having to play City.

The Super Cup should have been in preseason. It had absolutely no place being wedged into our first competitive week, sandwiched between two matches. And I suspect might have had a tad more edge and won yesterday's game if not for having to play 120 minutes in fairly hideous conditions in Istanbul against the best team in Europe.

Just a shame we couldn't win the super cup as that would have given us a belief going forward and kept the press off franks back.

Strangely enough yesterdays game was the biggest cause for concern.

Our midfield, with a underperforming kante, was overran. Jorgino and kovacic when he came on were poor.
Azpilicueta cannot play out from the back really and is a liability going forward and defensively at times which is a shame.

Yeah would have been nice to have won the Super Cup but the press were always going to be on Lampard's back, that was a given going into the season. Not sure what some of these guys would write about if Chelsea FC didn't exist.

As for yesterday's game I'm putting much of it down to our exploits in Istanbul. Not wanting it to be an excuse but if we're looking for reasons why the team faded so badly after that excellent opening 20 minutes then that explains a lot.

And we know that we have players like Azpi that need replacing now. With a transfer ban it's obviously made things very difficult but hopefully Reece James can step into the RB role and make it his own this season. One thing for sure is that by the end of the season will know which players are good enough and which will need replacing next summer.

Having some fun with NPE on the haven guy cracks me up

It's a shame about azpi but at rb we can't really help him or cover his deficiencies. Even with pedro whose arguably our second hardest working player (atleast till mount came in)

comment by Nickasaurus (U9257)
posted 4 minutes ago
Having some fun with NPE on the havenguy cracks me up
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Enjoy

Becoming a regular theme on The Haven - NPE having an argument with someone due to different opinions.

Becoming TJ? he's always been like it imo lol.

But I dunno whats going on, think he left and come back again, don't know why anyone bothers coming on somewhere that they obviously hate lol

The dreaded early kick off time on saturday..

predictions?

Haven hasn't been a particularly enjoyable place for a while sadly. Just seems like a place to go if you want an argument these days.

comment by Superb (U6486)
posted 25 seconds ago
Haven hasn't been a particularly enjoyable place for a while sadly. Just seems like a place to go if you want an argument these days.
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They're not as friendly and welcoming as us boys superb

Where everybody knows your nameeee

comment by Nickasaurus (U9257)
posted 3 minutes ago
The dreaded early kick off time on saturday..

predictions?
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No excuses next Saturday to not get the 3 points. I can understand fatigue being a factor yesterday after a pretty gruelling game with Pool on Wednesday.

Norwich seem exciting going forward with Pukki on fire and Cantwell as the provider but if we can't get 3 points there, I'll be worried.

comment by Nickasaurus (U9257)
posted 3 minutes ago
The dreaded early kick off time on saturday..

predictions?
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I'm going to that game. Won't be easy, Pukki is a dangerman, Championship player of the season last year and he's already scored four goals in two games. Against our defence he'll get opportunities. Wouldn't be surprised if we're linked with him for next summer.

comment by Tablighi Jamaat (U15973)
posted 6 minutes ago
comment by Nickasaurus (U9257)
posted 3 minutes ago
The dreaded early kick off time on saturday..

predictions?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
No excuses next Saturday to not get the 3 points. I can understand fatigue being a factor yesterday after a pretty gruelling game with Pool on Wednesday.

Norwich seem exciting going forward with Pukki on fire and Cantwell as the provider but if we can't get 3 points there, I'll be worried.
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Yeah same, however....there are no easy games nowadays.
Palace got beat by sheffield utd yesterday, and palace always give the top teams a tough game, it just depends how these teams turn up each week (bournemouth,watford etc over the last few years).

If we turn up though, we win.

comment by Superb (U6486)
posted 5 minutes ago
comment by Nickasaurus (U9257)
posted 3 minutes ago
The dreaded early kick off time on saturday..

predictions?
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I'm going to that game. Won't be easy, Pukki is a dangerman, Championship player of the season last year and he's already scored four goals in two games. Against our defence he'll get opportunities. Wouldn't be surprised if we're linked with him for next summer.
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wow thanks for the invite

how disgraceful was willian when he came on yesterday btw?

I think it's a must win personally.

I also believe Rudiger needs to put straight in even though AC & Zouma were not so bad yesterday, We miss Rudi's leadership/communication on the field.

I'd be tempted to drop Azpi for Zappa too. It's becoming hard to watch as an Azpi fan right now.

comment by Nickasaurus (U9257)
posted 2 minutes ago
how disgraceful was willian when he came on yesterday btw?
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I'll give him the benefit of the doubt due to rustiness but it was pretty horrific. Especially with the No 10 shirt...

Yeah he wasn't good at all was he. He's probably one we would have moved on in the summer if not for the ban. Doesn't really look like he wants to be here, thought that most of last season. And his goal record for an attacker just isn't good enough tbh.

Obviously he's just come back from injury so I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt but I don't see him playing a big role this season and then he'll be moved on next summer imo.

Yeah love azpi to bits, but hes been a weak link for a year now. not Quite sure whats happened as he never was the quickest or the biggest. Maybe formations covered his deficiencies, but going from the best 1 on 1 defender in the league to this is sad to see.

3 at the back worked for Azpi because for a CB he's quite quick and reads the game well. He also didn't have to make overlapping runs and cross the ball in which he struggles to do as a RB.

When he played at LB he was basically told to just defend and not bother going forward too often so that also worked for him.

He's just not a modern day full back that can go up and down all game and provide an attacking threat.

I'd imagine it won't take Reece James too long to become first choice RB after returning from injury. Lamps keeps talking him up so I suspect he might have started this season as a starter if not for the injury.

It's been a difficult start for Lamps considering all the injuries to many of our best players and best youth as well as this really awkward opening three games we've had to play.

All things considered I think he's done alright. Certainly feels like a baptism of fire but as long as he and the team are leaning that's all that matters as that is exactly what this season is about for us.