***Treble Winners v Chelsea Official Match Thread***

[Outcast]

Would love an explanation as to why Doku is starting over Bobb. The kid comes on and scores the winner against Newcastle, then had a goal wrongly ruled out for offside next match and Pep has him sat on his arse.

I’m getting sick of these “if he chooses to stay” comments with our kids. Fuckin play the ones that deserve to be playing and they will want to stay!!

According to Johnny he's not at city level.

[Nick]

Just watched motd rodri and haaland fuming fuck Danny murphy

[johnny crossan]

Wounded but not mortally, largely self inflicted but we fight on.

[Nick]

Scouse cunts won't be allowed to drop points

[stupot]

Doku was terrible tonight- stop, start, backwards then repeat. Last few minutes when we had a head of steam it stopped every time he got the ball. Can't cross and can't shoot. Bobb should have had at least half an hour. The only way he should have stayed was on the right, Bobby on left. Foden in the middle and Alvarez off. Stones for Akanji as well as Akanji gives it away constantly in the midfield position.
That cross from Kev on the left on a plate for Haaland was the only decent cross from the left all day.

[Nick]

Pep can be both

A) a dick with in form kids
B) too stubborn


Surely if jack was fit we wouldn't see doku start for a month

[Dubaimancityfan]

Once again Pep shows his stubborn side by making only one change in the game ! When it was clearly not working bringing on Bernie was the right move but why stop there? You have talented and hungry kids like Bobb and Rico and the bench and you don’t give them even a minute!! A blind man could tell you that Doku was not doing well, so why keep him on ?? Even Nunes and Kovacic coming on could have given us something different not to mention Stones ??

[s1ty m]

Doku. Honestly, what does this guy do? Anyone who rates him, please, honestly, tell me what you see.

[Vantage]

Had a ponder overnight and to my mind the issue is Chelsea parked the bus by stopping us playing through the middle and then going over the top when we pressed high knowing Diaz and Walker often get caught too close together. Pep, for whatever reason, didn’t have a plan B formation when teams do this to us. I appreciate Pep is a legend but he is also infuriatingly stubborn. What was he saying to them at half time?
“So so proud keep doing the same thing lads it’ll be fine?”

Haaland was at Antoine Sibierski 50p head levels today and they did a job on Rodders.

It’s not fatal at all but it is a warning.

[carl_feedthegoat]

Had a ponder overnight and to my mind the issue is Chelsea parked the bus by stopping us playing through the middle and then going over the top when we pressed high knowing Diaz and Walker often get caught too close together. Pep, for whatever reason, didn’t have a plan B formation when teams do this to us. I appreciate Pep is a legend but he is also infuriatingly stubborn. What was he saying to them at half time?
“So so proud keep doing the same thing lads it’ll be fine?”

Haaland was at Antoine Sibierski 50p head levels today and they did a job on Rodders.

It’s not fatal at all but it is a warning.

Dokus end product was one argument we could agree on but what pissed me off was that he actually slowed down play , should have been subbed.
Haaland isn't a good footballer ( The ball pings off him more often than not ), hes a goal scorer and that's it , when hes misfiring he offers FUCK ALL
Akanji is just an average defender , only to be used in an emergency ( whats wrong with Stones ? why didnt he play against a team like Chelsea ?
Alvarez and Foden - great players who PeP never uses properly because he thinks he knows better than anyone else.

In my opinion , PeP was 100 % the fucking guilty party today , blame the officials all you want but PeP was a 4 out of 10 - 1 sub !!! 1 fucking sub!!!

[carl_feedthegoat]

Once again Pep shows his stubborn side by making only one change in the game ! When it was clearly not working bringing on Bernie was the right move but why stop there? You have talented and hungry kids like Bobb and Rico and the bench and you don’t give them even a minute!! A blind man could tell you that Doku was not doing well, so why keep him on ?? Even Nunes and Kovacic coming on could have given us something different not to mention Stones ??

Our defense is a shambles and has been for months on end and at the other end we are not even the top scorers in the prem....we play better without Haaland and without Akanji.

Up front should be Foden in the middle with Alvarez playing in his natural position with Walker stones Dias and Ake at the back EVERY fucking game -

When will the penny drop for our arrogant manager ? as these decisions are not brain farts , they are constant weekly fuck up decisions by him.

[nottsblue]

On reflection, it was still a poor result yesterday, you can't escape that. But we had won the previous 11 and we haven't lost in ages. Every now and you get a day where very little goes your way for whatever reason

But I'd love to know the reason why Pep and his management team don't make more use of the subs bench. Everyone could see that game was crying out for a change. If nothing else but to disrupt the opposition and give them something different to think about and focus on. One change was ludicrous in the game situation we were in. Other managers manage their bench far better than we do.

The defence was all over the place in the first half, giving up 3/4 really good opportunities. The constant rotation cannot help. And what's happened to Rico Lewis? A year ago he was keeping Walker out, now he doesn't get a sniff even when Walker is now verging on being finished at our level.

I like Doku. Normally he is direct. But he needs to improve his decision making and end product significantly if he is to become a long term fixture in our team. That will only come with time, but at the moment he would be better suited as an impact sub IMO.

Alvarez is not a midfielder. He hasn't hot the all round game for it. He is a forward. Either play him as one with Haaland as as two or decide between them. But shoehorning him into the side so he plays doesn't benefit the team more often than not.

Haaland? Fucking hell, he had a stinker. And controversial though it maybe, I'm not convinced we have the same player we did for the first 8 months of last season. He isn't making runs as often and as we know if he's not scoring he is on the periphery of games. Does he need a run of games to get his mojo back? Or a shock of being benched?

But the title is still in our hands and there is plenty of road ahead. Certainly no need for panic stations yet. Arsenal and the dippers will both also drop points along the way.

A historic fourth title should still be seen as being ours to lose

[Mase]

One of the main issues is no leader. Gundo stepped up last season (Fa Cup final, Everton away) and the season before (Villa final day) and that was just on the pitch. Off the pitch we’ve seen his talks in the dressing room.

Worrying we don’t have anyone like that.

[Indianablue]

^^^^^^^
Disagree with you. Embarrassing, No. The players tried very hard today to break down a stubborn Chelsea.

I think , further back Tokio Blue sums it up much better than either of you two.

Thats why we like football, everyone sees different things. I bet Haaland has felt better, or 6 or 7 of his teammates

[Outcast]

How on earth was that not a penalty!?!?

But that was abysmal today. Only perhaps Ake and Ederson came out with any credit today.

Walker, Dias and Akanji were shambolic. Rodri was half-asleep.

Out of the attackers, Doku huffed and puffed but had no end product. KDB, Foden and Alvarez were virtually invisible. Haaland had a shocker.

Pep’s tinkering with the defence needs to stop. He should have made changes earlier today. We could see things were not working in the first half.

Still a long way to go but we’ve blown our advantage in the title race and were embarrassed yet again by a crap Chelsea team. Disappointing day.

Tinkering with the defence ?? we spent 90 minutes in their half there was no defending to do.

No defending to do ? what are you watching, they caused us quite a few problems at the back

Zuricity is a big Akanji fan, he just can't bring himself to say he's shit and should only be used sparingly or in emergencies. He was down the pecking order at fucking Dortmund ffs, says it all. If Stones is fit then fucking play him.

Wolverhampton turned them over at their own gaff, they got pummeled by the vermins not long ago. They got bimmed by average teams. How the fuck did we conceded 5 goals against that shower of shite? If they had a decent striker, this could have been worse.

We can moan about referees and our forward play, granted, it's fundamental we sort the defence before our forward play.

[PeterParker]

I don't think is just Pepito.

What can Pepito do when Walker has the brain of a bird and is easily dribbled by the most useless english player, Raheem Sterling, a player which he faced every day for what, 6 years? Or did Sterling suddenly developed Garrincha's skills after leaving us?

The truth is even we are out there in the battle, we really seem not our usual. We didn't punish everyone, there wasn't a game this season when we knew that was it, we are on. We are so close up there because we are by far the best, but currently I don't think our minds are there.

Either someone steps up in the dressing room and wakes everyone up, or we will not win it this year.

[Indianablue]

On reflection, it was still a poor result yesterday, you can't escape that. But we had won the previous 11 and we haven't lost in ages. Every now and you get a day where very little goes your way for whatever reason

But I'd love to know the reason why Pep and his management team don't make more use of the subs bench. Everyone could see that game was crying out for a change. If nothing else but to disrupt the opposition and give them something different to think about and focus on. One change was ludicrous in the game situation we were in. Other managers manage their bench far better than we do.

The defence was all over the place in the first half, giving up 3/4 really good opportunities. The constant rotation cannot help. And what's happened to Rico Lewis? A year ago he was keeping Walker out, now he doesn't get a sniff even when Walker is now verging on being finished at our level.

I like Doku. Normally he is direct. But he needs to improve his decision making and end product significantly if he is to become a long term fixture in our team. That will only come with time, but at the moment he would be better suited as an impact sub IMO.

Alvarez is not a midfielder. He hasn't hot the all round game for it. He is a forward. Either play him as one with Haaland as as two or decide between them. But shoehorning him into the side so he plays doesn't benefit the team more often than not.

Haaland? Fucking hell, he had a stinker. And controversial though it maybe, I'm not convinced we have the same player we did for the first 8 months of last season. He isn't making runs as often and as we know if he's not scoring he is on the periphery of games. Does he need a run of games to get his mojo back? Or a shock of being benched?

But the title is still in our hands and there is plenty of road ahead. Certainly no need for panic stations yet. Arsenal and the dippers will both also drop points along the way.

A historic fourth title should still be seen as being ours to lose

Good post, the voice of reason. Haaland had his most attempts without getting one and some were harder to miss than convert. It's in his head at the moment

[PeterParker]

Just something to point out: the stoppage time claim had a handball and shirt pull in one second. And 20 second earlier another pen claim.

To call it bent would be an understatement.

[gmercer1]

Staggering how much teams get away with against us. Caceido could have seen 2 red cards yesterday for constant fouling….never mind just for the stamp on Doku.
How can VAR look at that stamp and says it’s fine

Also is it just me or was that foul on walker from sterling a nailed on penalty? Every pundit I’ve heard said the ref got it right.

[carl_feedthegoat]

Also is it just me or was that foul on walker from sterling a nailed on penalty? Every pundit I’ve heard said the ref got it right.

You mean every ex 'Rag player / pundit ,Dipper ex player / Pundit and ex player Arsehole / pundit !!