Folks, I've deleted some posts that strayed into Personal Attack Land. Please consider this my semi-monthly reminder to play the ball and not the man. Thanks.
Agree with this... The narrative is being pushed hard by the British-press to give Lampard maximum credit for CP's current form and to shame U.S-Press and fan who dared criticize Lampard's handling of CP's playing time early on. Aimed at the so called "stupid yanks from across the pond who don't know nothing about football."...Lampard was right all along...that's the narrative. I still don't believe Lampard dropping CP for so long was justified and he was even completely omitted out of the 18 during the Champion's League match against Lille... I also don't believe Lampard handling was necessary to trigger CP's current form but we'll never know what would have happened if he had at least rotated CP more into the squad to rest Mount/Willian instead of dropping CP for so long.
Another Team of the Week, this one includes Yedlin: 🏴 #PremierLeague Team of the Week ⚽️@kschmeichel1@yedlinny | Holgate | Mee | @LucasDigneDavies | @Madders10 | Tielemans⭐️ @cpulisic_10 ⭐️ | @Raul_Jimenez9 | @MarcusRashford#LCFC #BurnleyFC #EFC #NUFC #CFC #Wolves #WWFC #MUFC pic.twitter.com/M81lD9N6nR— Sporting Life Football (@SportingLifeFC) November 11, 2019
Remains #1 in Prem power rankings for second week running. https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11661/11859317/top-50-in-form-premier-league-players
This link is awesome. I love that they use so many different facets of the game to rate players.... I literally can't believe that CP is ranked 1st for two weeks straight. He has done better than I realistically hoped for. Intl Break couldn't come at a worse time IMO. Going from that team back to the USMNT and GB doesn't seem like the best thing for him. Who knows?... Maybe he will exceed my expectations and actually lift that squad on his shoulders and beat Canada?
More Team of the Week action: Premier League Team of the Week⭐️🐝Foster🗡️Baldock👏Tarkowski⚫️Clark🔵Digne🔴Pereira🦊Ndidi👏McNeil🐝Deulofeu🦊Vardy🔵Pulisic#WFC #Blades #BurnleyFC #NUFC #EFC #MUFC #LCFC #CFC pic.twitter.com/rhbhXQkURw— bwin (@bwin) November 11, 2019 Agree or disagree with our Premier League Team of the Week?READ HERE ▶ https://t.co/ttnmJLQtUg(18+, https://t.co/oxRrCbWznf) pic.twitter.com/KctTesODO6— Free Super Tips (@FootySuperTips) November 11, 2019
Where do they get the stat "touches inside opposition box" from?...Would love to see how CP fair in this specific stat among all wingers in the league...It's a very valuable stat.
I only watched him a bit when he was there but he didn't look as good as he has for us from what little I saw. he was clearly a good player but not the level of threat he has been lately. I assume you saw a LOT more of him than me so I don't know what you guys think? Anyone?
TBF to Lampard, however, very few of us (myself included) in August saw Chelski as being in 3rd place, part of a runaway pack of top 4 by early November. Whatever grand conspiracy Lampard and the British press worked up to shame us (and the part where they pay 70 million somethings for a US player was diabolically clever) it is working better than I expected. Still have a few tough games in the 1st half of the season, but it's kind of hard to argue with the result no matter what how much we want to wallow in paranoia and low self-esteem.
Fans don't rate him because they're also anti-American. His teamates have poor body language when he scores because they secretly want him to fail.
Yep! If he'd just kept starting him he'd be even further along than he is now, or where he is now a lot sooner. Like I said at the time of the benching the only way to get used to the speed of play is to play - I don't care how intense training is it will never equal just being on the pitch at game time. I personally think CP would have a few more assists and goals on his tally sheet and been a lot happier in the process without a benching to "settle in". Totally opposite man-managing than what Lampard did - and Lampard added comments that made it sound like he really didn't know CP as well as he should to be making those decisions to help him settle in (like the comment he was going with experience for the Lille game as if he had no idea of CP's CL appearances or his ability to show up in big games). This is a kid who went to a foreign country, learned the language, and was making an impact in a Dortmond stadium whose fans make a game at Stamford Bridge seem like a pleasant afternoon tea. Oh well, in the end CP got a rest, and now normalcy is restored and I've had to start watching Chelsea again. But I think that's ok - as other posters have said this team feels so different than those bought and paid for in the past. I am starting to really like the youth, energy, and spirit of this team.
I'm really inclined to agree with the first part of all of your post. You are right in the moment it was bullshit. All that championship experience meaning more than Pulisic's Bundesliga/Champions league experience.... But this right here is why you gotta give Lampard some credit. For whatever reason Pulisic is in the best form of his career since that first full season with Dortmund IMO. This is a results based business and it will be impossible to see if in an alternate reality Pulisic being given a longer leash results in this type of form.... But I'm inclined to think benching one of the top 10 all time transfers sent a clear message to Christian that his transfer fee was past him and he needed to be more productive. He is playing differently. So I'm inclined to give credit to Lampard where credit is due.
This narrative is a bit over stated (not completely, but a bit.) CP had a number of injuries across the season that kept him out of a consistent rhythm in the line-up (Missed 10 league games due to injuries and only "benched" for 4 more - all after fairly "meh" CP and BVB showings.) He started 5 of 8 CL games, subbed in 2, injured 1) Sancho did take "a" slot in the midfield, but there were plenty of games CP and Sancho played together. In fact, in the last 5 games after CP's last injury they played at least part of every game together. The reality is CP was in competition mostly with Guerreiro. After a few games in the fall where he swapped for Larsen, he almost 100% came in for Pedro when he subbed in. One of the only times I recall CP coming in for Sancho was an early Brugge CL game. Most CL games they started together. CP was not as influential in last season's Dortmund line-up, for sure, but he easily could have started every game healthy with Sancho. Guerreiro was his competition in the coach's eyes.