Bakayoko certainly has all the tools to be a real midfield force, but currently he's showing the exact reasons i was hesitant about his signing.
That was some of the worse play I’ve ever seen from a lot of them. Eden and Morata (despite a bad miss) at least combine very well for the most part but ********...
Just going through the list of starters... Courtois Rudiger Luiz Cahill Azpilicueta Bakayoko Fabregas Alonso Pedro Hazard Morata Of those I'd say there was maybe sideshow bob and Hazard had what you'd call a 'moderate', (but not good), game. All the others varied from just poor to absolutely dreadful. Well, I say that... Gaz was taken off but, tbh, WAS he any worse than Rudiger? Bear in mind the latter just ignored the ball drifting past him and allowed El Shaarawy to tap the ball into the net for their 2nd goal. So maybe he was somewhere between moderate and poor but more towards the 'poor' end and I just missed the bits that made him worth taking off and the rest of the defence worth leaving on the pitch for the full 90 minutes. Possibly the worst, for me, was Fabregas who was truly dreadful. It's rare to see such an incompetent display from someone who's a good player. DD wasn't much better when he replaced him, (although he got better even in the brief period he was on the pitch), but then, we're not going to rely on DD to to pick out an inch-perfect pass to open up the other team's defence, are we.
I'm surprised he went 3-4-3. Really thought he'd break out the 3-5-2. Still not a fan of Azpi at Wingback. Also think it has to do with the dip in form. He's a very smart player but it's a lot to ask to have him play CB in a 3 backline one game to then play Wingback in 3-4-3 the next. I think it plays a part in the dip in form we've seen. Last year outside of a few cameos he was a CB. Christensen has got to be thinking what the hell do I have to do to snag a place in the 11. He's better than Cahill and Rudy. Rudy is a better fit for the outside CB in a 3 backline than either but he's been poor of late. Also I think it's clear we have to play 3-5-2 when we don't have Kante. Baka and Cesc just don't work well in a 3-4-3. And while Drinkwater and Baka may it's not enough time to try now. Maybe in a cup tho. Cesc needs to go back to the sub role to break a compact defense not 90 minutes.
Cahill + Fabregas in front of him is a recipe for defensive disaster. Our soft spine was badly exposed without Kante, not to mention match fatigue (how many 90 minutes games has Fabregas played already this season?)
Balls. We aren't very good without Kante. Honestly, the squad needs a shakeup. Hazard seems to coming into his own again, but no one else is. Defensively we're a mess. A giant ********ing mess. No idea what Rüdiger was thinking. Luiz continues to be sub par. Gaz is Gaz. Conte needs to put his faith in Zappacosta. Musonda needs to play. Drinkwater might be our second best option in midfield right now. Ugh. We're shite when we aren't up for it.
And for the record, we've been undone against this side by 2 or 3 wonder goals. El Sharaawy did us in with two goals he could replicate if he tried. Both were perfectly placed. We aren't all that good, but they played great and we were awful. We had our chances too, but we just can't put anything away.
Poor performance. Kanté missing is huge. I think we need to play with a 3 man midfield. Baka / Cesc / Kante. Lack of depth at LWB is showing. Luiz has been poor, would really like to see Christensen playing some more. Hazard was fantastic until he got his minor injury. We did play some very good football for about 25 mins in the 1st half and looked the better side just Roma were much more clinical.
Don't think its all doom and gloom at all for us for those reasons. Morata puts away a sitter and its a completely different game.
TBH while Kante's out I think DD could be a a like-for-like replacement. Not as good but similar in style and gets a foot in.
I think we also miss Moses despite what many people here think of him, some of our worst defensive games last year were when Moses was not playing he really tightens up the right side. I don't think the 3rd goal is scored if he was playing. So no Kante and no Moses really weakens our defence.
Rio mentions Moses here... He also says that moving the defenders around from right to left isn't a good idea.
That's what comes of clicking the 'quote' button and then leaving it on the screen while I watch some TV before posting about 40 minutes later