He also needs to have the players for a Plan B. He isn't blameless but he has been handicapped by the board.
Yes and no and it isn't all his fault for sure. But right now he needs to do something different and he isn't. That's on him.
For me it’s hard to blame Conte for putting out the same midfield over and over as we are severely lacking alternatives. Drinkwater in for Bakayoko doesn’t exactly add any inspiration for the offense so we might as well play Bakayoko so he can continue to develop (reminds me of Ancelotti continually playing Ramires despite his dismal performances at first). Only thing I could think of would be putting Willian in at CAM under Hazard and Morata with Kante and whoever else behind him. Excited to see Barkley purely to see someone different in the midfield. Think what Conte could and probably should be doing differently is starting Zappa over Moses or even for Alonso on occasion as he clearly needs rest. Moses is seemingly untouchable for whatever reason and that is definitely on Conte. Other than that, I hope we start seeing some youth like Musonda or Sterling coming in as impact subs in the league. What we really need more than anything is strengthening in our problem areas, but I don’t think there will be anything major there until summer
Ok, so we're in a rut with like 4 goalless games in a row. Glad we're having it now in a year where no one can catch the leader. We're still in all the comps and in the top 4 and all that. Better to be in this kind of rut than one where we're losing the matches like at the end of Jose's reign.
Our upcoming schedule leading up to the Barca match gives us some time to regain our confidence. This is the season right here. v. Norwich in FA Cup. We should win this. @ Brighton in the league. We should win. @ Arsenal in Caribbeau Cup. I dont care. v. Bournemouth in the league. We should win. @ Watford in the league. We should win. v. West Brom in the league. We should win. Then, Barca at home and then United and City away.
Perhaps we need to be more like Arsenal fans in how we treat this latest run. In 2018 we are INVINCIBLES!!
Tbf, we have been known to give up a late silly goal once we are already up by a few. Not really sure who or what it is in me, but I do appreciate the clean sheets
LOL... worst part is I thought “You know what’d blow, a 0-0 draw” Classic mixup! Frustrating game. The system just doesn’t seem to work all that well. Even last season it’s arguable that after our amazing winning run that it lost steam almost entirely. I suppose thats actually pretty impressive considering we’d be close to the top had a couple of these games gone better. Loved being at the Bridge though. Wish I could do that all the time!
Only thing with the system is I’m not sure what would be much better given the players we have. The defense is sorted and getting clean sheets, but we really don’t possess the midfield or talent up front to dominate games on the offensive end. Think Morata and Hazard are fine in the 3-5-2, but we don’t have any players who bring balance to the midfield. Love the photos. Such a remarkable feeling actually being there. Been pretty fortunate to make the venture more times than I’d ever expected a few years ago, but I would do some pretty terrible things to be a regular season ticket holder
weirdly, this 3-5-2 actually needs a player like Barkley. we'll see if he can actually be that player though lol. but his skill set is lacking in this midfield for sure. i don't see why we can't play pedro instead of bakayoko though. and just play 3-4-3.
352 works provided Bakayoko flourishes in attack and provides cover for Cesc to do his thing. Like we have come to know, the guy has been practically useless. Need a shift to 343 but will have to drop Cesc. I never want to see a Kante-Cesc midfield again. Kante-Drinkwater/Barkley might be a good pairing.
which is exactly why i'd like to see Barkley if we insist with the 3-5-2. he may actually be able to link with the forwards better.
Too much pressure seeing he has just come back from injury and doesn't know how to play in our system. But could work if he realizes his potential and hits the ground running.
I suppose, bearing in mind we were going to sign the kid back in Aug for £35m, the likelihood of him getting a fair amount of game time must be high.