Not yet, but his hour on the old folks home PC is nearly upon us and there will be geriatric hell to pay.....
I would absolutely start Giroud. If he only goes for 45 mins that's fine but we should be trying something different from the get go. We should not be letting Watford get a foothold in the game and then throw OG on for 15 mins with tired creative players unable to feed him.
If/when Bats keeps performing for Dortmund, they absolutely will make an offer for him in the summer and it will be sizable.
Barkley is out with hamstring problem. Morata, Kante, Fabregas, Christensen, Moses - how many others have had ham problems.
I would also start Giroud, if we were talking about a CDM or CM or something requiring more tactics it would be one thing , but for his role he should be able to step on the field and be competent without a tactical breakdown. Haz-Giroud-Willian front 3 will find the back of the net If he starts, they should at least be able to get 55-60 out of him. Then we can mix Pedro and CHO in
At least we didnt drop points today. With all the injuries... Courtois Az--Rudiger--Cahill Zap--Baka-Kante--Alonso Willian--Hazard--Pedro
I fully expect to see the willian- Haz- Pedro front 3 I'm hopeful Luiz can return to back 3 Az- Luiz - Rudiger
Giroud's absence (if he doesn't play) is more related to him coming out of a major injury recently rather than tactical according to Conte.
3 points will lift us back into 3rd place. Apparently there's a "player revolt" going on and the mood is as bad as when Jose 2.0 left. Brace yourself!
The rags also reporting that Conte wants "a statement of confidence" from the board. Does he not know anything about English football or is he really that desperate to leave? Day 1 Statement of confidence from the board Day 3 Manager sacked.
He is desperate to be seen as loyal to the club so that when he is sacked, his standing with the fans is not impacted. A very old trick.
Sadly yeah, I agree. I'll be pretty ********ing pissed if they do this too. We're in 4th, in the middle of a fight for 2nd. Now is not the time to bail. I have my differences with Conte and his words and tactics but I love him and think he was perfect for us post the JM 2.0 debacle.
I sort of agree with @Brock Hannsen on this with his post in the Manager thread. Conte is setting himself up to look the good guy in the summer when he leaves.
For me, the Bournemouth game was an anomaly. Christensen injury, no Willian, no stiker, etc. Till now, I haven't really seen the players stop playing for Conte like they did for Jose. If today, I see a similar effort, then the media stories might be true (although I think they really have it in for us). Klopp, Pochettino, Jose are failing just as much with bigger budgets but nobody mentions them,
The Bournemouth game changed when Christensen had to go off he was coping with the pace of the strikers, Cahill could not. I would prefer to see a back 3 sans Cahill