André Gomes

[Bailey]

8 minutes ago, Matt said:

When he came in that’s wasn’t the case. The fact he brought the idea back into peoples minds just shows how good he is and I’m sure there were discussions along the lines of “hang on, we can talk about Europa now even if it’s a bit of a long shot”. But this season for Carlo was about steadying the boat, instilling some sense of discipline again and identifying his future plans for the players he wants and doesn’t. 

Yes it was there was lots of points to play for. We had just come off beating Chelsea and drawing with Utd and Arsenal. 

After beating Burnley we were 6 points off 8th with a game against a struggling Newcastle side to come. 

[Palfy]

2 hours ago, Bailey said:

Yes it was there was lots of points to play for. We had just come off beating Chelsea and drawing with Utd and Arsenal. 

After beating Burnley we were 6 points off 8th with a game against a struggling Newcastle side to come. 

To be honest Bailey you would have to be Paul Daniels to get a game out of most of them, no matter who’s pulling the strings or how much we spend, we are not improving, I was never one for superstition but this is changing my mind, we are paying the price for something evil , is Moshiri’s money tainted I don’t know, but something or someone is conspiring against us, we haven’t been able to do a thing right in the last 4 years. 
We need a Priest for some Devine inspiration and to lift the curse. 

[MC11]

6 minutes ago, Palfy said:

To be honest Bailey you would have to be Paul Daniels to get a game out of most of them, no matter who’s pulling the strings or how much we spend, we are not improving, I was never one for superstition but this is changing my mind, we are paying the price for something evil , is Moshiri’s money tainted I don’t know, but something or someone is conspiring against us, we haven’t been able to do a thing right in the last 4 years. 
We need a Priest for some Devine inspiration and to lift the curse. 

Lay of the drugs pal. 
 

The issue has been poor signings at inflated prices. It’s that simple. 

[Shukes]

14 minutes ago, MC11 said:

Lay of the drugs pal. 
 

The issue has been poor signings at inflated prices. It’s that simple. 

You don’t come here much, but get it right when you do. 
Where you been? I have to argue with Palfy now haha.

[Palfy]

12 minutes ago, MC11 said:

Lay of the drugs pal. 
 

The issue has been poor signings at inflated prices. It’s that simple. 

You need drugs to get through the pain, you’re right but there seems to be no end to poor running of the club on the team front.

So for me it doesn’t seems to be that simple because we keep repeating the same mistakes every season, being one of the biggest spenders, and yet no improvement. 

[Aidan]

Was thinking about his current form today. His injury crossed my mind and although he's had a couple of decent camios after he returned he has largely been disappointing. 

What scared me the most was thinking about his time at Barcelona and how it shattered his confidence. He was hated through stages of his career there and it seems to me he is very much a confidence player. I'm not expecting his performances to pull us out of a bad run of form and doubt he will ever be that player for us. Maybe if the squad as a whole improves his form will too. 

I think he's a bit scared and needs the players and the fans to get behind him in order to play well. He might always have this mentality. 

[MikeO]

16 minutes ago, Aidan said:

Was thinking about his current form today. His injury crossed my mind and although he's had a couple of decent camios after he returned he has largely been disappointing. 

What scared me the most was thinking about his time at Barcelona and how it shattered his confidence. He was hated through stages of his career there and it seems to me he is very much a confidence player. I'm not expecting his performances to pull us out of a bad run of form and doubt he will ever be that player for us. Maybe if the squad as a whole improves his form will too. 

I think he's a bit scared and needs the players and the fans to get behind him in order to play well. He might always have this mentality. 

Sounds like he needs a hug Aidan mate (or an elbow bump), get yourself to Finch Farm and sort it, it's on you now.

[Aidan]

23 hours ago, MikeO said:

Sounds like he needs a hug Aidan mate (or an elbow bump), get yourself to Finch Farm and sort it, it's on you now.

I'll leave that to Dunc I'm a lover not a fighter. 

[Shukes]

I’m confused what people are seeing? 
I see a player that gets to the edge of our box, and turns and plays a simple pass to our centre backs. His strength is keeping possession, not creating chances. 
He is a defensive midfielder, that makes the occasional break forward. 
 

Even when he plays in a more forward role, 90% of his passes go backwards to keep possession. 

[markjazzbassist]

1 hour ago, Shukes said:

I’m confused what people are seeing? 
I see a player that gets to the edge of our box, and turns and plays a simple pass to our centre backs. His strength is keeping possession, not creating chances. 
He is a defensive midfielder, that makes the occasional break forward. 
 

Even when he plays in a more forward role, 90% of his passes go backwards to keep possession. 

i don't seem him doing anything defensive.  he hardly ever throws a tackle, and isn't an avid presser or guy breaking up attacks and making interceptions.  in fact he's a liability when he is tasked with that kind of work.  i see him with a great passing range (see the assist for walcott) and someone who can hold onto the ball well (like you said).  he is able to move quickly in transition to move us up the pitch.  i would not want him sitting in front of the backline.  he's the most advanced of our 2 mids for me, he doesn't offer enough defensively to be a DM.

[Shukes]

31 minutes ago, markjazzbassist said:

i don't seem him doing anything defensive.  he hardly ever throws a tackle, and isn't an avid presser or guy breaking up attacks and making interceptions.  in fact he's a liability when he is tasked with that kind of work.  i see him with a great passing range (see the assist for walcott) and someone who can hold onto the ball well (like you said).  he is able to move quickly in transition to move us up the pitch.  i would not want him sitting in front of the backline.  he's the most advanced of our 2 mids for me, he doesn't offer enough defensively to be a DM.

To be honest now you put it like that, no he isn’t a DM either. I tho k maybe a traditional centre mid, receiving and spreading around. 
I don’t think he is skilful enough to be an attacking mid, or a creative mid though.

I could see him complimenting an attacking mid though.

[StevO]

His job has always been to move us up the pitch in possession. He needs to be picking the ball up and looking to get the ball either to a winger or to the front players. Not every time obviously; they need to just hold possession sometimes and give the team a breather, but he needs to be the player to dictate when that is. 
He’s not the same player without Gana next to him, and to be fair he wasn’t pulling up trees before his injury either. 
Hopefully we bring in a solid player next to him and gives him that bit of freedom again. With the way we play a 442 he will have to do his fair share of the defending and attacking, as will his partner.

[Btay]

5 hours ago, StevO said:

His job has always been to move us up the pitch in possession. He needs to be picking the ball up and looking to get the ball either to a winger or to the front players. Not every time obviously; they need to just hold possession sometimes and give the team a breather, but he needs to be the player to dictate when that is. 
He’s not the same player without Gana next to him, and to be fair he wasn’t pulling up trees before his injury either. 
Hopefully we bring in a solid player next to him and gives him that bit of freedom again. With the way we play a 442 he will have to do his fair share of the defending and attacking, as will his partner.

Bang on Steve. He is an excellent dribbler as well. Proper futsal style player even.

Personally think we would see the best of him as 3 with someone (Gbamin type ) behind with himself and another playmaker (James, raktic  ect type ).

[StevO]

4 hours ago, Btay said:

Bang on Steve. He is an excellent dribbler as well. Proper futsal style player even.

Personally think we would see the best of him as 3 with someone (Gbamin type ) behind with himself and another playmaker (James, raktic  ect type ).

I agree, I think he played his best with Gana and Gylfi. But the 442 could still work for him. If we managed to get James on the left, a bruiser in the middle with Gomes and a real winger on the right, I don’t see why he couldn’t excel. 

[Btay]

2 hours ago, StevO said:

I agree, I think he played his best with Gana and Gylfi. But the 442 could still work for him. If we managed to get James on the left, a bruiser in the middle with Gomes and a real winger on the right, I don’t see why he couldn’t excel. 

Agree again. Just the 442 shape for me isn’t great for CM’s. It’s hard to find ball winners that are good enough on the ball to play in a 2 v 3 situation... I’d love us to adopt a 433 and go something like;

richarlison          DCL            Lozano 

        Gomes        Rakitic/James/Coutinho
                          
                           Gbamin

Digne     Keane/Mina     Holgate   Kenny

                           Pickford

[Hafnia]

I have seen him stink the gaff out with Gana playing like a man possessed.

For all his talent there is more to his bad days than fitness/partners.  Struggles massively mentally which was the theme at Barca and Valencia at times....

He will get more patience than most because of the goodwill he's earned through general likeability and top games where he showed how good he can be.

Complex one. 

[StevO]

59 minutes ago, Btay said:

Agree again. Just the 442 shape for me isn’t great for CM’s. It’s hard to find ball winners that are good enough on the ball to play in a 2 v 3 situation... I’d love us to adopt a 433 and go something like;

richarlison          DCL            Lozano 

        Gomes        Rakitic/James/Coutinho
                          
                           Gbamin

Digne     Keane/Mina     Holgate   Kenny

                           Pickford

I agree, but the only time Carlo has really wanted to do that was when he had Zidane, even selling Zola because he didn’t suit his plans. I’d love him to find us a Zidane though haha

[Bailey]

1 hour ago, Btay said:

Agree again. Just the 442 shape for me isn’t great for CM’s. It’s hard to find ball winners that are good enough on the ball to play in a 2 v 3 situation... I’d love us to adopt a 433 and go something like;

richarlison          DCL            Lozano 

        Gomes        Rakitic/James/Coutinho
                          
                           Gbamin

Digne     Keane/Mina     Holgate   Kenny

                           Pickford

I agree with this. It must be quite demoralising for a midfielder to be outnumbered every game. That's really hard work, physically and mentally.

[Palfy]

1 hour ago, Hafnia said:

Gana playing like a man possessed.

 

Calm down Haf mate, there’s a limit to the amount of exaggeration which is acceptable and you have truly over stepped the mark

[Matt]

4 hours ago, StevO said:

I agree, but the only time Carlo has really wanted to do that was when he had Zidane, even selling Zola because he didn’t suit his plans. I’d love him to find us a Zidane though haha

Or a Zola!

[Btay]

6 hours ago, Bailey said:

I agree with this. It must be quite demoralising for a midfielder to be outnumbered every game. That's really hard work, physically and mentally.

Unless you have elite midfielders who can retain the ball for fun, get a foot in as well. Also our strikers want it in behind more than to feet, so it just doesn’t suit that for me. 

[Btay]

6 hours ago, StevO said:

I agree, but the only time Carlo has really wanted to do that was when he had Zidane, even selling Zola because he didn’t suit his plans. I’d love him to find us a Zidane though haha

His plans need to suit his current squad. I just don’t feel we are doing that right now. That starting XI for me, wouldn’t be overly expensive to obtain and should - hypothetically be competitive enough to challenge for Europa.

[Palfy]

If we secure the 3 MFs we are chasing then I see Gomes losing his place in the starting eleven, since Ancelotti’s arrival he hasn’t shown the manager anything to say I should be on the team sheet. 
I see a tough season a head for Gomes, I would like to think he could change his fortunes around but he may not get many opportunities to do so, Allan Rodríguez and Doucouré will be coming here to play and rightfully so, our MF was embarrassing last season. 

[Shukes]

I can still see us mixing the formation up a bit.

Allan as the anchor in front of defence.

Doucoure and Gomes in front, with a front three of Rodriguez, Richarlison and DCL centre. Spine of the team would be solid.

[Btay]

2 hours ago, Shukes said:

I can still see us mixing the formation up a bit.

Allan as the anchor in front of defence.

Doucoure and Gomes in front, with a front three of Rodriguez, Richarlison and DCL centre. Spine of the team would be solid.

Absolutely, I wouldn’t expect Allan to sit though. He will press the game along with Doucoure - we’ve wanted intensity and presence, we’re going to get it. Finally.

 

[Palfy]

On 08/07/2020 at 14:16, Bailey said:

He clearly sees the game far better than any midfielder we have or have had for a good few years but against Spurs he couldn't make a pass and his confidence dropped. I also imagine fatigue kicked in a fair bit as well. He also doesn't suit this way of playing in my opinion because 442 relies upon the midfield covering a lot of ground in support of the strikers and he isn't a player who can do that, especially with two equally as non-suiting players in Davies and Sigurdsson.

He definitely isn't a consistent player and he also has confidence issues. I also have doubts about him generally playing 2 games in a week, let alone the turnaround now after the season he has had but that doesn't mean that he isn't still a very good player when the stars align. It's the managers challenge to get those stars in right order more often than not.

His problem will be he hasn’t shown anything to Ancelotti, with 3 new mids coming in 2 of them Ancelotti’s picks I can see him struggling to get a slot which in fairness is what we want, most will disagree with me, but if we go with a 442 I can see Iwobi Bernard and Walcott getting picked to go with Rodríguez out wide and Allan and Doucouré in the middle, if we go 433 then I think it will be Rodríguez Allan and Doucouré then Richarlison right or left with DCL up top and either Iwobi Bernard or Walcott taking the last wide position. 
I can see Ancelotti rotating the pack so he will fill in for Allan and Doucouré, so unless either of them don’t live up to their billing I don’t see him as an automatic first choice anymore. 

[Bailey]

1 hour ago, Palfy said:

His problem will be he hasn’t shown anything to Ancelotti, with 3 new mids coming in 2 of them Ancelotti’s picks I can see him struggling to get a slot which in fairness is what we want, most will disagree with me, but if we go with a 442 I can see Iwobi Bernard and Walcott getting picked to go with Rodríguez out wide and Allan and Doucouré in the middle, if we go 433 then I think it will be Rodríguez Allan and Doucouré then Richarlison right or left with DCL up top and either Iwobi Bernard or Walcott taking the last wide position. 
I can see Ancelotti rotating the pack so he will fill in for Allan and Doucouré, so unless either of them don’t live up to their billing I don’t see him as an automatic first choice anymore. 

You say he hasn't shown anything but Ancelotti picked him every week over the others so he at least showed more than them. 

I can't see how he will still be that man when the others come in but he has it in him to raise his game and I still expect he will play a fair amount of time. 

[Palfy]

10 minutes ago, Bailey said:

You say he hasn't shown anything but Ancelotti picked him every week over the others so he at least showed more than them. 

I can't see how he will still be that man when the others come in but he has it in him to raise his game and I still expect he will play a fair amount of time. 

But that was more through lack of options in the middle not because of performance. 

[London Blue]

No midfielder could function well in the shit show that was our midfield last season.

With no success or energy in getting the ball back or retention, nobody could flourish. 

With a better midfield, more options to pass to and and a solid defence he will be given the platform to shine. He will play better football with better players around him.

Like a quarterback in american football the better receivers and passing options he he has the better he can be.

[Hafnia]

2 hours ago, London Blue said:

No midfielder could function well in the shit show that was our midfield last season.

With no success or energy in getting the ball back or retention, nobody could flourish. 

With a better midfield, more options to pass to and and a solid defence he will be given the platform to shine. He will play better football with better players around him.

Like a quarterback in american football the better receivers and passing options he he has the better he can be.

He played with Gana when he was doing 8 tackles a game and struggled ... He played with busquets and xavi and struggled.

Again.... I'm not being negative. Just really struggling with the narrative that his levels are dependent on fitness or personnel.  It's nonsense.... It would be great if there was a magic wand to wave by signing better players.

He can dominate games against the likes of Man United or Liverpool when lacking fitness or a good partner but look complete shite against Aston Villa with good partners.

I just hope he finds his form but for me he's just one of those players who will amaze and frustrate