Match Day Thread The Rocky/Stokenchurch Derby

Goal 1 was a Greavsie "pass" .
Goal 2 was class (no defence would have prevented that direct shot from occurring) .

 

I thought goal 2 was a bit Ricky Villa

 

The thing with relegation battles is, barring teams as ****e as Derby were that one season, they tend to have one player who is 7-8/10 trying to keep them up and a bunch who are 4/10 at best undermining what that one player is doing, which is why Burnley tend to stay up every season as they have a consistency that helps them grind out enough points

And that's the issue we have: we have at least one player who is giving us an 8/10 performance in any match with Kane, Son, Hojbjerg or Ndombele the usual candidates, but we always seem to be hamstrung by a player giving a sub-5 performance be it Aurier, Dier or Sanchez at the back, or on occasion it'll be Lucas, Bergwijn or Bale who waste a ton of opportunities which invites pressure onto us - which is an issue, since our tactical approach also tends to do that

And it has to be said the same exists at the other end of the table, because you need to grind out some stubborn wins from time to time, and you don't grind out stubborn wins if your players don't have a solid floor, and 6/10 is exactly that as that means players aren't making mistakes and are being solid - which means you need just one player to have an 8/10 moment to grind out the win. And it has to be said that several of the ubermensch's Chelsea teams operated on that basis, being reliably solid and hoping that Fat Frank shows up on the edge of the area at the right time, or Drogba gets up to head the ball half a second before the defender - and it has to be said Poch's teams operated the same way, being reliably solid with Harry getting that half second ahead of the defender to score, or Son running half the pitch before slotting in, or Eriksen pulling off an absurd pass to play someone in

And this is the issue we've had for the past couple of years, we have a bunch of players who are wildly inconsistent, either because they're on the decline or because they were always inconsistent, and we can't be a reliably solid team if we have players who aren't reliable

 

what if your 8/10 is an 8/10 because he’s a good player most weeks and not just the 1 in 6 that has been decided for this debate?

it’s like the 6/10s come with a guaranteed performance but the 8/10s don’t

strange slant on the conversation

the 8/10s only turn up now again but the 6/10s turn up every week...where is this a given?

 

If you’re an 8/10 player then you’re not turning up just once every six games... You wouldn’t be an 8/10 player if that was the case.

 

the 8/10 can play like a 6/10 but the 6/10 can’t play like an 8/10

Its like your suggesting an 8/10 can’t graft because youve defined an 8/10 player as being a luxury player probably someone in an attacking position with the odd worldie in him

not true

Hojberg is an 8/10 and he turns up every week and plays DM...his 8/10 is the difference instead of Sissoko’s 6/10 most weeks or Winks 6/10

 

Controversial opinion time. I don't think Villa's goal was that good. I don't think he had control of the ball through that run, and got lucky when the gap opeed up to score. Kept that view secret for nearly 40 years. I will of course resign if necessary.

 

6/10s are your squad fillers, the guys that “do a job” and at times can be relied upon to help get a result over the line. Whilst every squad needs a few 6s, you wouldn’t want a ton of them. That’s why guys like Davies, Sissoko etc are ones you can trust, they’re not great by any means but they don’t let you down too often either and they’re often happy to be part of a good team as a player with lesser minutes than others.

7/10s are those who aren’t quite the best on the pitch but they’re more than good enough to be starting. Lo Celso fits that when he’s injury free, though that seems to be a problem of late.

8s and above are where they’re generally your key players who most weeks are who you’re relying on. Which is why Hojbjerg, Ndombele and Reguilon have come in for lots of praise this season.

If you’re lucky enough like us to have a 10 like Kane (or a 9 like Son), then all I can say is enjoy it while you can because players like him don’t come around that often.

 

I don’t understand why Hojbjerg is so highly rated. We are actually performing slightly worse than before we signed him....at least in matches where Lloris, Son and Kane all play.

 

I think that Alderweireld, Sanchez and Tanganga were all at fault for the goal, but it was primarily down to the Belgian.
Got too close to Ikpeazu, got bullied and allowed a relatively unthreatening position to turn into a very dangerous one.
Goal would've been chalked off with VAR for the shirt pull, but he struggled badly all night with their physicality.

 

That doesn't mean that it's his fault though, does it?

 

First of all, I never defined an 8/10 player as being the flair player. After all, there's plenty of strikers out there who are simply consistent rather than spectacular, for example Roberto Firmino, Calum Wilson, Danny Ings, Arkadiusz Milik, Wout Weghorst are all good for a consistent goal return every season. They won't be a goal machine like Lewandowski, nor will they be leaving defenders in their wake like Mbappe, but they'll be racking up 10-15 league goals a season and sometimes that's all you need, as not only is that enough to stay up for Southampton or Bournemouth, but it's more than enough in a system where wide players are the main goal threat and your CF is there to chip in with a few, which is what Firmino at Saltypool and Reus at Dortmund do

The point is that consistency is more important than one-off games, so a team of 6/10s just needs a player to raise themselves for a second - but a team riddled with inconsistent players needs players to constantly lift themselves to make up for others' mistakes. And that's what's key here: a team of 6/10 players can play their game as they force their opponents to raise their game to beat them, not just grindy teams like the Stokes and Burnleys of the world but stubborn buggers at the top of the table like George Graham's Arsenal or various Chelsea teams you can (and should) throw a stone at, while a team that has an 8/10 striker and a wildly inconsistent back line can be beaten because opponents simply have to know who to target

Take a look at the Leicester side who won the Premier League for the perfect example. You could have just as easily put Rob Huth, Kasper Schmeichel or Danny Drinkwater in that season's West Brom side without anyone saying they looked out of place, but because the team was consistent enough the team's collective floor was raised as a result, so all they needed was Vardy or Mahrez to trip over their own shoelaces in the opponent's penalty area or the referee to miss yet another Huth elbow in their own and they were set

 

You need to watch the dynamics of a game...how a game is influenced on the pitch by the individual instead of relying on numbers

How can you isolate him as the factor that has led to poor games and not for example the individual errors from our back line sitting behind him?

Pools 7-2 loss starred VVD...is he the weak link since they haven’t conceded as many since he got injured?

 

Looks like yesterday’s win was an early birthday present for the gaffer.

 

Hojbjerg has been nothing short of a god send since his signing. Had a few iffy games as everyone has, outside of that, I dread to think how worse off we’d be this season without him.

He’s a massive reason why our defensive record is as impressive as it is because he’s halted so many opposition attacks.

 

Watching the highlights, that chipped pass from Tanguy that put Kane in leading to the Hemel Pele's goal was a masterpiece, he has played it before but every time it looks so nonchalant

 

I didn't say he was responsible for anything. And I would never base any deduction on one match.
Ndombele and Reguilon clearly make us better. The other six must be making us worse.

 

Then why do we get fewer points than when Winks was playing?