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Great early kickoff today. Utd absolutely battering Everton. 21 shots in the first half alone from Utd, a PL highest of the season so far. Might be left rueing the missed chances though if we don’t score again.

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Frank Lampard has to be the luckiest manager in the history of the game imo. Not once has he done anything of note in the game and yet here is on his 3rd PL job at one of the biggest clubs in the league who happen to be in the QF of the CL. Did an ok job at Derby, though didn’t improve their league position despite a massive budget and some Chelsea loanees. Sacked by Chelsea having the worst win % of any manager in the Roman era. Sacked by Everton for almost taking down a team who haven’t been in the second tier for 120yrs. He doesn’t really have a style of play.

With all that said, the more I think about the appointment, the more I think it makes sense. When a club legend comes in, irrespective of his management abilities, what you absolutely always get is an initial bounce. The same would be true if Gerrard was appointed Liverpool manager today. You know it would end in tears (because he’s not a very good manager) but there’d 100% be an initial lift. The thing with an interim appointment is you only really need the initial lift. That could be enough to carry them through against Madrid and some tough PL games then who knows what they end up with. A CL, ala Di Matteo can’t be ruled out.

As others have said though, the dangers of the lift they get is that the board think they don’t need a new manager now. They can just extend Lampard’s deal. So from a Chelsea fan’s perspective, you’d want him to do well but not too well that he gets the job.

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I was saying the same Sean. Say if Luis Enrique comes in and wants ultra technical pass masters, what then? Another half a billion splurge? By all accounts, they will need to balance the books this summer rather than spend that big again so it begs the question of how that fits in with a new coach who will have a completely different style to Potter.

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The rumours have already started that this could be another Ole situation 😳

Lampard says he hasn’t been told that it’s strictly until the end of the season.

— Pys (@CFCPys) April 6, 2023

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Maybe so Steve. Even Sean fancies a Liverpool win and Sean never fancies a Liverpool win 😁

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We should definitely have too much for Everton but stranger things have happened. We’re not scoring many at the moment but at home we’re pretty solid.

I fancy Brentford to take something off Newcastle. Need Spurs and Brighton to draw please. Liverpool-Arsenal could be an interesting one with Liverpool’s home record being strong still.

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Now this one did surprise me. Surely not…

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/chelsea-next-manager-antonio-conte-b2315049.html

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Yeah Alfie, we were very good first half and less so in the second.

Lucky, you’d think that would be the end of Moyes now as you say. Potter to come in, potentially?

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Yeah it’s the old Solskjaer problem if he has a stormer until the end of the season. Not much to lose really though. Would be typical of Chelsea to win the CL this season when they’re struggling in the league 😁

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You’ll be pleased to see this Lucky 🙂. Have to say I’m quite pleased to read it too. I know what you think about De Zerbi having the right circumstances at Brighton to thrive but I do think he’s destined to be a special manager.

🚨 Chelsea not considering Brighton & Hove Albion head coach Roberto de Zerbi for vacancy. #CFC have highest respect for #BHAFC but won’t be coming for another boss from there – 43yo Italian’s profile not what they’re seeking & isn’t on list @TheAthleticFC https://t.co/7E2vlob3ji

— David Ornstein (@David_Ornstein) April 4, 2023

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On Evan Ferguson Sean, what do you reckon to him as a fellow countryman? Too early to say or is he destined for big things? Keep hearing the Republic have a good crop coming through

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Kane would suit us perfectly (sorry Chucky) but his age worries me as we have a few top players now around the 30 mark.

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I reckon you’d be looking at at least £150mil for Osimhen Lucky. Napoli have no need to sell and paid a fair amount to bring him there.

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Only thing I think with Osimhen is I think he’s a great counter attacking striker. I’m not sure he’s a great all rounded number 9 who can bring others into play and drop deeper when required. I think that Hojlund kid is going to be a superstar but I suspect he may go to Bayern albeit we may have a chance as he admitted to being a huge Utd fan.

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Yeah I’d replace De Gea Sean. I wrote a post about him. The first post on page 6 of this thread. He’s a conundrum because he’s so good at shot stopping but he prevents us playing how Ten Hag wants. I think he’ll get phased out eventually but it’s a case of whether the budget allows for replacing everywhere we need, hence he may choose to stick with De Gea for a while longer.

Yeah we need an 8 who can carry the ball and keep things ticking in midfield. A rb to challenge Dalot. Up front, I don’t think we’d pay what they want for Osimhen. Keep hearing a lot of Kane talk but I don’t think that would happen. There’s a few interesting strikers about. Hojlund at Atalanta, Ramos at Benfica. Ferguson at Brighton. None are likely to be cheap though. Unless you’re finding a hidden gem, you’re looking at best part of £100mil for any top striker. That’s a big chunk of the budget.

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Yeah totally agree Sean. We’re not much better off at all vs last season points wise. As you say, we don’t really control games yet either. I said when Ten Hag came in that it wasn’t going to be an overnight thing where we suddenly started playing Dutch style total football. Ten Hag has essentially taken over a side built for counter attacking and is slowly but surely changing the side. Look at those first two games of the season where he thought we could play out from the back and we got torn apart. We don’t have the right profile of players yet to play like that. De Gea has now been instructed to go long more often than not. I do think we’ll get there under Ten Hag but it won’t happen this season. If we don’t get top 4, questions will be asked, particularly because of how many other big sides are faltering but I’ve seen enough this season to believe Ten Hag will get it right eventually.

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Totally agree on the last paragraph Lucky. Good debate, as ever, but I’ve little motivation to continue debating the point now.

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Oh no Nine. That’s awful news to hear. So sorry to read that. Thoughts are with you and your family at this awful time 🙏❤️

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Nine, to continue on the marriage analogy, this is like the serial divorcee declaring “this is the one this time. I’m in ot for the long haul now. I’ll make this work” then proceeding to divorce his wife after a few arguments months later 😁

Lucky,you say all that but you wanted them to give him until the end of the season. Which one is it? They were right to get rid or they pulled the trigger too early? Again, I’m not saying they were wrong to pull the trigger. I’m saying it was foolish to think the whole spiel about this being different now and things changing was ever going to survive a single tough period.

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That FA Cup win for Arsenal was a red herring imo. “Some Arsenal fans didn’t trust the process” is about as big an understatement as you’re likely to see. Arsenal fans were almost unanimously in favour of binning Arteta and rightly so. They were miles worse than Chelsea under Potter at various times under Arteta. Rock bottom of the league after losing their first 3 games in one season, for example. I wouldn’t have had much patience there to be honest. My point is that Boehly came in preaching about this being a new era of long term thinking/planning and has reverted to the Roman model at the first hurdle.

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