2022/23 Frank Lampard

[davek]

The strikers aren’t perfect - I agree, but I’d address the flanks/wide attackers first right now as part of the rebuild.

That's like building stairs to an upper level that isn't there. It's utterly pointless.

The striker situation isn't "not perfect" it's chronic.

 

[jamieni]

Let's face it, we are in a relegation battle which could go all the way. Lampard has slightly improved us from last season, but nothing more. In fact, we are probably scoring less goals than last season. There aren't many good strikers we could go for in January, this should've been sorted out last summer. Same old, Same old.

Yup. Recruitment the key issue. We sold a £60million forward and haven’t replaced him. Gray/Gordon would be an very good option coming off the bench but we need someone of consistent quality up there. McNeil and Maupay squad players but nothing more.

 

[Toff33Blues99]

He's played 12 games with a brand new team and lost 4 games to Chelsea, United, Spurs, Newcastle who all out spent, in form, and will finish in the top 7 of the table.

iMO his management starts from this season, not from the Holocaust of last

So we just ignore his 2 wins in 11?
Do we ignore the fact we were so poor last night that we only managed 1 shot against a team that did not get out of 3rd gear.
Far to many fans are ready to excuse his massive failings because he isn't the FSW.
He has been here since Feb, we don't give him a free pass last Yr as that's just nonsense, have we improved? Marginally if you are being very kind

 

[Lanolin]

It's not wildly exaggerating. There were people thinking we should be expecting to beat them and there are people making claims that half their players are yard dogs (including players like joelinton who is actually pretty good for them).

People will think we should expect to beat most teams, and to an extent they're right to do so. It was always going to be a difficult game but we need to be careful that we don't extend our 'expected losses' to cover half the league and that's the way it's going. 7 teams is more than a third of the league, writing off games against all of them is just not acceptable, and will almost certainly lead to relegation.

Nobody suggested we should walk all over them. They're a decent side, but they're not so good that we shouldn't expect to go there and cause them some problems. Your carefully curated stats were quick to mention them not losing to City but the fact that Palace and Bournemouth got draws there was conspicuous by it's absence.

 

[jamieni]

This. They have the best defence in the league. Are unbeaten at home, including having played Man City. They have lost once this season to Liverpool.

They are in form, and are one of the better teams so far this season. Yet people think we should have walked all over them. Yes they were poor yesterday and didn't look anything special, but their defence was still solid and didn't give much away.

Yes, I mean our last 3 games were against teams who have a lot more quality than us. Home against Palace on Sat will be tough but the sort of game we need to win in order to stay safe.

 

[moyeslovechild]

This rhetoric is pointless though

We went 1 win in 14 after a good start. Who cares where we are after 11 games. If we are behind after 22 games then its a valid point.

To be fair I think everyone agrees it's outrageous Benítez lasted as long as 22 games and that not getting rid earlier relegated us. So would hope it wouldn't get to that point.

I still have faith in Lampard though. We definitely need to give him longer before comparing to last season I agree

 

[ClausThomsen]

XG is one of the worst stats ever introduced.

Can have 25 shots a game, not score, and your xG is huge to prove you are least have shots.

Isn't that exactly what XG is supposed to be? A measure of the quality of chances a team is creating or conceding. It's just a data measurement to use in context with other available data. Really not sure why it inspires such loathing and devotion in equal measure.

And even with 25 shots a game the XG could still be way below 1 per game so it wouldn't necessarily be huge. Just as only having two shots could be somewhere near 2 if they're excellent chances.

 

[jamieni]

To be fair I think everyone agrees it's outrageous Benítez lasted as long as 22 games and that not getting rid earlier relegated us. So would hope it wouldn't get to that point.

I still have faith in Lampard though. We definitely need to give him longer before comparing to last season I agree

Lampard has improved the defence and made us a bit more competitive in midfield. If he can sort the top end of the pitch out then we’ll be a decent outfit. Obviously if results spiral out of control then he’ll probably have to go but if we can keep heads above water up to Christmas and then improve the team in January we should be ok.

 

[Terrarian]

Is our defence solid? We've the highest XG conceded in the league. Our wins have been scrappy through opposition teams hitting the post

Hate to break this too you but hitting the post is a miss, not on target, not worth a carrot, I suppose Pickford making saves is part of our luck as well, not him doing his job?

Why did I not stop reading at XG conceded ffs lol

 

[Lanolin]

Luck doesn't exist.

30% of the shots have come from out of the area. The stats don't show how many blocked shots there are. Don't show where in the box the shots are coming from.

Pickford has made 3.3 saves per game on average. Which puts him 8th. So yes, our defence is doing its job and its not "luck".

XG is one of the worst stats ever introduced.

Can have 25 shots a game, not score, and your xG is huge to prove you are least have shots.

Sooner this nonsense is banished the better

I'm not an xG devotee and don't tend to look into that kind of stat too much but all it does really is quantify what you can see with the naked eye. We do allow teams to get at us too much, and we are overly reliant on last ditch interventions rather than looking like a properly sound defensive unit that repels attacks before they get to the dangerous stage. That isn't even a criticism, our defence isn't bad but I think people have gone overboard about how good it is.

 

[Kirkles]

The next 5 games will be very telling

 

[Shibbywiggles]

Isn't that exactly what XG is supposed to be? A measure of the quality of chances a team is creating or conceding. It's just a data measurement to use in context with other available data. Really not sure why it inspires such loathing and devotion in equal measure.

And even with 25 shots a game the XG could still be way below 1 per game so it wouldn't necessarily be huge. Just as only having two shots could be somewhere near 2 if they're excellent chances.

The reason XG annoys me personally is that people use it instead of watching games because they want to seem all knowing.

I was surprisingly impressed with the commentator Townsend last night because he had clearly watched us play and knew what Onana was all about for example.

So often I get into conversations with people who think they know what we are because of statistics and it’s just not the same as watching the game.

This season, versus last, the biggest improvement I’ve seen is that apart from versus Brentford, I’m not scared when we defend, especially from set pieces which were all terrifying last season. You don’t get that secure/nervous feeling from stats, only from actually watching the game. The other big difference is that without Richie we have no X factor up top and create nothing and other teams are happy to sit off because they know we won’t break them down.

That’s a conversation I like to have, not ‘oh have you seen we have a better defending xG and worse attacking xG compared to last season?’. I do data analytics in my job not for my hobby!

 

[Shibbywiggles]

Back on topic, these were 3 tough games I was expecting to lose with where we’re at right now

We didn’t get battered and clearly went for the Moyes classic ‘keep it tight and try and pinch one’ but this time it didn’t work, we missed some chances in the first two games too so it almost did I suppose.

We HAVE to attack with more purpose in every game leading up to the break now though, we have to do better.
I expect at least 7 points from the next 4 and hopefully through in the cup too.

 

[Terrarian]

Got quite a new starting eleven haven't we, give them chance to bed in and get used to each other. On top of that we had no striker for 6 games, even the biggest Lampard naysayer must be able to see the improvements over last year.

It will click just have some bloody patience for once and we might reap some long term rewards. people talking about sacking already gtfoh.

 

[johnjoeefc]

I certainly wouldn't fancy us against palace. 1 shot against a pretty average Newcastle team and 16 shots conceded. Now instead of Jacob Murphy and almiron we come up against an in form zaha and eze with palace on the back of some excellent results and comeback wins. Not to mention wanting to get us back for what happened to them collapsing with a 2 nil lead last season.

If we can get a draw we will be lucky but I strongly fancy palace to turn us over on Saturday. We have been dire the last 3 games.