Im posting Something positive about frank lampard (43 Viewers)

[clint van damme]

Strangely people digging a lot deeper into a winning Lampard than they were into a losing Robins. Almost like they can't let it go or something.

You really should revisit some match threads from our last play off challenge, this ain't nothing new and it will get worse the tenser it gets

 

---

[Frostie]

To be honest I'm not really worried about the better sides for now.
As long as we hold our own against those around us we should be OK.

Agreed. You've probably got 11 teams competing for the last 2 positions. If we can successfully integrate our injured players back in & eliminate some of the errors we're in with a great shout.

 

[Brighton Sky Blue]

To be honest I'm not really worried about the better sides for now.
As long as we hold our own against those around us we should be OK.

On top of that aside from Sheff Utd pretty much all of our remaining games against the top half are at home, which has to count for something.

 

[Nick]

There's no issue with pointing things out like a high line, let's not pretend that's all some are doing...

 

[fernandopartridge]

I do have a bit of sympathy with the idea that while results are good it doesn't feel that good as performances have not been brilliant, but I'm hoping that some of that should be alleviated by a return to a more favoured formation once we've got players fit. I also think the players' confidence even after a good run is still quite fragile, and was no doubt set back a bit by the two home defeats.

We are quite open with the high-line but is it that just a simple risk v reward trade off?

 

[clint van damme]

On top of that aside from Sheff Utd pretty much all of our remaining games against the top half are at home, which has to count for something.

Yeah, I think that run of 3 games is what worries people but 2 at home means we should be able to get something. 4 points from the 3 would be a decent return.

 

[Perennial Lurker]

There's no issue with pointing things out like a high line, let's not pretend that's all some are doing...

No , absolutely one or two are incredibly obsessed around Robins leaving and Lampard arriving but some are getting very precious and overly sensitive about posters questioning Lampard .
It's like you can't be happy with Lampard but criticise things any more

 

[covcity4life]

To be honest I'm not really worried about the better sides for now.
As long as we hold our own against those around us we should be OK.

It's gonna go down to the wire. If we finish 5th or if we finish 9th for example it's not gonna change much for me in terms of lampards performance. Fact we're close shows he's doing a good job

 

[TomRad85]

No , absolutely one or two are incredibly obsessed around Robins leaving and Lampard arriving but some are getting very precious and overly sensitive about posters questioning Lampard .
It's like you can't be happy with Lampard but criticise things any more

Nick is right though and it's pretty obvious who wants to just discuss the football and who can't let go, it drips from the posts. Its a weird time for it to rear its head again but here we are.
As I said, the shame is most are decent posters away from this subject.

 

[Frostie]

I do have a bit of sympathy with the idea that while results are good it doesn't feel that good as performances have not been brilliant, but I'm hoping that some of that should be alleviated by a return to a more favoured formation once we've got players fit. I also think the players' confidence even after a good run is still quite fragile, and was no doubt set back a bit by the two home defeats.

We are quite open with the high-line but is it that just a simple risk v reward trade off?

Yeah. Remains to be seen how we manage to integrate them in, especially as our best run coincided with a change in system due to their injuries, but if we can do it then it could be a very exciting end to the season.

I said it on another thread, I think the grinding out of results in dramatic fashion vs QPR & in the Cup shootout can do a lot for confidence. As you rightly say, the QPR win was massive because heads could have dropped if we played 3 home games in a week & won none of them. As it is, we should have some positive momentum.

 

[clint van damme]

It's gonna go down to the wire. If we finish 5th or if we finish 9th for example it's not gonna change much for me in terms of lampards performance. Fact we're close shows he's doing a good job

And the way things are going the difference between 5th and 9th could be 2 or 3 points.

 

[mmttww]

People let their mood swing too quickly for me. I'm happy we're getting results without playing all that well. I'm happy we're keeping more clean sheets. I'm happy we've got a keeper we can trust.

I can still wonder how sustainable it is based on some meh performances and be cautious until the current set up has been in place more than three months. Not exactly a batsh*t take is it?

 

[Captain Dart]

He’s beaten several teams on terrible runs of form. He’s scraped a couple of close games against Bristol and QPR. First half against Watford aside I’m yet to come away from a game thinking we’ve played well tbh.

 

[rexo87]

The high line only gets exposed against the best teams and there’s only really Leeds in this league to worry about. It’s easy to forget how big the spaces between midfield and defence were before we played the higher line which caused so many problems earlier in the season. We were regularly conceding at least 2 goals a game

 

[Mucca Mad Boys]

Doesn't mean they are sustainable. Our xG numbers have dropped off quite a bit since the turn of the year for example. Also, our weaknesses are more likely to be exploited by better sides. As @clint van damme rightly says though, we're not alone in that.

Which is a given when you lose your top two goal scorers. What team wouldn’t suffer? Yet, we’ve somehow put in our best run.

Haji Wright has missed the last 17 league games and is still our top scorer…

In reality, it probably wasn’t even fair to judge Lampard until Haji came back and we had a full strength team.

 

[shmmeee]

Which is a given when you lose your top two goal scorer. What team wouldn’t suffer? Yet, we’ve somehow put in our best run.

Haji Wright has missed the last 17 league games and is still our top scorer…

In reality, it probably wasn’t even fair to judge Lampard until Haji came back and we had a full strength team.

I think this is fair

 

[Sick Boy]

It’s also worth noting that it’s not just Lampard but the coaches that’s he’s brought in with him who’ve made a big difference. We’re lucky to have them, IMO.

 

[shmmeee]

It’s also worth noting that it’s not just Lampard but the coaches that’s he’s brought in with him who’ve made a big difference. We’re lucky to have them, IMO.

I’ll be honest (and less trolly) I expected more. We still don’t look as well set out as we did for most of last season. Though I think injuries have prevented that somewhat. We’ve hit upon a system that was working with two up front and clearly decided to move away from it to create overloads out wide sort of similar to the preferred 433 and I don’t think it works. When everyone’s fit I’d like to see us get back to where we were when the gang was all together middle of last season with the same back four and a much better goalie.

While I thought we were still poor defensively I did see some improvement in our attacking patterns in a 433 that had to change when we went two up.

 

[WebbCCFC]

Doesn't mean they are sustainable. Our xG numbers have dropped off quite a bit since the turn of the year for example. Also, our weaknesses are more likely to be exploited by better sides. As @clint van damme rightly says though, we're not alone in that.

Do you think the xG drop off could be down to not going behind in games and not having to chase the game as much? Solid foundations at the back and going ahead (excluding the Leeds game for obvious reasons) means we can dictate the tempo of the game and not go all out attack chasing a goal. It's not pretty football at the minute but most teams in the league would say the same if you take out 2 of their biggest attacking threats

 

[fernandopartridge]

Do you think the xG drop off could be down to not going behind in games and not having to chase the game as much? Solid foundations at the back and going ahead (excluding the Leeds game for obvious reasons) means we can dictate the tempo of the game and not go all out attack chasing a goal. It's not pretty football at the minute but most teams in the league would say the same if you take out 2 of their biggest attacking threats

i don't think it is, it's arguably harder to create chances against teams defending a lead than it is when you're not behind

 

[WebbCCFC]

i don't think it is, it's arguably harder to create chances against teams defending a lead than it is when you're not behind

You're also more likely to take risks yourself, allowing more players to join attacks, especially as the game went on, more shots from outside the box etc.
We did see at the start of the season the amount of games that were like basketball games where we would have a high volume of shots that combine to make a high xG. It can be a useful stat as a benchmark over a high number of games but it doesn't take into account a lot of factors

 

[COVKIDSNEVERQUIT]

His record is pretty much what he’s doing here. Tactically poor, reliant on an outstanding performer (in this case Dovin) and not massively improving the teams situation while spending a fair amount (£4m on Grimes). You don’t need to watch every game there’s this thing called the internet where people who have sit around discussing them all day.

I know we’re in a purple patch so you’re not allowed to say it and it’s crowing season and I will still change my avatar if we’re still in this form at the end of the month, but we are 10th with a squad that finished 9th last season. Let’s have a little perspective.

Ok you want to put it into perspective.

How about we wait until the end of next season and then you can judge him.

 

[Sick Boy]

His record is pretty much what he’s doing here. Tactically poor, reliant on an outstanding performer (in this case Dovin) and not massively improving the teams situation while spending a fair amount (£4m on Grimes). You don’t need to watch every game there’s this thing called the internet where people who have sit around discussing them all day.

I know we’re in a purple patch so you’re not allowed to say it and it’s crowing season and I will still change my avatar if we’re still in this form at the end of the month, but we are 10th with a squad that finished 9th last season. Let’s have a little perspective.

You have to be on the wind up at this point....Grimes has started 1 game!

 

[CovValleyBoy]

We continue to play without a "Centre Half" of note & have played for weeks without our best two attacking threats in Haji & EMC. Frank has turned it around !!

PS. EMCs nickname might be "Albert"

 

[fernandopartridge]

We continue to play without a "Centre Half" of note & have played for weeks without our best two attacking threats in Haji & EMC. Frank has turned it around !!

PS. EMCs nickname might be "Albert"

We don't play without a centre half

Sent from my Pixel 7 using Tapatalk

 

[Brighton Sky Blue]

You have to be on the wind up at this point....Grimes has started 1 game!

So what, he didn't score a hat-trick in 20 minutes against Leeds. Wasted funds.

 

[CovValleyBoy]

We don't play without a centre half

Sent from my Pixel 7 using Tapatalk

We play without a good centre half. We have yet to replace the best version of McFadzean.
When we do we will become contenders.

 

[Nick]

We play without a good centre half. We have yet to replace the best version of McFadzean.
When we do we will become contenders.

Really?

 

[CovValleyBoy]

Really?

Really.

 

[Nick]

Really.

I think you're over estimating him. I loved the guy because he would run through a brick wall but you put a player like him in our team and system now and we concede 10x more.

 

[clint van damme]

We play without a good centre half. We have yet to replace the best version of McFadzean.
When we do we will become contenders.

The defence has been fine for a good while now.
Was given the runaround by Leeds and Ipswich, but that's not the benchmark at the moment.

 

[CovValleyBoy]

I think you're over estimating him. I loved the guy because he would run through a brick wall but you put a player like him in our team and system now and we concede 10x more.

Are you possibly underestimating his footballing ability ? Comfortable in possession ,could find a pass.
Head on the ball in both boxes. Leader.
We haven't replaced him.

 

[Nick]

Are you possibly underestimating his footballing ability ? Comfortable in possession ,could find a pass.
Head on the ball in both boxes. Leader.
We haven't replaced him.

No, I'm saying I appreciated him for what he was and what he did well.

Let's not make out he was the second coming of maldini.

 

[Evo1883]

I really don't know what or why but some people really have lost their fucking heads since Robins went. Taking it way too personally.

(Have to be careful as last time I pointed it out somebody was taking it personally they started calling me "little" and some weird threats)

Don't try drag me into this latest row you're having , cheers

 

[shmmeee]

Don't try drag me into this latest row you're having , cheers

You’ve lost your head about robins mate. All that not mentioning him isn’t fooling anyone. Get on the level headed side that are following every post on the Stoke forums and questioning his pension planning.