Woot woottttt 3 points in the bag! a bit annoyed our string of cleansheets have been broken by an own goal. A friggin horrible one at that. Haih. Onwards we march! Climbing up to 5th and a point behind Liverpool!

We're suddenly a single win away from crashing the top four party. My word how the turntables. Please don't screw this up 🥺

Somehow it always seems like we labour to narrow wins against them, last season under Frank we only managed 1 goal at home, but you guys are right our recent record has definitely improved. Even last November we managed a 2 nil win and if we prevail this time, it'll be four wins on the trot, something we only managed back in 2019!

On a side note, kind of feel sorry for allison, it must feel extremely horrible to go on such a nightmarish run of mistakes, I honestly don't remember even kepa making such glaring errors in successive games. Wonder if klopp will bench him, I mean at least kepa had the excuse that the defending around him was non-existent (which was certainly true to a certain extent, before the new defensive coach came in) but allison seems to be making these all on his own..

Their loss is our gain, but only if we can capitalise on it. Hope to see more fluidity vs newcastle, we gave away possession waaayy too easily vs barnsley. Understandable due to the change of personnel, so it's the right timing to have an off game while still managing a win!

Looking a bit lacklustre in that final third. Like... awfully lacklustre

Anyone else think tuchel went overboard with the changes? When I saw that zouma and rudi pairing, I thought that was strange. Then kante was in the midfield together with kovacic, you know there were going to be issues with ball progression and playing out from the back. Thought that was obvious in the first half, then when we got the equaliser, you'd think kante's presence is absolutely unnecessary against teams defending for their lives.

Tuchel kept him on, and we looked dire almost to the very end. Strange decision from him, considering he saw how 'ineffective' CHO was, but didn't think the same of kante, especially when we were chasing a winner. To be fair I don't think he expected ziyech to come on and look completely useless so he gets a pass for that, but leaving kante on was inexcusable imo.

Anyway, we go again vs atletico. They just suffered a shocking 0-2 home defeat to levante so there's hope.

Note: have to mention the shocking 3 minutes of injury time, after all those subs and soton players rolling around. Sigh.

James was quite ineffective as well, hasn't really clicked under tuchel.

I guess he may have had that in mind, but in the end all the changes made our team composition unbalanced. That rudi and zouma pairing just doesn't cut it imo. Hope christensen gets reinstated vs atletico, never should've been dropped in the first place.

Pace and power, somehow they just work for us don't they? From hasselbaink, to didier, to anelka, then costa, all of them had that muscle and finesse about them. Pretty sure we're in the mix for haaland, but if we get outbid, I wonder if lukaku would be interested in returning. You know conte will tell us to get shafted though

Once we fine tune that final ball in behind to CHO or anyone else for that matter, we'll look much2 more dangerous. Jorginho managed to pick him out once or twice and a few were overhit as well, but at the end of the day, we need more players at least attempting that pass. I feel ziyech / kai can really excel at this, given the time.

Mendy of all people looked really shaky, and I tip my hat to llorente was it? Who could've gone down after the former's horrendous touch, but chose to play on. Might've been an easy penalty for them, and hand on my heart if werner/CHO did the same, I'd be pretty annoyed. Go in full speed, you don't even need to dive and just make sure you get to the ball first as mendy's as slow as a snail. 99% chance he's going to clatter into you in panic. Easy pen, early lead.

We weren't amazing, but damn that overhead kick was worthy of winning ANY match. Special thanks to the refs handling VAR for spotting that attempted back pass from atletico. Giroud anonymous for practically 70 minutes and comes up with a worldie on the 71st. Superb!

Christensen as usual will have our management scratching their heads as to whether he's the real deal or not, but you can't deny he deserves to start every game so far. Had one bad mistake where he tried to win the ball early vs suarez and completely mistimes his jump,leaving us exposed. Other than that he was his composed self and I like one instance in the second half where he chose to play the ball out wide and under immense pressure, and we broke on the counter, instantly putting atletico on the back foot. He's capable, just needs that consistency and confidence. This was the kind of showing that can help him regain his mojo.

Keep in mind the last time atletico lost at home in europe was against us, years ago under conte! Nice of us to force them to relive that nightmare. Of all the subs ziyech was the one who probably stood out, although when he lost the ball within seconds of coming on, you're thinking 'oh here we go again,' but he redeemed himself after that, with a first time pass to werner to leave him on on one vs oblak a particular highlight.

This was a massive win and sets us up perfectly vs utd, and I rate atletico's defence as better than theirs. Let's get that three points.

This was what people were saying before atletico as well, maybe we should keep at it

He will. I rate atletico's defence as better than utd's, but the latter's attack is definitely more dangerous. I feel if we score first the back line will be much more composed, and that'll only be a good thing for christensen. Against physical opponents is where he's really exposed, so good thing cavani is out.

Here's an interesting stat : Werner's combined 13-goal involvements (five goals, eight assists) is higher than Riyad Mahrez (9) and Sadio Mane (11). He's getting there! Expecting a big performance from him vs utd.

Wow. Not exactly wholesale changes, but it's one hell of surprise with both ziyech and ben starting. I like the boldness, let's see how it works out. Ziyech on form can pick apart any defence with his pinpoint passing, and chilwell's speed will definitely be useful in halting the likes of rashford/james. Kante in the middle with kovacic, hope he keeps it simple.

Ziyech losing the plot towards the end there, I say hook him, get werner on. It's not just his positioning as well, he's misplacing simple passes, and just looking clueless in general

Damn it our best attacking threat off with an injury

Extremely underwhelming... just lacked that cutting edge, and our passing in the final third was just horrible. Nothing incisive about it at all, in the end even christensen was getting sick of the awfully slow attacks in front of him,he won a couple of challenges and promptly passed it forward, causing utd to panic. We needed more of that, I was so annoyed with kante sometimes, after winning possession brilliantly in midfield, he'd take 30 minutes to turn, jog around with the ball and pass it backwards. Pass it BLOODY FORWARD and catch the united backline out of shape, or at least friggin try to! Haihhh

Kame hame haaaaaaaa!!!!!!

(kebabooommmmmm~~~)

That's the sound of our top half team 'jinx' completely blown into pieces.

MOTM performances all round, jorgi, mount, christensen, azpi, werner, kante, rudi all having one hell of a match. Tuchel has kept his promise, he's made us into an outfit other teams hate to face. Onwards and upwards!

It's strange because so many fans on reddit were convinced that 3 at the back was never his favoured formation. Now we're on such an amazing run, I won't be surprised if he sticks to it till the end of the season. Defense just looks solid, and I like it. It's also a testament to his ability as a coach, I don't remember PSG playing regularly with 3 at the back, so he's definitely went with this shape based on the ability of our players.

Even more impressive is the fact that frank ditched the formation since the start of the season, so he definitely had to drill his methods into the players from day 1,and we're reaping the rewards.

That creative force was supposed to be havertz right? I wonder how long till he makes his mark on the team. Our midfield tend to play it safe too often, that's a major part of the problem as well.

What I loved about the pool game was that we were hitting it long with more accuracy, and kante (of all people) whom I was annoyed with for the Southampton match for refusing to take any risks with his passing, was the catalyst for Mount's winning goal. It's amazing how one simple long crossfield pass lead to pool's defence being breached, as delaying it for a few more seconds probably means the shot's blocked and we end up with a corner.

You could see kante tried it a few more times with mixed results but the most important thing is at least he's attempting the quick forward pass. Jorginho's was a beauty too, and I believe werner's goal should've counted. Now I'm just concerned about tammy's future, but I trust tuchel will give him more chances. Love our unbeaten run so far and that mental block finally being overcome vs big teams is a huge, huge, boost.

This post has been edited by Kerplunk: Mar 6 2021, 04:28 PM

Havertz in the first 11 and zouma back in. Nice.

Haveerrtttttzzzzzzz

Alonso loitering in the box like a striker as usual, but gets the assist

What an important goal saving tackle that was from christensen on richarlison. He can do no wrong these days.

Oh come on alonso... haizzz

What a touch and finish but kai used part of his arm..arrghhhh