iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

And this isn't loaded or inferring that the ownership have been anti-academy (although I think they've made a couple of noticeable missteps like the Hall departure) but this has been a really enjoyable experience that I hope has reinforced some of the above positives with longer lasting impacts

For instance, if you didn't have the ECL this year, how would you have convinced Acheampong to renew? does a Mheuka enter into your striker conversations? Do you consider signing another Disasi for your 4th/5th slot or is there more value looking in house?

It'll be fascinating to see how the squad composition looks next season when (you assume), we won't have these free hit games. The squad will need to be slimmed and recruitment far more selective, hopefully this experience means that it won't always be the youth that miss out or are overlooked.

hopefully little by little, experiences like this shift the needle in favour of Cobham when it comes to squad composition discussions. You won't always have ~6 dead rubber games that you can use to trial players risk free but maybe next time, that risk appetite changes so you didn't need those games

I hope we'll look back on this ECL campaign like we do with Lampard's transfer ban season as the enabler that saw a large number of academy products meaningfully integrate within the first team for years to come whilst serving as the catalyst for more to do so in subsequent seasons.

170

Yeah that last sentence is where the bulk of my concerns lie, you have to be an exceptionally talented player to carve a meaningful role for yourself with that profile, especially at a top club. Fantastic to see him being given opportunities though, hope to see much more.

000

every. single. game. he even brought it out during the Spurs game when Veiga came on as a sub

Feel like his is such a difficult profile to meaningfully integrate so will be fascinated to see where his career goes from here. Another that immediately proves he's not out of place and has the right temperament

000

I'm gonna miss the ECL next year - something incredibly fresh and fun about midweek games where youth players get an opportunity to embed themselves and your team smashes in 4 goals a game.

140

Rob Lawman @cfcrobl.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

Tbf I feel like I've heard the same commentary in every single game we've played in this competition between somewhat unjustified KDH hype and being informed of how 'Veiga is the calmest footballer you'll ever see'

100

I was very close to writing something similar. I didn’t watch much of him at Leicester but surely he couldn’t have been this bad? He doesn’t look Prem standard, or ECL standard even.

000

Rob Lawman @cfcrobl.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

I’m always happy to hold my hands up when i’ve got something wrong but I’m still yet to see a game where KDH hasn’t looked a visible level below the rest of his Chelsea teammates. Still a very odd signing that never looked like it was going to be anything but underwhelming and needless

Rob Lawman @cfcrobl.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

George has a bit of the post injury CHO about him at the moment where it feels like he’s trying to do a little too much to prove himself at this level - the ability and suitability is obviously there, just needs to stop trying to force it so much imo

020

judging by some of the 'reaction' videos i've seen from last night, I don't think we're that far off

I'd absolutely pay money for David Coote visibly off his face reviewing decisions tbf

It's thinly veiled here isn't it, 'well Taylor's got a good look at it so can't correct him'. I am honestly baffled how they think having all of these refs in media blindly backing their mates is doing more good than harm, it lifts the curtain back to reveal an already obvious ugly truth.

120

In truth, I think they've not given the red because they knew there would be outrage given they got the Caicedo one wrong, which in the grand scheme of things probably left both with justifiable parity.

200

Was Dejan Kulusevski fortunate to avoid red card for elbow against Chelsea? | Ref Watch

Incredible squirming from Dermot and Stephen Warnock (fast becoming my fav pundit), rightly puts him to the sword It's baffling how the referee's position here is being used as justification to not overturn, it just makes it a worse decision, not a better one. Awkward silence at the end is golden.

youtube.com

YouTube video by Sky Sports News

130

Elite and takes over that position but that's 1) incredibly hard to do, 2) probably a good 2 years away at best. Instead we're left with a number of 7/10s to deputise and likely hamper ourselves during that interim, will be curious to see if we do anything in Jan assuming we're still in the mix

000

Do agree with the GK situation, I think the club figured Sanchez was good enough for T4 but probably not a title charge, not sure anyone expected one to be /slightly/ on the cards. I think they're trying to treat GK like the rest of the positions where they hope someone (Penders, probably) becomes

100

I 100% agree, I guess my confusion is often with those who oppose so much they refuse to acknowledge the positives or take a stance that admitting to such is somehow a betrayal. Wasn't sure if 'more than I'd hoped' was reflective of that so came from a place of curiosity over judgement!

100

I don't want to take a position of Clearlake apologist but it does feel at times that some are so locked in on 'fuck clearlake' that they refuse to give the slightest credit where it's absolutely due. I do think you can commend one aspect of their ownership whilst criticising others. It's all a WIP.

It's not a situation that they've 'finally' got it right, the players have developed and are being used in a more optimal way to a point that 90-95% of the squad are meaningfully contributing. Yes, the scale & priorities leaves some to be desired but the squad looks very well curated for this season

100

Appreciate your thoughts but that last bit throws me slightly, I can understand the discontent over academy treatment, forced departures, fan handling, etc but the GK situation, whilst less than ideal is surely a lesser to all of those evils? I also think the view on recruitment is a little harsh

200

It was a combination of just how good we've been of late, how frequently we were able to break their press when our players didn't fall over, and Spurs being Spurs. Maybe with a bit of biased confidence thrown in. Just never thought we'd lose yesterday tbh

100

Yeah I did, I think there's 2 things ongoing here I believed from 2-0 down that we'd get a result, just think we are considerably better than them and had seen enough in the game to think we'd get back into it I also believe Spurs collapsed within themselves after Romero inj + Sancho goal.

100

In the sense that their press dropped off, their own belief dropped off and then the ultimate headloss for both penalties which gave us that little leg up to truly break free of them despite the advantage we gifted them. They stopped believing by about the 20th minute

100

Genuinely disagree, was active in a number of chats saying the same at the time. City were just as mentally fragile and didn't recover whereas I think we were pretty dominant in the game and breaking through their press with relative ease which was always going to drain them physically + mentally

To be clear I was primarily referring to the tweet I was replying to which was why I largely questioned the wording. I understand the reasoning of discontent, I just don't know how it prevents enjoyment from nights like last night but I appreciate that I don't feel as strongly about certain aspects

000

That 45 minutes from Lavia was out of this world btw, would implore everyone to check out the highlight videos. Aggressive out of possession, anticipating passes well, constantly drilling balls between the lines and skilfully avoiding quite an intense Spurs press. Wonderful player

020

I don't know if it's just poor word choice but 'far more than I ever hoped' seems weird phrasing doesn't it? I understand, and share a lot of concerns, but I cannot get my ahead around people that want us to fail and actively resist themselves finding enjoyment in their team's success.

200

I was completely calm and convinced we walked away with some form of result even at 2-0 down whereas in previous seasons I'd have felt like I was watching an imminent collapse. There's every possibility that 50% of that confidence was from the fact we were playing Spurs, but still.

000

Ahh got you - yeah the 1-2 combo of Romero injury + Sancho goal killed them. With that said, they were never going to keep up that pace of the first 20 but when you combine that with the fact there's just zero resilience or composure in Spurs squad, the result felt inevitable even a 2-0 down

100

I don't watch enough Spurs to know if this is a constant thing but it seems that for the last 4/5 years they've been way, way too fired up for this game in a way that it always boils over and they implode. There's genuinely some little brother shit going on where they end up beating themselves

130

I've been wrong about so much that I was due one eventually very good to see you on here mate!

Impressive that such a young team had the resilience to convincingly turn a game around in which they were unexpectedly 2-0 down in a very hostile atmosphere. Could have easily lost their heads but instead went on to dominate and see it off with a panenka. so promising

043

Juxtapose that to Ange who won't 'compromise' for anyone and saw his team blow a gifted 2-0 lead and lose another big game at home.

Really good from Maresca today, quickly addressed the defensive issues whilst being bold enough to take off arguably the best performer of the first half and we never looked back. Huge fan of his proactivity, we're in very safe hands imo.

210

I think you and I know better than to suspect there's ever a plan when it comes to what Sanchez decides to do

120

Seemed like a bizarre time to go all Stoke but with Badiashile and Sanchez's pass selection today, I'm not against it

100

I'm here to remind you all once again that we are very, very good. And Spurs absolutely are not.

020

something so glorious about Spurs always 'going to war' in their games with us and consistently leaving with 0 points, multiple injuries and a halt to any momentum they had.

031

well well well, who could have seen this coming?