carefreeluke

I was going to make that point in the post above mate but it was late and I was tired. I also felt like I had banged on enough as well. We don't necessarily have to take up that shape for long periods either, we can be in that shape for a very small period during the game but it's Conte's insistence for the players to play out of that counter press from the opposition which can bring us problems and as you said we no longer have a big outlet at front which has worsened and limited our exit routes. A good chunk of games this season we've played Hazard up front as well, need I say more. I think this is also one of the reasons why Cahill has lost his place as Rudiger is more agile on the ball and Rudiger has better all-round composure as well.

Barca game as well was poor, I just can't see how we played well that game especially tactically.

Our pressing game only really exists immediately after we lose the ball in attack in order to stop the other team countering us, it's very rare we're actually countered on unless of course the circumstances in the game require us to be more open and push more men forward. We do very well in this situation and it's something I noticed from Conte's first ever game in the Premier League. This image however is the bane of my life: We adopt this shape a lot and this is what I like to call the 'Conte shell'. Dembélé, has all the time in the world on the ball, taking up a position which many midfielders have found themselves in against us under Conte. We've made Xhaka look a lot better than he is on a good few occasions when he's took up this position. Kanté and Fabregas cannot engage the ball as it leaves space in between the lines and it's also exactly what the player with the ball would want for our two central midfielders to be drawn out. Willian and Hazard aren't central enough and sometimes you'll see our striker look to come in and help out and press the ball, this for me is normally a reaction to seeing the amount of time this particular midfielder from the opposition gets on the ball and it has a air of desperation about it on our part. We get overcrowded and perhaps it's not necessarily the fact that we lack a pressing game or the players lack the will to press when we adopt this specific shape during a game but rather the fact that the shape itself makes it awkward for the players to engage. This often leads to the periods of passivity which we have been watching a lot of this season and the previous campaign as well. Using the example above, it's very difficult for Spurs to play in between the lines here, very difficult. It's a problem if the opposition is outnumbering you in one part of the field but it depends on how well you manage that. Furthermore, if the opposition has a numerical advantage over you in one part of the field, this can only mean you'll typically have a numerical advantage over them in another part. Managing these advantages is key to football. We evidently have a numerical advantage in defence here and hence we are very good at snuffing out any danger in between the lines. Our problem at the moment is when we win the ball, it's become very difficult for us to get out, in 90% of cases it will be either Kanté, Fabregas or the defenders winning us the ball and then the opposition will press immediately, making the pitch seem very small. They know our exit routes and you can see from the shape above that we have to go from being very condensed to spreading out at pace, like squeezing a sponge ball. When we win the ball, Hazard, Morata, Willian and the full backs are like grey hounds, it's a race against the other team's press, a race the opposition are winning more and more. The problem is that after winning the ball our players have to be very precise, quick and intelligent at playing out under pressure but teams know our exit routes and we are also doing this from a deep position and have a long way to travel up the pitch. We may get out at times against the better teams, maybe we do very well on the ball or the opposition makes a mistake or is slow to press for example but counters are becoming a rarer occurrence for us as teams often stop us at source and block the exits so to speak. Not forgetting a lot of our players aren't the most comfortable on the ball either. Ultimately because it's difficult for us to get out due to the opposition's press after we win the ball, the opponent can control a lot of the match for long periods. The higher quality the opposition, the longer they can obtain control. Finally, the reality is the opposition don't actually create an awful lot against us, using the Barcelona game as an example. We have the numerical advantage in defence as mentioned above. As you can see in the screenshot it's very difficult for the opposition to play in between the lines which is the most dangerous area in football. Sometimes the opposition's play is very good and they cut us open, not much you can do about that but this is rare. The problem however we have is that because we adopt this shape and get stuck in it for such long periods, tiredness sets in. The opposition knock and knock on the door and it's difficult to keep the concentration, knock, knock, knock. Hence why we've seen a lot of mistakes this season from our players.

Went to Valencia early this week, beautiful city. A river that use to run through the city was turned into a massive park, never seen anything like that before. Also has a beach which makes it enter into my top 3 favourite places in Spain. (That I've visited of course).

This is why Darts is class. World Championship, serious as anything, could be a final and you get players coming in like this.

Stretching mate, key to stop injuries. I was quite injury prone in the past but had a recurring injury that was always there for a good few years, basically pain in my lower shins but more the whole ankle area. Sometimes it would play up, other times it would be OK. Went to physio and quickly learnt how important stretching was, I've introduced some stretching to my daily life and the pain has gone. I don't even have to stretch that regularly either, the more exercise, the more stretching. Of course be careful not to overstretch! I remember reading once that Drogba use to stretch for four hours a day or something crazy like that to avoid injuries as he was sick of getting them early on in his career. Of course, he would have had a specific plan made for him by the specialists at the club.

Was a pleasure to have this man with us, thought he was class for us in that season. World class striker in his peak as well.

Interesting @SirBalon mate, I didn't know that. It's perhaps explains why my mum use to go to Lucozade anytime I was ill when I was younger. Yeah, it's not going to do much for hydration purposes or probably anything at all really, maybe good for the old placebo effect or the mental side of things. Similar to Spike, I remember if I was quite ill as a kid it would be the only thing I could stomach but my mum would offer it all the time. Don't really drink fizzy drinks at all now unless they involve alcohol on a night out.

Really mate? My parents always use to give it to me if I was ill as a kid, maybe there's some connection there. How was Lucozade viewed back then?

Wouldn't touch Enrique with a barge pole mate, would be against that one for sure. Out of that list I would like to see Sarri or Tuchel but it would be important Roman gave full backing to both them and more importantly the time to implement things. So either of them but combined with the full backing and time to do their thing. Would like to watch a more attacking Chelsea team. The problem is that Conte has bought in a lot of players that suit his style and identity so it would probably need further recruitment. That's the problem we have. Also, Tuchel or Sarri potentially could go the way AVB went for example and both would need the right environment and conditions for it to work out.

He hasn't had one good season though, he's had more...

Hazard isn't the best in the league on current form.

If I was a Liverpool fan I wouldn't take Hazard in their front three either but that might be more because Liverpool's front three fit like a glove at the moment and are very suited to that system rather than anything else. To say Hazard hasn't been consistent for us in the past though is plain wrong.

Managers are stubborn mate, especially the top ones, they stick to what they know and often it comes as their undoing in the end. Strange because we have seen more experimentation and tactical variation with Conte compared to other managers we've had. He's admitted that Hazard has been playing as a striker as it gives the team more balance and as Willian and Pedro do more work defensively. Sounds like Mourinho. We're seriously limiting our best player and it doesn't benefit Morata, Willian or Pedro for that matter either. @LFCMadLad It's worth watching some of the highlights of our games last season particularly after the formation change and look at the amount of space teams use to give us. We got a lot of confidence from that run we had last season and it was the basis for the title win. It's hard to believe I watched some of the best football I've seen from a Chelsea team last season.

Conte talking about the players playing with fear not long ago. No striker? 5 defenders on the pitch at all times, sitting deep! 'We must be prepared to suffer without the ball' how many times have we heard that? And you wonder why the players are supposedly playing with fear!

It's more just pointing out it's another one of the factors that explains our current situation, regardless of how well we could have replaced him or not. I don't think the current system or playing style plays to the strengths of Morata or Batshuayi for the matter either. A random one as well, on Kante. The bloke is fucking brilliant and we saw the difference his absence made earlier on this season but his ability on the ball doesn't help the team at times as more and more teams start to press us. His downside has always been his ability on the ball and it's become more apparent this season.

Been chucking it down and stormy in Seville since Monday, going to be like this for a further week or so. Welcome to Spain.

Drogba... His book is also a very good read as well by the way!

Oh yeah not a lot the club could do really, more just pointing out that he left a whole that hasn't been filled properly yet. We're still waiting on Morata. Drogba, Terry and other big names for us under Roman have flirted and done even more with other clubs, I'm not so sure why such a big fuss is made when the likes of Courtois and Hazard do it. Don't get me wrong, if I was in their shoes I wouldn't do it, I think it lacks respect still no matter how strong their connection is with the club and no matter how modern football works these days but it is what it is. Drogba was adamant on more than a few occasions that he wanted to leave Chelsea, his words were even stronger than anything Costa said. I think Costa's character is also misjudged partly, teammates and people at the clubs he's played for have always been full of praise.

Morata was never an upgrade on Costa, I still believe he has the potential to improve massively in the future but I believe that's solely up to how Morata applies himself in the next few years. From various snippets I've read from or about Morata over the years, confidence seems to a big issue for him. One of the main reasons Morata didn't get a true go at Madrid was because of his general play, Ancelotti and Zidane much preferred Benzema's hold up play and his ability to link up with his teammates which is a department that Morata is seriously lacking in at the moment. Morata eerily reminds me too much of Torres and his bad side which we unfortunately saw too much of. Costa had half seasons for us really but he was always a presence no matter how badly he played, something which Conte and Mourinho like. Yes his technical ability use to piss you off at times, yes he was a half a season man but his return was decent. And I have to say for the first half of last season, he was the best player in the league, just a shame he couldn't keep that consistency up. People talk about the fall out and his change in form but he's had a history of performing for half the season, under Mourinho he was only decent for the first half of that season, the following season he only started to play well when Hiddink came in and last season he was only decent for the first half under Conte (he was fucking amazing in this first half mind). I saw this photo in a Spanish newspaper the other day. Atlético fans adore him, Chelsea fans did / do as well. A photo which pretty much sums him up....

No thanks!

The big games have genuinely all gone one way this season, Arsenal Carabao cup, Barcelona and Man United. Start off on the front foot in these games, then sit back and we lose, the game management has been very poor. We get in this strange state when we sit back though, we just get too passive and lose our intensity. The opposition put their foot on the gas and up the intensity while we seem to lay off the pedal and coast. Starting with the subs. Against Arsenal Xhaka scores 60 minutes to make it 2-1 to Arsenal, Conte only reacts 5 minutes after on 65 to bring on Batshuayi, then 7 minutes later to bring on Zappacosta. Technically he lost a sub early in this game because of the injury to Willian. Barca, Messi scores 75. Takes Conte until the 85th minute to bring on Morata and Drinkwater. Man United. Lingard scores 75 (interestingly the exact same time as Messi did). Pedro has come on just before this goal, Conte then reacts to the goal in the last 10 minutes and brings on two very attacking subs in Giroud and Cesc. Lingard was also the sub Mourinho brought on. Being reactive rather than proactive in my eyes, in all these games we needed fresh impetus from somewhere, subs could have been an avenue in which we could of done that. I'm a big believer in bringing on an attacking sub when leading as well as it gives a positive message to the team. As soon as Willian scores against Barcelona, Giroud should come on in my eyes. Interestingly after the game on Sunday Conte hinted (I don't know if anyone saw this) that it was important to have balance in the team which he said it in a way which looked like this was one of the reasons why Hazard came off.

Morata playing like the bad sides of Torres and Demba Ba.