carefreeluke

They needed to bring a striker in regardless, Benzema I would argue has been past his sell by date for a couple of years now at least.

I think they'll come good in the second half of the season but I can't think but help they need a change tactically, they were very one dimensional I thought last season but because of the ferocity at which they can dominate and can come at the majority of teams in La Liga meant that they would always find a way through eventually. In the bigger games they would mix it up a bit and either look to dominate and get on the ball or they liked to play on the counter a lot and take advantage of the space the bigger teams use to give them. At the moment you have Ronaldo just waiting to be fed and not offering anything to the overall play, Benzema is useless. Then if there's no space to counter, everything falls on Isco or the wingbacks and they don't have much else creativity wise. Carvajal is also out which doesn't help matters as a lot of their play comes from the wide areas.

The situation with Costa was difficult, I like Morata and will judge him properly come the end of this season but he was never an upgrade on Costa that's for sure.

Yeah mate exactly, a big factor as well is the teams outside the top six a lot of the time sit off because they don't want to take the risk of pressing high which benefits us because it allows us to transition from the back into midfield easily. What we're seeing more of especially against the better teams is Courtois being forced to go long and the outcome is normally the other team getting the ball back and they attack us again, wave after wave which increases the pressure on our defence. Courtois' second option if he cannot play short is to hit Alonso in the air near abouts the half way line but we're seeing that a lot less this season for some reason and this season we don't have Costa's presence up front if we're forced to go long. Our wingbacks are pinned back which makes Alonso useless as he cannot beat a man, Moses at least can be direct and run at defenders.

I wouldn't say we'd have to abandon the formation I just think he needs explore other options. Football is about identity and normally the top level managers will put full faith in their ideas (which is a good thing and helps get the players on board) but sometimes they are too stubborn and resist change which they can ultimately pay the price for. Part of the problem has been the injuries, players playing half fit etc. We've looked good with the three man midfield, Luiz, Baka and Kante I like a lot, even throw Fabregas in there as well but it shouldn't be used every game and it's good to see Conte has looked to explore that option. I think Conte being the tactical manager he is could well look to change things tactically for us, he did a lot of experimentation in the first 4-6 months of taking charge and he has been one of the best tactical managers we've had. The 3-4-3 is fine in my opinion if everyone's available but I think we should look to show more versatility this season. You knew the exact way Roma for example were going to play against us last night and for me that was the ideal game to switch things up. I would encourage you lot to watch snippets from the games last season, the point where Conte switched to the 3-4-3 is a good starting point and see the difference. Watch some of the first half of the 5-0 game back against Everton for example and the difference was shocking in my eyes, in terms of the space and tactical set up of the opposition. I think tactical reasons are playing a significant part but also injuries, schedule and a slight drop in intensity as well from the players.

Still makes me laugh this about John Terry. https://tune.pk/video/2639961/kevin-bridges-talks-about-john-terry-danny-dyer-and-the-old-firm

Go on Conte, this has been building up from the start of last season. I know the journalists are there to do a certain job but the amount of shite questions they ask week in week out. Thousands of interesting questions you could ask.

I agree to an extent mate and I'm not going to defend him on last night's performance (I'm yet to watch the first half back which I missed because of work, saw the second) but it's not necessarily easy to come straight into the team and perform. I know players have done it and will continue to do it in the future, Drinkwater apparently impressed on his debut for example but it's not easy, the same goes for Batshuayi who comes in here and there as well who I rate. It's not necessarily easy for the likes of Musonda and Bats to impact things straight away. We're seeing the benefits a string of games is giving to the likes of RLC at Palace for example. More the issue I think is that when the youngsters (or even the more experienced players) do come in you want to see them busting gut and working hard, I don't think we've seen that really from any of the youngsters in recent years. At Betis Musonda had a heavy injury lay off and they were a mess when he was there, he also had to experience the joys of Poyet and his style of football. Poyet the man who use to leave Dani Ceballos (their star name) out of the Betis team as well. Musonda was well loved by the Betis fans in general and built up a slight cult status when he was there.

@Cicero @True Blue @The Liquidator @Bluewolf What are your opinions on Alonso overall?

He hasn't really been tested defensively too much, Moses wasn't really a defender as well before the system change but defends very well now. I'd personally try anything to avoid Alonso playing there.

Might as well give Kenedy a shot at left wing back, Azpi would look a bit awkward there for me.

I like Moses to be honest, his final ball has always been questionable but his direct style at least gives other teams something to think about. Alonso is mostly passenger, increasingly so.

@Mel81x Our poor form really has been a mixture of things. Started in the summer with preparation, our squad doesn't have enough depth, quality and specific types of players in each position. I don't think Conte would have wanted to use Fabregas and Bakayoko as much as he has done so far, he's been forced to use Cesc more than he would have liked because of injury problems etc and Bakayoko I believe has played more than the club would have liked given his injury concerns. Hindsight is a wonderful thing here but could we have had one or two players in the squad that would have helped us in this regard? Or have we been unlucky? Kante, Baka, Cesc, Drinkwater and the possibility to play Luiz in midfield some would say that's decent enough cover but we've switched to a three man midfield at times this season which only leaves us one midfielder spare if Luiz is playing at centre back and then you take into account Baka's fitness concerns and the type of player Fabregas is? Was this a miscalculation on the club's part? It can also be put down to the manager with his team selection where at times he's refused to move Luiz into midfield to help us in that area. Lastly, I feel we've failed to add real quality, the only position I've think we've upgraded has been Bakayoko for Matic. Morata for Costa as I said at the time wasn't an upgrade for me but let's hope he proves me wrong in this regard come the end of the season. Our business and squad management here is part of the problem. We changed our system at the start of October last season and it took other teams until around April this year to eventually start being effective tactically against it, the first team to have real success were Tottenham in late November (a game which we still won) but they then went on to beat us in January of that season. It wasn't until April really until you a saw a couple teams start to combat the system significantly enough but by that time we were full of confidence and we worked hard to churn out results as many teams do towards the end when they win a title, confidence, adrenaline, the closeness to winning something helped spur us on towards the end, like it does for many teams. From April this year I remember Southampton, Man United, Man City, Watford (on two separate occasions) Arsenal, Roma all tactically being superior for large periods or full games. I also remember Bournemouth doing very well against us tactically on Boxing Day last year. Our system relies on certain movements, certain passing combinations and has specific tactical traits and aspects all of which have been drilled and drilled by Conte since the system was introduced. I've been seeing more and more people this season say we park the bus but this is not the case, first of all we’re set up to play good and progressive football, some of the best football I’ve seen us play watching Chelsea was last season under Conte, I remember Pep saying last year that we played the best football in the league (or something like that) and John Motson alluded to us saying we delivered ‘the greatest ever Premier League’ performance he’d seen. Don’t get me wrong we’re not as attacking as say City, Liverpool, Spurs etc but we’re progressive and like to play, the difference being and (what made us good last season) was the fact that we had the option to play on the counter attack as well and we were very effective at it. First, we’d attempt to get on the ball and take the initiative (that’s the case with any team we play) if that doesn’t work for whatever reason, the opposition are superior in possession or we’re not playing well for example we remote to counter attacking mode. We have a clear identity and playing style and I don’t know how it took teams so long to work it out, perhaps it says something about the tactical strength of this league which is something foreign players always comment on and say the Premier League is a lot weaker in that department compared to others in Europe. Quite comical looking back and seeing the number of teams that attempted to change to three at the back, (some had success with it mind) but it perhaps said a lot more about their own situation and identity. The league has improved though in this regard with the amount of high quality managers coming in. Anyway, more to the problem we’re having this season, it’s in part down to the increasing strength of teams around us, Spurs and City for example are both very well coached, Man United have improved and even Wenger has had some decent moments against us. I think Liverpool play one way and one way only and they’re very good on their day but Klopp hasn’t looked to exploit us tactically as much as the other top teams. The quality of the top teams shouldn’t be used as an excuse on our part but you have to admit it’s a part of reality at this moment in time. However, the bigger problem we’re facing is the fact that teams are having more success tactically against us, they pin back our wing backs and they press high. Last season we could play out from the back and transition in possession with ease, less and less teams are letting us do that this season, we'd outnumber teams before, now we’re struggling to transition into midfield and work our way up the pitch. We’re forced to go long a lot more now and against better teams especially, this means the ball keeps coming back and back. Poch, Pep and Wenger are fully aware of this and take advantage of it, then you’ve had smaller teams like Bournemouth and Watford attempt to do the same, perform very well and they should be applauded for it but ultimately what costs them is a lack of quality compared to the bigger teams, they’ll make more mistakes in possession which we punish or they fail to take their chances. I commented very early on after the system change last season (it’s shame we’ve lost all the old posts) that it was going to be a concern when teams starting pressing high against us and you can now start to see the problem it’s bringing. Of course, it’s not as simplistic as teams are now pressing high, you also have the fact that intensity wise we haven’t been the same as last season, as mentioned squad management has played a part as well. The smaller teams either sit off against us which helps us but they then have to take into account if they trust themselves to press high and take on possession (which we could punish on the counter) hence they have to manage the situation and choose wisely. I’m not asking we change our system or anything and as more and more top clubs are finding these days it’s becoming increasingly difficult after having a good and successful season to then go on and improve once again in the second but the manager and club need to find ways to improve and to provide fresh impetus. Whether that be with personnel (an area in which I don’t think we’ve improved enough in) or through over means.

Apart from having an amazing free kick, can someone tell me what Marcos Alonso does especially now since teams aren't giving him the space he had last season? He's the biggest passenger we have.

Yeah mate, I always point out the players who had bad games too! Wasn't aimed at you mate!

Fans always have scapegoats when things are going badly but as a collective at the moment we're not there, everyone is performing badly or not to the levels of last season. It's true there's players that are performing worse than others Willian and Fabregas for example but Azpi got shafted completely last night and has looked poor defensively this season. As a unit and a collective group we're not there and the defence is always the first place where things start to go wrong and will always be the first place that bears the blame. Azpi's defending has been comical the last two games. A definite immediate solution is playing Luiz more in midfield, Fabregas plays like he's carrying a person on his back and has been poorly managed this season unlike the last. Part of that has been Conte and the board's fault with the depth of the squad. I love Fabregas but this is why he's a couple of levels below the best midfielders in the world, when he's on form a joy to watch but he's never consistent throughout a season which was his problem at Barcelona as well. As I've said before and also last season, the system carries a good few of the players and the performances of these players depend solely on how the system is working, how the opposition set up and how our better players are playing. When Conte leaves (depending on when that is) I fear slightly for the new manager as I think he's going to have to implement a similar style and try to improve on what Conte has built rather than introducing his own style and system. With these set of players, he'll have the joys of having Alonso and Zappacosta to work with. Reality is this season was always going to be more difficult but we don't help ourselves, before the start of pre-season I put the quote in my signature for a reason (which is slightly ironic now given what has happened to Ancelotti) but at the moment it's looking very relevant.

@Happy Blue I can't remember if I said at the time but credit to your club mate, the performance you lot put in was one of the best I've seen from an away team at Stamford Bridge in a good while. The only other one over the years that comes to mind that was better or equal to it was Atletico's at Stamford Bridge in the semi final of the Champions league a few seasons back. Credit to Pep, building a great side, still early days in the season mind but things are looking good for you lot.

Yeah mate, he's got a lot worse, he use to be decent. Hasn't helped the fact that we keep going short on corners these days, we've always been notoriously good at scoring from set pieces, just put it in the box for fuck sake.

In the Premier League alone, Rose, Mendy, Bertrand.

I actually prefer Moses to him now. In my eyes, unless he has a stationery free kick, he's very limited on the ball and offers little with it.

Can't believe there's Chelsea fans who actually think this, average at best.

A slowly increasing theme this season is that in difficult games where we're struggling we're giving away too many fouls. Yesterday against City, against Arsenal and against Burnley we were fouling and giving away too many free kicks at a consistent rate, of course fouls are a part of a football match but when they're coming at a constant rate throughout the match like they were in the games mentioned it's a sign of frustration, tiredness, and lack a of control. For me that's something we need to work on and let's hope it doesn't become a constant issue throughout the season.

One of Hazard's best performances for us as well given the stage. Important there's no hangover from us on Saturday.

Who do I rate in that squad? Alli, Bertrand, Butland, Kane, Maguire, Pickford, Rashford, Sterling, Walker. I'll chuck Cahill in there for his experience as well. The rest is dross.