carefreeluke

A good mate of mine lives in Australia and the videos I see of him out and about, it basically looks like everything back to normal again. Quite amazing. What else did Australia do differently? Is it geographic reasons as well?

Best fans in the country, with Man United.

I haven't watched an English player as great to watch as Grealish in a long time.

@The Liquidator I agree with you mostly. Regarding sticking to a formation and system, I don't think the squad profile at the moment will allow Lampard to stick constantly to that shape anyway. Who can play in the 'eight role' apart from Mount and Havertz? Ziyech at a push? Mount and Havertz won't be able to play every game there together. It's why I was annoyed about letting Barkley go who looked good in that position and shape when we used it last season. We also ideally need another DM. While the opposition have maybe been poor, Sevilla for example even are having a real problem with scoring goals at the moment, they really struggle to create and are in a bad patch of form as well so the context in which that clean sheet came about has to be taken into account as well. Despite this, there has been an improvement in the team shape, the defensive line is more compact and at one with the rest of the team and midfielders are getting caught out less with their pressing etc. That type of pressing where the midfielders go ahead (correctly or incorrectly) to press and the defensive line doesn't push up as well which leaves gaps to exploit. There has also been a lot of good blocks and last-ditch tackles, the type of defending which was basically non-existent before.

9 goals in 18 at the back end of last season, was one of our best players in that time. I'm far from saying he should be starting every game but he was class in the second half of last season and some of the potential link-up play with the new players could be beautiful. Think he's a bit unlucky not to have had more game time.

Kovacic and Jorginho make up a lot of slack every game then? We used it at times last season with Kanté being the only defensive-minded player and it worked...

Push Mount deeper? @Spike and why?

My preferred starting eleven below: Before people point out certain exclusions, they'll be heavy rotation needed with the fixtures this year so just because I've left certain players out, it doesn't mean they won't be getting enough game time. For me, we played our best football last season in the shape below and it also I think suits the attacking players we have. Zouma on the left I'm unsure about. I think it gives us the most balance. Mount centre left being able to come in on his right, Havertz centre right being able to come in on his left. Mount's work rate will help us out defensively and it puts him in his best position. Pulisic and Ziyech also in their best positions. Giroud up top to act as the focal point for the attacking players and to also help us out physically. He also gives the full-backs someone to aim for with their crosses.

The problem with Jorginho and Kovacic is that they don't always play quick enough nor do they always pick out that pass that breaks lines. They are great at getting control of a game but get too passive and safe in possession which negatively affects the team's tempo. Jorginho has the capability of playing quickly but that depends entirely whether he's on his game. More often than not (not all the time) they aren't a good combination. I've said before this season at the moment we're lacking a player that can dribble and beat a man, as @The Liquidator has said when Hudson-Odoi finally started doing that on Saturday we looked better for it. The fact that a wide player gives the defender something different to think about helps make more space for the other attackers. I think it's not the first time Lampard has had to make Hudson-Odoi get going like that. Pulisic's return will be very welcome but I still believe Hudson-Odoi can still play a big role as apart from Pulisic, Hudson-Odoi is the only player in the squad that can run, dribble and beat a man.

Jody Morris, Lampard's current number two, a few years ago: "You've got to have a manager that, first and foremost, wants to look," he told Sky Sports. "We've had managers at Chelsea where they'd be 50 yards away, there'd be a Champions League U19s game going on, and the manager's sat in his office, rather than coming out to watch. It's very disheartening. "It's not my place to go over there and start talking to managers, but some managers aren't interested - they don't care about youth. They judge the first team and want to get their own players in. "The thing about Chelsea is I don't think there's an academy in this country that's better, but it doesn't look like that on paper because of the amount of players who are not playing in the first team. "The players are good enough, most definitely, but the managers are not, for one, aware of them. It's alright someone going in and talking up a player and saying 'this player's got European Player of the Year in an U19 tournament, won the World Cup, and is one of the best players at his age group' - if they don't see him, physically, that doesn't get you him. "You need to see it - Claudio Ranieri's point of playing John Terry was the fact that he went to watch him. He saw him, said 'right, he's playing for me' - and in. There's nothing better than seeing players in the flesh. It's alright people talking them up but you have to see it in the flesh."

I agree mostly. Some of the praise he's got has been over the top, he's inherited a team that's more than capable of finishing in the top four and just finished above a Leicester team who finished 9th the season before. What most people forget though is that the best thing he's done has been giving the youth players a chance which hasn't been the case at Chelsea for years and years now. He's given debuts to more youth players than any other manager in Chelsea's history which if you think about the fact that Chelsea hasn't always been a team of this calibre and wealth, it's something impressive. Not only has he given them a chance, but he's also developed them and stuck by them. It doesn't matter if the majority of these youth players end up in spending most of their careers playing in the Championship, it's the fact that he's given them that chance. Furthermore, people say the transfer ban brought that upon Lampard but they couldn't be more wrong. I also can see the vision and direction he has for this team, I can see what's he trying to do. It's a work in progress but I can at least see the idea he has which is always a good sign. Who knows if it will work out but there's no denying he's had a positive season for many reasons. I would have said the same even if we missed out on the top four. Some of the recognition and acclaim has been over the top I agree and Lampard has always been a bit of a media darling so that will probably mean that the criticism won't come as quickly or be as steep if it does come, on the other side the praise will be overblown if it continues to come as well. In general, he's likeable for most football fans and you can't blame him for the way the media etc treat him. Next season though will be where the pressure's on.

Absolute don! Been one of my favourites in recent years for us and was one of our best players in that title-winning season under Conte. What a career he's had and wish him all the best at Roma.

Who knows of course but does anyone think there will be another big outbreak or second wave come winter?

I'm all for that.

Will be interesting to see what happens with Jorginho in the next few months. I wouldn't be against selling him to be honest.

Loftus-Cheek really does look off the pace but I guess you can't really blame him given the injury. It's a big worry for me to see whether he'll ever get over it and manage to stay fit now for the significant future. He was one of our best players but whether he manages to live up to that reputation again in the future only time will tell. Lampard's said similar things before this season. Zouma coming in would help things who's probably the best player we have aerially, he's also a better defender than the two current starters. Why was Tammy, one of our tallest players on the goal line? It's not purely a height thing though is it? City are the smallest team in the league and from set-pieces, they don't concede as many goals as we do. It's the incompetence of a lot of the defenders we have on show this season.

The jury's still out on Pulisic for me, I think he's been a bit of a mixed bag overall. He loses the ball a bit too much and I think personally that's an area of his game he has to improve. He's still young though and we'll see in the next few years if he can develop even more and get some true consistency going. The potential is there though.

Face masks obligatory in Spain from tomorrow.

@Carnivore Chris The southern areas of Spain and Portugal mate are some of the most beautiful in Europe. Hit me up if the time comes.

Sorry to hear that mate. Tragic news. More time to yourself, more time to think, naturally, I imagine this crisis is also having a big impact on people's mental health too.

Who knows what’s the right way to do things but Spain’s done it by region. Some areas of the country are being allowed to move to the next phase whereas others are staying on phase 0, Madrid for example. Was speaking to one friend yesterday here in the south of the country and she was talking about how one of her friends is having a party this week in a bar. Me personally I think I’ll be leaving social arrangements face to face for another 2-3 weeks at least. Not to be pessimistic but I think a lot of countries will be getting a second wave, just takes one person and you could be back to square one.