Other Matches - Thursday 26th December, 2019

[Stan]

Arsenal equalise through Aubameyang!

[Stan]

1-0 to Villa! Big goal at the bottom of the league...

[Dr. Gonzo]

 That Arsenal equaliser was exactly what they needed after a few moments of good buildup but not much going on in front of the goal.

[Stan]

Southampton double their lead!

[Dr. Gonzo]

Lovely bit of play that from Southampton!

[Dr. Gonzo]

Watching 2 matches at once is sensory overload but actually pretty cool

[Bluewolf]

We have been absolute crap... another team with defensive problems that we have played really badly against.. no ideas up front and the usual collapse at the back, don't know how we managed to beat spurs I really don't.. it's runs like these where we throw away point after point in games we should be doing much better in that will signal the end of Lampard.. 

[Stan]

Ancelotti's first goal for Everton thanks to Calvert-Lewin. 1-0 to Everton!

[Cicero]

When everyone else can expect the obvious except the manager, I start to lose faith in them. This is a young side, but this is happening far too often. 

That's all I'm going to say on that matter. Well done throwing away a hard fought victory against Spurs. 

[Stan]

2-1 to Palace! Apparently this game was dead at half-time and people falling asleep after first half  

[Bluewolf]

1 minute ago, Cicero said:

When everyone else can expect the obvious except the manager, I start to lose faith in them. This is a young side, but this is happening far too often. 

That's all I'm going to say on that matter. Well done throwing away a hard fought victory against Spurs. 

There are only so many times Lampard can come out and say "we need to be doing better" and actually start being better... as you say completely thrown away all the good work from the Spurs game where the whole team showed they can be creative and score and keep a clean sheet... 

[DeadLinesman]

So is Frank back to being shit again after everyone wanking over him from the Spurs result? Even Solksjaer managed that result 

[Cicero]

Sarri had his faults, but the one thing I admired about him was that he stuck with his philosophy. Never succumbed to such cowardice football. 

I'm livid. 

[6666]

Another draw... 

Xhaka with another good game though. Was very good in the previous game as he was today. Very few will highlight that and will instead wait for the opportunity to pounce on a mistake.

[RandoEFC+]

Three hard fought and ugly but deserved points. Burnley came for a 0-0 and had nothing else to offer. Ancelotti's move to a front three caused the goal as two centre backs were trying to mark Richarlison, Kean and Calvert-Lewin. Another assist for Sidibe who came here with Monaco fans saying they couldn't wait to see the back of him but with an agreed fee of £12m to turn it into a permanent deal seems a no brainer to activate. He seems well suited to the league.

If we can win at Newcastle we'll overtake them in the league. We're still only about half a dozen points from the European places so if we can build some momentum it's still a realistic target if Arsenal and Man Utd don't sort themselves out.

[DeadLinesman]

Best part of that Everton/Burnley game was the end of the first half. Burnley furious they weren’t given the time to take a corner after 1 minute of added time. This coming after Pope wasted approx 45 seconds on taking the goal kick. Fucking whoppers. I’ll celebrate when those cunts finally get relegated at some point.

[Dr. Gonzo]

33 minutes ago, Cicero said:

Sarri had his faults, but the one thing I admired about him was that he stuck with his philosophy. Never succumbed to such cowardice football. 

I'm livid. 

Lampard's a manager in his second year of management, with this being his first year of managing a club in the top flight. He did something that probably worked a lot in the championship - picked up a good result and thought, "if it got a good result here, let's ride this as long as we can."

You've got a young side learning on the pitch and a manager learning as he goes - there's going to be times where it doesn't go right. And even though 5 at the back failed miserably... you can sort of see why he's looked worried about Southampton's attack against your defense, because even with the 4-3-3 in the second half... that's where we saw Southampton really go at the defense more. And they had other good chances, not just that excellent buildup for that second goal.

I swear, if Chelsea fans start singing a different tune about Lampard now that there is suddenly more immediate pressure to perform now that the transfer ban is lifted in January... that's going to be very disappointing because you'll never see a change of the culture at Chelsea if a manager remains easier to replace than individual squad members. And it sends the message to the players: alright, we can down tools - the fans will do the rest to keep the pressure on the manager and he's sacked.

You're going to have rough patches with an inexperienced manager and a young side - in fact, I can think of times where slightly more experienced inexperienced managers have struggled with the premier league and would routinely get it wrong. And that was with squads that probably do have more experience than this Chelsea side.

If the idea behind his appointment was an actual culture change at Chelsea... he's got to kept being backed even through tough times like this. If the idea was a feel-good-guy to right the ship until the transfer ban was over... and then after that, Chelsea as usual... well then job done, I suppose. But that's a pretty shit thing to do to a club legend.

[Cicero]

14 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

You've got a young side learning on the pitch and a manager learning as he goes - there's going to be times where it doesn't go right. And even though 5 at the back failed miserably... you can sort of see why he's looked worried about Southampton's attack against your defense, because even with the 4-3-3 in the second half... that's where we saw Southampton really go at the defense more. And they had other good chances, not just that excellent buildup for that second goal.

I swear, if Chelsea fans start singing a different tune about Lampard now that there is suddenly more immediate pressure to perform now that the transfer ban is lifted in January... that's going to be very disappointing because you'll never see a change of the culture at Chelsea if a manager remains easier to replace than individual squad members. And it sends the message to the players: alright, we can down tools - the fans will do the rest to keep the pressure on the manager and he's sacked.

But Sarri stuck to his guns. Never changed his philosophy and you could genuinely see that with better players, we'd improve tenfold. It was because of that it made most Chelsea fans (those that actually understand football) wanted Sarri to be backed by the club and get his players. He knew what he wanted from the beginning. 

Lampard isn't helping himself by not sticking with his initial plan. Why on earth play 5 defenders at the back and Kante, against a relegation battling club with one of the worst defences in the league? Because it worked against Spurs? Again, this isn't helping him at all because he isn't adapting to different situations and doesn't know what his preferred philosophy of football is with these constant changes. 

I've said it once and I'll say it again, when everyone and their dog can point out the obvious except the manager, there is a genuine cause of concern.

 

[Bluewolf]

10 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

If the idea behind his appointment was an actual culture change at Chelsea... he's got to kept being backed even through tough times like this. If the idea was a feel-good-guy to right the ship until the transfer ban was over... and then after that, Chelsea as usual... well then job done, I suppose. But that's a pretty shit thing to do to a club legend.

Sadly it's going to be option B and even more frustratingly this run of results against teams we could or should be beating is just going to hasten that end... Personally that's the last thing I want to see but we all know how the club operate and if we slip out of the CL spots the club will no doubt move to find a replacement for him... Chelsea don't operate a loyalty bonus system no matter who you are, You only need to look at the extensive list of the fallen before him to see that.. 

We knew it was going to be an interesting ride and I did think it was too early for him to be thrust straight in at the deep end given his lack of experience but it was always going to be a win/win for the club.. The transfer ban and loss of Hazard meant that it was going to be hard to persuade a seriously experienced manager to come in and take over which is where Lampard slotted in perfectly.. If he did well with the youngsters then great, if not he will have taken the Chelsea ship through the roughest part until handing over to a more experienced captain... 

What's been great about this season is that the youngsters have finally had a chance to come through and to be honest for the most part they have done really well considering but too many defeats of this nature which are becoming fairly frequent in recent games and alarm bells start going off.. I do wonder though if they do decide to let him go if the next manager to come in will stick with some of these youngsters or abandon that altogether?? Hopefully we can improve and that scenario can be put on hold at least until the end of the season which is going to be the only time everyone can truly assess how successful or not the whole thing has been... 

[Fairy In Boots]

We’re woefully out of form but got 3 massive points today

[Dr. Gonzo]

1 minute ago, Bluewolf said:

Sadly it's going to be option B and even more frustratingly this run of results against teams we could or should be beating is just going to hasten that end... Personally that's the last thing I want to see but we all know how the club operate and if we slip out of the CL spots the club will no doubt move to find a replacement for him... Chelsea don't operate a loyalty bonus system no matter who you are, You only need to look at the extensive list of the fallen before him to see that.. 

We knew it was going to be an interesting ride and I did think it was too early for him to be thrust straight in at the deep end given his lack of experience but it was always going to be a win/win for the club.. The transfer ban and loss of Hazard meant that it was going to be hard to persuade a seriously experienced manager to come in and take over which is where Lampard slotted in perfectly.. If he did well with the youngsters then great, if not he will have taken the Chelsea ship through the roughest part until handing over to a more experienced captain... 

What's been great about this season is that the youngsters have finally had a chance to come through and to be honest for the most part they have done really well considering but too many defeats of this nature which are becoming fairly frequent in recent games and alarm bells start going off.. I do wonder though if they do decide to let him go if the next manager to come in will stick with some of these youngsters or abandon that altogether?? Hopefully we can improve and that scenario can be put on hold at least until the end of the season which is going to be the only time everyone can truly assess how successful or not the whole thing has been... 

I mean... it's not like Chelsea having a good youth team is anything really new - you've got one of the best academies in the country. And yeah, they got the chance because nobody else could come in to change the squad - I think if things go back to usual at Chelsea... that's going to come to an end. When managers are under pressure to immediately provide results, they can't put as much faith in young players - because it's a risk that if it backfires will put them under immense pressure.

I think with a young squad and an inexperienced manager, you're going to have periods like this where you aren't great and where the manager and players are figuring stuff out about their squads. It's just the nature of having someone that's a relative novice to management take such a big step up, especially when they're to rejuvenate the squad they've inherited with kids.

[carefreeluke]

@Cicero

I used to criticise Conte a lot for that in the home games but I think the system under Lampard is the same shape but the style is different. Under Conte, we'd be happy to concede the ball, happy to play a bit deeper, under Lampard it's the same shape but the style is different, we play higher and the emphasis is for us to have the ball and make things happen. The system under Lampard is not as rigid as it was under Conte, there's more room for expression. The players we have now especially in midfield are more progressive so to speak. I used to get fed up with that shape under Conte more because of our style and application, than anything, the fact that we had 5 at the back at home was annoying as well but first things first was the style.

The reality was today that changing the formation at half time didn't actually make us look any better. We've looked the same in these recent home games, toothless and lacking ideas, no matter what formation or shape we've played. 

It's true though we've struggled at home all season. On the train home from the game today, a few people were talking about our recent struggles at home and how all the recent ones were all very similar and how nothing has changed, and one guy said (I don't know if he meant it in the way I read it) but that not an awful lot has changed in the last few years let alone the last few weeks.

Without going into depth with every player, we're still lacking a lot of quality in attacking areas. For me, we need a Cesc type player in midfield, someone that can get assists and pick out a pass and also a winger. CHO is having a bad patch and we'll need to be patient with him, Willian is Willian, Pedro is on his way out and Pulisic isn't going to do it every week, he may get to that level with time but we'll see. For me it's essential we strengthen attacking areas. It's such a shame with Ruben's injury as he is someone that could have made a difference but realistically we're looking at next season to see him back playing regularly. Or will he ever be fit enough to play very regularly season on season for us? You sadly wouldn't disagree with someone who said that he couldn't see it happening.

[carefreeluke]

Who's beating players in this team for us? Who's taking players out the game? Who's making low defensive blocks think? Who's picking out a pass? 

Willian has never been that player, particularly at home, no matter what the footballing world seems to think.

Hudson-Odoi is not with it at the moment.

Pedro is on his way out.

Pulisic see above.

Mount for me is more a tactical type player if that makes sense in any way. 

Sarri had Hazard, a fully fit and in form Hudson-Odoi, and at points Loftus-Cheek (when fit) to help ease that burden but we still said we needed other attacking players, even when we had Hazard.

Lampard can do more I think tactically, everyone can do more but greater quality is still needed in this team.

[Lucas]

Chelsea are exactly what we thought they would be. A complete wildcard.

I can understand the frustration from winning a meaningful game and beating a club they really hate in Spurs, to losing so dismally to a club like Saints, but this is what you are going to get this season with Lampard.

He wasn't perfect at Derby. We beat his side three times and he beat us once, ironically at the most critical moment. It is a learning curve and one you need to tolerate with a manager in his infancy.

Saints played well, it has to be said. Credit to them. They could have got more to make the score even more embarrassing.

[Cicero]

It's the games where we mostly relied on Hazard to pull us through. I echo on the need of quality, but both the players and Lampard should be doing more.