Chelsea Discussion

[Spike]

21 minutes ago, Cicero said:

Thank god. 

Romagnoli from Milan probably my first choice if we were to go for anyone 

Out of that city, I'd take Skriniar.

[Stan]

Just now, Spike said:

Out of that city, I'd take Skriniar.

Same (if I was a Chelsea fan). 

He's a beast. No doubt he's learning loads of another beast like Godin as well next to him . 

[Bluewolf]

25 minutes ago, The Liquidator said:

we are very lucky to be in the top four and still in the CL.

I fully expect us to be able to get the result against Lille that we need to make it through but after that I also fully expect us to be making a swift exit from the competition... It would not be realistic to expect us to go any further with our defence the way it is now... Same could be said for our top 4 ambitions, Earlier in the season we were outscoring the opposition and this covered over the cracks of our leaky defence but when you start to lose to sides like West Ham and Everton who have been playing badly and conceding left right and centre then we are going to be in trouble as the season goes on... 

[True Blue]

15 hours ago, Bluewolf said:

I fully expect us to be able to get the result against Lille that we need to make it through but after that I also fully expect us to be making a swift exit from the competition... It would not be realistic to expect us to go any further with our defence the way it is now... Same could be said for our top 4 ambitions, Earlier in the season we were outscoring the opposition and this covered over the cracks of our leaky defence but when you start to lose to sides like West Ham and Everton who have been playing badly and conceding left right and centre then we are going to be in trouble as the season goes on... 

Confident we will bounce back, obviously Lille won't gift us the win. Strong team no calculations just win, knock out stages and hope for the best.

[CaaC (John)+]

Roman Abramovich has turned down an offer from the LA Dodgers owner Todd Boehly to buy Chelsea. (Telegraph)

[The Liquidator]

Very interesting starting eleven from Frank last night. Only one of our youth products started, Tammy, as Frank retreated into his shell taking a more conservative stance in a must win game.

Baring in mind Lille played a much weakened starting eleven we could have hoped for a much more dominant display and result. What we got was more of the same chance making & failing to kill off an opposition we have been fed in 80% of our games this season.

Flipping Dave back to the right bringing in Emerson and at last Rudiger getting a run out, Frank has a habit of changing the starting defence from game to game. It’s not difficult to understand why, but for this game we again have to question his starting selection.

These changes at the back and the starting of Jorginho alongside Kante & Kovacic for me are defensive selections. While we won, it would be difficult to find someone with a good football intelligence to say Frank made it an easier night with the selection decisions he made.

We must be thankful we are in the hat for the knockout stage with our fingers crossed we draw a German team that’s not Munich.

 -----------------

I am not enjoying Frank’s fending off questions from the media on what we have planned for the January window. He is too helpful with his answers and I hope the club make it plan during the window he has very little to do with any decisions we make. How he allowed the making good replacing the loss of Hazard, when it wasn’t even on the agenda is very weak. I have always thought he was a very intelligent man and have enjoyed the effortless way he has kid gloved the media, but of late, then the media have had a run of questionable results and reasons to fire more penetrating club questions at him, he looks and sounds uneasy.

Fix the fucking defence Frank!

[Cicero]

5 year deal for Tomori. 

[True Blue]

Next up James and Tammy

[Cicero]

Want to know what a waste of time is?

Us winning a corner/set piece. 

[carefreeluke]

3 hours ago, Cicero said:

Want to know what a waste of time is?

Us winning a corner/set piece. 

Yeah mate although we’ve been bad at them for a couple of years now.

[The Liquidator]

The most painful watch since many of last seasons games. Unlike the many games we were this bad last season, Frank escaped the bad feeling towards the then manager. I have to say I don’t think I have seen the team look so lacking ideas from the first whistle. As I have said, Frank isn’t great influencing a game from the bench and Saturday was another example. That’s not to say his starting eleven was any better.

It's  not Rocket science how West Ham and now Bournemouth set up against us. In both games Frank picked the wrong starting elevens. Jorginho is a waste of space in 90% of games, but when a club turn up n have 11 behind the ball, he is the weight that drags us under the water. Jorginho was pulled off in both said games. He was not the only selection mistake. Why James was rested\dropped is beyond me. Dave reversed back to right back and the useless Emerson brought in the left were mistakes. The biggest selection wrong was no Kovacic. I could not believe my ears when the team was read out. It’s as thou Franks believes we are good enough to rest players. We sure aren’t!

Alonso who again didn’t make the bench would often turn in important games in these kind of fixtures. Barkley was another missing from the bench, yet Pedro made it. Again very strange.

Sitting on the train traveling home playing the game and Franks decisions over in my mind, I have to admit I feared for both the club & him. I wondered what Jody keeps telling him during these games when the players he has picked are failing him? You see them together, Jody talking Frank nodding. Yet nothing happens out of the norm. Anyway, by the time I got home I was pretty downbeat.

Then I saw Franks presser after the game on youtube and suddenly I feel more optimistic. He said all the right things, looked like how I felt and you could tell he has the club inside him. So we again put our trust in him and allow him the slack to get it right. Important we remember our expectations back in August.

[True Blue]

I am only pleased because he doesn't find excuses, he said we created little and started attacks from the back four which is terrible to do against a team like Bournemouth. If Emerson scored from that sitter we would be talking a different story. However changes in approach and performance level need to go through the roof, as four defeats out of five is relegation form. I am eager to see how we respond on Sunday, Jose will surely do everything he can do to add our misery and Spurs are currently in a much better form. I know the boys are young but that is not an excuse to play poorly against relegation battlers. Bounce back against Spurs and continue a string of form into the next year. I don't think Lampard will be sacked this season in any case, even if we finish 10th. However i also believe we have goals this season and his first season will be in depth analysed. So far not bad, apart from the current bad run. If Frank manages to turn this around, have a good finish to the season. A full summer with a solid budget then we can talk about his future. If it wasn't for him players like Tammy, Mount, James, Tomori and Odoi would be loaned or sold.

Also am i the only one, but does Odoi look terrible with every touch he makes?

Edited December 16, 2019 by True Blue

[The Liquidator]

21 hours ago, True Blue said:

Also am i the only one, but does Odoi look terrible with every touch he makes?

No, you are not alone. Many are picking up on his first touch being weak and his overall play being less than convincing.

It's to be seen if he will live up to the hype, or he was kept to get his so called best friend in football to sign for us?

[carefreeluke]

Hudson-Odoi has failed to impress this season it's true after the excitement of him coming back and despite him looking good in his first few games this season. For me, he was one of our better players towards the end of last season so we'll see how he develops over the next few years. His form at the moment is a long way off justifying the talk around him and Bayern Munich earlier this year. The first touch is appearing to be a problem but also the fact that he's becoming very predictable. Perhaps some confidence issues there after a difficult injury. 

Ruben's process as well will be a worry, hopefully, he'll get back to everything he had before.

[Cicero]

Sources in Spain saying we’ve made an offer for Isco

[True Blue]

8 hours ago, Cicero said:

Sources in Spain saying we’ve made an offer for Isco

[LFCMadLad]

11 hours ago, Cicero said:

Sources in Spain saying we’ve made an offer for Isco

Red source or brown? 

[Cicero]

6 hours ago, True Blue said:

Barkley looking to have pissed Lampard off. 

No indication of when Ruben will be fit, let alone when he’ll be back 100%. 

Mount hot and cold . 

I can see why we’re in for a CAM

[RandoEFC+]

Is Barkley floggable or on too long a contract?

[Bluewolf]

1 hour ago, RandoEFC said:

Is Barkley floggable or on too long a contract?

He signed with us for 5+ years so still some way to go before that expires.. 

[Cicero]

 

[carefreeluke]

 

[True Blue]

Jose stated that the focus should be on Rudiger's "overreacting" than Son's challenge and his red card. Also saying that he hopes Rudiger recovers from his rib injury haha, the man is in complete meltdown. Shame he didn't mention he was schooled by Lampard and that Spurs failed to make a shot on target for the 97 minutes, and the one they did would be saved by a toddler. 

Fuck you Jose 

[The Liquidator]

Like Conte before him, Frank reverted to a back 3 to shore up our very leaky defence. As with Conte it worked like a charm and it was obvious to anyone watching what Frank had us doing on the training ground all week. What was plain, Jose didn’t see it coming. So much so he resulted to his usual deflecting garbage after the game to cloud how badly he had been sussed.

We must thank him too. Not starting Eriksen was wonderful for us. For me he is their best player, the one player who makes them tick and to face a center midfield duo of Dier & Sissoko instead was a major factor in the ease we gained the 3 points. Thanks Jose!

Talking of midfields, looks as thou Frank has at last tumbled who are our best starting central pair. Kovacic and Kante bossed the middle of the park linking up well with each other and the players further forward, plus bringing in both wing backs into the game when needed. Defensively they snuffed out most of the Tottenham possession showing excellent athletic ability to cover from touchline to touchline. Praise due too for the manager of his substitution of Kovacic. He had been booked and replacing him soon after the Red card stopped any soft evening up by the referee. Jorginho came on and promptly lost the ball twice with nobody about him and ran about as thou he was carrying a Fridge on his back, but I think Frank did the right thing. Looking too the future James could be the one taking over from Kovacic.

Willian getting plenty of praise for his match winning performance and rightly so. I admit he is a Marmite player who can frustrate the hell out of us. Every now and then he puts in performances like Sundays and we all smile in unison. I hope to hear we have signed him up for another two years.

Another player I tend to defend, well better than he can defend, is Alonso. Right system and he becomes half decent. Won us a penalty good distribution and a much more penetrating cross in from the left side than other players who have been wide left this season. I was happy for him and this performance must put a huge question mark against those who believe he is on the way out this window.

Frank marched too us after the game and celebrated as thou we had just won the league again. Can’t help love the bloke. He understands us better than any of the managers we have had this century and the huge advantage he has over them is he can communicate with us in our mother tongue. We are all in with him and while I will continue to point out the things I do not agree with, he gets the longest length of slack to get it right in the long run. These 3 points were down to him. However without the same points gained against Southampton on Boxing day... no need to describe that feeling.

Lastly, Tottenham’s new ground will do the London NFL franchise proud. Surly its built for their clientele in mind over their real football followers? Wasted on them.

 

Wishing you and your families the very best of Christmases!

[True Blue]

Agreed on Alonso probably one of the best wing backs in Europe, however as a left back he is very poor as he can't really defend which is they key for the position. Overall he was a good servant for us, and probably too good to be a bench player. I can see him leave in the summer for a good price.