Chelsea Discussion

[Cicero]

Amazingly, no one contracted COVID from international duty. 

Just Pulisic out injured.

Havertz coming back to fitness.

Silva out due to flying back late.

And Gilmour in the development squad. 

[The Liquidator]

Away Newcastle

Well that was an outstanding result. The only reason I say this is because St James Park has been a Bogey ground for us for a number of years where we have dominated games and left with our tails between our legs. I hope more opposing managers set up like this against us, something we should bare in mind with who is visiting this coming weekend.

Probably difficult to asses exactly how good we was as we pushed aside another bottom half team. Some nice performances with Kante for me standing out as the best. Taken him a year, but I think Frank has finally let the penny sink on where we need Kante. I wont hold my breath till we see through the season.

Tammy getting much plaudits for his performance, but I thought he was bang average. The free header he got in the first half he could not have dissected the middle of the goal any better. Of course that would be exactly where their goalie would be, who saved, if you can call it a save. As luck would have it he had a few more chances & at last took one.

Werner, hmmm. A few weeks back a member here spoke with a warning on Werners finishing. This weekend is the first I would say shows fair evidence of that warning. He still contributed with an assist & proved to be very lively, however before the wonderful run to set up Tammy, he did something similar and should have taken a poke, but weakly passed. I saw a couple of pundits state Werner will play through the middle when Pulisic returns. Hmmm

We are playing better, however we wont know what we have until we get through the upcoming better fixtures. Only then can we make a fair guess where we will be come the end of the season.

-------------------------------------

How poor was the officiating at Old Trafford? The idiot in the middle at Villa park wernt much better. Sheff Utd doomed? Fulham probably are. What price Frank reverts to 3 at the back next weekend?

 

[Honey Honey]

17 minutes ago, The Liquidator said:

Away Newcastle

Well that was an outstanding result. The only reason I say this is because St James Park has been a Bogey ground for us for a number of years where we have dominated games and left with our tails between our legs. I hope more opposing managers set up like this against us, something we should bare in mind with who is visiting this coming weekend.

It begs the question whether our lads would have gotten away with their shite performance if a crowd was there. 

I'm not saying we would have won, the setup was shite, but a few players would have been more full blooded and bounce back better surely.

Home to your lot and Man Utd and there's no evidence of any motivation. We lose the game in the press conference the day before.

[carefreeluke]

[Dr. Gonzo]

2 minutes ago, carefreeluke said:

Who's #1 with passes into the final third?

[Cicero]

Ziyech or Werner 

[Dr. Gonzo]

1 hour ago, Cicero said:

Ziyech or Werner 

Ziyech having that stat would be fairly impressive, considering he missed a few games at the beginning of the season.

Crazy to think Ziyech was basically begging Arsenal to sign him last season while they had a release clause they could get him for fairly cheap... and instead they chose to waste a shitload of money on Pepe. Meanwhile, Ziyech has come in and looked like the player we all thought he was at Ajax meanwhile Pepe looks like Arsenal paid maybe 50-60 more than they should have...

[The Liquidator]

Away Rennes

I very much enjoyed the game as from very early on I felt no threat of them getting any kind of result. Obviously that almost went to pot late on, but with just a few mins left I had a feeling we had another goal in us.

A good all round performance qualified after 4 games. Need to win both outstanding games to finish first, something when we havent has bitten us in the ass.

Mount very good+ CHO nice output over all his mins, You need to be football blind not to see the difference in CF play once Giroud came on.

 

[carefreeluke]

Giroud was also one of our better players in the second half of last season so for that alone, he's unfortunate not to have featured more.

Abraham is doing relatively well but has to improve his all-round game, hopefully, it's something that will get better as he develops and gets older but regardless I'm happy he's getting minutes, just that Giroud should be more involved which might well be the case anyway soon with all the fixtures to come.

Edited November 26, 2020 by carefreeluke

[Storts]

You’re all scum 

[Cicero]

WITHOUT MENDY
vs Brighton - 1.05 (conceded 1)
vs Liverpool - 2.12 (conceded 2)
vs West Brom - 0.58 (conceded 3!!!)
vs Southampton - 1.88 (conceded 3)

WITH MENDY
vs Crystal Palace - 0.15 (clean sheet)
vs Man United - 0.66 (clean sheet)
vs Burnley - 0.5 (clean sheet)
vs Sheffield United - 0.43 (conceded 1)
vs Newcastle - 0.35 (clean sheet)
vs Spurs - 0.19 (clean sheet)

[JoshBRFC+]

2 hours ago, Cicero said:

WITHOUT MENDY
vs Brighton - 1.05 (conceded 1)
vs Liverpool - 2.12 (conceded 2)
vs West Brom - 0.58 (conceded 3!!!)
vs Southampton - 1.88 (conceded 3)

WITH MENDY
vs Crystal Palace - 0.15 (clean sheet)
vs Man United - 0.66 (clean sheet)
vs Burnley - 0.5 (clean sheet)
vs Sheffield United - 0.43 (conceded 1)
vs Newcastle - 0.35 (clean sheet)
vs Spurs - 0.19 (clean sheet)

Seems like it's Cech who deserves the credit for making this deal happen! What a signing he's turned out to be. 

Are Kepa's days numbered? Can't see him sticking around on the bench. 

[Cicero]

1 hour ago, JoshBRFC said:

Seems like it's Cech who deserves the credit for making this deal happen! What a signing he's turned out to be. 

Are Kepa's days numbered? Can't see him sticking around on the bench. 

Think we are looking to loan him in January. Just seeing Mendy making a save has us erect. The bar was so low after Kepa. 

[The Liquidator]

Home Tottenham

So we couldnt get past the broken down Bus manager? Seems funny, all these years on from Jose describing other clubs doing the same at Stamford Bridge as parking the Bus infront of the goal, he shows he is no better. To be fair I admire inferior teams setting up not to concede against better sides & putting in a shift you rarely get out of "above average" players. The Spurs players looked shattered come the final whistle after chasing around after the ball n breaking "like the wind" each time they fooled the ball. It was a performance of a club determined to win something, while ours was handicapped by a young manager selecting wrong starting players & doing nothing to help his side until it was far too late.

A fair few of you have voiced against me since I have pointed out that Tammy has replaced Jorginho as "the passenger" in our team. Sundays game is the perfect example of wrong selection as our best chances were wasted by a CF who closes his eyes when attempting to head a ball. We have a real weapon from the right in James & Ziyech crosses, but until we have someone who is going to finish them off we are going to drop important points. I am now not alone pointing out Tammy, just a month behind me.

Why it took so long for Frank to do ANYTHING to change the game is beyond me. I believe he cost us 2 points with his weak inexperienced management. I have accepted before, this is the price we have to pay while he graduates as a sideline General, but for fuck sake its bloody frustrating watching & not being able to express my anger at him in the ground. Fingers crossed some of us will get that chance again soon.

Quick word on Silva. Damn that guy is class. Reminds me so much of Ricky & a player back in the 80's, Colin Pates. Pates was captain n very classy on the ball back in the day a CH first instinct was to kill their CF. Silva obviously a better all round player n a breath of fresh air to our backline. Loads of you have been praising Zouma as our best defender this season. I will not change my opinion. Roy Keane's "Car crash waiting to happen" quote should have been labeled on our Happy, as every game he has his moment where he gifts a chance. Granted he is improving, but best defender? Do me favour & express your opinion on a different sport.

Kante looks wonderful back in his rightful position. Too think two years of his Chelsea career have been wasted. Another price paid by the club by changing managers too bloody often. I must say I do like the 3 man midfield Frank has stumbled upon. Kantes two partners have huge work rates, just lack a little forward telling passes. I guess that's for the players infront of them, but Havertz could well be the player to knit midfield to forwards.

------------------------------------

Klopps bleeting, it's as thou he has never managed a top club before ~ Impressive United comeback points towards manager still has their heads ~ Raul Jimenez ouch! Truly hope he recovers to play again ~ Fulham wow! ~ Arteta sounds wonderful when addressing the media, but on the pitch his team do not look to be progressing?

 

[Lucas]

My mate won a ticket in the ballot for Saturday's game, although it's come at the cost of £75 quid I think he said.

Quite expensive that. Mind you, it's only once a season we visit so understandable...

[Spike]

On 26/11/2020 at 17:08, Storts said:

You’re all scum 

see that is the thing, scum rises to the top of the pond

[carefreeluke]

On 22/10/2020 at 01:19, carefreeluke said:

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.

I'd put Werner in now for Pulisic, we'll have to wait and see whether Pulisic gets back to the form he showed in the second half of last season.

I think that's our best team but rotation should still happen when needed especially this season.

[The Liquidator]

Away Sevilla

So our squad has far more depth than Sevilla. That pretty much sums up the game last night, plus its a bit questionable how seriously they took the "dead rubber" fixture. Never the less its a fine result which should flood our whole club with confidence and must have one or two of our youngsters itching for the last group game fixture to come around.

While it was enjoyable to watch the performance of one player who has been almost third choice in his position this season, it pours fuel on what our league point total might be if he lead our line from game one. Your welcome

----------------------------

Watched Jorginho pre match presser & he striked me as being associated with the wrong agent.

[Cicero]

CHO and Ziyech out with hamstring injuries. 

[Cicero]

I hope to see some tactical flexibility from Lampard with all our wingers out. 

Surely the best option moving forward is a 343 to reduce the burden of providing width in Werner and Mount/Havertz?

[LFCMadLad]

2 hours ago, Cicero said:

I hope to see some tactical flexibility from Lampard with all our wingers out. 

Surely the best option moving forward is a 343 to reduce the burden of providing width in Werner and Mount/Havertz?

You could just play a standard 433 like we do? That doesn't need wingers, just good FB's.

[Cicero]

1 hour ago, LFCMadLad said:

You could just play a standard 433 like we do? That doesn't need wingers, just good FB's.

We did against Everton. It was awful and Everton found it incredibly easy to defend against: 

[carefreeluke]

6 hours ago, Cicero said:

I hope to see some tactical flexibility from Lampard with all our wingers out. 

Surely the best option moving forward is a 343 to reduce the burden of providing width in Werner and Mount/Havertz?

That was the first game really where we looked like we were struggling for ideas and to create good chances. I can't think of any other games, maybe the Spurs one which was just a bit of a chess match. Things naturally get more difficult though as time passes during a season. I'm not a big fan of three at the back.

Let's see how we do over the next few games. I agree with @LFCMadLad that we can use the full-backs to help create width, we've been doing that anyway all season with James and Chilwell. When I've been talking about wingers, I was referring to tricky players that can carry the ball, beat a man and take players out the game. It's not necessarily related to width. A Pulisic, Hazard type player. Hudson-Odoi was also very good at that under Sarri. These players can also stay out wide when they need to as well and width is perhaps an added bonus.

The reason why I'm not the biggest fan of Werner on the left is that although he brings some good qualities there, it doesn't allow us to put Pulisic and Hudson-Odoi in their best positions to offer us some of the skill sets I mentioned above which for me the team has lacked at times this season. Werner's pace is his biggest weapon, particularly in the latter stages of games which is why Lampard very often always keeps him on the pitch. He can't really beat a man and needs at times (not always but often) the space or circumstances to use his pace. I'm not saying stop playing Werner there, I think at times it can be useful but I don't he should be used there as often as he has been which is one of the reasons, I didn't put him in that starting eleven I made a couple of months back.

Edited December 13, 2020 by carefreeluke

[Cicero]

20 hours ago, carefreeluke said:

That was the first game really where we looked like we were struggling for ideas and to create good chances. I can't think of any other games, maybe the Spurs one which was just a bit of a chess match. Things naturally get more difficult though as time passes during a season. I'm not a big fan of three at the back.

Let's see how we do over the next few games. I agree with @LFCMadLad that we can use the full-backs to help create width, we've been doing that anyway all season with James and Chilwell. When I've been talking about wingers, I was referring to tricky players that can carry the ball, beat a man and take players out the game. It's not necessarily related to width. A Pulisic, Hazard type player. Hudson-Odoi was also very good at that under Sarri. These players can also stay out wide when they need to as well and width is perhaps an added bonus.

The reason why I'm not the biggest fan of Werner on the left is that although he brings some good qualities there, it doesn't allow us to put Pulisic and Hudson-Odoi in their best positions to offer us some of the skill sets I mentioned above which for me the team has lacked at times this season. Werner's pace is his biggest weapon, particularly in the latter stages of games which is why Lampard very often always keeps him on the pitch. He can't really beat a man and needs at times (not always but often) the space or circumstances to use his pace. I'm not saying stop playing Werner there, I think at times it can be useful but I don't he should be used there as often as he has been which is one of the reasons, I didn't put him in that starting eleven I made a couple of months back.

The issue is that both Havertz/Mount and Werner aren't wide players. We are essentially doing square pegs in round holes. Everton found it incredible easy to have their wing backs contain them given their limitations playing that wide. At the very least, a 343 allows them to play closer to the ST than a traditional 433. 

[Bluewolf]

Chelsea V Tottenham U 23's live stream on You Tube if anyone's Interested 

Spurs 1-0 up with 12 minutes gone

Chelsea U23 v Tottenham U23 | Premier League 2 | Live Match - YouTube