Chelsea 1-1 Leicester - Sunday 18th August, 2019

[Dr. Gonzo]

It’s calms down a lot now after that furious first 10 minutes from Chelsea.

[Cicero]

Much, much better from Zouma 

[Mel81x+]

Vardy should have done better there.

[Cicero]

Pedro is a maniac 

[The Artful Dodger]

Leicester growing into this now after the initial storm. 

[Mel81x+]

Pedro is a man possessed today. He's even making Kante's work-rate look second best.

[RandoEFC+]

Pedro has looked revitalised the last two games.

Leicester have a lot of energy but no quality yet.

[Spike]

Imagine having a manager that speaks English as a first language and an attacking strategy. Maybe the language is what Sarri was missing; although it could also be the 'Zidane' effect of having a club idol managing.

[Cicero]

Poor last 20 minutes from us. Couldn’t keep possession which allowed Leicester to take control. 

Giroud can’t get involved at it felt like playing with 10 men. Zouma a much better performance. Night and day difference on the ball vs United. 

[Mel81x+]

Leicester deserve that. Chelsea have been complacent.

[Chaaay AFC]

Maddison had to bag there, been all Leicester this second half. 

[LFCMike]

That's an awful miss from Maddison

[Spike]

5 minutes ago, Mel81x said:

Leicester deserve that. Chelsea have been complacent.

I agree on the first statement, but I don't believe Chelsea were complacent. I believe Chelsea probably aren't as good as people believe and Leicester are maybe a little better than people say. I think it is mainly that Mount, Chelsea's most dangerous player maybe doesn't have the concentration or stamina to be a threat for an entire game yet. Chelsea have a solid team, but lack that lethal goal-scorer many other teams have. Let's face it, Willian, Pedro, and Pulisic are all wonderful wingers but they aren't known for bagging many goals. Giroud is a great target-man but he is streaky and Abraham is unproven. 

I will feel much more confident when Loftus-Cheek and Hudson-Odoi are back, they have that natural goal scoring ability. Even Alonso and Barkley are more reliable for goals than the forward group.

[Mel81x+]

4 minutes ago, Spike said:

I agree on the first statement, but I don't believe Chelsea were complacent. I believe Chelsea probably aren't as good as people believe and Leicester are maybe a little better than people say. I think it is mainly that Mount, Chelsea's most dangerous player maybe doesn't have the concentration or stamina to be a threat for an entire game yet. Chelsea have a solid team, but lack that lethal goal-scorer many other teams have. Let's face it, Willian, Pedro, and Pulisic are all wonderful wingers but they aren't known for bagging many goals. Giroud is a great target-man but he is streaky and Abraham is unproven. 

I will feel much more confident when Loftus-Cheek and Hudson-Odoi are back, they have that natural goal scoring ability. Even Alonso and Barkley are more reliable for goals than the forward group.

I was talking being complacent about the defending but when you mention the goal scoring threat you're right. Its also weird how the same midfield that was chasing so well in the first half seem to be getting outdone by a more energetic Leicester midfield now. They are teaming up on Kante and should have another goal at this point and I am not talking about the Madisson miss but the chances he has fluffed to get Vardy on-side too. I don't think Willian is really a threat of any kind personally and while Pedro has been very good hes not going to give you a full game of pressing and pushing. 

[The Artful Dodger]

Chelsea got away with a point there. Impressed by Leicester. Maddison was superb. 

[LFCMike]

Think Leicester will be disappointed not to win that after that second half

[LFCMadLad]

32 minutes ago, Spike said:

I agree on the first statement, but I don't believe Chelsea were complacent. I believe Chelsea probably aren't as good as people believe and Leicester are maybe a little better than people say. I think it is mainly that Mount, Chelsea's most dangerous player maybe doesn't have the concentration or stamina to be a threat for an entire game yet. Chelsea have a solid team, but lack that lethal goal-scorer many other teams have. Let's face it, Willian, Pedro, and Pulisic are all wonderful wingers but they aren't known for bagging many goals. Giroud is a great target-man but he is streaky and Abraham is unproven. 

I will feel much more confident when Loftus-Cheek and Hudson-Odoi are back, they have that natural goal scoring ability. Even Alonso and Barkley are more reliable for goals than the forward group.

Barkley reliable for goals?

Has he ever scored more than 10 in a season?

[RandoEFC+]

1 minute ago, LFCMadLad said:

Barkley reliable for goals?

Has he ever scored more than 10 in a season?

I think that's his point. If Barkley even gets about 7 goals then that's more than Kovacic, Jorginho, Kante are going to score and could easily be more than Pedro, Willian, Abraham, Mount. I don't know much about how many goals Pulisic has in his game and you'd expect Giroud to get more than that if he plays regularly.

[6666]

Nice.

[LFCMadLad]

7 minutes ago, RandoEFC said:

I think that's his point. If Barkley even gets about 7 goals then that's more than Kovacic, Jorginho, Kante are going to score and could easily be more than Pedro, Willian, Abraham, Mount. I don't know much about how many goals Pulisic has in his game and you'd expect Giroud to get more than that if he plays regularly.

He said Barkley was a more reliable source of goals than Giroud, Pedro, Willian etc, which simply isn't true at all. Barkley is distinctly average.

[Cicero]

On 11/08/2019 at 14:13, Cicero said:

Seems so unnecessary and a distraction after the United result. 

From the Super Cup thread. Total collapse from us towards the end and were outrun. Feel like Europe this season will hinder our league form tremendously. We have players that do well in a one off game, it's over the length of a season that is a concern. 

As Spike mentioned, people need to grasp the fact that our team really isn't that good. When I stated that Lampard's goal would be 7th-5th, it's essentially based on the players we have at our disposal, along with other factors such as Hazard gone, transfer ban, and the lack of end product from our attackers. And even 7th-5th is being optimistic. Can see another 2016 season under Mourinho at this rate. 

Fatigue played a big part, but Lampard's inexperience in addressing our midfield after we lost control prevented us from securing 3 points, in my opinion. No idea why Barkley wasn't brought in early in the 2nd half, and allowing Maddison to run riot in the middle the entirety of the 2nd half, was very poor. I'll give Lampard the benefit of the doubt, but he's got to do better. 

 

We've spent so much throughout the years and the big question will always remain with us, and it's down right embarrassing. Who is going to score our goals? 

Zouma MOTM. Much better from him. Solid display. 

Azpilicueta and Willian need to permanently stay out of the starting XI. The latter fit right in with the players that played 120 minutes on Wednesday. 

[RandoEFC+]

3 minutes ago, LFCMadLad said:

He said Barkley was a more reliable source of goals than Giroud, Pedro Willian etc, which simply isn't true at all. Barkley is distinctly average.

Had a quick look at the numbers. Pedro does have a better goal record than Barkley. Willian is similar to Barkley. Giroud's record at Arsenal is better but he's only got 9 league goals in two seasons at Chelsea. It's probably not a true claim then but it also isn't outrageous.

[Spike]

23 minutes ago, LFCMadLad said:

Barkley reliable for goals?

Has he ever scored more than 10 in a season?

I was thinking he scored more (~10), my mistake. Must've been thinking about another player.

15 minutes ago, LFCMadLad said:

He said Barkley was a more reliable source of goals than Giroud, Pedro, Willian etc, which simply isn't true at all. Barkley is distinctly average.

No, I didn't. I said forward group, which is Giroud and Abraham. The other two I listed under wingers.

[Spike]

Last season Barkley had one more goal than Giroud in the league, and Abraham didn't play. I do not think Barkley is reliable at all but he is more reliable than the starting strikers, especially given he is a midfielder. Relatively, that is. I doubt Giroud will show his Europa League levels of scoring in the league as well, if he did, I'd be awestruck.

[Dr. Gonzo]

2 hours ago, Mel81x said:

Pedro is a man possessed today. He's even making Kante's work-rate look second best.

I think Lampard will get the best out of him. They have different positions, but they've got a lot of similar attributes to how they played, good movement and making excellent runs in the box, an eye for a goal, an eye for good passes.

Leicester did well to come back into the game after that frantic start. Chelsea could and should have been more clinical in the first half, particularly in the opening flurry - they could have done a Brendan Rodgers special and gotten two early goals and set them selves up for a nice time out just countering. It was ridiculous how dangerous they looked in that first 10 minutes. But playing at F1 pace took it's toll on the players and Rodgers also made tactical adjustments in the second half and Leicester were the better side in the second while Chelsea looked gassed.

I think Chelsea are probably going to play well a lot this season, but they'll struggle for goals and they're a bit frail at the back. They'll be better at the back once Rudiger is back. Think it'll be a pretty tough season for them though if they want to keep pace with how they did last year.

Leicester had a good away showing, I think, despite that early spell where they were just constantly under pressure and conceded. But they weathered that and saw their way back into the game. They might actually feel disappointed they didn't win it in the second half.