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On the back of this season, fully agree with this. He's been disappointing in the last two games, an important cog but not crucial to Bournemouth. Rogers, Rice, Anderson were clearly the best player in their team. He could have taken the game by the scruff of the neck against Newcastle, but really didn't. Wharton also hasn't had the greatest start to the season.

I partially agree, but I don't agree that possession = control. In fact, the ability to deliberately cede possession is what stopped Fulham and Brighton from being able to defend deep and counter-attack in their preferred style, and against many (if not most) of the teams in the league it will solve our problem against low block defences. We need to be able to do both, and at will. PSG really set the standard for this last season. In our game they absorbed our best 20-30 minutes and then absolutely flattened us but crucially, they didn't give up any big chances in that 20-30min period. Half-chances and possession yes, but that made the killer blows from Kvaratskhelia et al worse.

Only looks stupid because we've wasted millions window after window.

I disagree. Their substitutions had exactly that in mind, withdrawing the likes of Havertz and Odegard at a time that they were both clicking. It's just they also have a deeper bench than we do at the moment

Everyone seaaon under BlueCo we suffer a glaring squad weakness despite spending millions. It's like sealing an air bubble and another pops up somewhere else.

I think Jordan Henderson might be a better option in midfield than Reece James. I am a Reece James fan and i dislike 'Hendo' but hey ho i think its worth a try. Sadly, this might play out when Reece has his next injury lapse.

The end is not a positive mate, it just shows how far our standards have dropped in to the bin. We are now where Wenger put the Arsenal fans.

We dont seem to control possession under Alonso, we have our moments and some very good moments but not control. Against medium quality teams that might be enough but against top teams its less likely to work. Alonso likes wingbacks and as such i can see the squad being unbalanced, not as previously but with the lack of use of say Estevao and whenever Caicedo is absent we look odd. A luxury of riches going forward, average midfield and a defence under construction with many options. I hope Alonso lasts a while, at least one full season maybe two or we are going to be looking at more squad churning and at an increasing rate, i dont fancy the return of the bomb squad. On a positive note I think we can improve on last years 10th position and should be able to challenge for a Champions League spot ( 4 or 5? ).

Seems to be a common theme with our managers.

Alonso is too conservative with his subs. Estevao needs to be coming on at 60/65 mins for whichever of Palmer, Pedro or Rogers is not performing. Pedro let the other two down today. Anonymous performance.

For me, it was very similar to Fulham/Brighton. Too easy for our opp to find space in front of our backline. This is not just midfielder issue though. Offensively, arse is probably the best defensive team in the world right now so yeah it was a struggle.

It does relate to us unfortunately, in the sense that Clearlake's non-Chelsea investments follow the same business model. Clearlake isn't investing in big name companies, it is investing in those smaller brands and trying to flip them to other PE for a (relatively) quick buck. It's a house of cards because it's built on the fallacy of perpetual growth. Chelsea is a different investment, it is relatively safe and it is likely an asset they can borrow against to fund other operations.

If that's his thinking then he is wrong, we are conceding chances at the back post not the centre.

He lacks acceleration. It's a big reason why he struggles to beat defenders on the dribble. He is very quick when running on to balls or covering ground but he lacks the quickness and sharpness of top level attackers.

True. Never would have happened in the time of JT, Lamps, Drogba, Cahill etc. What does that say about this current team?

Martin Odegaard keeps winning games for this sorry incarnation of an Arsenal team, and yet people here are doubting whether we should trust in a player of Reece James' calibre post-injury.

Scored a cracker yesterday and was generally a threat all game. Has very good physique too. Good to see him get a vote of confidence from the manager and with Ndiaye leaving, he will get a lot of game time this season. Pleased for him.

Yeah, feel his pace means something as well.. That quick acceleration if applied more intelligently will certainly bring benefit.

Steve Wicks heads the ball clear watched by team-mates Ray Lewington and Ray Wilkins. Birmingham City away on 23rd Sept 1978 at St Andrews. A 1-1 draw.

Happy Birthday to Ray Lewington. 70 years young today.

With his running from the right flank. Arsenal's defenders did not have an easy time against him. His crosses were not great but the shot that hit the post was even an example of him giving them problems. It was a good effort which just missed the goal. Was he great? No. Was he one of our better players? Yes. I thought Palmer was worse and he is a better player, who again in these type of games does not do any way near to what he is capable of. But then to go and dig out Neto after a game where he was not bad just looks a bit daft and the usual selective hatred towards one specific player.

Some quality doomsaying going on in this thread! The only disappointing thing other than the result was the fact we have put in better performances against weaker Arsenal teams. The game reminds me of Liverpool beating Arsenal early last season, Arsenal played well but were outdone by the then-Champions and everyone proclaimed Liverpool as the inevitable back-to-back winners. The referee luck will turn against Arsenal at some point, maybe not this season but eventually things will no longer go their way. I don't buy the "defensive" issues seeing as if that were actually true, then Arsenal would have scored 5 or 6. I think back to Sarri's 6-1 loss to Man City for an embarassing, statement loss. An extra midfielder wouldn't solve this issue, certainly not a playmaker like Lamine Camara. Or "better" defenders. A change of attitude and a desire to win needs to happen. The team let Arsenal get away with murder in the way they treated Morgan Rogers.

A better defence will often out do a better attack. If we don't learn to defend as a team, take pride in defending, we won't go Anywhere.

As Joe Cole is saying, we were stupid to sell them Havertz - we did ok - and it might have been a different game if we'd played Estavao or brought him on earlier - I still don't see what people see in Neto - how many times did he put the ball in to no-mans-land yesterday... sure he'd do well at Citeh 😁 I know James is our Captain and all that but I think he's a right back - not much more. Early days - cannot moan too much.

During the SAF era, I honestly would've placed Man U at #1 (SAF IMO was a bully who had the ear of the refs), but they've since struggled to remain relevant in the 13 years since his retirement, so I don't quite feel the same way about them anymore. Also they were the stereotypical glory-hunter club. I'm honestly more ambivalent about Liverpool than most on here. When I first started supporting Chelsea (early 2000s), they themselves were struggling to remain relevant, and them fixating on their history from the early 2000s to about the late 2010s (when they started consistently becoming a title threat) was more hilarious than anything else. Perhaps if I lived closer to Anfield, or if I started supporting Chelsea during the 70s/80s (when Liverpool were the glory-hunter club of choice), I'd feel differently. Brisbane is full of Liverpool fans, but I just kinda...ignore them. Granted, there were those spicy games in the mid-to-late 2000s, but we usually came out on top during those encounters, anyway. Ofc I hate Crotchenham; that's the duty of every Chelsea supporter. The main reason why I decided to travel down for the game against Western Sydney is because I didn't want to meet any Crotchenham fans (I honestly don't think I've met any before, so I guess I'm blessed). They're fun to goof on though, and from a patriotic POV, I admit that I didn't want Ange to do badly with them. Arsenal have always been in my Top 3. During the early 2000s, they were another glory-hunter favourite, and they constantly had the wood over us until after about 2004 or so (even in 2004-05, I don't think we actually beat them in the league...). And now under our current 'management', they have the wood over us again. Watching Drogba bully Senderos constantly in the late 2000s was fun. Historically I didn't hate City, but in-between the FFP dodginess and the whole Maresca tapping-up affair, my opinion of them has certainly soured. Obviously have never thought much of Barcelona (or UEFAlona). Dishonourable mention goes to QPR. Like I've said, they're a cruddy, two-bit skidmark of a club, and their supporters are total lowlifes. And they would be on any planet. I can't imagine that the Martian QPR fanbase is any better than Earth's QPR fan base. Crystal Palace's supporters aren't above mocking us on online forums, so I'm happy when we beat them as well, even though they've never been serious rivals. Don't really care that much about Fulham or West Ham (again, they've not been serious rivals in my time supporting Chelsea), and Leeds have generally been irrelevant since I've started supporting Chelsea (they were declining by the time I started supporting Chelsea), so I feel much more detached RE Leeds than older Chelsea supporters would. Milwall come across as a bunch of thugs, but I don't even remember the last time we even played them, so again there's that same detachment.