MANoWAR

Not wanting to get into the details of her role (and certainly do not condone these mental health-related remarks) but Scott does not deserve credit for this at all - if anybody should go, it should be him. Too many duds signed and/or huge £££ spent for a club of our size (I don't think Pulisic is a dud but he's not cut out for this level, IMO). Definitely need a DoF so it's good Law is saying that we're looking at one to hire From the article (take with a pinch of salt): Cech’s interview gives an idea of what him and Marina were hoping, trying to keep Lukaku & make it work. Boehly came in and told Tuchel it’s his call and they will do what Tuchel wants” Todd Boehly & Thomas Tuchel decided that sorting out the Romelu Lukaku situation early in the window was the priority over incoming transfer business Might suggest they're looking to protect their finances vs Tuchel who wants to move on quickly to targets who will actually be effective (which would also make sense because there was an article last year about wanting to stick with Kepa before Mendy was signed). I'm glad Boehly seems to be strongly backing Tuchel because there's nobody else we can get to who'd be better

Feels like we're in another situation where the recruitment has been subpar all round but the manager would get the brunt of it

Milan has full control of signing the player when it's an option to sign; all he has to do is consent to it! Tuchel and co. would have to convince Tomori otherwise if he's happy there and wants to stay, which presumably he would be if he's playing regularly and doing well.

As in through Abu Dhabi groups yes it's very shifty that they can circumvent through certain ways that others can't which seem very dubious in their legitimacy, but I don't think doing that is any more 'dodgy' than any of Chelsea's funding or that Roman wouldn't be able to pull a few strings himself (and to be honest, who knows if he does..)

I mean it's a mix of excellent ownership (nothing they do is notably more shady than having Roman bankroll us from the start), combined with the fact that they made 128m more over five years than we did -- simply through the CL consistently and going far in it. Quality on the pitch pays off, and Chelsea haven't met that with the same consistent basis. This is partly why managers get sacked when it's not looking favorable for the top four spaces. On a related note: It's also important to note that our commercial revenue looks quite poor given the status Chelsea has. Spurs themselves were 162m last season while we were only 170m; that's a minimal difference to what the difference in club achievements is. Compare that further to MUFC £279m, MCFC £250m and LFC £214m. It makes sense then that Roman has to constantly either cover losses (which isn't so sustainable) or continue with player sales, since much of our revenue is dependent on the CL - which is why again, Lampard might have been sacked now than later. It also shows we have to be more careful with our player purchases since our wages and operating costs are so high, especially since we don't have a 50,000+ capacity stadium like literally every other top club out there to help with revenue (excluding the CL like was spoken of above).

Matt Law (and later The Athletic) reported that the board haven't been convinced on Rice and feel he hadn't developed from his youth days - and that (supposedly) Lampard would push for it far more than they would. Whether or not it's the right call, the actual people who run the club think it's not a good plan to sign him, never mind the fans (I would want him here, but not at more than 60m). Maybe Tuchel will have an idea of somebody from the Bundesliga - Zakaria could be an option - because I'd be surprised if he doesn't look at our midfield and think its not lacking somebody in the mould of a destroyer.

https://www.tribalfootball.com/articles/tuchel-laughs-about-psg-link-for-chelsea-midfielder-jorginho-4342107 😄

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Wasn't it partly because the surrounding areas (leaking onto Earl's Court) were known for male prostitution? Linked maybe?

One interpretation outside of this being made-up is that he was already scouted for a few years (i.e think back to Conte's tenure) and because we had two outgoing departures, he was going to be a signing (esp. for so cheap) that Lampard would've largely thought similar to, but would nonetheless be purchased regardless of the manager. It could be different in that case that the club weren't looking at Chilwell properly until he was actually requested/ wanted.

Aston Villa is another example - and now they've got a great owner with some good results. We're very fortunate to be in a position where we've had absolutely no issue with owner stability over our success, whereas most other clubs have! Liverpool were close to liquidation.

https://theathletic.com/2298337/2021/01/25/lampards-chelsea-sacking-tension-with-marina-unhappy-players-and-secret-job-offers Completely pilfered from Reddit (who has access to the article) https://www.reddit.com/r/chelseafc/comments/l4la7l/lampards_chelsea_sacking_tension_with_marina/ Lampard’s relationship with influential director Marina Granovskaia deteriorated Ralf Rangnick was offered interim job last week for four months but turned it down Calls were made in recent weeks to sound out Leipzig’s Julian Nagelsmann Leicester game was tipping point and morning after spent trying to finalise successor Lampard shook players hands and thanked them for efforts under him after Leicester match Petr Cech involved in talking to new stars’ agents as form dipped Some players complained about lack of tactical instruction and not being spoken to for months Desire to re-sign Declan Rice annoyed his bosses The dressing room felt manager showed no empathy and were hurt by his public criticism Lampard would have walked out had he been working for any club other than Chelsea tensions behind the scenes really began to emerge during the January transfer window 12 months ago. Lampard asked for Arsenal forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who was considering leaving Emirates Stadium at that juncture, and Ajax’s attacking midfielder Hakim Ziyech. Neither arrived that month it was at this juncture that Mauricio Pochettino, who had been fired by Tottenham in November 2019, and RB Leipzig coach Nagelsmann were being mentioned as a potential “plan B”. things were becoming more tense with Granovskaia and one of the biggest points of contention was the treatment of goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga. “They clashed over Kepa. Lampard put in a request for a replacement and was told he should try putting his arm around Kepa, to help build his confidence. Lampard was insistent though.” Lampard wanted the club to sign West Ham midfielder Declan Rice and pushed for him again ahead of January. But some at the club had reservations about re-signing the player who was released from the academy as a teenager. In December The Athletic were told: “He needs to stop pushing for Rice or he’ll lose his job. The hierarchy are very wary about the potential embarrassment of buying back an academy reject at huge expense.” of the six players to join, only Ben Chilwell was a Lampard target. plan was not only to acquire Rice, who Lampard felt could be converted into a top centre back as well as using him as a defensive midfielder, but also to buy James Tarkowski from Burnley. Defenders earmarked to go were Fikayo Tomori, Marcos Alonso, and Rudiger. There was even talk that Lampard was open to the idea of captain Cesar Azpilicueta departing. after the Manchester City game, Roman became “very, very unhappy”. ( After the season relationship between Roman and Lampard was "strong" Tuchel was reluctant to come midway through the season initially but was eventually persuaded, having almost taken the Stamford Bridge job before Antonio Conte a few years ago. He felt it was too good a job to turn down. “The problem was, the manager didn’t talk to the players — well only the ones he liked" One senior player told The Athletic that Lampard staying on for the rest of the season would have been a ‘catastrophe’, with the levels of tension in the dressing room to high to recover from and players comparing his criticism of performances to Jose Mourinho in his final days at the club. By the Fulham game in early January, players were expecting Lampard to be sacked if they didn’t win Lampard warned everyone, including the hierarchy, that a title bid was unlikely in 2020-21, that the arrivals would require patience to settle into a new league and country. Thanks to the user who posted it - I'm just pasting for those who aren't on the site.

delete

While we're on the topic of attacking output, just because I'm a bit of a stats nerd, here's some pretty graphs (one of which I sort of made..........): Obviously first indicates that our full backs cross a lot (no sh*t) but while we do make some chances there are a few other teams which cross less frequently but still make more chances - so they're more efficient at it than we are. Second is another way to demonstrate creativity, Chilwell's overall creativity (so that includes dribbles and passess - in SCA) isn't super high to where we'd want him to be relative to the rest of the top four contenders - but James is in better company. Digne is high on the assist work because he takes a lot of static balls from corners etc. James gets into a good position such that 'assist shot' is more likely to result in a shot on goal from one of our players.

I just discovered seen this elsewhere, it covers some of the downfalls of Chelsea's play: https://theathletic.com/2303208/2021/01/06/chelsea-lampard-tactics-werner?source=user-shared-article This is behind a paywall, but the 'Zonal Marking' podcast on Spotify is free and covers the exact same content. Cliff notes: - Chelsea are going better than their xG overall - it's 1.4 vs. their actual which is 1.7. Quite a big jump; Abraham has finished very well this season, Werner (obviously) hasn't and undershot his xG. xGA Chelsea are excellent - fourth in the table behind Man City/Liverpool and Brighton (!). However they have conceded more than would be expected, but this should stabilise by the end of the season. - Lampard wants the team to press, but the specifics aren't there. There's too much inconsistency between them which suggests Lampard doesn't really know how to organise or how to specify what an actual press is. For example, sometimes they're too high, sometimes it seems that the midfield is asked to do the same thing - it's all very uncoordinated. It appears to be more of a managerial issue than a player issue. - However, Sarri was likely right about Kanté position that he needs a full on destroyer/DM to help him out as a more box-to-box interceptor. He's currently the weak link in our midfield due to the lack of versatility. But at the same time, combine that with the above, it's no surprise when we do crap against bigger teams because all they have to do is throw bodies through the centre and the midfield is very easily bypassed - less of an issue for small teams because of a good backline and less ability to efficiently go between the lines. It crucially suggests that signing somebody like Rice is a waste of time if he's not been instructed to maintain the right positioning when going forward / 'destroying'. Because even if he's better than Kanté there, we would still be exposed during the bigger games. - Mendy's stats look bang average - the reason he got many clean sheets was because he barely faced any shots on target but it's began to normalise. He's a 'normal' keeper, and Chelsea would do well to see somebody who's just a bit more consistent with his positioning, knowing when to sweep and how to make those better shot stops. Outside of this distribution isn't helped for Chelsea's style of play. - Werner's finishing is bad but a big reason for his lack of good player is thath he's genuinely out of position. He drifted off from the left side of the field (sort of as a hybrid LW/ST) but still spent 78% of last season in a centre forward position, and the drifting left was mostly to unsettle CBs before coming back inside. In this season, he's spent 63% of his total minutes mainly in the 'LW' position, possibly because he's instructed to do so. He also doesn't seem to get the same opportunities to bring the ball central like we would have under Nageslmann. Both Poulsen and Forsberg helped with occupying the space between the lines but it's only Werner who's had to try himself to do that. However, with point 1, because we're actually outperforming our xG, Werner's lack of finishing isn't the main problem Cliff notes cliff notes: - Lack of midfield organisation the main problem with Chelsea. - Defensive very good, but Mendy the weak link. - Doing better than our xG so Werner's finishing isn't screwing us over.

Lampard signed a 3-year contract in the Summer of 2019; I think it's highly unrealistic to even contemplate him filling that if we finish 6th or lower this season in particular if it's United and Leicester finishing ahead of us. If he sees Tottenham in that mix as well what chance is there Roman thinks 'ah, he's got the talent to turn this around'. If that happens, which is entirely realistic, then do you think he can just go to Roman and say 'Sorry boss, another 110m on Declan and Perisic will solve the job... and don't forget that expensive CB that you promised!' I also worry that our players wouldn't be such a huge fan of that; we speak about needing Ziyech as a player to rely / build the team around but Ziyech didn't leave Ajax to finish outside of the best - in fact he didn't want to leave unless an ambitious, big club came in for him. And as much as Havertz has been sh*t, nothing cancels out the fact that he was absolutely one of the hottest prospects before he joined. The Arsenal performance was absolutely the worst I've seen in the past few years - worse than the 3-0 / 4-0 drubbings against Bournemouth or the 6-0 against City. One of our closest rivals, a rival that had one win in ten, had stopped us winning a trophy earlier this year, while Chelsea themselves came under fire because of their recent performances - added fact that Arsenal were missing their best player and their most competent CB, and we had our two first choice fullbacks back, is having our first shot on target in the 85th min good enough? Absolutely deplorable. I cannot get over how bad that was. If Chelsea end up losing both of Leicester / Man City coming up then I think his position would become untenable. Add Aston Villa before that? He'll be given the Carlo treatment.

Sorry, here's the summary the OP provided: • A matter of time before Mendy is official. • Rudiger was left out of the line up (no injury). • Many feel that Chelsea are light at the back even with addition of Silva who turns 36 and is not at his peak. • However, Lampard feels a DM is the missing piece of his jigsaw. • Rice is the main target (as reported) and although initially the plan was for him to play as CB, he can play in his regular position in front of back 4 as well. • Kante is no longer considered for ‘Makelele role’ but is not deemed surplus to requirements either • Kante prefers to leave areas, go for the ball but the worry is there is no significant contribution from Kante towards the attack (no key passes, shots etc.). • Lampard wants a midfielder who can sit behind and be a physical presence with a mindset to hold • Jorginho was not good enough vs Liverpool and could not do much to break the press. • Chelsea would likely offer Barkley for Rice to reduce his 80mn price. • Also considering other options if Rice doesn’t move because West Ham are reluctant to sell. • Don’t be surprised if we sign more players before Oct 5 deadline.

He's not doing anything wrong; he's just not suited to an attacking sort of system. Taken this comment from Reddit: But honestly, in either system, if a new DM comes in - what does Kanté give us that others don't? He's in the team for his defending but he's not a defensive midfielder. He can dribble and pass, but Kovacic does it better. You'd assume the new DM would be a defensive upgrade on Kanté in that lone DM role. Will we line up with two defensive-minded midfielders as an attacking team? There isn't a single top club that does this. Do we become a defensive team with all this ability in our attack and midfield? I wouldn't want that. Kanté is almost a defensive luxury if a new DM comes in. This [article] is exactly what I'm talking about. Kanté needs a DM holding next to him, but playing him and another DM takes away a lot of quality on the ball from our midfield that Kovacic, Mount, Havertz, RLC (when in form) all give you. I've said it for almost two years now, Kanté is out of place in an attacking team. There isn't a single role for him in which others aren't better at at least one side of the game. A classic DM will be better defensively than him, a progressive box-to-box player like Kovacic, Mount or RLC does a lot more for your attack. And with the majority of possession in most of our games, we need that attacking quality a lot more than we need a second defensive midfielder. Here's the article from The Athletic: https://theathletic.co.uk/2079386/2020/09/21/chelsea-frank-lampard-ngolo-kante-declan-rice/ Seems like the management is thinking similar...

Werner Giroud CHO Havertz Barkley Kova Alonso (Chilwell can hopefully come on after HT?) Zouma Rudiger (Silva can hopefully come on at HT?) Azpi Caba

yes, everybody knows, as the article even acknowledges.. what it's doing is with respect to the specifics of brighton and how our next game -Liverpool- might exploit that. There's not been a level of detailed analysis too often, and this is good for looking at specific factors so late into how we've been setting up with him, and whether, again it's a system based problem or just solely Kepa Conceding a long shot for example isn't just the keepers problem

But this is more than just Kepa's inability to save, it's about his general play broken down and how we play outfield as well - and whether it's a systemic-sort of problem or not.

https://www.liverpool.com/liverpool-fc-news/features/chelsea-specific-structural-flaw-jrgen-18950896 This is biased but it's really good - let's hope that how we played against Brighton was sort of makeshift than anything else

Werner - Giroud - CHO Kanté - Kova - Jorgi Alonso Zouma Christensen Azpi New GK If Chilwell is fit let him start, if Pulisic is fit let him come of the bench with Werner displacing Giroud as the ST. Both of them will be havoc for Trent, and Giroud can help with the physicality to match VVD. Obviously I want Havertz to do well but midfield is definitely Liverpool's weakest point, so I would look to exploit that with our strongest until Havertz settles in more. His best role is the free-roaming Muller-type behind the 9 but for this sort of game I'd want something a bit more experienced and defensively robust