Slojo

f**king Southampton, that game still annoys me, if Mendy had came just a week sooner that's 3 points in the bag. Kepa completely gifted them that game.

I do agree, a good game. But like Munkworth said, we've been here before. Right now, I would just stick with Zouma-Silva, no need to change that setup unless we absolutely need to. Defenders shouldn't be rotated a lot anyway.

I'm not going to get into a big argument here because I'm happy with the state of the club and Kante so far, but here's what I'm going to say. He's not good enough in the advanced role, he doesn't move the ball around fast enough, he lacks the creativity. I personally was never a fan of Kante under Sarri, and I wasn’t a fan of Kante last season. But now, this is the best I've seen Kante play in ages, so how isn't that enough to lift the team? I'm not understanding here. Lampard has found him a good role to play in, a 10-minute performance against Sevilla doesn't change that. His most impressive performances this season have come from staying behind, covering and breaking up play. We have plenty of other attacking units in the team to be utilised, why do we need to change Kante's position??? Because he made a good cross?? Ramires had some spectacular moments in a Chelsea shirt. I remember his 2nd Chelsea goal where he just ran through the Man City defence and chipped the keeper, the season after he whipped in that amazing cross to Drogba and scored that goal at the Nou Camp. But was Ramires a good footballer? Definitely not. In fact, Ramires was always better suited as an engine, despite having a good highlight reel and some great goals and assists, the reality was a lot different.

Edit: Nevermind misread it.

The Europa League is shockingly bad considering the fact that Arsenal look like prime Barcelona in it.

He is Gol, but the way we play we don't need a box to box player, or that Kante from a few years ago. In the role he's playing now, it suits our system, that's the main thing. Kante is now literally doing what all those dinosaur pundits thought he was doing for years, which is quite amusing really. There's no doubt that Leicester and Conte's Kante was a player who was up and down the pitch running the game. But under Lampard we don't play that way, we hog possession and like to camp in the oppositions half, Kante offers nothing in that setup if he's not playing in the position he's playing in now. Got to have faith in the way we are playing now, why revert it for the sake of a 29 year old coming on 30 just so he can play box to box again? Currently, I'm happy with the results and performances, from Kante especially.

He destroyed Everton last season also.

I got to disagree there. I think CHO plays at his best on that side, and Pulisic when in form is unplayable. But I can still see why Lampard persisted with Werner there to make those outside runs.

It's like fighting a boxer with a good chin (Not sure if anyone caught hat Dubois and Joyce fight over a week ago but that's a classic example) you give them all your best hits and you've done nothing to them, and in return you're shattered and you feel pathetic. Your manager tells you to press their defence and win the ball back, the first half you've done absolutely nothing but tire yourself out. People who dislike that style of play usually don't understand it, usually the ones who will go "Stop pissing about with it and hoof it up in the air". Any team can have a physical prescence, but not every team can have the abillity and technique to control the game, that's usually what seperates the better teams.

I got my numbers from Transfermarkt which is usually pretty reliable as far as I can tell. And if Giroud has more goals than Abraham despite just over 1/4 of the minutes, how does he not have a better goals to minutes? I recognise the argument you're putting forward in the long term and it's a fair argument. But as of right now, Giroud has been more clinical this season than Abraham, and better in front of goal on paper. I'm not saying Giroud is Ronaldo in front of goal, but I said it a week ago, if you give Tammy and Giroud the same amount of game time this season, Giroud will probably score more goals. Again, have to be clear here, this is not a diss towards Tammy Abraham. I'm talking about the here and now, Tammy will get better, he's still young and a good striker, but I just think that Giroud is better out of the two currently. And that's not just me going onboard the statistics I posted, that's my own personal opinion. Giroud had 3 shots, 3 on target and 4 goals against Sevilla, that's clinical. He is still a very good striker and possibly our best when it comes to scoring goals.

He doesn't, many more games left to play. Leeds play very high up the pitch, Werner's pace can exploit that and he's had a good rest. Giroud is 34 he shouldn't really be playing twice a week anyway. Unless we're camping in the Leeds half and can't seem to break through their defence to get that winning goal, then Giroud should come on.

Mendy James-Zouma-Silva-Chilwell Kante Havertz-Mount Ziyech-Werner-Pulisic I feel like that's our strongest team on paper, I hope this is the team we go with against Leeds.

Giroud just has a slightly better one in the PL under Chelsea but his goals per 90 in all competitions is 0.64, whereas Tammys is 0.54 according to the source you just gave me (good source btw never seen it before). But they aren't that far apart overall when it comes to their total Chelsea careers which is impressive for Abraham given how young he is, goes to show how underrated he was last season. However, the three points you brought up. You can't neglect the fact that Giroud has a far superior goals to minutes this season than Abraham does. I think out of the two of them it's clear which one is the more clinical out of the two, it's Giroud. This is not attacking Abraham, but currently, Giroud is the better forward out of the two. However, if you were to ask me, which one would you pick to leave right now if you had to. Obviously Giroud, because Abraham is up and coming and has potential. That latter part is the exact reason why he's playing more than Giroud. Because let's be fair here, even statistics aside, we can see with our own eyes that Giroud is better in front of goal. That's why from starting on out, I hope Giroud starts getting the nod over Tammy for the next few weeks to see how he does in the league.

I'm not arguing on Franks decision to keep him out, I already know why he has done it and why Tammy plays. But it's not cherry picking, on paper Giroud is actually very underrated statistically, his goals per minutes is very good not just this season. His whole Chelsea career here,. I'm aware that Giroud isn't great by any means, he went missing in Arsenals most important season ever and that's also why they desperately sought replacements and let him go. But despite all that, he's still a great forward and has to be rewarded with more game time in the coming games, which I no doubt expect he will. You won't hear me crying if he doesn't play against Leeds, I'm not being irrational here.

Silva was just integrating into the team and getting back into fitness. Since then he's made no mistakes whereas Zouma always seems to have a mistake in him. But I'll judge this at the end of the season and see what's what. For all I know Zouma could prove me wrong and have an amazing season, I'm just sceptical about it. I feel as though he'll always be a level below from what we really need there despite still being a good defender. I also don't care for his distribution at the back.

Martial has to be one of the most overrated players in the world, what does he do besides wear black gloves every game?

Good, playing it out from the back is extremely underrated on this forum. It's part of Lampards philosophy and I'm glad, there's nothing more demoralising for the opposition when you're chasing shadows, it's a very effective way to play football.

So you're telling me I'm going to be 30 by the time I see Kepa officially leave the club? f**king hell...

I was actually going to tag you like I did with Mount, you might have gotten that one spot on. But I still don't think any of those 3 guys you just mentioned are Chelsea material. It might be harsh on Zouma given how well he's been but he's still making mistakes like that one against Spurs. If Lo Celso doesn't f**k that up, anyone and everyone is talking about Zouma and asking for him to get dropped. But Kepa 100% looks like the main factor here, a clean sheet with Christensen, Rudiger and Emerson? On top of that with Jorginho and Kovacic as defensive cover? It's starting to make sense really.

Hate to say it, but I think we're lumbered with Kepa for years, just like Drinkwater and Bakayoko. Hell we still have Moses and Zappacosta on loan and haven't been able to get rid of them. I think we will get some loans for him, but I can't see him being sold. It would be up to him, if he wants to take a salary cut for the sake of his career, or if he wants to drag out his contract and make money. Either way that's his choice, I won't begrudge a player in his position to make either or. I personally as a fan would love to see him take a pay cut for the sake of his career and try and rebuild it elsewhere, but I can't see that happening. Especially when he can sort of already do that with loans anyway. So we'll likely have Kepa for another 3-4 years is it? Hopefully the other deadwood I just mentioned are soon off the books.

I don't think it's harsh anyway, as you said, 34 years old, almost 90 minutes. We rested Werner and Abraham who are fresh, personally I want to see Werner in the middle like we originally intended for anyway. I think he's the perfect choice for the Leeds game to play as our lone striker. After that I hope we can see Giroud play more Premier League games, especially now that we only have one CL game left until god knows when.

At the end of the day... We have 3 really good striker options. All 3 of them have 18 goals combined so far, considering a normal season start it would've been about this time last month... So that's really good right? All 3 of our forwards are almost in double figures each and we're not halfway through the season. There's nobody to slag off here, Giroud also has terrible games.

I can make you hate Kepa just fine with a few words. Sarri, cup final.

I agree that stats can be misleading and do not tell the full story. But just look at the minutes to goals right there. He has more goals than Abraham despite having just over 1/4 of his game time, that is ridiculous. Stuff like this cannot be avoided is what I am saying. I can't stand that France manager, but I can see why he wants Giroud playing more, there's a reason why he's favoured over Lacazette, Martial, Benzema etc. I think he's just too good to be our 3rd choice striker. It might appear reactionary but there are some things you just cannot ignore. Giroud should be playing more from now on or we will likely be losing a good player who is still very good and capable.

Had a good game, he was ignored twice by Pulisic when he was free and available. I know if things were the other way around, I would've been fuming. Very good game from him, his performances have been much better lately.