Skinnedy

I can count on 1 hand how many times I've seen him throw his hands in the air, or look skyward after a mistake on the field the last two games. Once... When he hit the wall with a free kick. He threw his hands up at himself. To me, that's a massive change in what we've seen before. His body language on the field has been so much more positive. And that helps with how the fans react and perceive him. From a contribution standpoint, he's just playing smarter. He isn't running for the sake of running. He's when he tracks back, he's making tackles. When he presses, he's putting pressure on the back line, rather than just employing a one man press, then throwing his hands up when he gets passed around. Positionally, I think he's dropping a bit deeper too. He's best suited in the midfield. Effort and attitude are what I'm most critical of, and he's been really good the last two games.

It's remarkable. Here's hoping Ruben can come back and contribute this year as well.

BT Sport wouldn't play for us in the states. Not even on Twitter. So here is a link with the highlights available. https://www.si.com/soccer/chelsea/news/watch-callum-hudson-odoi-stars-for-young-lions-after-bagging-brace-against-austria-u21s/

I haven't seen his stats yet this season, but I've preferred Richarlison over Zaha.... Maybe it's that scowl, but he just seems more determined.

Roman should cut Tammy a bonus check, because he's going to save the club about £150M this summer. All of the people saying the kids will go back to not getting chances once we can buy again... seriously? Who is out there, within reach, that you would replace Tammy with right now? Tomori looks like he's the one most likely to pair with Rudiger when he comes back Mount, Hudson-Odoi? You think those guys are going to get worse? When we hit the market again, it will be from a position of strength, not desperation.

As complete a half as I can remember him playing for us.

Mine is tall, dark and handsome. And he's terrified of new people. I call him Alvaro

For real... he could have at least handed in a transfer request or something.

Can we still use the "a deal has been in place in principle for months and there's no rush to get it done while all parties involved work to dot the i's and cross the t's, because all parties involved know that the big picture parts of the deal have been agreed... and we should stop inventing reasons to slate the kid for a chance to set his family up financially for generations?" theory? I'm consistently amazed at the selfishness of fans and their need for instant gratification when it comes to how other people should conduct their business. The only thing I ask is that each player gives their all while they're out there. Bemoaning a kid's character in reality shows a lack of character on our part.

If he's not in the mix early, Tammy doesn't get that first goal against Sheffield either. I thought the overall play of the front four against Sheffield was subpar. As a unit they weren't very good. That'll change.

This is where it was for me yesterday. I thought the link up play was really poor. And that's not Barkely's strength. I like Barkley when we need a hammer to pound teams that sit back and invite us to shoot from the outside. I would have made the Willian sub at halftime. I'm eagerly looking forward to getting CHO back after the break. Mount flanked by Pulisic and CHO would have been much more effective yesterday. I think a fit RLC would have been perfect yesterday... But we're a ways away from that.

I don't see him as THE answer just yet, but I see him as part of the solution. We have enough lesser teams on the schedule during the course of a season, that i'm thrilled if he keeps banging them in against them.

In real time, I thought Tomori should have intercepted the cross that led to the second goal. It looked like he could have had it but pulled off expecting it to be dealt with. All of this talk about "experience", but what good is experience if it doesn't deliver. I thought Barkley and Azpilicueta were the two weak links today, and they may have been the two players in the starting XI who had the most EPL starts. Sure, we're lacking experience in a lot of places, but we're lacking quality in several too. Not a ton of options right now, so I'm not being critical of the team itself, just some of the ignorant talking heads in the media. While I'm upset, I'm still enjoying this season as a transitional year where we find out who is good enough amongst our own, and then have a fortune to go out and fortify next summer. We just have Champions League the wrong year.

We play 28 games against non Top 6 opponents. I'll take two per game against each of them. Heck, two each against the promoted teams puts him in contention for Golden Boot. Detractors act like we play Liverpool every week.