jking948

Disagreed. Today only 17% of our passes were in the attacking third, but we still dominated possession. That’s not attacking well and it opens up the defense to quick counters. The whole team needs to improve. Neither attack nor defense has been sufficient.

I am trying not to overreact... Kante, Pedro,RLC, CHO, and Rudiger were all injured. The team will look very different soon. My guess is Zouma is no longer a regular starter when Zouma comes back, Kante is obviously a game-changer, CHO will allow Mount to play in the midfield along with RLC, and Pedro is a pretty solid substitute. It is just that losses like this, when the problems are very clear, can be quite frustrating.

Kovacic played well today, though he is still leaving his zone, which hurts Chelsea’s shape. I do think that, over time, that will fix itself.

So who starts instead of Azpi next week? He has been mediocre-to-horrendous every match.

Azpi and Zouma are just horrific defenders against counterattacking teams. Meanwhile, Chelsea had 711 total passes, but only 123 in the attacking third. That is a pathetic use of possession and you cannot play that way in the Premier League. If this is how Lampard wants to attack then it will fail. The club needs to find a way to get into the attacking third. They are actually good when they get there, but the midfield continuously just passes backwards and lets Zouma screw up the attack.

Barkley has been driving me crazy. Pulisic and Mount continue to try and give-and-go with him, but Barkley just passed backwards to Jorginho and ends the attack.

Lampard’s strategy of playing youth like he has, in my opinion, makes a ton of sense. 1) the transfer ban is kind of forcing it. But, more importantly, 2) it lets the team really retool this year and position themselves for an effective transfer window next year and improves the long-term potential of the club.

I know it is off-subject, but I am just not sure if Rashford is all that good. He is undoubtedly a nice scorer, but his dribbling needs work, he does not pass, and I am not sure if he is strong enough to play his style and that centrally. I would rather take Tammy's potential over Rashford's. Either way, it is nice that England is producing some nice strikers.

Pulisic is 19 and averaged .5 non-penalty goals+assists per 90 minutes last year in the Bundesliga. He needs to add some muscle, but man, the kid can really play. Give him some time. Pulisic will be a contributor for a Champions League team for a long time. The only question is if he will be a superstar, star, or role player.

Yes!!

What does this club have against clearing the ball? They always want to build from the back even when they are completely out of shape.

All I am saying is that Barkley is playing really well today, that’s it.

Chelsea is open to attacks without Kante, that’s for sure, but Ross Barkley has been brilliant. 11/11 on passes in the attacking third and is freeing up Pulisic and Mount. I’d like to see Pulisic and Mount play a bit more wide and try to slow down Norwich.

I posted this in another thread, but I do think Barkley is creative, is there any way to play him and Mount together? Also, Pulisic is definitely creative, but he really needs to adjust to the EPL before Chelsea can rely on him.

Is there any way that Chelsea can play Mount and Barkley together? They are both creative players and I wonder if it could help our attack to have both guys facilitating?

It is a really good article. I do think it undersells systems with lots of freedom. To be honest, I think what Lampard wants is closer to Tottenham than City. Nonetheless, players do need to be more disciplined in maintaining shape. It can open holes (see the Manchester United match), but more importantly, it really limits the counterattack and easy triangles.

I made this Twitter thread using StatsZone and Opta data. My overall conclusion is that Chelsea did not pass nearly enough in the attacking third against Leicester, and that will kill them as they try to play this pressing+attacking style. Nonetheless, Kanté and Mount stood out as really efficient players.

I guess my first real post here will be what I observed yesterday. As I said in the welcome thread, I am from the US, and yesterday was the first time I got to see an EPL match in person. To me it looked like they were playing a 4-1-4-1 while defending that went to a 4-2-3-1 when attacking. Kante can make diagnosing formations tough because he plays all over the pitch. It also looked like Mount, Pedro, and Pulisic were constantly switching positions, which sometime changed how the shape was visualized. I think a bigger part of the problem, beyond shape, is that Chelsea did not have much of an attacking identity last season beyond "give it to Hazard." So this year, with a new manager, no Hazard, and two less strikers, it is going to be difficult to really score early in the season. I do think playing Giroud with Pulisic, Mount, and Pedro behind him may provide the best opportunity to score over the next few weeks. As the season continues, though, I'd like to see more formation variation and Tammy Abraham.

Hey all, I have always been a Premier League fan, but being from the United States, I never got to go to a match. I casually followed Manchester United, but would never have called myself a fan. Anyways, I was in London for research the past eight days, and went to the Chelsea-Leicester match on Sunday. I was sold on the club, fans, and players. So hopefully you'll let me join your ranks! Blue is the color! Anyways, outside of that, I am a big stats nerd and have messed around with EPL stats and metrics for quite awhile. I'd love to try to contribute that to discussions on here.