pcmacca

I also hope the new manager is going to improve the young players Frank brought through. I hope CHO gets more chances, I hope James improves his defending, I would love to see Mount dominate games rather than flashes of inspiration and I hope someone can teach Tammy to react quicker and get in better positions than he is currently. I know I am saying that after a hat trick but it really should have been more. I would also like to see wee Billy playing more of a part rather than just the odd run out he has been getting as he is one of the most forward looking DMs we have. All of these players now have a chance to learn from a truly tactical manager and could improve their game greatly.

Like so many others I wanted Frank to succeed but due to his lack of experience he has looked out of his depth in the last few weeks. It looked to me that he was relying on individual talent to get a result rather than any great tactical planning. Even against Luton, so many of the attacking passes went astray as players did not exactly where the teammates were. The new manager is going to more or less be the opposite as he will attempt to micro manage everything off and on the field. The players will practice routines over and over again on the training pitch so hopefully there will be less of balls played long from the back running into touch whilst the supporters ask who that was for. So in many ways, it is going to be the opposite of what Frank was doing as most young players need instructions. Whether it works with these players, we will see but I honestly believe we will start to see outstanding performances from the players who have come from Germany and that form of playing. I would love to go back a week or so though and hear Frank say that he realises he needs some more help and looks for a purely tactical routine driven coach to join him so he really could learn whilst in the job.

Sadly I have to agree. Would have loved him to succeed but in the end his lack of experience was apparently becomming obvious with the players if it is true that he wasn't offering up tactics but relying on individuals to go on the pitch and play their game with minimal instructions. Under those conditions, players will often take the safer option and pass square or backwards.

Sadly, the difference was the Southampton manager had the experience of dealing with downturns in his past. Frank simply needs more experience learning elsewhere.

The reason they would be doing it now is to try and achieve top 4. If they finish outside the top 6, even with a new manager, it will be very hard to attract decent players and we can forget about Haaland.

I think Frank would get so much more support whatever the result, if on Tuesday, the team had played with energy, had some idea of how to break Leicester down, some idea of how to defend as a team rather than individuals and knew how to create chances. These are basics.

I have just read Liam Twomey's article in The Athletic that Frank was referring to and it is damming. His Podcast about that game is also worth a listen https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-lampards-successor-will-speak-german-early-move/id1488401364?i=1000506010727 I don't think Frank should have risen to the bait though, it is never a great idea for managers to fall out with journalists. Grant is also mentioned, thankfully indicating that he won't be coming back to Chelsea any time soon.

If you read into Pep's time in Mexico in depth, you will see that he learnt everything how he wanted to setup his teams for the future and he took that to Barcelona, and when he became first team coach he immediately got rid of high profile names he believed would not fit the system. He has tweaked it many times since the original plan was there then.

You didn't but I was only responding to someone who strongly suggested the next 2 rounds of the Cup were in the bag so he meant that Chelsea had already beaten Luton and then I predicted it would be Norwich afterwards.

I also believe there is a better right back than both of James and Lamptey just about to break through from the Acacemy - Livramento. He has pace, can cross the ball with pace and can also defend properly, not leaving forwards to have free headers and shots.

I wish he would explain his blueprint to everyone else.

Sorry but I have to disagree. The story of the season PL is that we haven't beaten any good team in the PL nor looked like doing so.

I agree about Pulisic and he needs to get the ball earlier when he still has space in front of him but for some reason over the last few weeks Chillwell has always played the ball square or backwards rather than down the line for Pelusic to run into.

I hope you are right but I am dreading the next round in the CL and Norwich away in the FA Cup is a wee bit of concern too.

I agree and as I said the other day, Pep had more grounding than we realise, he spent time prior to Barcelona learning from a "mentor" in Mexico.

Apparently Werner chose Chelsea over Liverpool due to Frank's persuasion.

Sorry but I agree with this too, I believe we do need to see that he can turn it around and stop playing what to be fair is a pretty rubbish style of football. If he doesn't know how, then I wish he would get someone in to help him before he is discarded.

Sorry but I have to disagree about Chillwell. He started really well and has the highest percentage of successful passes in the team but that is because he is nowadays always taking the safer option of a square of a backwards pass. You used to see him playing it earlier to a player running into the left wing area but rarely now and not at all on Tuesday.

I would think that most people here want Frank to succeed but what we really want at the moment is a clear sign that he knows how to get the best out of the players he has. Again, I would think that most people here understand they have not seen that same sign in the last few weeks.

I hope he does too but he must have that date in mid Feb in the back of his mind. If Atletico turn up and play us off the park, even Frank may realise things are too difficult for him with his lack of experience. I don't want another Bayern result.

If Frank wants to convince the board that he knows what he is doing then he needs to show immediate simple improvements in certain areas from the Leicester match as the following were all there in that game. 1. That Corner. If the offensive team have two players involved in a short corner, the defending team need to have two players as well or you end up with what we saw. 2. That Corner. When Leicester scored Chelsea had 11 players in their own area, yes the entire team whilst Leicester had at least 4 outside the box including the goal scorer. No one was anywhere near Ndidi and even if Chelsea had won the ball, there is no one up field to play to and try and break away. 3. Pressing. Chelsea possibly fielded their youngest midfield and forwards yet the pressing was half hearted at best. Leicester found it all too easy to play the ball from the back forward to the midfield then square to the wide players who were running at pace they were away and by passing the Chelsea midfield. The Chelsea players should have been constantly pressurising them but they didn't. 4. Offensive Corners. When was the last time we saw a clever move or indeed any move from a corner. I know Chelsea have scored from a few headers but mostly the ball either gets floated into the area or is over hit so some variations would give the opposition something to think about. At the moment they know exactly what is coming. 5. Offensive Free kicks. Again when was the last time we saw a clever move from a free kick. I personally never believe that we are going to score direct from a free kick yet I see other teams knocking them in. Is no one practicing after training to become that free kick expert? 6. Defending throw-ins. I played Intermediate football when I was younger and we were drilled to have a man picking up the thrower so the he couldn't just throw the ball to a team mate and get it back. Why isn't that happening every time? We have to stop giving the opposition the chance to play and pressurise them into making mistakes. 7. Crosses. With CHO’s pace, why is he not being encouraged to take the defender on, get to the bye line then pull the ball back to a player coming into the box? If you watch many of Havertz’s goals last season, he was scoring when the ball was pulled back after the centre forward had pulled the defenders nearer to the goal. Instead, from wherever the cross is made, it is square or even diagonally forward and will have to pass so many defenders to reach a Chelsea player. All of the above should be standard for any team and if the players are not doing it, the Coach should be reminding them from the touchline. Sadly we all know this is not happening. I worry that if in training all of the above is not being practiced over and over again, how can things really get better if you can’t even do the basics right. We keep getting told that for the team to improve the players need to work harder but this should be a starting point, not a target to aim for.

No one is saying it is, but the whole point of the debate is that Frank does not have the years of experience or seasons of success to fall back on that others do when they go a bad run.

They were plenty to do with him and on those days he got it right but they were matches and not seasons of success or even cups/titles.

Sorry but again the problem is that Rodgers had bags of experience and success to fall back on. Frank's bags are kind of empty.

I understand why the board offered Frank the job but they must have been hoping for steady upwards improvement throughout his tenure even if it had a few bumps along the way. However, this appears to be worse than a few bumps as Frank is looking lost on the side of the pitch and in team selection. For the last few weeks, there has been no discernible progressive style and even with two weeks of no mid-week matches to train for specific games, there has been sadly no improvement. He either needs more help or I have no doubt he will be replaced.