Spiller86

I hear you, but I go back to my earlier point. He didn't go from being one of the better CBs in the PL, last year and the year before, to rubbish in 12 months. This isn't an injury thing, this is a defensive organisation is a sh*tshow thing. I like Frank, I want him to do well, but I'm not blind to the fact that our defence is worse than any year apart from maybe the AVB disaster. That's not just down to the players. One thing I would say is that I learned he isn't the guy who can improve and organise our overall defence as I thought he might earlier in the year. I'd like to see how he does once we improve our defence structure next season, but I think he and Zouma are more Alex, Gallas, Carvalho, Cahill, Luiz type CBs not the Terry/Desailly who make others around them better.

Lay off. Played a role in the opening goal and was far from our worst. Seems very strange to be singling him out for criticism.

Our R figure (posts about registas per week) hasn't quite fallen below 1 just yet. The cult still endures in dark parts of the forum.

Agreed. I think this article summarises the task well: https://www.goal.com/en-gb/amp/news/lampard-must-find-inner-mourinho-to-turn-chelsea-young-guns-into-/l2isml1sx6xa1o8opvenr7yvt?__twitter_impression=true

Going to be hard to get anything but here is what I'd go with. Willy, James, Zouma, Rudiger, Emerson, Kante, Kovacic, Barkley, Mount, Willian, Giroud.

Haha. I'm not sure you could say anyone who plays in the back half has had an up year!

Hasn't affected his speed at all. Just a down year.

Reminds me of Ballacks last game for us. Also injured in the FA Cup final. Sad way to go out. Hopefully his shoulder heals and he is ready for Roma.

I disagree, I think he has been our best defender since lockdown. He got done today by Aubameyang, and he has to hold up his hand today but I think he made a lot of progress. In a more organised defence I think he could do well with us. I actually think he'll likely make the France team for Euro2021. Underrated here in my view.

Guy has been our best defender for the two seasons beforehand. You don't go from being very good (regularly mentioned in the top 5 CBs in the league) to being sh*t in a season. He hasn't done well and he wasn't great yesterday, but for me it is as much down to organisation or lack thereof in our defence. We're poorly organised and we expose our central defenders constantly to one on ones. You can easily say that he should have stopped Bellerin in the lead up to the goal, but how is it he is standing there with barely a Chelsea player within 10m of him? You isolate someone one on one like that where someone is moving at speed and you are largely stationary and rarely will you get a good result. I've seen Koulibaly isolated like that at Napoli under Ancelotti's loose defence and the result is largely the same. Rudiger needs to improve and I think he gets another season to do that. Just as Frank gets another season to start to properly organise our shoddy defence.

One thing to identify it. Another to address it. The implication that his job is just to yell and encourage his players from the sideline suggests the greatest challenge for his management career. It's the Redknapp style laissez-faire approach where he doesn't make changes in approach and leaves it to the players or makes those changes too late. If you identify that as a problem, why not tell the team to drop off 10 metres and close that gap at 1-0 up? Similarly we had lost complete control of midfield by the time Dave came off, the obvious thing was to go 4-3-3 to get a handle on that but instead we went like for like and never won the midfield back for the rest of the game. Now I understand it's easy being Sunday morning manager and there is no doubt he is the best man manager we've had here since Carlo, but his tactical approach to the game is missing in action sometimes at the moment. That is the big thing for him to work on over the off season.

See I don't think it is. Zouma and Rudiger are two of the fastest defenders in the Premier League. When you play a high line you have to pressure the ball or else you will always get caught out by quick players regardless. We were strolling around not pressuring the ball. We could have conceded three goals from exactly the same sort of situation. As some others said the real insanity of the day is why we were playing with such a high line when up 1-0 in a cup final. Their whole game was built around long balls to Aubameyang. Maybe, we might have wanted to drop off ten yards to negate that? Our game management and lack of pragmatism is shocking sometimes. Hadn't thought about this but it's a fair point. That happened shortly before drinks where Arteta changed his tactics too. After that point our midfield connection was zero. How many times did we get to midfield to find we had no options and then pass backwards to have 30 more passes between the back three? This is going to be how it is for a while I suspect. Young players and a learning manager. Arteta tactically was excellent and shut us down and bar ten minutes at the start of the second half where James came inside and just about played in midfield to give us some control we were outplayed. Now a 14-2 foul count and all the rest didn't help but we weren't at the races. I thought today we missed Willian enormously. He is guy who midfielders can pass to under pressure back to goal and he can hold it and win a foul. Neither Mount or Pulisic have that in their locker.

I think we'll all be disappointed, but the way we play on any given day it's a crapshoot. That doesn't tend to win consistent trophies over the long term. We need to sort out our midfield and defence because when you concede at least 1 goal every game you're always up against it. But with the ability to sign players again and CL football we've got a chance to do that now.

Nah. He was our best defender for the two years before that. Hasn't been as good this season, but for me that is as much down to a chaotic defensive system as a poor year. What I think we can agree on is we are in need of a dominant organising centre half and a decent defensive coach to help Frank sort this out.

I prefer not to speak... Just goes to show VAR is a waste of time too. Kovacic got the ball for at least one of those fouls, clear as day. Nothing for the Arsenal keeper catching it outside the box.

Poor Pedro. Not how he would have wanted to end his career for us. Honestly this has been a disaster from about 5mins on. Couldn't have gone much worse really. That game will be remembered for arguably the worst FA Cup Final refereeing performamce ever. Here's the facts - 14 fouls to 2. - An incredibly soft penalty - A ludicrous red card - Goalkeeper catching the ball outside the box. - Christensen fouled in the build up to their second goal That said I thought Arteta out thought Frank the whole way through. Injuries didn't help but we lost control of midfield after about 10 minutes and never got it back. On the bright side we'll be at the top table next season with an improved squad and they will be in Europa. Champions League was the objective and we got that. Today would have made it a very special season but sadly it wasn't to be.

Really? Lets not go scapegoating already at halftime. He's done little wrong. It's 1-1 from a soft penalty we're still in it and have a chance to change it up second half.

Thought Frank made a mistake not bringing on Kante when Dave went off and going 4-3-3

We need to get to halftime and change shape. We are essentially passing it around our back three without being able to connect it up at all.

That is a f**king dive. He tries to run through Christensen. What is he supposed to do?

Oh dear. I'm not sure I've ever seen Dave come off with an injury ever. This is bad.

That doesn't look good for Dave.

That's an immensely soft penalty.

Too much to ask for a clean sheet today? Decent start but a bit ponderous as the game has gone on.

Luiz will be up for it no doubt. I honestly have no idea what will happen. It's been such a topsy turvey season. We could easily win 3-0 or lose 3-0. With Jose you always knew we'd be in the contest because it would be low scoring and tight. It would rely on a moment or two either way. Frank is more open in the way he plays so who knows. I'd be surprised if there wasn't more than 3 goals in the game. Neither team can defend.