Davey Baby

If that's correct then it was never a pen. Even if you're wrong it was never a pen. It was never a pen.

I apologise profusely squire, especially for including that laughing emoji when i meant to include the one with the wiggly bum.

Not disputing that. I was correcting the assertion that he was very successful with spot kicks last season. He took 3 or 4, and missed one of those, and a crucial one too. It's not a bad conversion rate and he has a better record than Barkley over his entire career, as you say, but that doesn't change the fact it's the manager's decision, not ours.

^ To be fair to Willian there, it was his run that lead to that chance, although I agree he should have passed.

I'm simply standing my ground on a football matter, as I occasionally do. If that's having a spat, fine, but I find that ironic coming from you, the chap who seems to spend his entire life criticising other posters 🤣 I used the term "calling them out" but you can use any term you want. The point is he said it, and it backs up the argument Barkley was the designated penalty taker, for if he wasn't, he may have had a better idea of what they were doing, and his comments may not have gone down well with the players concerned. Anyroad up yorkley me ol mucker, you can believe anything you want. It's all good. I'm through arguing on this point.

I've now read the entire post, and I apologise if my post above was a little bit short. Ross has been with us a year and a half, and he was injured in that first year, and he was totally mismanaged under Sarri. I cannot believe people are using last night to knock the guy. He missed a penalty, it happens. His teammates didn't help him. If anybody needs to look in the mirror it's them. Edit: I honestly hand on heart don't believe Frank would call out Jorginho and Willian unless he was telling the truth, otherwise he would be being idiotic. He says he has no idea what Jorginho and Willian were doing. Yes I believe him.

I can't read any further beyond this sentence. Ross has come out and said there's a board up in the dressing room, with the names of the penalty takers, and his name is at the top, because he's our designated pick. Frank has said he's first choice, so has Dave. You've created a conspiracy theory that is all of your own making. Either you believe Ross is a Billy Big Bollocks who does what he wants and lies afterwards, or you believe the truth. It's up to you. I'm not getting involved. Edit: If Ross has come out and said all that and it's guff, he'll lose all respect amongst his teammates. It's obviously the truth.

I don't know if I was shocked by Willian, but I was pretty dismayed. Regarding Jorginho, like Tammy he eventually encouraged Ross but not before getting in his ear about something, and even if it was encouraging, I hope Lampard is telling them all in no uncertain terms that you leave the penalty taker to get on with it, and you let them focus. Everybody knows it's far harder converting a pen when there's all sorts of distractions, that's why opposition fans and players always try to distract you. You don't need your own players doing it. Having said all that, yes, Barkley should have converted, but he missed, and that's forgivable in my opinion. It happens, we get over it. Normally you'd let someone else take the next one, but if he's on the pitch next time we're awarded one, I'd give it to him, to send a message to the rest of the team, and in recognition that there were mitigating factors. Some of you will disagree, that's fine. That's just me, and I feel certain Frank will stand by Ross.

He's been terrible this season, so far. Massive dip from last season.

Actually he wasn't very successful doing so last season. He missed in the CC final shoot-out, replicating the exact kick he took in the semi, which was converted. He stepped up later in the EL semi-final shoot-out and he converted.

You've spun that around rather beautifully. It's you that seems certain Barkley wasn't the designated penalty taker, and you've just been taken to task. I believe he was, because Frank, Dave and Ross himself said so afterwards, and because he grabbed the ball, which I don't believe he would have done otherwise. As to why the other three players got involved, well you'll have to ask them. You believe what you want. What's clear to me is that the player needs to be calm and focused, and those other three players didn't help the situation, not one little bit.

Now you're just being a very silly boy, and you know it. If he's made it clear to the team who our penalty taker is, the blame doesn't lie with him but with the players who chose to complicate matters. Edit: I know you're trying to criticise Frank or Ross at all costs, but this is being ridiculous. Neither Frank or Ross behaved badly at all.

He wasn't even really moaning. He was just standing there, by the penalty spot, making a silent protest. It was dreadful. There's been a few occasions where he's shown questionable attitude and yesterday was definitely another, in my opinion.

Mate, Utd failed to convert 3 penalties this season, when Rashford and Pogba were having their hissy fits. Previously, Rashford had never missed a pen. It doesn't help, and if it doesn't help, why were our players doing it? Yes I'm far more concerned by those players than I am by Barkley.

Something for Willian to ponder on ..

He's the designated penalty taker. He shouldn't be having to deal with all that crap from his teammates. If you're a player, and you're not helping your teammate, then what are you doing? Would that be okay in the last minute of a CL final? Would that be okay if Eden was stepping up, or Lampard? Why's it okay if Barkley's stepping up? I'm curious, why? It was a pressure kick, a massive kick. Why's it okay? Sure, you've criticised Barkley for missing, fine. Now what's your opinion of the others? Any manager worth their salt will have strong words with them afterwards. We're supposed to be a team.

I can tell you one thing for certain. Lampard will not be pleased about it.

Opposition players will try every trick in the book to put a penalty taker off. Why? To get inside their mind. To give them an edge. Yesterday Willian acted like an opposition player. He certainly wasn't trying to help Barkley. Willian is to blame far more than Barkley, in my opinion. Absolutely shocking behaviour, from an experienced player too. It was such a crucial penalty, right at the end of the game. There was absolutely no excuse for it.

I think he's also using it to fix our CB issue. Christensen and Zouma just don't convince me.

Thought Willian was a disgrace last night, with the penalty, but also when he played a poor ball for Dave then had a hissy fit. As soon as Hazard was gone he wanted the number 10 shirt but he's undeserving of it. Last night we played with three attackers. Mason, Tammy and Willian. Willian's the only one that can't deliver. People saying he's not in the side to provide goals and assists are just making excuses for him. That's exactly what he's in the side for. That's exactly what Pedro's in the side for and that's exactly why we've bought Pulisic. As soon as Callum is fit he'll show Willian how to do it. Lastly, with seconds to go we had a corner. He didn't even beat the first defender. Shameful.

He wouldn't be calling out Jorginho and Willian in public if it weren't true.

!00%. Some absolutely pathetic comments on this thread. Barkley's the penalty taker when he's on the pitch, Lampard said he had made that clear. Lampard said he had no idea what Jorginho and Willian were doing. We can add Tammy to that list too. It was a massive penalty, possibly the difference between qualifying or not, and our penalty taker needed to be focused and calm. Willian particularly was absolutely disgraceful, in my opinion. Tammy as well, he's only been in the side two minutes, he's already missed a crucial penalty, he's scored a few in the last three games and he got way too big for his boots. Just f**king leave Barkley alone. I don't blame Barkley one bit for the penalty miss. All the kerfuffle around him was totally unnecessary. I hope Lampard has had a few words. Also, Barkley should have replaced Mason, rather than Pedro. As it was we surrendered the midfield.

I think everybody's still in shock.

This is why Lampard was the right choice, regardless of his inexperience. I'd still be amazed if we finish top six. I'd consider top half to represent good work on Lampard's behalf, not just because he's a rookie but because his players are too. There will be ups and downs with young players generally so I don't expect any level of consistency but for these young players to grow and develop they require a manager that's prepared to play them, and this is a great group of youngsters. James, Callum, Ruben, Tomori, Mount, Tammy, Christensen. Half our team could easily be academy graduates. If we hadn't had the ban we may not have hired Lampard and these players would never have had a chance. Mount, Tomori, Tammy, James, they'd al be out on loan right now, that's just a plain old fact. Sarri would have bought players, he would never have entertained the idea of playing these guys, and neither would Conte or Jose before him. Regardless of what happens this season, we're building for the future, we've forged an identity, there's a real feel-good factor and we have a group of players that really want to play for Chelsea. This is why we wanted Lampard. It wasn't too early. It was exactly the right time. These guys are now all signing long-term contracts because they can see a pathway to the first team. We would have stifled their development and eventually lost them. That's just another plain old fact.

We deserved to be stuffed by Utd because we were vulnerable every time they got the ball. We were always going to concede goals. We played right into their hands. Against Leicester and Sheffield Utd, both at home, we were very lucky to get a point, as they both totally outplayed us in the second-half. Frank may be putting a spin on it but the performances aren't mostly there at all. We can't defend a set-piece to save our lives, we are all over the place defensively and we concede way too much space. We are in for a long tough season in my opinion because the PL is full of very good managers, who have earned their jobs on merit, unlike ours. I have always been in favour of Frank being boss but let's not kid ourselves about the task in hand. I think people are going to be very surprised about where we finish up. This season represents an almighty steep learning curve for Frank, and he doesn't have the luxury of having a dressing room full of leaders and characters. Lose the next two games and pressure builds and he will be scrutinised like never before. Edit: I hope he surprises me but I don't expect this season to be great.