Davey Baby

He's had the odd good game but by and large he's been really poor this season, not sure why that's proved so controversial on this thread. It's patently true. It might be injury it might be something else but it's patently true. Talk of vendettas is just idiots looking up long words on google. Also, saying we might be better against weaker sides at home without him may just have a ring of truth to it, as we saw yesterday for example. We've struggled at home against weaker sides. Maybe his injury did us a favour yesterday. People getting their knickers in a twist over nothing. These are the facts of the matter.

There's short and then there's short. This guy's the latter.

Rudiger had a really poor game yesterday. Twice in the second half we could have conceded because of him. The first time Lacazette was offside when he was through, and the second time Zouma spared his blushes when he went to sleep and Aubameyang was clean through. His distribution was appalling also. He's big, tough, strong and fast, but a commanding top notch CB would be my priority in the summer.

Good to hear.

That's all about confidence. It's clearly been lacking but there were good signs today. If he can start to play instinctively and release those shackles he'll be a different player. One thing that worries me about him, there's a video doing the rounds, maybe someone can post it. It's taken by an Arsenal fan at the opposite end of the pitch when we score our winner. Mount, Willian and Tammy have busted a gut to get down the other end of the pitch and produce a goal. Callum is lagging somewhat behind. When the goal goes in the whole team raise their arms and sprint towards Tammy, every single player except Callum, who barely moves or celebrates. I know some will say it's just his personality but I like to see a bit more passion. Mount, Tammy, Tomori, James, these guys clearly care. It means the world to them, playing for Chelsea, you can see that. Even Lamptey today, he's the only player in that video who's not in the picture when we score, as he's on the right flank, but he sprints and is one of the first to jump on top of Tammy. Callum looks a little bit indifferent to it all.

Yeah, Kepa probably said something to him, like, "You should have let it run through to me, what are you doing?", quite rightly too. Rudiger's reaction is pathetic IMO, and not what you want when you're trying to see the game out.

Hated seeing him have a pop at Kepa. Instead of letting the ball run through to Kepa, he chests it down and lumps it out of play, needlessly putting us under pressure. He turns and blames the goalkeeper. What a joke. JT never did that in 20 years at Chelsea. All he did was encourage his teammates, and he was far superior than Rudiger can ever hope to be. If Rudiger is our best defender we've got problems in my opinion. Back in the day when we had world class CBS, this guy would never have got a game.

We mustn't forget a couple of games this season Alonso should have been hooked after 30 minutes, and indeed was hooked at HT during one game. Lampard just decided to be more ruthless today. Neither of them are good enough to be our LB.

Our CBs are so poor with the ball.

Dave has to be our LB now in a back 4. We literally have no other option.

Guendouzi pulled Tammy back inside their box and he was already on a yellow. Karma's a bitch.

I'm not a huge fan of Alonso but this guy is a complete nonentity.

Big big win for Lamps. We were atrocious in that first 30 minutes and I really feared for us. Lampard got everything right from then on. First of all taking Emerson off, going to 4 at the back and bringing on Jorginho, and we wrestled back control. Then, second half, we were really on the front foot, making life uncomfortable for them. He takes Tomori off and brings on Lamptey, which really worked, and then Callum for Kovacic which really surprised me but worked as well. For the first time we've come back having gone behind and that was down to the manager's decisions. We win and the mood is buoyant and confidence is high again, whereas a loss would have been devastating for our fragile mindset. Big big win and Lamps would have learned a lot about his players today.

Harsh. Kepa has his faults and I can be very critical of him but he has no chance for that goal.

He is so f**king impressive. Remember Morata falling over all the time, moaning to the ref all the time, missing all those chances? How times have changed. We have a proper centre-forward, who loves the club, and who loves mixing it. He just gets better and better.

Alonso was injured. Emerson's finished at Chelsea. He's stealing a living.

He was really good. Hopefully he can kick on from here. The talent isn't in doubt.

I've never been Jorginho's biggest fan but he was immense today, totally changed the game. Aggressive, he gave us leadership, and he gave us control of the midfield and control of the ball, and we won from there. Deserved his goal. Well done that man.

Good post, and I agree. 6 defeats at home so far is appalling and Frank unfortunately has made some very poor comments after the game in my view. He needs to shoulder responsibility. Instead, he's implying he's going to buy, because he's finding out about his players and they're coming up short, or some of them are. Fact is, we have enough on the park and in our squad to be turning these teams over, and if they're turning us over, that points to the manager, not the players. How many West Ham, Bournemouth, Southampton players are getting into our side? Not many, but they've worked us out, and as you say, Frank needs to come up with the answers instead of sitting in the dug-out sulking. Buying is easy but it won't solve our problems if he can't come up with answers. Earlier in the season everyone was performing, better than we expected, better than they were last season. Frank took the credit. Now they're under-performing. He has to accept responsibility, not start pointing the finger. We can't f**king defend. He needs to sort that out. His Derby team couldn't defend. He needs to sort it out. Whenever he rotates it seems to go wrong. That's nobody's fault but his own. You need to know how to make changes without it impacting on results. This is the big league. You will get found out if you're not good enough. We have no idea if Frank will be good enough. We all hope he will be. We all hope he will be given time, but right now, our home form is giving him a credibility problem. The Chelsea job is a big job. You can't avoid scrutiny. Yes, youngsters will always be inconsistent, but we've got enough to beat these teams, easily, and we're now making a habit of losing to them, and we're not even making it difficult for them, which is the real worry. Frank is a youngster of course in management terms so we'll all cut him a lot of slack, but if questions can be asked of some of our young players, as they are regularly on these boards, then questions can be asked of Frank, even if we're all delighted he's here. I don't expect top four, I never did, I'm just happy with what's going on, but right now he needs to think his way out of a problem, as you've said, and pointing the finger at his players and getting the chequebook out doesn't suggest to me he's really grasped what the problem is, and that to me is hugely concerning. Last thing, at Derby, when they beat Leeds in the Play-off SF, there were jubilant scenes at the end, in front of the away supporters. There was a lot of bad blood between the sides and Frank was happy, to say the least. It was a great performance, they won against the odds, and they celebrated long and hard, celebrated as if they'd won promotion. A few days later, at Wembley, they never turned up. I watched the scenes at WHL on Sunday and it reminded me of that Play-off SF. It was a big win but it was only 3 points midway through the season in our quest for top four. We celebrated like we'd won the FA Cup. There were players dancing with each other. Frank was leading the chorus. It seems he hadn't learned his lesson. Celebrate by all means and enjoy the moment but when you celebrate too hard sometimes it feels like your work is done, and it's very hard to regain focus and get yourself up for the next game, especially if the next game's just around the corner. Those 3 points mean nothing if you can't win your bread and butter games and Frank can't let himself or his players get carried away with the odd good victory and he needs to learn that fast. He has to remember that he's not the only one finding out about people. Yes a game like today's teaches him a lot about his players, as he's said, but it also teaches his players about him. Sometimes you have to be very careful what you say as a manager. His players have it all to prove but they'll know as well as anyone that their manager has it all to prove too.

Kante is having a wretched season. Whether that's down to Frank's management, tactics, or whether that's down to Kante himself, is up for debate. Ultimately the manager is responsible for performances. That is the job of the manager. If Kante is performing badly Frank has to ask himself what he can do to change the situation. Against Spurs Kante played excellently but towards the end he was clean through with only the keeper to beat. Instead of shooting he paused, let the defender catch him up and then tried to turn on to his stronger foot, and he got tackled. That summed up his season. Too many touches. Kante needs to keep it simple. That's his game. He's getting caught so much in possession it's not funny. Kante for Leicester and for Conte was a phenomenon, but right now our best midfielder by a mile is Kovacic. Previously I've expressed doubts about Jorginho but there's no doubt he linked up well with Kovacic, from a technical point of view. I'd be tempted to try Kovacic alongside Reece James in midfield, because I think we'd be less vulnerable to the sucker punch, we'd be more physical in the middle of the park, and Kovacic might flourish even more with a minder beside him. I think it might be worth a go next time we play a supposed weaker team at home. Edit: I wanted Ampadu to stay because I thought he might make that position his own but right now I'd be tempted to try James. Regardless, those saying it's time to drop Kante in these games might have a point.

Merry Christmas to all.

I can see a bromance blossoming.

He's getting better and better. His all-round game and play with his back to goal is really coming on.

Excellent, although he should have shot when he was clean through. That would have been the cherry on top.

He lost to us when he was at Utd, plenty of times.