ForeverCarefree

Good signing if it happens. Especially if Emerson is offloaded to Inter for the rumoured €20m.

Knew he'd lost his place in the Chelsea team with the signing of Ziyech and the imminent arrival of Havertz. Out performed by Pulisic in his first season so he's moved to an average team to ensure himself regular football.

Gilmour barely played, what little playing time he got he did well despite being his first meaningful tastes of senior football. He did okay, didn't set the world on fire 6/10. Jorginho, a seasoned, experienced, specialist player didn't deliver the sort of performances, consistently, I would expect from a player of his pedigree. I didn't "forget" to drop Kante's rating. 6/10 for a world class player who up to now has delivered 8 or 9/10 seasons up until now. Mostly down to a sting of injuries stopping him from building form and fitness. Yet despite this he still looked better and more at home in the team than Jorginho in my opinion.

With the ball Jorginho, for the most part, is decent. Without it, he's too often found wanting. When he's screening that area in front of the defence he's too easy to past and the lack of cover and protection from the midfield is as big a reason for the number of goals we conceded as the defenders. Jorginho is a specialist midfielder. He's pretty much suited to playing in only one role in the midfield which is sitting in front of the defence rather than playing box to box or in a more advanced position. Unless he's excelling in that role he's contributing little else. He finished the season with just 2 assists in all competitions, whilst we let in 50+ goals in the league. My personal opinion, he's not making a telling enough contribution at either end of the pitch.

What point are you trying to make about Davies? That our players in a transitional season didn't outperform a player that's part of one of the best sides in Europe? Plus what's that got to do with Tomori? Don't like my ratings or how I've based them feel free to post your own or create your own thread. Kepa is our record signing. The manager and possibly the defenders lost confidence in him to the extent where he was dropped for 38 year old back up. The manager saw fit to drop him for some of the biggest games of the season including the cup final. So many times Kepa was either nowhere close to stopping a goal or not even attempting a save. Throw on top that he rarely comes to claim crosses he's all round game has just been well below the expectations of what should be our undisputed #1 goalkeeper. I don't think Caballero at this point in his career is a particularly good goalkeeper either but he still instills more confidence than Kepa.

Answer is there in the initial post. Ratings I gave to players took into account the level of expectation I had for them given their relative age and experience. Being the youngest and least experienced of the centre backs my expectations for Tomori were lowest but he didn't look out of place in the team and put in some quite good performances. Of his 15 Premier League appearances he completed 90 minutes in 13 of them. 9 matches were wins, 2 draws, 4 loses (including matches against Liverpool and Manchester City). In the games he played in we conceded 16 goals, a rate of 1.07 per game. Compare that to our overall league record of conceding 1.42 goals per game I think his rating is perfectly justified.

Kepa Arrizabalaga 1/10 He's had the obligatory "year to settle in" to a new league a country and yet he's rubbish. Whoever's idea it was to spend £70m on him should be taken out back and shot to ensure they're not involved in any future transfers. He doesn't command his area, I can't think of the last time I saw him come and claim a cross. He just stands on the goal line, watches shots fly past him and then turns accusingly to his defence to absolve himself of any blame. I wouldn't mind but half the time he doesn't he attempt to make a save. 14 of his goals conceded in Premier League he didn't move. Absolutely pants. Willy Caballero 6/10 He's done about as much as you could ask a 38 year old reserve goalie to do. He's a competent back up, not someone who should be starting every week. A more calming presence than Kepa but then again that's not exactly saying much. Antonio Rudiger 5/10 A difficult season for Rudi, he returned after a pretty big injury and after the sale of Luiz was our most senior defender, Probably the player Lampard hoped would be a calming presence and someone to be relied upon. What we got was a rather erratic season where Rudi was making the kind of errors Luiz would get crucified for. He likes to get tight to his man but far too often is diving in and missing his tackles allowing massive gaps to form. His distribution has at times looked armature. Given the relatively short break and pre-season he'll be getting I'm not holding my breath that we might see much improvement from him next season. Kurt Zouma 6/10 Probably our best centre back this season but given we conceded over 50 goals in the league alone I'm not sure that's something to be particularly proud of. Got a knack of making the occasional last ditch tackle but positionally often found found wanting and has maybe the worst distribution of all the centre backs. His aerial ability ended up being much needed given our vulnerability at set pieces but I'm not convinced his game is well rounded enough to be a regular starter. Andreas Christensen 5/10 There's a good player in there somewhere. However he goes from looking solid and assured to being a complete liability. His form is far too erratic. Seems like once things start to go badly for him or the team in a match he just goes to bits rather than taking ownership and turning things around. Fikayo Tomori 7/10 Showed early signs of promise at the beginning of the season but his form started to tail off around Christmas and by the time of the restart was out of favour. That said for a young player making his debut season in the Premier League he did well and I think we've seen enough to feel hopeful for his future. I apparently likely to go on loan next season to a top flight club which I think will do him the world of good. César Azpilicueta 7/10 Signs that his legs are starting to go a little in that he seems to have lost half a yard of pace, we saw in the FA cup final that players with even a hint of pace can blow past him with relative ease. However he's still a good player and his experience and longevity at Chelsea means his still a big part of the team. Reece James 7/10 Defensively he needs to improve no question. Considering he's fairly quick wingers can breeze past him too easily too often but given it's his first season in the top flight he did alright. Not sure he quite ready to be first choice just yet but the signs are promising. Marcos Alonso 6/10 Early on it looked like he was completely out of favour with Lampard but eventually played himself back into the team. Always looks better playing as a wing back rather than an outright left back mainly because his attacking contributions are impressive. Far too lazy getting back into position defensively when he's wondered forward. If Lampard plans to play 4 at the back next season I can't see him getting much playing time. Emerson 3/10 Another to be added to the long list of rubbish left backs signed in the Roman era. His lack of awareness and positioning to allow Bayern to score the opener at the weekend by playing Lewandowski onside encapsulates his game nicely. Jorginho 5/10 Named vice captain by Lampard at the start of the season and looked set to be a key component in the team but then at the restart found himself pretty far down the pecking order behind Billy Gilmore who wasn't even playing that well. He's a decent player but I'm just not convinced his playing style is suited to what Lampard wants to build. He's happy to go backwards and sideways with the majority of his passes whereas I think Lampard wants the ball moving forward quicker. Despite being in his peak years he's got absolutely no pace whatsoever and gets beaten way too easily and it's a big reason he racked up so many bookings this season. N'Golo Kante 6/10 An injury ravaged season meant he missed half of our games and couldn't stay fit long enough to build up any kind of form. Still comfortably our best midfielder though. Hopefully he can get fit and stay fit next season. Ross Barkley 5/10 In one game he can go from looking brilliant to pants. Even against Bayern at the weekend there were occasions he'd pick up the ball and run it out of a tight spot and open the game up for us, would constantly lead the forward press but then give the ball away cheaply 2/3 times in a row. He's not bad as a squad player but at 26 he's never going to be more than that for Chelsea. Ruben Loftus-Cheek 4/10 That achilles injury hasn't been easy to recover from and he looked off the pace in the limited minutes he got following the restart, Question marks over whether he's going to fully recover from that major set back but we can only hope because he's got a skill set unique to our current midfield options. That said if we do sign Havertz I'm not sure I can see Ruben getting much game time next season even if fit. Mateo Kovacic 7/10 Much improved from last season but still doesn't influence things in the final third anywhere near as much as I think he should. Works hard in the middle and covers a lot of distance and isn't afraid to put a tackle in. Was probably our best central midfielder this season but I think there's still room for improvement there. Mason Mount 8/10 Fantastic debut season from Mount and my personal player of the season. Always works tirelessly for the team, is extremely assured in possession and has great awareness to pop up where he's needed in attack. Really looking forward to seeing how he builds on his debut season. Billy Gilmour 6/10 That Liverpool cup game is hopefully a sign of what we can see more of from Gilmore in the future. He looked out of his depth in the Leicester cup game and obviously still has much to learn. Hopefully the knee injury doesn't set him back to much. Will be interesting to see if Frank keeps him around next season because he clearly rates him or if he goes on loan to get some playing time and experience. Willian 6/10 Done what Willian does. Works hard, tracks back and all that but doesn't contribute enough where it matters most in the final third. Even after being gifted the chance to tuck away 3 penalties after the restart still didn't manage to score double figures during any of his 7 seasons at Chelsea. Was an experienced head to help the influx of younger players making their debut seasons for Chelsea. Hopefully he enjoys his retirement in north London. Pedro 6/10 Didn't get to play much this season as I think it was confirmed he was going pretty early on and that Lampard favoured giving chances to the likes of Mount and CHO. Always puts a shift in though but I think we're right to part ways with a player on the decline. Callum Hudson-Odoi 6/10 We saw flashes of what he can do sporadically when he did play. He looks better suited to the left but Mount and Pulisic look like they'll be ahead of him for that position so needs to work on influencing games more from the right hand side. He's got a long way to go to justify his well paid 5 year contract but he's only 19 and has plenty of time on his side. With Pedro and Willian both leaving he's got an opportunity to push for more minutes and starts next season. Christian Pulisic 8/10 There were quite a few eyebrows raised when we paid £60m for Pulisic with plenty questioning whether he was worth the money, especially given his rather modest goals return for Dortmund. He rose to the challenge in his debut season and was out most influential attacking player, Suffered a pretty nasty injury midway through the season and ended up missing quite a few games, yet despite this still finished the season with a more than respectable goals and assist tally. The signs look good for our attacking options next season. Tammy Abraham 7/10 A more than respectful first fully season for Tammy. Finished the season our leading goal scorer which is exactly what you want from your centre forward. Started to lose form a bit around the new year and was struggling to get into games, especially in terms of hold up play. That said, considering there were doubts about whether he was capable of leading the line for a top flight club his league tally of 15 for the season isn't too shabby. Olivier Giroud 8/10 Was completely out of favour for the first half of the season but was the consummate professional and ended up showing his quality when Tammy lost his way. Doesn't always score as many goals as you would like but given his limited playing time he managed 8 league goals which ended up being a part of our finishing in the top 4. Michy Batshuayi 3/10 He's not very good is he? Frank Lampard 7/10 Lots questioned if he was good enough for the job but despite inheriting a rather unbalanced squad he was very bold in decisions and direction for the team. He really set down a marker when he sanctioned the sale of Luiz to Arsenal that this wasn't a team that going to survive on player power. Despite the opening say 4-0 loss to Manchester United Frank kept faith with the youngsters he promoted to squad and was vindicated in achieving a top 4 finish and reaching an FA Cup final. All this without Eden Hazard who almost single-handed dragged the team to wins and a top 4 finish last season mainly by flying against the dour "Sarri-ball". Frank's decision to ease Pulisic into the team at the start of season paid off too with him looking sharp when he did start to get regular starts and playing time. Plenty of work to do. Not least defensively, no question the current crop of defenders aren't good enough but tactically Frank didn't help things at times by pushing the team to far up the pitch, it was reminiscent of AVB's tenure at times with how easily teams were able to get in behind our high line. The sheer number of goals we conceded from set pieces needs to be addressed too and I wouldn't be surprised if some additional help is bought into the backroom staff, a better goalkeeping coach included. All told it was a building block of a season and I think Lampard and the squad did well all things considered. We're throwing a bit of money at the team this summer with Havertz plus a goalkeeper, left back and centre back likely to be added to signings of Werner and Ziyech so expectations will be much higher next year.

Is there likely to be any links for the game tonight? Otherwise looks like I’m doing the ironing.

Isn't that half the problem with Willian? How often do we see him get past his man, make a good run etc. only for him to spoon his shot over the bar, make a poor pass in or around the box, make the decision? He's just not very clinical. Once CHO is fully fit and Pulisic has found his feet I don't see Willian getting much of a look in.

If he scores the winner against the bin dippers this weekend all will be forgiven.

Rumours building already that Real are thinking of sacking Zidane. He was allowed to spend a lot of money this summer but whenever I see their team sheets they look like they're mostly playing the same team as last season. Not sure Zidane would get sacked this early into the season, they're only two points off the top of the league and with Hazard fit again you can only see results and performances improving.

Looking forward to reading the mental gymnastics involved in people still being annoyed at a player who has committed his long term future to the club. Looking forward to seeing his return to the first team. Willian and Pedro have served up some stinkers for performances already this season so an injection of pace, youthful enthusiasm, confidence and directness will be most welcome.

Wasn't really sure where else to put this. Anyone seen the website The Athletic? They've sort of appeared out of nowhere regarding English football coverage and the start of this season they've managed to recruit some quite big football journalists to write for them. Dominic Fifield, Amy Lawrence and Oliver Kay have all joined them recently. It's a subscription website but it looks like they're churning out a lot of content, just thought it was interesting to see written media be so aggressive.

Callum Wilson has carried over his good form from last season. Saw this info about him today. The most goal involvements by English players in the Premier League since the start of last season: Raheem Sterling - 32 (22G, 10A) CALLUM WILSON - 26 (17G, 9A) Jamie Vardy - 26 (21G, 5A) Harry Kane - 25 (20G, 5A) Marcus Rashford - 20 (13G, 7A)

Big thing about Tammy’s success so far this season is Lampard’s system has been all about creating space and scoring chances for the centre forward. We’re not seeing the central midfielders dallying with the ball in the opposition half, the ball is getting forward early and direct and allowing Tammy to take up some great positions. Fantastic start to the season from Tammy. I honestly didn’t think he’d start the season as first choice, I thought Giroud would get the nod because of his experience.