22 hours ago, havelschayes said:

conte said it himself on the arsenal pre game presser, unless he really really lacks match fitness i can see him returning after the international break at most

Quality news mate!

On 9/26/2016 at 11:37, havelschayes said:

conte said it himself on the arsenal pre game presser, unless he really really lacks match fitness i can see him returning after the international break at most

Which international break?  It was already over by the Arsenal game so "after the international break at most" doesn't really make sense.

Edited September 27, 20169 yr by Beerqueen

Which international break?  It was already over by the Arsenal game so "after the international break at most" doesn't really make sense.

There is an international break the week after the hull game.

13 minutes ago, JoseBlues said:

 

There is an international break the week after the hull game.

 

Not another f**king one!  Bloody hell!

Not another f**king one!  Bloody hell!

My feelings exactly

I really do hope Kurt returns the player he was before injury, am trying to be confident, however his role requires he throw himself around a great deal and am just wondering if the injury may have taken the edge off his confidence at making robust challenges.

 

On October 2, 2016 at 06:32, 1905 said:

I really do hope Kurt returns the player he was before injury, am trying to be confident, however his role requires he throw himself around a great deal and am just wondering if the injury may have taken the edge off his confidence at making robust challenges.

 

Players like falcao that had that injury and were unsuccessful in finding form are a bit different when talking attacking players, a CB isn't required to be as refined a footballer dancing around beating opposition, it's not that the injury can't take impact once it's healed it's just that it causes you to lose a bit of your edge, and that impacts an attacker a lot CB's are about positioning reading the game and bring robust, he will still have most of his pace, plus he is young and it was operated on very early and treated with surgery that has advanced alot recently, if you think he will have been out 8 months when Gascoin got his acl surgery he was out a year and a half, the medical advancements are significant in this area, he should be good if he is phased back in correctly. 

The more Zouma plays with Terry the better I think. 

And Zouma is back! He is featuring for the U23 against Derby at 7pm. Great news and hopefully he can get back to his peak soon. He sure has been a big miss.

^ You beat me to it, I came in here all excited to share the good news 

That makes it highly unlikely he'll make tbe squad for West Ham this Wednesday. But he's on his way baaaaaahaaaack!

decent game by zouma, glad to see his athleticism still there, still jumps like there's a trampoline below him and one zouma special, full sprint followed with a perfect sliding tackle from behind

but later showed rustiness with a bad mistimed tackle to concede a penalty

he still needs time to be 100% but he looked good and fearless  for his first game back from a freak injury

Glad he's back but will Conte upset a back 3 that's working so far i doubt it had we been in Europe then maybe

btw he was playing right side cb in the same 343 formation as the first team, looks like at the  request of conte, he saw a lot of the ball and launch some decent long balls too

Happy to see him back, hopefully he will get his place in the starting lineup back, hard work for him, but he will do it.

Would think that Conte would like him being quick. Will be tough to dislodge players but gives us options. 

Welcome back big fella.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3868096/Kurt-Zouma-plays-45-minutes-return-knee-injury-Chelsea-U23s-nine-months-out.html

it'll be great to see Zouma back - if he retains his pace and the amazing accuracy of his tackling he will be a major addition to a back. Interesting that the U23s are playing 3 at the back, pretty clear Conte is establishing his preferred way of playing throughout the club - good news!

With 6 to choose from for that back 3 (Terry, Cahill, Luiz, Zouma, Ivanovic, Azpilicueta) it will be interesting to see who he picks when everyone is fit.

4 minutes ago, Zeta Orionis said:

With 6 to choose from for that back 3 (Terry, Cahill, Luiz, Zouma, Ivanovic, Azpilicueta) it will be interesting to see who he picks when everyone is fit.

For now we surely have to keep playing Azpi - Luiz - Cahill as they've been great together and has racked up three CS in a row. But it's interesting that Zouma was playing in Azpilicuetas position yesterday. I really like Azpi in the position he's been playing in lately and he have done enough to keep that spot for me. As a wingback i think Moses is a much better fit then Azpi.

Haha! 

^ One of the hashtags Didier used is '#fils', meaning son.

6 minutes ago, PloKoon13 said:

^ One of the hashtags Didier used is '#fils', meaning son.

 

Cute, isn't it? 

1 hour ago, Sindre said:

For now we surely have to keep playing Azpi - Luiz - Cahill as they've been great together and has racked up three CS in a row. But it's interesting that Zouma was playing in Azpilicuetas position yesterday. I really like Azpi in the position he's been playing in lately and he have done enough to keep that spot for me. As a wingback i think Moses is a much better fit then Azpi.

Yeah, if I was Conte I would be reluctant to mess with a formation that at the moment is working superbly. Also, I would generally tend not to swap and change centre backs too often because they would be less familiar with each other's style of play. This can cause communication problems, which is a real problem especially against quality opponents. 

Assuming that Zouma was fully fit and the 3-man formation needed some modification - maybe some extra protection for Alonso because of a really threatening right winger - he would IMO be best replacing Cahill as one of the two stoppers, because he is less likely to back off needlessly from his opponent. He's also much faster than Cahill, so it would be harder to catch him out positionally. I'd probably keep Azpi on the right to help out Moses, since he is not a natural defender.

In games with a real, high-quality left winger which would require Azpi's defensive skills to negate, I would play Cahill and Zouma as the two stoppers and Azpi as the WB. 

Again though, I'd think heavily before deciding to do this. 

25 minutes ago, DaRick said:

Yeah, if I was Conte I would be reluctant to mess with a formation that at the moment is working superbly. Also, I would generally tend not to swap and change centre backs too often because they would be less familiar with each other's style of play. This can cause communication problems, which is a real problem especially against quality opponents. 

Assuming that Zouma was fully fit and the 3-man formation needed some modification - maybe some extra protection for Alonso because of a really threatening right winger - he would IMO be best replacing Cahill as one of the two stoppers, because he is less likely to back off needlessly from his opponent. He's also much faster than Cahill, so it would be harder to catch him out positionally. I'd probably keep Azpi on the right to help out Moses, since he is not a natural defender.

In games with a real, high-quality left winger which would require Azpi's defensive skills to negate, I would play Cahill and Zouma as the two stoppers and Azpi as the WB. 

Again though, I'd think heavily before deciding to do this. 

He might be faster but Cahill's positioning is much better and he is also better on the ball, which is more important.

I wouldn't change the back three at all, they are all perfect and provide the exact qualities you would want in this system. Zouma will have to do something extraordinary to get back in the team imo or Moses would have to pick up an injury. 

I don't think Cahill is any better on the ball than Zouma, Cahill's positioning is typically to keep jogging backwards until he's almost in the net, before attempting a last ditch block attempt on the shot.

He's played well since changing to a back 3 but the fact remains that Zouma is a far more solid defender. There's probably no need to fix what ain't broken so long as we're winning games and keeping clean sheets, but eventually I think that will be the swap. Or Dave will go to RWB and Zouma will come in at Moses' expense.

He's too good to keep out of the team for long, assuming he hasn't lost any of his physicality while injured.