9 hours ago, Deino said:

I don't know why he doesn't get picked by Tuchel. He is much better than Christensen and Rudiger. 

Because Zouma can't play lcb and silva can't play rcb. So the decision is is azpi or Zouma

59 minutes ago, Bob stark said:

Because Zouma can't play lcb and silva can't play rcb. So the decision is is azpi or Zouma

Didn’t Zouma play RCB next to JT 

4 hours ago, SFL82 said:

Didn’t Zouma play RCB next to JT 

There's a massive difference between playing on the right of a back three and playing on the right of a central pairing.

7 hours ago, icecoolguy22 said:

No coincidence we aren't scoring from corners after Zouma is out. I think his poor passing counts against him, and to be fair we have been getting results since Rudiger returned.

See, I get that argument but, Silva aside, our defenders don't make risky or progressive passes. They only ever give it to another CB, the Wing back or one of the 6s so Zouma's passing is no different to anyone else's in that regard, and his aerial and physical strengths outwiegh Rudigers and Azpi's in that regard so I'd have Zouma, Silva and one other as the back 3.

He's really not suited to playing in the centre of the back three. 

Thought that was a strange decision by Tuchel last night. Christensen is better suited there for sure. 

If we persist with playing a back three for the rest of the season I can't see Zouma getting many starts outside of injuries and suspension. 

Excellent last night in very tricky conditions. Voted for him in the MOTM.

Here's a question. If he had to take a penalty, would he be better off running up to the spot and heading it? He heads the ball harder and further than Jorginho can kick it.

3 hours ago, ForeverCarefree said:

He's really not suited to playing in the centre of the back three. 

Thought that was a strange decision by Tuchel last night. Christensen is better suited there for sure. 

If we persist with playing a back three for the rest of the season I can't see Zouma getting many starts outside of injuries and suspension. 

Did he do anything wrong yesterday? I thought he was pretty good. 

22 minutes ago, reparto corse said:

Did he do anything wrong yesterday? I thought he was pretty good. 

When playing as part of the back three? 

Any whiff of pressure from Barnsley and we conceded possession. Not specifically a Zouma problem yesterday but playing the middle of the three you're normally the spare man and expected to be the outlet to play out from. Zouma can't do that. 

21 hours ago, SFL82 said:

Didn’t Zouma play RCB next to JT 

Yup in 3 man D, zouma is best suited at rcb

On 12/02/2021 at 20:05, Bob stark said:

Yup in 3 man D, zouma is best suited at rcb

I meant when Jose was bringing him through before he got inured 

Not sure why Tomori wasn't above him in the pecking order under Lampard, he's never going to be anything more than average at best. 

2 minutes ago, Remodez said:

Not sure why Tomori wasn't above him in the pecking order under Lampard, he's never going to be anything more than average at best. 

I get the impression Tomori and Lampard had a falling out of sorts. He went from being his player of the year at Derby, breaking through into the Chelsea team last season to 5th choice centre back this season. 

Doesn't really make sense when he is/was arguably the best ball playing centre back and most suited to the style of play we were aspiring to. 

I wanted him to play well. He fell asleep at 1 instance and it was a terrible mistake to make. 

His long balls and confidence was great before that. After that he never got that swagger back

This is the problem when you're not first or second choice you have to take your opportunities and sadly he didn't exactly impress today. Not awful far from it but that lack of concentration has always been one of his flaws.

Still felt he played better than Rudiger.

20 minutes ago, just said:

Still felt he played better than Rudiger.

Rudiger was awful I thought. So many times he received the ball with an option to play forward, but dithered and the option was closed down forcing him to pass back to Mendy - I think I must have counted at least 5. Seems to have such little confidence in his own distribution. Zouma and Christensen are both better, I think. 

I like Kurt I really do but that was criminal defending. I thought it was bad at the time but after seeing it again on motd it was even worse. 

Let's forget the original mistake of the lapse in concentration, poor positioning and running the wrong way to the ball. I can discount all of that because no body is exempt from making a mistake and he's a good player +hard worker.

My biggeat gripe was the fact that when he ran back he pulled up and started to jog leaving cesar and the keeper in a 2v1 instead of getting back to the line or trying to make up for his mistake by trying to win the ball back. It was all around bad defensive play and with Kurt's experience I expected better. From now on he should only play the left or right cb not the centeral spot.

I dont understand why you play the defenser most likely to have a lapse in concentration in the middle of a back 3? I know Kurt is not the best passer but he is an athlete, surely it would be better to put Dave of those 3 in the middle with the other two either side of him?

I mean the primary features of the first choice and primary backup middle CB of Tuchel, Silva and Christensen, is really good passing and good reading of the game. Zouma has neither of those attributes and that selection cost us the clean sheet.

Despite his goal against burnley I am sure opposition defences would be much more concerned about Zouma bombing in to the box looking to get on the end of a cross than Dave as well.

1 minute ago, axman2526 said:

I dont understand why you play the defenser most likely to have a lapse in concentration in the middle of a back 3? I know Kurt is not the best passer but he is an athlete, surely it would be better to put Dave of those 3 in the middle with the other two either side of him?

I mean the primary features of the first choice and primary backup middle CB of Tuchel, Silva and Christensen, is really good passing and good reading of the game. Zouma has neither of those attributes and that selection cost us the clean sheet.

Despite his goal against burnley I am sure opposition defences would be much more concerned about Zouma bombing in to the box looking to get on the end of a cross than Dave as well.

Azpi is too small for central cb

2 minutes ago, Bob stark said:

Azpi is too small for central cb

Is he that much smaller than Andreas? 

4 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Is he that much smaller than Andreas? 

I think so, for rb/rcv azpi is fine but middle cb nope

4 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Is he that much smaller than Andreas? 

Christensen is not short. He's 1,87, whereas Azpi is 1,78.

11 hours ago, axman2526 said:

I dont understand why you play the defenser most likely to have a lapse in concentration in the middle of a back 3? I know Kurt is not the best passer but he is an athlete.

Actually Zouma attempted 104 passes against Southampton and had a pass success percentage of 93.4% the highest of any of our players.

Help. I'm morphing into Gol15.

I think Zouma just needs to hold on, I don't think his current tricky situation necessarily has long term implications.

There's just no space for him in the side right now. In a back 3 I believe there's 2 positions he's totally unsuited for and one that I could picture him to be really good at. I reckon he'd make a fantastic athletic and physical RCB, but Tuchel has made very clear that Azpi is his first name on the team sheet. If he ever needs a rest I hope Zouma gets a shot.

If we revert to back 4 the cards will be reshuffled. While possibly our best LCB I can't picture Rüdiger in a back 4 any more. Going forward I'd like to see Silva - and subsequently a world-class replacement like Gimenez - paired with Zouma or Christensen. I still consider Zouma a prime candidate for that role. The awkwardness of his movement tends to distract from what a beast of a center half he is, who - when deployed in a familiar role - is actually not at all mistake prone. Add to that the aerial threat going forward,

 

I wouldn't mind the outlook of Silva/Gimenez-Zouma at all

20 minutes ago, Luiz4Chelsea said:

I think Zouma just needs to hold on, I don't think his current tricky situation necessarily has long term implications.

There's just no space for him in the side right now. In a back 3 I believe there's 2 positions he's totally unsuited for and one that I could picture him to be really good at. I reckon he'd make a fantastic athletic and physical RCB, but Tuchel has made very clear that Azpi is his first name on the team sheet. If he ever needs a rest I hope Zouma gets a shot.

If we revert to back 4 the cards will be reshuffled. While possibly our best LCB I can't picture Rüdiger in a back 4 any more. Going forward I'd like to see Silva - and subsequently a world-class replacement like Gimenez - paired with Zouma or Christensen. I still consider Zouma a prime candidate for that role. The awkwardness of his movement tends to distract from what a beast of a center half he is, who - when deployed in a familiar role - is actually not at all mistake prone. Add to that the aerial threat going forward,

 

I wouldn't mind the outlook of Silva/Gimenez-Zouma at all

Agreed. Zouma reminds me a bit on Kimpembe who almost completely fell out with Tuchel during their first season but seriously stepped up his game and became a regular starter (and a more or less top10 CB imho) the second/third season. Not sure about Zoumas passing game, don't know him that well, and the amount of passes + success rate isn't all that telling for a CB in a possession based system imho what counts is the amount and quality of vertical passes made to help building some pressure / help the offense.

As soon as Thiago comes back into play I can see Azpi getting some rest (finally) and would hope Zouma gets and takes his chance.