I know we want CL football; better still; but that aside. Given the fact the season's essentially lost, part of me thinks all these Christensen errors may turn out to be a blessing in disguise. He's getting to learn, in his first season with us no less, what to and what not to do, with no title at risk. And the fact that such a young guy has only made 3 or so mistakes is outstanding still. All in all, this has been an outstanding Christensen season. 

I don't know how many mistakes Terry made in his first couple seasons for us, but I bet a few.

Edited March 4, 20188 yr by fiel

Could and Should have done better. 

the kid is quite good and has had a good season overall. We all knew he would make some mistakes, and unfortunately, they have come at the worst time. Nonethless, happy with him. Probably one of our brightest spots in the hopelessly bleak season.

Couldn't agree more with this assessment of Christensen. This is starting to become a worry.

 

Christensen 5

Always looks relatively composed but always has a mistake in him

 

7 hours ago, didierforever said:

Could and Should have done better. 

the kid is quite good and has had a good season overall. We all knew he would make some mistakes, and unfortunately, they have come at the worst time. Nonethless, happy with him. Probably one of our brightest spots in the hopelessly bleak season.

Agreed. Interestingly the mistakes have been fairly similar (panicked clearances which have been botched), which you would think is a sign of confidence issues as he has otherwise been excellent (even throughout the games in which he made these mistakes). Really the best thing we can do in that regard is continue to give him game time. Benching him now will pointlessly discard the one bit of progress we've managed to make this season.

I'm still a fan.

He has made a couple of mistakes recently but...

A - He'll learn from his mistakes if we keep the faith.

B - His mistakes have come against good teams where our defence has been under immense pressure all game (thanks to Conte's tactics we haven't even had 30% possession in any of these games).

Edited March 5, 20188 yr by 2211

He’s a kid and he’s going to make mistakes, it’s just part of the learning process. Something we need to remember is going to happen every time we bring through youth and put them in he firing line. He’s still been a revelation this season, and I hope he keeps getting game time.

Without a decent back-up there is a lot of pressure put on his young shoulders,but in time he will improve through mistakes and make a top chelsea defender 

3 hours ago, Bluesince66 said:

Without a decent back-up there is a lot of pressure put on his young shoulders,but in time he will improve through mistakes and make a top chelsea defender 

The cause of pressure has been our tactics.

We cant just go in game after game with a plan to get a clean sheet and nick a goal on the counter, not against this level of opposition anyway. Even JT made mistakes now and then.

 

10 hours ago, Famous CFC said:

Couldn't agree more with this assessment of Christensen. This is starting to become a worry.

 

Christensen 5

Always looks relatively composed but always has a mistake in him

 

Might as well play Luiz then. His passing and leadership would be better served.

I like Christensen but he can’t keep switching off like he has, he’s experienced enough to not be doing it and if he’s going to play in the middle of a three man defence he needs to be smarter.

1 hour ago, ForeverCarefree said:

Might as well play Luiz then. His passing and leadership would be better served.

I like Christensen but he can’t keep switching off like he has, he’s experienced enough to not be doing it and if he’s going to play in the middle of a three man defence he needs to be smarter.

I agree. If he carries on like this, there is no reason why he can't sit a game or two out. All part of the learning curve. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christensen has made a few mistakes recently but against high class opposition. Lets not forget how ropey we looked at the back when he was out injured against Bournemouth and Watford.

16 hours ago, PloKoon13 said:

Agreed. Interestingly the mistakes have been fairly similar (panicked clearances which have been botched), which you would think is a sign of confidence issues as he has otherwise been excellent (even throughout the games in which he made these mistakes). Really the best thing we can do in that regard is continue to give him game time. Benching him now will pointlessly discard the one bit of progress we've managed to make this season.

Totally agree.

9 hours ago, ForeverCarefree said:

Might as well play Luiz then. His passing and leadership would be better served.

I like Christensen but he can’t keep switching off like he has, he’s experienced enough to not be doing it and if he’s going to play in the middle of a three man defence he needs to be smarter.

You're worried about a player switching off so you want to bring in David Luiz???? 

46 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

You're worried about a player switching off so you want to bring in David Luiz???? 

I was responding to "Always looks relatively composed but always has a mistake in him". 

Luiz always seems to have a mistake in him too but what he does bring is a much more expansive range of passing (which, given our midfield's recent passive displays, would help push us forwards a bit). 

We're looking very meek on the pitch of late, where's the leadership? Where are the vocal players pushing the team to be better? 

When you think we've had sides containing JT, Lampard, Ballack, Drogba, Cole, Cech, Ivanovic, Gallas, Shevchenko... That's a list of captains for club and country, many of whom were on the pitch together at the same time. Look at the team now, who is there? Azpilicueta and...? 

Agreed on Luiz's passing, he was really the only person in the back three who could consistently get us forward quickly - obviously this is vital for counter attacking. Christensen is fairly conservative with his passing, and Rüdiger tries but doesn't have anywhere near Luiz's technical ability.

8 minutes ago, PloKoon13 said:

Agreed on Luiz's passing, he was really the only person in the back three who could consistently get us forward quickly - obviously this is vital for counter attacking. Christensen is fairly conservative with his passing, and Rüdiger tries but doesn't have anywhere near Luiz's technical ability.

Should we really be playing counter-attacking football as the current champions of England though? Other than against City and Liverpool we should really be trying to control games ourselves instead of just inviting pressure then hoping we can nick a goal. 

5 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

Should we really be playing counter-attacking football as the current champions of England though? Other than against City and Liverpool we should really be trying to control games ourselves instead of just inviting pressure then hoping we can nick a goal. 

Every professional team in the world counter-attacks, without exception. The only difference is the extent to which each team relies upon it as a source of their attacking opportunities.

And we certainly like to counter-attack more than other teams; we employ cantenaccio against Watford 

I wonder why it seems to stick. Albeit far more attractive and effective, we used the same cantenaccio base throughout our entire Lampard / Drogba legacy, I think. Difference being then, we were a big juicy orange; now we're a slightly dry, small nectarine. Better than most of the raisins in the league still, but we're lacking juice. 

Our horrible style isn't so horrible when we have brilliant players. Actually when we have the brilliant players coupled with the ugly tactics, that seems to be our romantic, Chelsea identity. The get-the-job-done, it-doesn't-matter-how set up. When Drogba's smacking screamers in from 40 yards and Lampard / Essien dominate players, it's a whole lot easier to accept setting up less attacking-wise than other teams in the league.

Edited March 6, 20188 yr by fiel

1 hour ago, PloKoon13 said:

Every professional team in the world counter-attacks, without exception. The only difference is the extent to which each team relies upon it as a source of their attacking opportunities.

Every professional team counter attacks when it is useful. Chelsea however make it our only game plan every match. Struggle to find another top team that will set up with 7 defensive outfield players and just bang a ball over the top and hope for the best. 

20 hours ago, ForeverCarefree said:

Might as well play Luiz then. His passing and leadership would be better served.

I like Christensen but he can’t keep switching off like he has, he’s experienced enough to not be doing it and if he’s going to play in the middle of a three man defence he needs to be smarter.

Like I said, nothing wrong with him sitting out a game or two to refocus. Can't carry on making the silly mistakes he's making and expect to start every game. Problem now is there not one off mistakes. Still has a lot to learn if he wants be a top class defender in that position.

An interesting perspective on our recent struggles:

http://www.espn.com/soccer/english-premier-league/23/blog/post/3400119/chelseas-struggles-at-both-ends-largely-due-to-growing-pains-of-alvaro-morata-andreas-christensen

Another huge error today, we didn't concede because of this but Palace hit the post, a better striker will score from that gift.

What do you think, is it time to bring Luiz back or trust Christensen against Barcelona?

I'd say we should stick with Christensen, still young and fresh. I'm sure Barcelona will target him due to his low experience, but I'd go with him to start.

Averaging 1 mistake per game, this time he didn't get punished. Wonder if it will help him to be rotated a bit, but we are short on defenders and he'll have to play anyway.

 

He's making as many mistakes as the others out there. Azpilicueta gave the ball away that we could easily have conceded a goal from too, as did Kante, Willian, and Alonso. The only difference is that the mistakes from Christensen led to goals. It's not an individual problem, its a tactic problem. Every single one of our players is struggling to transition from defense to attack. Surely people can see this, it's been happening all season. We can't just blame one player when every single one of them has the same problem.

They'll all continue to make mistakes as we continue to try and pass the ball out from the back in dangerous situations.