I think we have a conundrum with personnel, half the team align well with 3 at the back and the other half 4 at the back.

Christensen and Rudiger work well with 3 at the back as does Azpi, Jorginho and Alonso.

Zouma and Silva are the only two CBs I see as comfortable in back four and then we lose Jorginho, Alonso and Azpi and bring in James and Chilwell. Also in a 4 as we lose something in midfield, we are more likley to be defensively susceptible, think this is why Frank wanted Rice.

Christensen looks decent in a 3. 

 

 

If Tuchel keeps playing 3 at the back, Christiensen stays in the team without hesitation.

Silva's a great defender, but I don't want him to come back at the expense of Christiensen. He needs to fight for his place in the team which I never thought I would say a month or two ago.

Can Silva and Christensen not play together in a back 3 alongside either Azpilicueta or Rudiger?

Back 3 back 4 it doesn’t really matter if azpi of James is the rcb. I think tuchel has done very well selecting a couple of key players that can play different positions so he can switch the formation mid game. It’s more obvious when James is at “wingback” but the atletico game for example with Hudson odoi as a wing back at times looked like we were playing 4-2-3-1. 

On 10/03/2021 at 19:12, Strider6003 said:

I think we have a conundrum with personnel, half the team align well with 3 at the back and the other half 4 at the back.

Christensen and Rudiger work well with 3 at the back as does Azpi, Jorginho and Alonso.

Zouma and Silva are the only two CBs I see as comfortable in back four and then we lose Jorginho, Alonso and Azpi and bring in James and Chilwell. Also in a 4 as we lose something in midfield, we are more likley to be defensively susceptible, think this is why Frank wanted Rice.

Christensen looks decent in a 3. 

 

 

Pretty much all defender is better defensively in 5 than 4, less space to defend mean easier job. 

I personally don't care about back 5 or back 4,the only problem right now is we have 8 attackers, and we play only 3 of them at one time. 

 

 

 

Looks a revitalised player.

thought he was really good today bar that hospital pass 

Good again, but showed no urgency in the last 20, although listening to Tuchel, maybe he was happy with a point.

Played well again but Rudiger was better.

Yeah, bar that one dodgy moment he was imperious again.

That said, Rudiger was also very good today. Weird how we suddenly have decent looking CB options when a couple of months ago they all looked dogsh*t! (bar Silva)

14 minutes ago, Nibs said:

Yeah, bar that one dodgy moment he was imperious again.

That said, Rudiger was also very good today. Weird how we suddenly have decent looking CB options when a couple of months ago they all looked dogsh*t! (bar Silva)

Less pressure when you have a decent keeper behind you ! It takes all the fear of making a mistake away and you can play more naturally and with a bit of confidence.

16 minutes ago, Nibs said:

Yeah, bar that one dodgy moment he was imperious again.

That said, Rudiger was also very good today. Weird how we suddenly have decent looking CB options when a couple of months ago they all looked dogsh*t! (bar Silva)

They were set up wrongly under Lamps to be fair.

One almost costly mistake but other than that I thought he was excellent again today. 

https://www.givemesport.com/1446130-sarri-says-christensen-left-the-bench-early-vs-arsenal-because-he-suffers-from-nerves

 

Should fight through and sh*t himself on the pitch Lineker-style

 

"I was worried more than anything. "You know very well that Christensen on matchdays always has stomach ache. I don't know the reason but he is always very nervous. I don't know what to say."

I really don't want to believe that.

 

He really did get PTSD from the Barca match huh?

Poor guy, hes been immense for us, hopefully he is available the quarters and doesnt suffer another episode

Preface: this is not intended as a dig.

I had a look out of sheer curiosity and found that he does actually have a single goal contribution (i.e. goal or assist) for us: an assist for a Hudson-Odoi goal (our second) in the FA Cup fourth round against Sheffield Wednesday. This was under Sarri, it was Higuaín's debut:

 

Don't think he looked as good playing on the right side of the 3 yesterday. 

I'm curious if he was subbed because he was unlikely to last 90 minutes following his recent illness or if Tuchel thought Dave would add better balance? 

With Silva likely to be fit after the international break it's going to be interesting to see what happens with Christensen. Does he start sharing game time with Dave on the right or go back to sitting on the bench. 

Zouma hasn't exactly disgraced himself when playing in the centre of the three (although I think his more limited distribution skills makes him my least preferred choice for playing there). 

21 hours ago, ForeverCarefree said:

Don't think he looked as good playing on the right side of the 3 yesterday. 

I'm curious if he was subbed because he was unlikely to last 90 minutes following his recent illness or if Tuchel thought Dave would add better balance? 

With Silva likely to be fit after the international break it's going to be interesting to see what happens with Christensen. Does he start sharing game time with Dave on the right or go back to sitting on the bench. 

Zouma hasn't exactly disgraced himself when playing in the centre of the three (although I think his more limited distribution skills makes him my least preferred choice for playing there). 

Why would you drop him though if he has been brilliant in the middle of the park? In a back 3 we need his ball distribution for the system to work.

I do wonder though if we might see a shift to a back 4 with our creative players hitting form. T

13 minutes ago, ducavis said:

Why would you drop him though if he has been brilliant in the middle of the park? In a back 3 we need his ball distribution for the system to work.

I do wonder though if we might see a shift to a back 4 with our creative players hitting form. T

He looks most suited to playing in the middle of the 3 and I think his distribution is maybe the best of any of the current centre backs we've seen play there. 

But do you drop Silva in favour of playing Christensen? I don't think Silva is going to play as well on the right or the left of the 3 so what do you do? 

In terms of individual performances I would argue Christensen has been maybe our best defender. Against Liverpool away and Everton at home he arguably man of the match. 

But Silva is undoubtedly quality and maybe his prolonged abscence (and the defence performing well without him) has made us forget just how good he is... but when he's fit, I think he plays. 

11 minutes ago, ForeverCarefree said:

He looks most suited to playing in the middle of the 3 and I think his distribution is maybe the best of any of the current centre backs we've seen play there. 

But do you drop Silva in favour of playing Christensen? I don't think Silva is going to play as well on the right or the left of the 3 so what do you do? 

In terms of individual performances I would argue Christensen has been maybe our best defender. Against Liverpool away and Everton at home he arguably man of the match. 

But Silva is undoubtedly quality and maybe his prolonged abscence (and the defence performing well without him) has made us forget just how good he is... but when he's fit, I think he plays. 

I think thats right. Silva's leadership alone is worth it. 

On 21/03/2021 at 21:39, PloKoon13 said:

Preface: this is not intended as a dig.

I had a look out of sheer curiosity and found that he does actually have a single goal contribution (i.e. goal or assist) for us: an assist for a Hudson-Odoi goal (our second) in the FA Cup fourth round against Sheffield Wednesday. This was under Sarri, it was Higuaín's debut:

 

I don’t even have to watch the video, I remember that goal and what a beautiful pass it was for CHO!

6 hours ago, Spiller86 said:

I think thats right. Silva's leadership alone is worth it. 

That doesn’t sit right with me though, and I bet it wouldn’t if Tuchel pulled him for Silva if he hasn’t put a foot wrong. With his contract ending in 2022  we need to tread carefully. The Tomori loan move already looks crazy with Milan now reported to be activating the low clause.  What we don’t need is to lose another defender because of our shortsightedness.

 

6 hours ago, ForeverCarefree said:

He looks most suited to playing in the middle of the 3 and I think his distribution is maybe the best of any of the current centre backs we've seen play there. 

But do you drop Silva in favour of playing Christensen? I don't think Silva is going to play as well on the right or the left of the 3 so what do you do? 

In terms of individual performances I would argue Christensen has been maybe our best defender. Against Liverpool away and Everton at home he arguably man of the match. 

But Silva is undoubtedly quality and maybe his prolonged abscence (and the defence performing well without him) has made us forget just how good he is... but when he's fit, I think he plays. 

Personally in the short term I would discuss picking  and choosing games with Silva, maybe he plays the CL games and Christensen the PL ones. At the end of the season I would hope Tuchel would look at the bigger picture, not sure I would be renewing his contract at the expense of losing Christensen though. It would cost £50m+ to get a top class replacement in the long term, and if there is a quality CB out there we won’t be the only team interested.