One secondary assist today, plus should have had one assist at Juve. Doing well with scrapes.

Well done Ross Barkley!

Few of us thought he'd have any kind of impact this season but he's been vital in securing six of our points in the league now. Absolutely brilliant today.

Todays performance probably moves him ahead of Ziyech in the pecking order which should mean he'll get more chances this season.

 

 

I'm still a bit bemused by how much game time he's been getting but credit to him that he's apparently convinced Tuchel he's worth bringing on. 

13 minutes ago, ForeverCarefree said:

I'm still a bit bemused by how much game time he's been getting but credit to him that he's apparently convinced Tuchel he's worth bringing on. 

Think about tuchel he always has a plan with his subs.. chopu motu scored for him at PSG in a ucl semi final for him !! He is a very fair manager.

He may get some stick, but the guy is effective in this formation and the role he is being asked to play.

Ross has been good as a game changing sub.

Decent squad player, has an eye for a goal and can assist.

His pass to send Havertz through for the penalty is probably our best pass of the season so far. Broke two lines of defence with that perfectly weighted pass.

Perhaps only challenged by his own pass to send Azpi through for Werners goal about a while back.

We need someone with that kind of creativity and ability and as of lately, Barkley have delivered that from the bench. So kudos to him.

 

 

6 hours ago, Sindre said:

His pass to send Havertz through for the penalty is probably our best pass of the season so far. Broke two lines of defence with that perfectly weighted pass.

Perhaps only challenged by his own pass to send Azpi through for Werners goal about a while back.

We need someone with that kind of creativity and ability and as of lately, Barkley have delivered that from the bench. So kudos to him.

 

 

I would still rate Kovacic's pass to Lukaku higher. The pass Barkley played to Havertz is something we need to see more of though. Until the subs were made, it was only Jorginho that was trying to play these passes.

7 hours ago, Sindre said:

His pass to send Havertz through for the penalty is probably our best pass of the season so far. Broke two lines of defence with that perfectly weighted pass.

Perhaps only challenged by his own pass to send Azpi through for Werners goal about a while back.

We need someone with that kind of creativity and ability and as of lately, Barkley have delivered that from the bench. So kudos to him.

 

 

Is the sort of passing we expect but rarely ever see from Ziyech.

2 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Is the sort of passing we expect but rarely ever see from Ziyech.

And I would have Barkley in the team ahead of Ziyech right now. 

Which probably says more about Ziyech than anything. 

18 minutes ago, ForeverCarefree said:

And I would have Barkley in the team ahead of Ziyech right now. 

Which probably says more about Ziyech than anything. 

Indeed. I dunno I just don't think he wants it badly enough.

21 hours ago, ForeverCarefree said:

And I would have Barkley in the team ahead of Ziyech right now. 

Which probably says more about Ziyech than anything. 

I think Ziyech should still start since Mount is ill. Ziyech was just unlucky against Newcastle. He could easily have scored 2 with the offside and the shot that hit the post. His counter pressing was amazing and he even took a yellow card from a tactical foul on Saint Maximan.

We can't forget that Ziyech was our best player in pre season and a shoulder injury is not something to just shrug off especially for a dynamic player.

Barkley has really surprised me and seems like the only player who can easily send a through ball in this team 

10 minutes ago, The Don Antonio said:

I think Ziyech should still start since Mount is ill. Ziyech was just unlucky against Newcastle. He could easily have scored 2 with the offside and the shot that hit the post. His counter pressing was amazing and he even took a yellow card from a tactical foul on Saint Maximan.

We can't forget that Ziyech was our best player in pre season and a shoulder injury is not something to just shrug off especially for a dynamic player.

Barkley has really surprised me and seems like the only player who can easily send a through ball in this team 

But how many times do you say Ziyech was unlucky when game after game he doesn't make a telling contribution? 

He's got 27 Premier League appearances for Chelsea now and just 3 assists. Considering the quality of his delivery was meant to be one of his biggest stregths that's a pretty shocking return. 

He's got just the two league goals to his name as well. 

At just the point of wondering how many more chances you give him when the like of RLC and Barkley look more impactful than him. 

4 minutes ago, ForeverCarefree said:

But how many times do you say Ziyech was unlucky when game after game he doesn't make a telling contribution? 

He's got 27 Premier League appearances for Chelsea now and just 3 assists. Considering the quality of his delivery was meant to be one of his biggest stregths that's a pretty shocking return. 

He's got just the two league goals to his name as well. 

At just the point of wondering how many more chances you give him when the like of RLC and Barkley look more impactful than him. 

     The lad is World class. The formation we play doesn't really suit him because he thrives on having a free role but we can't just give up on a foreign player after 1 and a quater seasons. It takes time to adapt to the English game and he has been very unlucky with injuries just when he is heating up. It happened at the end of Lampards reign and also happened in Pre season when he was hands down our best player.

     Besides he has never had a consistent run of games starting under Tuchel . Remember form is temporary and class is permanent. HAKIM ZIYECH IS CLASS

2 minutes ago, The Don Antonio said:

Remember form is temporary and class is permanent. HAKIM ZIYECH IS CLASS

Don't think he's demonstrated that yet in a Chelsea shirt. 

He's not played a game for us where I've thought "wow, what a player". 

World class forwards will shine through regardless of the formation and won't contribute less than 1 goal every 10 games. 

1 minute ago, ForeverCarefree said:

Don't think he's demonstrated that yet in a Chelsea shirt. 

He's not played a game for us where I've thought "wow, what a player". 

World class forwards will shine through regardless of the formation and won't contribute less than 1 goal every 10 games. 

He hasn't started that many games for us. I agree that he hasn't set the roof on fire with his performances but Neither has Kai havertz ( Apart from UCL Final) I will judge Ziyech once he has a run of games as a starter .

10 hours ago, The Don Antonio said:

He hasn't started that many games for us. I agree that he hasn't set the roof on fire with his performances but Neither has Kai havertz ( Apart from UCL Final) I will judge Ziyech once he has a run of games as a starter .

That's not how it works in top level football though. We can't give everyone a run of starts just because they've performed in a much inferior league. We have many talented guys that would apply to. Ziyech got plenty of chances and didn't really take them. 

9 hours ago, True Blue23 said:

That's not how it works in top level football though. We can't give everyone a run of starts just because they've performed in a much inferior league. We have many talented guys that would apply to. Ziyech got plenty of chances and didn't really take them. 

He has been here for a year and 3 months. I won't pass judgement until at least the end of this season. I don't know what you mean by he hasn't taken his chances. He was big for us against Athletico in the quaterfinals  and twice against Man City at the Etihad and in the FA cup Final. He is in direct competition with Mason Mount who was our player of the season and has been an able sub for him when he is injured. 

Like i said he has suffered in our change in Formation to the 3421 while others like Alonso and Rudiger have prospered with the change in formation change. 

Thankfully Tuchel is a great coach and i know he will give Ziyech all the support he needs to show his talent for Chelsea

Given his chance today. Some have him down as man of the match, Sky giving him a 9 out of 10.

He found the space well that was asked of him to find, and was involved in a lot of good moves. 

In the end though for me the final product we were looking for just was not there. No defence splitting final pass, no finish.

Of our front 3 he was the one I expected to take shots on, and he did not do it often enough and the one glorious open he had, lots of time and space, he skied it.

A wasted opportunity to impress.

There have been moments from CHO, Havertz and Ziyech but not enough to keep Lukaku, Werner and Mount out imo.

My main issue with Barkley is he seems like a very selfish player. He always wants to score or take a shot when he can play someone else in. Its his decision making in front of goal as well as his inability to pick the right pass when we have a break, that has always stopped him taking the next step.

Tuchel took a chance on him, at the end of the day judging by result it back fired. I think at best he's a super sub, no where near good for a starter in the league or CL games. I dare to say he's not going to get another start in the league until we lose 2-3 MFs.

5 hours ago, icecoolguy22 said:

Tuchel took a chance on him, at the end of the day judging by result it back fired. I think at best he's a super sub, no where near good for a starter in the league or CL games. I dare to say he's not going to get another start in the league until we lose 2-3 MFs.

The result was definitly not down to Barkley. As a matter of fact I think he did very well and gave us something we've been missing for a while. He's a top passer in attacking areas and he showed that yesterday too. On the contrary I believe we may see a lot more of Barkley as he offers something different to the rest of them. And he's much better than Ziyech.

The only thing that I really found annoying is when he didn't pass to Chilwell in the second half, that was an easy pass to make and a good scoring chance.