11 minutes ago, Jangz said:

All these Leeds examples .. I thought Leeds lost to them didn’t they? 

Also Leeds have let in 7 goals in 2 games, and 3 of those against Fulham. Hardly setting a great example when it comes to defending.

So far he is meeting expectation imo. Should we beating teams like Brighton? Certainly.

Should we be getting a result against the best side in the land with our best players missing and having Kepa, Christensen and Jorginho in the team? In your dreams.

1 hour ago, Brutos said:

Looking at this fixture list I would normally say we win them but not anymore 

To carry on meeting expectations the results should go:

WBA: win

Palace: win

Saints: Win

United: loss.

Burnley: Win

Blades: win.

Edited September 20, 20205 yr by axman2526

Crucial couple of months for Lampard coming up there's a lot of doubt creeping in with the fans and the media.

Temper our expectations people. I have. Top 4 is minimum, 3rd place my target for us and improvement in Europe. Get Werner and other new boys playing well together, and hopefully a cup, any cup.

We wont reach Pool or City levels.

One positive does seem to be we look to be defending set pieces better, haven't come close to conceding one yet.

Too small sample size or is Barry making a difference already?

52 minutes ago, EdinburghBlue said:

That’s all well and good but we had 11 players that are better than Leeds 11 players individually, yet we set up like we were the newly promoted side against Liverpool when you compare the two games. Liverpool didn’t get out of second gear against us.

Leeds went into their game against Liverpool playing a suicidal high line and conceded 4 goals for it. Set up the same way against Fulham and conceded another 3 goals. Sorry but I'm not impressed by what Leeds did. 

First half, 11 against 11, Liverpool didn't have one meaningful chance on goal. If Werner does better up against Fabinho on two occasions in the first half when he was baring down on goal we could have quite realistically gone in at half time 1-0 up. Suddenly Liverpool have to play even more on the front foot and become even more risk averse... Then the possibilites for us really open up. 

All ifs and buts I know but it made sense to me how Lampard set us up today. 

21 minutes ago, ForeverCarefree said:

Leeds went into their game against Liverpool playing a suicidal high line and conceded 4 goals for it. Set up the same way against Fulham and conceded another 3 goals. Sorry but I'm not impressed by what Leeds did. 

First half, 11 against 11, Liverpool didn't have one meaningful chance on goal. If Werner does better up against Fabinho on two occasions in the first half when he was baring down on goal we could have quite realistically gone in at half time 1-0 up. Suddenly Liverpool have to play even more on the front foot and become even more risk averse... Then the possibilites for us really open up. 

All ifs and buts I know but it made sense to me how Lampard set us up today. 

Liverpool would have been 1-0 up at half time if Christensen hadn't fouled Mane. Don't forget that.

I think we needed to play Mount or Havertz through the middle and have Kante play deeper with Kova. Adding another attacking player - Barkley, CHO, Giroud, don't care who, up top. 

This experiment of kante being an attacking player needs to end. Kante Kovacic and jorginho as a middle 3 doesn't work as only Kante ever gets forward and he has no idea what he's doing when he gets there. 

Lamps talks about us needing time in his post match comments. Is that for us, the media or Roman? Maybe all 3.

Frank had zero plan to get us back into the game after we went down to ten men, literally nothing. The players had no idea what to do during the few moments in which they got the ball. Made the necessary changes far too late. Essentially a capitulation, we were a total non-entity in the second half.

The icing on the cake is that when we finally introduced a centre forward, we started trying to play it out short from the back! Ridiculous considering Kepa (bless him) had spent the previous half hour trying to play long balls up to Mason Mount...

Edited September 20, 20205 yr by PloKoon13

6 minutes ago, bisright1 said:

Liverpool would have been 1-0 up at half time if Christensen hadn't fouled Mane. Don't forget that.

I think we needed to play Mount or Havertz through the middle and have Kante play deeper with Kova. Adding another attacking player - Barkley, CHO, Giroud, don't care who, up top. 

This experiment of kante being an attacking player needs to end. Kante Kovacic and jorginho as a middle 3 doesn't work as only Kante ever gets forward and he has no idea what he's doing when he gets there. 

I don't think we'll be seeing that midfield three too often once everyone is fit. I would guess Pulisic and Ziyech will play on the wings with Havertz playing behind Werner in an attacking midfield role. Then it's two in a double pivot most likely Kante and Kovacic... A lot of reports say Frank isn't actually that keen on Jorginho as a regular starter. 

54 minutes ago, bluehaze said:

Crucial couple of months for Lampard coming up there's a lot of doubt creeping in with the fans and the media.

This isn’t true. It’s only a few people here. If anything the media have been more kinder to Lampard than some here considering the consensus is that Chelsea will only get better as the team gels. They’ve literally only been criticizing kepa.

I dont get all the Negativity regarding Lamps. He's had the opportunity to play just 2 of the new signings in the first 2 games, and one of which has played out of his favoured position twice,

Granted we hav'nt played well in the two games but we've played both games with the same back four that conceded 50 plus goals last season, one of those against the best side in the league.

If we can finish third and get within 10 points of Liverpool and City then that will be a great platform for next season, that has to be our aim.

The side will need time to gel, those that think we can win the league with 6 new signings making up our regular starting eleven against the likes of established squads that Liverpool and City have, are quite frankly deluded.

Give Frank and the side the time they need and they will come good, i have no doubt about that.

1 hour ago, axman2526 said:

So far he is meeting expectation imo. Should we beating teams like Brighton? Certainly.

Should we be getting a result against the best side in the land with our best players missing and having Kepa, Christensen and Jorginho in the team? In your dreams.

To carry on meeting expectations the results should go:

WBA: win

Palace: win

Saints: Win

United: loss.

Burnley: Win

Blades: win.

No, we should be beating Man United too. By the time we play them, surely a fair few of our players will be back and the likes of Werner and Havertz will be more prepared.

We’re also a better team than them. I don’t think we will win all 7 games, I mean who wins 7 on the trot? But I think the expectation certainly should be to win all of these.

16 minutes ago, dansubrosa said:

No, we should be beating Man United too. By the time we play them, surely a fair few of our players will be back and the likes of Werner and Havertz will be more prepared.

We’re also a better team than them. I don’t think we will win all 7 games, I mean who wins 7 on the trot? But I think the expectation certainly should be to win all of these.

Liverpool and City

14 minutes ago, dansubrosa said:

No, we should be beating Man United too. By the time we play them, surely a fair few of our players will be back and the likes of Werner and Havertz will be more prepared.

We’re also a better team than them. I don’t think we will win all 7 games, I mean who wins 7 on the trot? But I think the expectation certainly should be to win all of these.

We have such a bad mental block at Old Trafford though, i feel we could create a peak Pep Barca team while they bring Moyes back and we'd still find a way to tamely drop points.

Hopefully it's different with no/few fans there.

I honestly think Christensen was actually having a good game until that mistake, but it was a bad mistake. Kepa sh*te as usual, every time they took a shot or were near him in the box I was sh*tting myself. Havertz was a ghost, but who could blame him when he's being played in the wrong position. CF Havertz is okay in the bundesliga, but the prem is a different beast and we need his creativity more than anything.

Lampard once again freezes out CHO to play his favourite player Mount. Did absolutely nothing all game except run around like a headless chicken. Mount can have unlimited sh*t performances, but as long as he runs and brings energy its fine right? Guy has almost no technical ability, and lampard's love for him is truly worrying. If that was Jorginho, Christensen or CHO with the performance Mount had, people will be screaming for them to be sold or drop them at the very least, but because Lampard loves him its okay to play him every single game. Wonder if Mount was a non-white player we just bought, how many people would keep wanting him to start each game? Getting sick of this sh*t honestly, Lampard playing Mount every game in the wrong position will cost us more and more points this season. It scares me how we could have a fully fit squad with out best players in the best positions and Lampard will still find a way to squeeze Mount in there in a random position, just to have him in the team.

Ive said it before and I'll say it again, Mount is hopeless as a winger.

I'm going to come down a little hard on Lampard here, as imo the buck stops with him with the gaps we continue to see.  Yes there are external factors/influences, but he has to be stronger.  Before the game I was of the opinion that a loss was not going to define our season.  I did not expect this manner of defeat.  The gaps were appalling - we never laid a glove on Liverpool.

- Tactics - there is so much to unpack here. Klopp was playing chess, Frank playing checkers.  Liverpool came for the win and that mentality was evident from kick off.  Chelsea were playing not to lose.  You always know how Chelsea's result will be from the first 3 minutes, and we were second best from kick off.  Beyond that, and this is where I really hold Frank accountable, he continues to play players out of position.  Last week was Havertz in RW, which I know some say he can do.  Timo had a very effective game against Brighton, so what did Frankioula do - of course move him to left wing.  Kante as the headless chicken.  Let him defend - the one time he had the box in the Liverpool penalty box it ended up back with Kepa.  Why is it so hard to play your best players in their best positions.  We jam in every central midfielder we have and as a result have no pace or ability to get in behind teams.  Is it such a risk to play Odoi today when you look what Mount gives us at LW

- Selection - what has Kepa done in the off season to earn the place back from Willy.  According to Frank, we haven't had a preseason, so what changed?  From my eyes, nothing as the clown makes the same mistakes week after week.  Layer on the midfield trio which doesn't quite work, Mount at LW and the back four which we all know.

- Fitness - according to Frank, we haven't had a preseason.  He needs a long hard look in the mirror as neither have any other sides but they aren't struggling with lethargic tones.  Move past it and demand more.

- Availability - while I understand some players arrived injured or delayed, what the hell is going on with injuries.  We must improve management of this, and Frank needs to set that expectation to the club.  How have Liverpool signed a player Friday and he is already doing damage to us Sunday.  If that were us, he'd be wrapped up warm at home as "he hasn't had a preseason"

- Decision Making - individual errors time and time again cost us.  We keep repeating the mistakes.  Frank can't eradicate the individual mistakes, but he can stop selecting the perpetrators  

- Predictability - compounded the individual mistakes, at HT we said one thing - Liverpool will score within 3 mins of the restart.  I've never seen such a fragile Chelsea team

- Leadership/Character/Spine - it is just not there with 80%+ of the team playing today.

Frank's a nice guy, and I think that might be the biggest problem.  Get ruthless, quickly.  Again the result is irrelevant; the manner of the defeat is not.  Expecting immediate improvement, and if we don't start to see that I have no room for sentiment.

1 hour ago, driller97 said:

I honestly think Christensen was actually having a good game until that mistake, but it was a bad mistake.

He covered Kepas a$$ well otherwise Firmino opens the scoring.

Problem is you cannot make such a bone headed choice at that stage of the game.

If you are in the 88th minute defending a lead or happy with a point absolutely right call take one for the team. With a half to go though would rather he let Mane score.

Edited September 20, 20205 yr by axman2526

Geninuely interested to see what many on here think Roman will do with Frank if we do not have a title challange, (challange not win the title), this season?

With the investment made would that mean the sack or would he get one more season?

Just stop playing Kepa, that's all I ask for. 

1 hour ago, axman2526 said:

Geninuely interested to see what many on here think Roman will do with Frank if we do not have a title challange, (challange not win the title), this season?

With the investment made would that mean the sack or would he get one more season?

A few months ago, Manuel Veth (Forbes writer and someone who is connected to the German football world based off his previous reporting) reported that Chelsea was looking at Nagelsmann as a potential replacement for Lampard as they see him as a manager that could take us beyond the transfer ban/COVID-19 period. I didn't believe it at first, but he was right about the Havertz medical issue and has extensive reporting on other German football topics. I don't know what will happen, but I could see Lampard's position being examined at the end of the year if we don't improve from our 4th place finish. If we have a Mourinho or AVB-style collapse, things could get very interesting. I personally think every manager needs plenty of time to implement his philosophy and build a culture, so I'm not opposed to Lampard getting a few more years.....but he also needs to show he isn't totally clueless when it comes to managing and utilizing all this talent. I haven't really seen that yet, but we'll see more in the next few months I guess.

https://www.transfermarkt.us/report-chelsea-want-kai-havertz-new-german-wave-also-to-include-nagelsmann-/view/news/362445

Edited September 21, 20205 yr by PraetorianGuard

Interesting.

Lamps needs to win the PL CL double this season lol

2 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Geninuely interested to see what many on here think Roman will do with Frank if we do not have a title challange, (challange not win the title), this season?

With the investment made would that mean the sack or would he get one more season?

I am a big fan of Franks and I hope he succeeds. That being said I am sure Roman will be as tough on Frank as he would be any other manager. After backing him heavily this summer, Frank will no doubt be expected to deliver an improvement on the field. Who knows what will be acceptable at the boardroom level? I suspect the key will be at least closing the gap on the top 2 and staying in the run for the title a bit longer this season. Beyond that perhaps a Cup or a good run in Europe will also help. If we fail to finish top 4 then I suspect Frank would find himself under a lot of pressure, purely due to the financial rewards of the Champions League. 

It is early days but already it looks as though the top 4 will be more competitive this season. Beyond Liverpool and City, you have an improved Arsenal team, and United will also be challenging with more signings probably on the way. Spurs could improve with their latest signings although it remains to be seen if Jose can avoid the inevitable decay of the dressing room that seems to follow him these days. Beyond them Leicester have again started well. Wolves look good, and even Everton cannot be ruled out with their rebuilding. There could be 8-10 teams in the mix this season which will lead to tougher games and finer margins. So with all that in mind I think it will be important for Frank's success that our new look team settles quickly.

I think he got a lot wrong yesterday, but there is no reason to panic. We're embedding a stack of new players and managing a squad where some guys who played a lot last season won't be playing much this season.

I think we'll know by Christmas where we are at as a team. For me the big challenge is expectations. Those signings have piled the pressure on us when realistically they were what was needed to just make us competitive and set us up for the future. 

For me we are still the little horse of 2013-14 or maybe even 2012-13. We want to see progress but let's not pretend we were going to be bossing Liverpool who have added Thiago to an already stellar lineup straight away.