Super Frank Lampard

[enigma]

3 hours ago, Sindre said:

It worked away to Wolves, but I can’t say I am a huge fan of the back three. I think Lampard is using it to fix our fullback issue (especially with Emerson out) as Alonso is a liability in a back four and Azpi likewise so far this season.

But we looked flat-footed against Valencia, our pressing fell apart and we were too easy to contain for Valencia.

Hope we take on Liverpool in the same way we did for the Supercup-final.

Our Spanish contigent have been poor the past season or so. Reece James for Azpi, Emerson for Alonson, and Hudson-Odoi for Pedro and we will be much stronger imo. 

[Wearyourblue]

4 hours ago, Sexyfootball said:

Mount's injury exposed the fact that we have lots of injuries and limited bench options as a result ...

Last night's bench : Caballero, Guehi (had to use U-23 player as we had no other fit defenders), Barkley (only midfielder), Pedro, Pulisic, Giroud, Batshuayi.

Options to replace Mount were Barkley, Pedro or Pulisic. I think he wanted to keep his midfielder sub in reserve for later in the match, so it came down to a choice between Pedro and Pulisic, and Frank went with experience. He could have gone for 2 up top, but probably a bit early in the game for that, although might have been a better option in hindsight. Lamps clearly doesn't fancy Pulisic at the moment - not sure why.

Giroud for Zouma was a bold move to switch to 4-4-2 from 3-5-2, and unfortunately it didn't come off as they scored almost immediately.

Barkley for Kovacic was probably a necessary change due to the amount of work that Kovacic had put in ... he was probably knackered.

Would have been better off adding Pulisic than Giroud for Zouma, keep the same set up, but move Willian out wide and Azpi back.  Valencia was struggling with guys that ran at them with the ball, Pulisic can and Giroud can't.   Willian looked good until the final hit due to this, caused issues running at the defense with the ball.  

[JMaher94]

I will not judge Frank properly this season until we have Kante, Rudiger, Loftus-Cheek, James, Emerson and Hudson Odoi in the team.

Half the players who were in the team last night have no business being at Chelsea, well outstayed their welcome.

Add those players in, replace the deadwood over the next two transfer windows and this could be a very exciting future for Chelsea.

[evissy]

I will not judge Frank properly this season until we have Kante, Rudiger, Loftus-Cheek, James, Emerson and Hudson Odoi in the team.
Half the players who were in the team last night have no business being at Chelsea, well outstayed their welcome.
Add those players in, replace the deadwood over the next two transfer windows and this could be a very exciting future for Chelsea.

Exactly who?

[PloKoon13]

It's been a steep learning curve for Frank (which to be honest is usually code for 'he's f**king up a lot at the beginning'), but there are some very promising signs. The integration of the young players this season has been truly sensational, in fact they have been our standout players so far. I was quietly confident about Abraham and Mount, but I never would have expected them to hit the ground running like they have done so far. Let's also bear in mind that we still have Reece James, Hudson-Odoi and Loftus-Cheek yet to return, who are arguably the most talented three of the bunch. 

I like the formation we've played. I think it suits a lot of our better players, and puts a few of the ones with obvious deficiencies in positions where those deficiencies are minimised. Unfortunately we are doomed to be utterly incapable of dominating the middle of the pitch until Kanté returns. Jorginho and Kovacic have hustled relatively well this season, but that is not a midfield two who are going to provide sufficient quality offensively or defensively. 

Still, imagine this as a first XI when everyone is fit:

 

Kepa

 

Rudiger/Azpilicueta

Christensen

Tomori

 

James

Kanté

Loftus-Cheek

Alonso

 

Hudson-Odoi 

Mount

 

Abraham

[Argo]

9 hours ago, PloKoon13 said:

It's been a steep learning curve for Frank (which to be honest is usually code for 'he's f**king up a lot at the beginning'), but there are some very promising signs. The integration of the young players this season has been truly sensational, in fact they have been our standout players so far. I was quietly confident about Abraham and Mount, but I never would have expected them to hit the ground running like they have done so far. Let's also bear in mind that we still have Reece James, Hudson-Odoi and Loftus-Cheek yet to return, who are arguably the most talented three of the bunch. 

I like the formation we've played. I think it suits a lot of our better players, and puts a few of the ones with obvious deficiencies in positions where those deficiencies are minimised. Unfortunately we are doomed to be utterly incapable of dominating the middle of the pitch until Kanté returns. Jorginho and Kovacic have hustled relatively well this season, but that is not a midfield two who are going to provide sufficient quality offensively or defensively. 

Still, imagine this as a first XI when everyone is fit:

 

Kepa

 

Rudiger/Azpilicueta

Christensen

Tomori

 

James

Kanté

Loftus-Cheek

Alonso

 

Hudson-Odoi 

Mount

 

Abraham

I agree with nine of that lineup but fundamentally disagree with the formation. One of the three CBs and Marcos out Jorginho and Emerson in for a 4-3-3 and that is the best team fully fit in my eyes (some games may require Giroud over Tammy).

Edited September 19, 2019 by Argo

[Blueblur]

Nothing particularly insightful here (it's written by that red oaf, McNulty) but nice to read a summary of Lampard's tenure so far:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/49755931

[JM7]

I must admit, despite some mixed results, this season has so far planned out much better than what I was expected. With Sarri, Hazard gone and the ban, I was fearing the worst.

Lamps has managed to turn a bad situation into a promising one. 

[Slojo]

On 20/09/2019 at 14:07, JM7 said:

I must admit, despite some mixed results, this season has so far planned out much better than what I was expected. With Sarri, Hazard gone and the ban, I was fearing the worst.

Lamps has managed to turn a bad situation into a promising one. 

That's exactly me, we're playing better football than we did all last season despite the horrendous defence. 

I was expecting more results like the United match and Frank gone in November. 

[AndyDowsleftflank]

This is a work in progress, and I have no doubt we'll be better than Liverpool in two years time. We need some time to get the defense right, and we need to be far more clinical in both ends but what I saw in the second half was hugely encouraging. 

Concerns: Zouma and Christensen is just not good enough for a top four side IMHO. We also need to get our defensive set pieces in order, just pick up the opposing players in the box!

Positives: Lamps and the youngsters are learning. We lack Rudiger, CHO, RLC and James still. Kante, perhaps the best midfielder in the world, has been missing until today. The potential of Pulisic/Mount/Tammy/Tomori/CHO/RLC/James is just frightening.

With us soon able to sign players, further development of our youngsters and Frank/Jody learning on the job I'm still extremely positive about how this project is going - lets just not expect too much this season

[EdinburghBlue]

Love him to pieces but seriously needs to sort out this sh*te zonal marking at set plays!

[dkw]

3 minutes ago, EdinburghBlue said:

Love him to pieces but seriously needs to sort out this sh*te zonal marking at set plays!

I think he's gone with zonal simply because of our constant change of defensive personnel. It's easier to have patrol areas than have to have player pick ups. I hate it though, it always seems a cop out to me. 

[Scott Harris]

I never thought Lampard would be a fan of the zonal marking system after playing for a team that was one of the best at man marking and then terrible at zonal marking. For as long as I have been watching football, I have never been a fan of it. It just has too many weaknesses that are easily exploited.

[JMaher94]

On 19/09/2019 at 04:57, evissy said:

On 18/09/2019 at 14:02, JMaher94 said:

I will not judge Frank properly this season until we have Kante, Rudiger, Loftus-Cheek, James, Emerson and Hudson Odoi in the team.
Half the players who were in the team last night have no business being at Chelsea, well outstayed their welcome.
Add those players in, replace the deadwood over the next two transfer windows and this could be a very exciting future for Chelsea.

Exactly who?

Deadwood?

Alonso, Willian, Pedro, Batshuayi and Zouma.

Bakayoko and Drinkwater can join them.

[Guest Sindre]

Really needs to sort out the defence. It's not getting any better and it's incredibly frustrating.
 

[big blue]

13 minutes ago, Sindre said:

Really needs to sort out the defence. It's not getting any better and it's incredibly frustrating.
 

I disagree, we are still woeful from set pieces, but we now giving up far less space between the midfield and defence, compared with the first 2 or 3 games.

Its not going to be an overnight fix, especially with at least 2 of best defensive players missing a lot of season. so far in rudiger and kante.

[bisright1]

1 hour ago, big blue said:

I disagree, we are still woeful from set pieces, but we now giving up far less space between the midfield and defence, compared with the first 2 or 3 games.

Its not going to be an overnight fix, especially with at least 2 of best defensive players missing a lot of season. so far in rudiger and kante.

I agree. Both their goals came from set pieces. They didn't create anything from counter attacks which is where we were weak at the start of the season. 

[Gol15]

The lack of experience among some players is a good reason why we lose points. Liverpool has the ref in their pocket and even so they are not that special but they did take their chances.

[Brutos]

Would love for frank to take a pragmatic approach for a few games get us a clean sheet and some 1-0 wins that would do be well until everyone is back...

[Davey Baby]

We are a shambles at set pieces. Early in the second half, Firminho found himself all alone at the back and would have scored but for a fantastic save. We concede from a set piece every game and it's getting embarrassing. The manager has to sort it out. No good blaming the players. He's the one who's culpable.

[evissy]

Would love for frank to take a pragmatic approach for a few games get us a clean sheet and some 1-0 wins that would do be well until everyone is back...

Klopp or Pep haven't. Why should Frank? We should win the way Frank wants us to play. Forward time 2 seasons and we will probably play the way Frank wants and win.

Frank said if we play like we did second half most teams will struggle against us. He is probably right.

[Andy North]

We do need to question the zonal marking. Is it right for our defenders or are they just not doing it properly?

Liverpool seemed to find gaps.

[Guest Sindre]

It's certainly encouraging that we've faced Liverpool twice this season and been the better side in both games. At best we have had an average start to the season in terms of results but there are enough positive signs that everyone can remain positive and see that we are heading in the right direction.

[icecoolguy22]

The first free kick was needlessly given away by Chritensen. It was right next to the box and he tried to tackle Mane from behind, could have been a PK if Mane moved towards the box a bit faster. I haven't seen many replay of the free kick, but there was a huge gap left for the kicker to slam it in before the GK could even move, and he did. Zonal marking is killing us, and to be honest I don't get it why we bother converting from the standard man to zonal marking. It never worked with previous managers, and we have decent heights in the team. Maybe we should play 3 CDs, just to reinforce the set pieces defending

[evissy]

It's certainly encouraging that we've faced Liverpool twice this season and been the better side in both games. At best we have had an average start to the season in terms of results but there are enough positive signs that everyone can remain positive and see that we are heading in the right direction.

We haven't been the better side. They had brilliant chances to crush us in both games. I'd say there were encouraging signs in both games and we really pushed one of the best sides in football with our young team.