Fot anyone questioning lampard's ability to set up a defence, its worth noting that we actually dont give up that many chances. 4th in the league in terms of the expected goals from how many chances opponents create against us, which i think is very good considering how many individual errors that are made. 

The bigger issue is how many of those chances are actully ending up in the net, which is the worst in the league. Now that could be down to opponents having their shooting boots on when they face us, or more likely it is down to Kepa having a really poor season. 

If we replaced Kepa, and iron out individual mistakes, or sign players that make less mistakes, then i dont think its a stretch to say the way lampard sets us up currently, will be good enough to have one of the best defensive records on the league. 

I was questioning Lamps and Jody's defensive setup and coaching and the last 2 posts before this kind of vindicates them. To think about it, our current CBs don't have a history of being solid, maybe Zouma touches that description just about, but only with a good partner.

Lamps defended himself well there and we know he's always honest and never one to shirk responsibility. I'll keep my ears open for counter points still though.

I have some sympathy with Frank, he inherited an unbalanced squad with a transfer embargo and aging players.

In attack with the signings of Werner and Ziyeck we seem to be making progress.

We need strengthening in defensive areas too, both full back areas and a LCB and a better keeper. I just can't see all that happening in one window maybe 1 or 2 additions.

 

Edited July 4, 20206 yr by strider6004

Absolute shambles the lot of them.

I know we can't play with a team full off rookies, but just out of curiousity as I don't follow the academy close enough. 

Does Chelsea have anything interesting to follow for the LB, CB or GK position banging on the door that might become back-up (or maybe more) in the next 2 years? 

5 hours ago, Night-T said:

I know we can't play with a team full off rookies, but just out of curiousity as I don't follow the academy close enough. 

Does Chelsea have anything interesting to follow for the LB, CB or GK position banging on the door that might become back-up (or maybe more) in the next 2 years? 

Tomori has potential but is still raw, and Maatsen could be a future starter for us as well. GK I dont think there's anybody really coming through.

But in all fairness, I know everyone was excited about the youth taking over earlier in the season but yesterday was a perfect example how a lot of them are nowhere near the finish article yet.

Gilmour off and Jorginho came on and straight away the entire game changed within the first 2 minutes. Tammy's purple patch looks to be over, and with no real disrespect, im not sure how he's any better than even Bats at the moment. They both play very similar in my eyes.

Mount while not being all that great technically, is essentially like our mini version of Henderson, he runs a lot, high energy and that is impressive.

I think our defense would benefit with a shift to a wing back system, we lose an attacker or midfielder but I guess we would get stronger defensively:

Alonso                                            James

              Zouma-Christensen-Azpi

Sell Rudiger, Zouma, Alonso and Emerson for ~£100m+, buy Mancini, Lovren, and Chilwell for ~£115m

Azpi/James (Livramento) - Mancini/Christensen - Lovren/Mancini/Tomori - Chilwell/Azpi (Baba/Maatsen)

Close thread. 🤣

29 minutes ago, the special one said:

Sell Rudiger, Zouma, Alonso and Emerson for ~£100m+, buy Mancini, Lovren, and Chilwell for ~£115m

Azpi/James (Livramento) - Mancini/Christensen - Lovren/Mancini/Tomori - Chilwell/Azpi (Baba/Maatsen)

Close thread. 🤣

Chilwell and Lovren?

46 minutes ago, the special one said:

Sell Rudiger, Zouma, Alonso and Emerson for ~£100m+, buy Mancini, Lovren, and Chilwell for ~£115m

Azpi/James (Livramento) - Mancini/Christensen - Lovren/Mancini/Tomori - Chilwell/Azpi (Baba/Maatsen)

Close thread. 🤣

Lovren.......Lovren? Is that a typo of some sort?

Sell Zouma (25m), Christensen (25m), Emerson (20m)

Sign Telles/Tagliafico ~30-40m

Sign Skriniar 80m

If we need more funds we can raise it from selling other loan players

On 07/07/2020 at 20:27, Zeta said:

Absolute shambles the lot of them.

 

We are garbage, simple. Our defenders don't want it enough

"Let's talk about our defense"

It's sh*t......

Wasn't this bad last season and its the same players bar Zouma really, have to look at Lampard not just the players.

17 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

"Let's talk about our defense"

It's sh*t......

Yeah, it's an embarrasment. Only 7 clean sheets this season so far, so only about 1 in 5 of our games do we not concede! It's so poor. The performance by our defence is typically at a lower mid-table level or worse this season, the signs been there a long time of the problems since early this season, really disappointing so little done to rectify these glaring defensive issues sooner.

The defenders were just as awful last season, that is why Sarri changed things and had us playing more conservatively. If he hadn't changed things, it would have been as bad as we are seeing now. The only difference is that Lampard hasn't taken the same approach. Lampard is hoping our attackers can out score our defensive errors. The problem is, there will be days like today when our attack just doesn't cut it. Sarri's way wasn't better or worse, just different. It's not like we were any better as a team when he changed things, we just conceded fewer goals. We were still losing and drawing many games and by the end of the season, we struggled to win any game.

"Fot anyone questioning lampard's ability to set up a defence, its worth noting that we actually dont give up that many chances. 4th in the league in terms of the expected goals from how many chances opponents create against us, which i think is very good considering how many individual errors that are made. "

Would be nice if Abraham could lay off a pass like Rudiger did.

Let me offer my frank and honest opinion here, Lamp is CLUELESS when it comes to defense.

And I'll tell you why from an American perspective.

You see, we Americans suck at football, we have very little talents when it comes to soccer, yet we're able to make it to the WC consistently over the past 20+ years (except the last WC).

When we enter the WC, we're considered one of the weakest teams in the tournament; yet we're able to consistently move past the group stage and into the round of 16 while some countries like Germany, Italy, France, England, etc exited the group stage.

You see, our players are made up of mostly guys from the Championship, Bunlesliga II, Colleges and Universities, and sometimes a few from the the EPL and Bundesliga. And we have to face the mighty soccer nations such as England, Italy, Germany, Spain, Brazil, Argentina, etc. Yet, we're still able to keep the games close, and sometimes we're able to get a point, and occasionally took all 3 points.

How did we do that? We defended, and we defended well and we also had some decent keeper. You see, a very well trained and well drilled and well organized defensive unit can go up against some of the best in the world and still able to keep the game close or sometimes steal points where we had no chance. We did not get slaughter 3-0, 4-0, 5-0, etc even our defenders are made up mostly of amateurs or at best 2nd or 3rd tier players.

So, in conclusion; Chelsea defenders are actually not that bad. Ask yourself, how many EPL clubs have better defenders than Chelsea on papers? Not many. 

However, as a defensive unit, they consistently perform very poorly; and that is because of the incompetent in their commander. 

I don't believe that Frank is a terrible coach. I think he's good at the offensive, I think he's also good at man management, and I think he's also skilled at inspiring his team; but I truly believe that he's very poor when it comes to organizing an effective defense. 

15 minutes ago, jack_super_class said:

Wasn't this bad last season and its the same players bar Zouma really, have to look at Lampard not just the players.

One could argue that the older players have got worse with age or they aren’t good enough to play attacking football. Sarri I had us playing possession football but it was more defensive than what frank is playing

What do we do? There's no way they can be this bad, yet they are... I don't understand. Is this mostly coaching, or just poor quality? Will this be a Van Dijk situation where we just need a big upgrade, or is this purely down to them being badly coached. I just don't know what to think. 

I do not want to get into the debate of whether Lampard can improve our defensive arrangement or not, but one thing is clear- Our defenders are not a  top 6 caliber defenders. 

Azpi - His best days are behind him. Decent defensively but cant cross and it seems like crossing seems to now be a requirement.

Christensen - Has to go, Had been given enough chances to show his class and failed. Neither is he a physical defender nor is he good at reading the game.

Zouma - He is absolutely not capable of playing from the back and he cant read the game. But he is a big physical defender who will make a decent squad player, nothing more

Rudiger - See above, except his ceiling is higher and his current form is a huge huge let down.

Tomori - Not enough data for me to make up my mind one way or another, but what i saw of him in the past gives me hope

ReeceJames - Love his crosses, but again feel like he is not a top 4 defender yet but is young and will be good addition in the squad.

Alonso/Emerson - They are being linked to leave Chelsea and I think that is good for Chelsea.

 

 

 

15 minutes ago, haviet1 said:

Let me offer my frank and honest opinion here, Lamp is CLUELESS when it comes to defense.

And I'll tell you why from an American perspective.

You see, we Americans suck at football, we have very little talents when it comes to soccer, yet we're able to make it to the WC consistently over the past 20+ years (except the last WC).

When we enter the WC, we're considered one of the weakest teams in the tournament; yet we're able to consistently move past the group stage and into the round of 16 while some countries like Germany, Italy, France, England, etc exited the group stage.

You see, our players are made up of mostly guys from the Championship, Bunlesliga II, Colleges and Universities, and sometimes a few from the the EPL and Bundesliga. And we have to face the mighty soccer nations such as England, Italy, Germany, Spain, Brazil, Argentina, etc. Yet, we're still able to keep the games close, and sometimes we're able to get a point, and occasionally took all 3 points.

How did we do that? We defended, and we defended well and we also had some decent keeper. You see, a very well trained and well drilled and well organized defensive unit can go up against some of the best in the world and still able to keep the game close or sometimes steal points where we had no chance. We did not get slaughter 3-0, 4-0, 5-0, etc even our defenders are made up mostly of amateurs or at best 2nd or 3rd tier players.

So, in conclusion; Chelsea defenders are actually not that bad. Ask yourself, how many EPL clubs have better defenders than Chelsea on papers? Not many. 

However, as a defensive unit, they consistently perform very poorly; and that is because of the incompetent in their commander. 

I don't believe that Frank is a terrible coach. I think he's good at the offensive, I think he's also good at man management, and I think he's also skilled at inspiring his team; but I truly believe that he's very poor when it comes to organizing an effective defense. 

 

If by that you mean that they are top 4 /top 6 quality then we will just have to agree to disagree.

It's 8 long years since we signed any defenders of the required quality - Azpi and Cahill. So even if we have the  money i have doubts we'll buy the right players.