This is a real conundrum for Frank and I wouldn't like to be in his shoes.

Rudiger and Ampadu had leadership qualities so maybe they should be given a go if we can't buy a quality leader. Ampadu played a terrific match against Spurs in the CL. It would be a real shame to sell such a talent and he's just had a year on loan. With a top keeper that might work.

Frank has to work something out and I place my trust in his ability to learn on the job. This season was about  attack and he needs to pay a bit more attention to defence next season.

4 hours ago, Andy North said:

 I honestly think Rudiger and Zouma are decent centre halfs. They have both had significantly better seasons before but have dropped off so much it raises questions. Are they following Franks tactics? Are the tactics correct? Have they lost confidence and just started running around ball watching? 

Whatever it is, its been obvious that Chelsea leak goals for quite some time now. Its too easy to say its the goalkeeper on his own but he does carry some of the responsibility. It could be that the centre halfs have lost their marbles and given up the ghost. I think we are all looking for solutions and coming up with different reasons as to why we are so shi* at the back. Goalie, Centre halfs, Alonso? All of these have been blamed. So many goals conceded. So many players to blame. Its really bad and has been for quite some time.

I think there are a lot of problems and no silver bullet solution. Corners and ball watching need sorting and at this point I think we need a new goalie if only to rebuild confidence at the back. Frank has been very brave in sticking with the high press all season as this undoubtedly commits the midfield further forward giving them more ground to cover in defence. Its very brave. Especially when you are conceding for fun. Jose would have had every body behind the ball long ago. Frank is showing us something else and appears to be laying down an attacking philosophy for the future. He hasn't changed this to any great extent all season and still got top 4. Its very early in Franks managerial career and the new signings lead me to believe that attack is still at the top of the agenda, but at some point he will have to start chipping away at the defensive frailty. Maybe the new signings will not lose possession so much, maybe they will track back in a more efficient way or maybe we will just outscore the opposition.

I'm totally behind Frank and I'm sure he knows you can't reach the top and concede like this. I'm also convinced he knows he has to improve his defence. I agree there is a lack of leadership at the back but JT's don't come along very often and VVD is at Liverpool. We need to coach our way out of this. 

Bring JT back as a defensive coach.

I think these are all valid points. I certainly feel that we seemed to have moved towards a more zonal based system , which I hate as I cannot ever recall it being successful. Its what made Arsenal the laughing stock form boring boring Arsenal.

In fact during the Cup Final, if I remove all of the foofing expletives from what I shouted across my living room, the distilled version of what I said was that we don't ever win the ball because nobody in our team tackles. as soon as the ball comes inside 40 yards from our goal we start marking space/zones, blocking areas, jockeying players and waiting to be given the ball. many times that will work due to the squeezed space causing the oppo to misplace a pass, but then you get players like Auba, Lewandowski, Aguerro, bloody Michal Antonio, players that just run at you with the ball. If you don't ever tackle and they have a bit about them they are always going to go through you and score, end of.

My  point being, in line with Andy's comment, I think both Rudi and Zouma are about nicking the ball, front foot, get tight, win the ball clear lines, and I think they are decent at it (Zouma seems to be the only bloke we have that can jump). That works if you have a calm head behind, organized, mopping up any errors. By putting both together without that counter balance, and then getting those guys to stand off and zonally jockey players, is it any wonder Rudi ends up on his ar$e shunting the ball back into open space 6 yards from goal...two matches in a row!! 

I don’t see much leadership from Rudiger, our main problem is there is no leadership at the back. We’ve had a great run of having commanding centre backs (I can only go back to Lebouef & Desially really but some of you old bastards can probably take us back to 1905) to having none. 

7 minutes ago, WhiteWall said:

I think these are all valid points. I certainly feel that we seemed to have moved towards a more zonal based system , which I hate as I cannot ever recall it being successful. Its what made Arsenal the laughing stock form boring boring Arsenal.

In fact during the Cup Final, if I remove all of the foofing expletives from what I shouted across my living room, the distilled version of what I said was that we don't ever win the ball because nobody in our team tackles. as soon as the ball comes inside 40 yards from our goal we start marking space/zones, blocking areas, jockeying players and waiting to be given the ball. many times that will work due to the squeezed space causing the oppo to misplace a pass, but then you get players like Auba, Lewandowski, Aguerro, bloody Michal Antonio, players that just run at you with the ball. If you don't ever tackle and they have a bit about them they are always going to go through you and score, end of.

My  point being, in line with Andy's comment, I think both Rudi and Zouma are about nicking the ball, front foot, get tight, win the ball clear lines, and I think they are decent at it (Zouma seems to be the only bloke we have that can jump). That works if you have a calm head behind, organized, mopping up any errors. By putting both together without that counter balance, and then getting those guys to stand off and zonally jockey players, is it any wonder Rudi ends up on his ar$e shunting the ball back into open space 6 yards from goal...two matches in a row!! 

I agree with all this and would add that the player mopping up behind would probably mean we have to site a little deeper as a team. I think this can happen but it may mean we have to take a slightly more counter attacking approach. The pace of Pulisic and Werner could make this work, throw in bit of Ziyech guile and that could be a winning formula. 

Maybe we just give up on this zonal approach to defending. We should definately just try to win the ball at corners.

I like the attacking football and the use of the young players but it needs to evolve if we are to get back to the top. I really hope the board are going to show Frank the patience he deserves. I like supporting a club that encourages youth and attacking football. It makes a nice change from the cheque book approach of the last 15 years. I liked the trophies but I'm beginning to feel there's a bit more of a heart around the club these days.

That second goal that united conceded.. eerily similar to the 4th we conceded.. everyone is marking space.. scholes blames lindelof and not the RB.. we blamed our LB.. 

If the Thiago Silva transfer does go through, I think Christensen partnering him would actually do wonders. Lets face it, Christensen is a bit of a pansy and not a leader in any way. But having that solid leader type figure next to him giving him a kick up the backside will undoubtedly improve him.