5 minutes ago, ozboy said:

I am surprised that Chilwell isn't fitter. According to this thread he has been in training 5-6 weeks.  Is this because training is still injury impacted and he is on a light schedule? If so does anyone know when he might be expected to be fully fit?

How unfit is he actually? I haven't followed any TT comments, so he may have said something. Is the unfit narrative from a few posts here based on any actual knowledge onn the subject?

1 hour ago, Valerie said:

How unfit is he actually? I haven't followed any TT comments, so he may have said something. Is the unfit narrative from a few posts here based on any actual knowledge onn the subject?

"We got new quality in with Raheem which helps us a lot. We get our wing-backs going, hopefully Reecey [Reece James] is fit for the season, Chilly [Ben Chilwell] will get fit and hopefully Marc [Cucurella, a £63m signing from Brighton] will join us so we have this support from the wings." was the quote from Tommy

Tuchel talked about easing him back on slowly given his injury. 

3 hours ago, Valerie said:

How unfit is he actually? I haven't followed any TT comments, so he may have said something. Is the unfit narrative from a few posts here based on any actual knowledge onn the subject?

I think a combination of history (when it comes to players recovering from this type of injury) and the fact TT put him in the B team for the Udinese clashes has brought many to the conclusion. 

Quite a big difference between fitness and match sharpness. In the past we've had to rush players back due to lack of quality backup, now we can ease him back in, give him a structured return to hopefully ensure a full recovery from a really bad injury.

First proper game back and thought he looked dangerous, good positioning for the pass before the penalty and great first touch and out his feet. Going to be huge for us this season.

Today he showed why he should be ahead of Cucurella. I say play him until he gets into bad form, he’s much more effective imo.

What a player, changed everything.

Chilly looks recharged and ready. His occasional forays at the forward position always bear fruit

23 minutes ago, dansubrosa said:

Today he showed why he should be ahead of Cucurella. I say play him until he gets into bad form, he’s much more effective imo.

Splashing 60m on a shiny new toy when we already have a good player in that position is such a Chelsea thing to do.

1 minute ago, TheSage said:

Splashing 60m on a shiny new toy when we already have a good player in that position is such a Chelsea thing to do.

That didn't take long haha. We want to compete with the best but god forbid we have two top players who play the same position. The horror!

Just now, Amputechture said:

That didn't take long haha. We want to compete with the best but god forbid we have two top players who play the same position. The horror!

Exactly this 😂 we’ve moaned about the lack of depth at left back with Alonso/ Emerson not being good enough - now we have arguably 2 of the best left in the league it’s a bad decision! 

Never mind the depth City have at full back. 

10 minutes ago, TheSage said:

Splashing 60m on a shiny new toy when we already have a good player in that position is such a Chelsea thing to do.

And if we had kept Alonso, we would have people moaning about not having a quality back up. Can't win with some it seems.

Great impact - well done Chilwell.  Healthy competition on the left now.  The energy and quality he brought to the left side was superb. 

26 minutes ago, TheSage said:

Splashing 60m on a shiny new toy when we already have a good player in that position is such a Chelsea thing to do.

Let us recall when we signed him Chilwell was recovering and we did not have an LCB, we got cover for both.

Most of our players would have given up on chasing that ball after winning the header. Nice to finally see somebody not give up and actually try and make something out of nothing.

Great equaliser by him today.

Really glad to see him back. Always comes across as an intelligent guy and that often translates into an intelligent footballer.  We now have Chilly B and CC so that area of the alphabet is fully covered which bodes well for the future.

3 hours ago, dansubrosa said:

Today he showed why he should be ahead of Cucurella. I say play him until he gets into bad form, he’s much more effective imo.

Disagree. Both offer the team something useful, sharing the minutes to bring in some fresh legs for the last 20-30 mins with this quality is extremely  valuable.

…

 

Great „comeback“ Chilly! Should start against Zagreb if he‘s fit for 60+mins.

1 hour ago, weetee said:

Disagree. Both offer the team something useful, sharing the minutes to bring in some fresh legs for the last 20-30 mins with this quality is extremely  valuable.

…

 

Great „comeback“ Chilly! Should start against Zagreb if he‘s fit for 60+mins.

Yeah I would say they are about the same level, I think Chilwell is more effective though, he’s much more direct and more of a no nonsense player, while Cucurella plays like a proper Spaniard.

It’s great to have both, very different players yet same position. I would say Cucurella is probably more of an intelligent player, but I like direct players.

Really simple. If you are likely to be attacking more (like most of our games) you start Chilwell. If you need to defend you sub on Cucurella or start him against a City or Real etc.

5 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Really simple. If you are likely to be attacking more (like most of our games) you start Chilwell. If you need to defend you sub on Cucurella or start him against a City or Real etc.

I don't know, I think Chilwell has proven to be pretty good in all situations so far for us. I have never really complained about his defending with us and it was one thing I was worried about before we signed him from Leicester. I haven't really seen anything to suggest Cucurella is a better defender.

I don't really think one is more suited to a type of game than the other, it should come down to who performs better and swapping them in and out of the team to keep them fresh. I think one important part of the game Chilwell has on Cucurella is that Chilwell is a lot more dangerous in attacking areas, he more often than not will get in behind a defence and get a cross away or get a shot off himself.  

Now we have both our wing threats back we can now stretch teams wider, which hopefully creates more space in the center or at the back post.

I would have loved somebody like Chilwell here when we had Hazard. Alonso had his moments and Azpilicueta was good when he played LB, but Chilwell is a different type of player entirely. Hazard had to take two or three players on by himself at times, imagine having somebody like Chilwell to take one of those defenders off him, they would have been unstoppable.

14 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

I don't know, I think Chilwell has proven to be pretty good in all situations so far for us. I have never really complained about his defending with us and it was one thing I was worried about before we signed him from Leicester. I haven't really seen anything to suggest Cucurella is a better defender.

I don't really think one is more suited to a type of game than the other, it should come down to who performs better and swapping them in and out of the team to keep them fresh. I think one important part of the game Chilwell has on Cucurella is that Chilwell is a lot more dangerous in attacking areas, he more often than not will get in behind a defence and get a cross away or get a shot off himself.  

Totally agree. Prior to his injury he was a very solid defender for us.

You say you havent seen anyhting to suggest that Cucurella is a better defender. I am less generous. I say I haven't seen anything that highlighted the need to spend 60m on Cucurella at all. Let's hope Chilwell retains his place as he offers much more particularly going forward.