4 hours ago, mojo said:

Sent the lad for a hotdog, onions and ketchup! 

Not seen much on here about how well Kovacic played today - got the opportunity and took it I felt, well done Kova.

4 hours ago, mojo said:

Amazingly, I don’t believe that this piece of genius featured on match of the day - edited out, incredible  ??

1 hour ago, dkw said:

He broke covid rules....again. in the papers tomorrow, so maybe, just maybe its not the managers fault and is actually the fault of an idiot.

Callum lives alone doesn't he? If so he can form a support bubble with another household so unless him and Tomori were caught with others (outside Fik's household) they didn't actually break any rules this time.

6 hours ago, Malta Blue said:

If Liverpool loose tomorrow it's gotta be either us or Leicester top at Christmas, surely?

Nah probably Southampton ?

James is coming along in leaps and bounds. 
kova and Kante very effective today. 
I guess havertz coming back will push kova out of the team and mount will move wider. 

1 hour ago, Paddy said:

Not seen much on here about how well Kovacic played today - got the opportunity and took it I felt, well done Kova.

I thought he looked a bit lost tbh. Didn't really adapt to the more advanced role. Some of his work without the ball was a bit lazy too, too much jogging back when caught above the turnover. 

Naturally he was a bit rusty after not playing for a few weeks. 

Watched it all live earlier today, just getting a chance with the internet. 
 

Really enjoying watching this team play and come together. Obviously not the toughest competition today, but we took of business as we should instead of needing an extra time strike to win or tie.

If we can get Pulisic heathy and on the pitch with Ziyech, we should be really rolling on the front door. Having Abraham and Werner together has worked well too.

Ziyech has been quite the pickup. If we can get Kai up to the level of expectation we could be very good.

Mendy has been a calming force to the back. We needed it badly.

Nice win.

Come on you Chelsea!!

43 minutes ago, Chelsea Buzz said:

Watched it all live earlier today, just getting a chance with the internet. 
 

Really enjoying watching this team play and come together. Obviously not the toughest competition today, but we took of business as we should instead of needing an extra time strike to win or tie.

If we can get Pulisic heathy and on the pitch with Ziyech, we should be really rolling on the front door. Having Abraham and Werner together has worked well too.

Ziyech has been quite the pickup. If we can get Kai up to the level of expectation we could be very good.

Mendy has been a calming force to the back. We needed it badly.

Nice win.

Come on you Chelsea!!

Ziyech was superb. He isn't a 90 percent pass completion type of player but the ones that come off are superb. He takes risks which is key, not this pass it around in a U shape until we give it away.

I think we'll see his real mettle when teams try to rough him up a bit. Has had a clean run until now.

7 hours ago, dkw said:

He broke covid rules....again. in the papers tomorrow, so maybe, just maybe its not the managers fault and is actually the fault of an idiot.

If true, then that’s fair enough. Surely if he broke Covid rules he wouldn’t have been on the bench though?

11 hours ago, Malta Blue said:

Most likeable, ugly mo fo in the world

I found Thiago Silva's happy grin quite frightening too 

11 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

I don't know, I'm not the coach, I don't see Hudson-Odoi day in day out. Maybe there is something missing in his game right now that Lampard isn't happy with. I'm certain he isn't trying to destroy Hudson-Odoi's confidence though. 

None of us know what is going on in training, but CHO getting few chances is probably saying more about him than about Lampard.

1 hour ago, Valerie said:

None of us know what is going on in training, but CHO getting few chances is probably saying more about him than about Lampard.

I think he’s getting as many chances as his performances have justified, and it’s not necessary for people to speculate that it’s to do with his attitude in training or anything else. To be honest, if there hadn’t been all the hype around him prior to his injury, I’d be wondering why the hell this kid isn’t out on loan.

Everyone in a blue shirt had a good game. Their goal was slick and if  we had scored it we would have been boasting right and proper. I miss going to the Bridge and  watching on the TV is just not the same. When you see Mount playing in the flesh you realise just how hard he works and what sacrifices he makes for the team. Whilst Willian could look good on the telly but be a frustrating player to see sometimes in the flesh. That said Thiago Silva looks such a class act in his reading of the game it doesn’t matter if you watch him on TV or in the flesh. Just wish we had signed him 4 years ago. 

Just how good are we? Difficult to know for sure but we look better than last season whilst other teams look worse. Come early Jan having completed games against City, Spids and the Anus on Boxing Day we will have a better idea. Loving our football at the moment and all things Frank.

9 hours ago, Spiller86 said:

I thought he looked a bit lost tbh. Didn't really adapt to the more advanced role. Some of his work without the ball was a bit lazy too, too much jogging back when caught above the turnover. 

Naturally he was a bit rusty after not playing for a few weeks. 

Agree in early stages, but he improved as the game went on, connecting well with James and Ziyech (was this a key part of the strategy for this match?) getting an assist, nearly scoring twice (btw really harsh to judge him on the one v one - was really good defending but he got flak coz, well, he’s Kovacic). Clearly is being forced to adapt his game, looks like they’re working on this in training and he acquitted himself well. Lampard seemed to commend him on this and his game in general, as well as acknowledging (as you have) that it’s hard to come in and do the job after a few weeks out. I expect we could see a rebalancing of his stats over time, with assists/goals improving at the expense of deterioration in passes completed (all on a per minutes played basis obvs as he clearly will have less playing time this season).
 

Anyway, as Gol said earlier, testament to how strong our squad is now that Kova can come in as backup and have an impact. That’s a pretty good thing. 

11 hours ago, Paddy said:

Not seen much on here about how well Kovacic played today - got the opportunity and took it I felt, well done Kova.

We don't even need to be talking about some of these things. And that is why I get annoyed when Lampard play Kovacic as DM, there are roles for each player. I think when Kovacic first came, we had Jorginho, Kante and Kovacic. And I think Kovacic was the attacking midfielder among them. 

So, why are we going to be playing Kovacic as a DM. And it's not as if Lampard and his staff were dumb last season. I feel Mount and Kovacic and Kante should have played together in midfield last season. 

What gets me angry is playing players out of position.

33 minutes ago, Dean said:

Agree in early stages, but he improved as the game went on, connecting well with James and Ziyech (was this a key part of the strategy for this match?) getting an assist, nearly scoring twice (btw really harsh to judge him on the one v one - was really good defending but he got flak coz, well, he’s Kovacic). Clearly is being forced to adapt his game, looks like they’re working on this in training and he acquitted himself well. Lampard seemed to commend him on this and his game in general, as well as acknowledging (as you have) that it’s hard to come in and do the job after a few weeks out. I expect we could see a rebalancing of his stats over time, with assists/goals improving at the expense of deterioration in passes completed (all on a per minutes played basis obvs as he clearly will have less playing time this season).
 

Anyway, as Gol said earlier, testament to how strong our squad is now that Kova can come in as backup and have an impact. That’s a pretty good thing. 

What is it about people who only think about stats all their life. So if a player doesn't have a million goals and assists, he is not a good player? Yesterday, the assist that Kovacic gave Abraham, I think the pass came from Ziyech. But I don't think people are talking about that pass from Ziyech, I think what people are talking about is the assist and the goal.

2 hours ago, hephzibah said:

What is it about people who only think about stats all their life. So if a player doesn't have a million goals and assists, he is not a good player? Yesterday, the assist that Kovacic gave Abraham, I think the pass came from Ziyech. But I don't think people are talking about that pass from Ziyech, I think what people are talking about is the assist and the goal.

I think there may be a misunderstanding here. I certainly don’t think stats are that relevant so tend to agree if that’s your point. I am merely speculating on how a potential change in style might be reflected in stats. I am not saying those stats necessarily have much relevance. 

4 hours ago, hephzibah said:

What is it about people who only think about stats all their life. So if a player doesn't have a million goals and assists, he is not a good player? Yesterday, the assist that Kovacic gave Abraham, I think the pass came from Ziyech. But I don't think people are talking about that pass from Ziyech, I think what people are talking about is the assist and the goal.

The pass came from James, Kova waited before making the run until he got eye contact with James. 

Ziyech gave us two other assists. 

6 hours ago, hephzibah said:

What is it about people who only think about stats all their life. So if a player doesn't have a million goals and assists, he is not a good player? Yesterday, the assist that Kovacic gave Abraham, I think the pass came from Ziyech. But I don't think people are talking about that pass from Ziyech, I think what people are talking about is the assist and the goal.

Spot on. The obsession with statistics is bordering on silly. Kante got an assist for what looked like a deflection off him that happened to bounce to Werner to score. The numbers border on meaningless sometimes. 

 Ziyech's pass won't count for a thing in the stats but it set up the goal (as did Kovacic's run).

More broadly on Mateo it is certainly a new role for him. The thing I found bizarre was that he seemed to play higher up than Mount. His key strength is carrying the ball through midfield. Makes no sense to have him play furthest forward. 

On 07/11/2020 at 20:43, DidierDrogbalala said:

Thank you !! Shame to the producer who didnt show a replay.

I pity the fool to quote Mr T?

Excellent win...but let's not get carried away...we've only won 4 out of our 8 games...and our wins have been against Palace, Burnley, Sheff Utd and Brighton...all of them in the bottom half of the table...need to prove ourselves against the better teams...

2 hours ago, doctorblue said:

Excellent win...but let's not get carried away...we've only won 4 out of our 8 games...and our wins have been against Palace, Burnley, Sheff Utd and Brighton...all of them in the bottom half of the table...need to prove ourselves against the better teams...

Sweeping up against those type of sides are just as important as winning big games if you want to win a league title, possibly more so.

26 minutes ago, Argo said:

Sweeping up against those type of sides are just as important as winning big games if you want to win a league title, possibly more so.

Agree, especially when you consider that games like this last season is when we really struggled. We always dropped points to these kind of teams, and now we're sweeping them aside with relative ease.

Of course the real tests are yet to come, but in all fairness we generally step up to the occasion when facing better teams. Even if we dont win, we perform fairly well most of the time

3 hours ago, Argo said:

Sweeping up against those type of sides are just as important as winning big games if you want to win a league title, possibly more so.

Results compared to 2020

v Palace 2-0 Win          (2021 - 4-0 Win) +2 GD

v Burnley 4-2 win         (2021 - 3-0 win) +1 GD

v Sheff Utd 2-2 Draw   (2021 - 4-1 Win) + 2 Points + 3 GD

v Brighton 1-1 Draw    (2021 - 3-1 win) + 2 Points + 2 GD

So far we are 4 points and 8 GD better off compared to last season. If we carry that on then we get a hell of a lot closer to the top 2.