The good news is that the last game of the round is such a dead rubber that even Kepa can start...

Very tough away fixture and we handled it with aplomb. Albeit Sevilla were very poor. Giroud dominated the smaller Sevilla centre halves. Great to see him among the goals and hopefully this means he plays more regularly. He certainly offers something different from Tammy and Werner. The right foot chip was just superb.

Giroud showed last season why he was picked over Tammy, overall he is far more consistent and clinical.

6 hours ago, The Brit said:

Some of the pre-match moaners are arguably the most annoying of the lot. How can you moan before knowing how the team plays/what the result is? It’s not just being negative, it feels too much like a desire to say ‘I told you so’ afterwards if it goes tits up.

Thats exactly what it is unfortunately, there seems to be a strange bunch of fans desperate to slag of everything as if to prove just how amazing a fan they are, then pile in when we lose. Weirdly they completely disappear when things are going really well.

Was expecting a much tougher game from Seville. Was easy in the end, don't think they really threatened more than a couple of times and their defence was poor.

2 minutes ago, Zeta said:

Was expecting a much tougher game from Seville. Was easy in the end, don't think they really threatened more than a couple of times and their defence was poor.

I wonder how much that was down to their late change of keeper, I mean weve seen just how much impact having a keeper you dont trust affects a defence.

Best performance under Lampard.

12 hours ago, sonic90 said:

Pulisic played pretty well too but he clearly looks like he expects more out of himself, looked grumpy all game.

He's not putting his shots away, expect that is why he looks grumpy.

7 hours ago, The Brit said:

Some of the pre-match moaners are arguably the most annoying of the lot. How can you moan before knowing how the team plays/what the result is? It’s not just being negative, it feels too much like a desire to say ‘I told you so’ afterwards if it goes tits up.

In fairness, I would rather them voice their opinions first rather than them bandwagoning on here after a loss. At least it would be consistent, the only thing is, we should be able to call them out on their bull sh*t after the game. 

12 hours ago, Slojo said:

It's looking more and more the case that Kepa was the main culprit last season. 

I don't think it's just Mendy though, I think there are multiple factors but Mendy is no doubt the main one for sure. 

Perhaps with Kepa in goal the defence just completely lost their confidence? I know at times when we used to really control games, you would have a moment where Zaha would try his luck from far out and BOOM, they score, Palace gain confidence, and it's game on when we were already 2-0 up. That happened quite a lot, a Kepa error lead to a goal and it gave the other team belief. 

It's not the case anymore thank god. 

I've made some bad shouts on here. But I was quite resolut that if we changed our keeper and not the defence, our performances would noticably improve. 

It's why I backed zouma, Rudiger and christensen to come good. Because I just couldn't trust my judgement on any of them whilst there was a clown pretending to be a goalkeeper behind them. 

2 minutes ago, bisright1 said:

I've made some bad shouts on here. But I was quite resolut that if we changed our keeper and not the defence, our performances would noticably improve. 

It's why I backed zouma, Rudiger and christensen to come good. Because I just couldn't trust my judgement on any of them whilst there was a clown pretending to be a goalkeeper behind them. 

I was actually going to tag you like I did with Mount, you might have gotten that one spot on. 

But I still don't think any of those 3 guys you just mentioned are Chelsea material. It might be harsh on Zouma given how well he's been but he's still making mistakes like that one against Spurs. If Lo Celso doesn't f**k that up, anyone and everyone is talking about Zouma and asking for him to get dropped. But Kepa 100% looks like the main factor here, a clean sheet with Christensen, Rudiger and Emerson? On top of that with Jorginho and Kovacic as defensive cover? It's starting to make sense really. 

Still, that match proved conclusively once and for all that the young google-meister knows all about just how good Havertz is in a blue short and how piss-poor a judge of footballers I am, not knowing how to collate stats and all that.

55 minutes ago, Slojo said:

I was actually going to tag you like I did with Mount, you might have gotten that one spot on. 

But I still don't think any of those 3 guys you just mentioned are Chelsea material. It might be harsh on Zouma given how well he's been but he's still making mistakes like that one against Spurs. If Lo Celso doesn't f**k that up, anyone and everyone is talking about Zouma and asking for him to get dropped. But Kepa 100% looks like the main factor here, a clean sheet with Christensen, Rudiger and Emerson? On top of that with Jorginho and Kovacic as defensive cover? It's starting to make sense really. 

The difference is had Kepa been in goal I am sure Lo Celso would've probably taken a crack from outside the box rather than trying to play in Moura & also the error against Southampton Zouma played a short back pass but Kepa actually got there before Che Adams and bottled the challenge.

My point is that players will always make mistakes, Silva in his first 2 starts (Barnsley & WBA) made mistakes with back passes and also nearly got dispossessed against Spurs in the box but we need quality players who are able to cover for those errors once they occur. I personally think that Defense is all about partnerships and Silva and Zouma compliment each other incredibly well, Zouma brings physicality, aerial presence and pace whereas Silva brings vision, leadership and positioning. I agree if you have Zouma next to Rudiger who both have similar attributes it just doesnt work as well but Zouma with someone like Silva is a truly elite partnership. 

6 minutes ago, Imran_CFC said:

The difference is had Kepa been in goal I am sure Lo Celso would've probably taken a crack from outside the box rather than trying to play in Moura & also the error against Southampton Zouma played a short back pass but Kepa actually got there before Che Adams and bottled the challenge.

My point is that players will always make mistakes, Silva in his first 2 starts (Barnsley & WBA) made mistakes with back passes and also nearly got dispossessed against Spurs in the box but we need quality players who are able to cover for those errors once they occur. I personally think that Defense is all about partnerships and Silva and Zouma compliment each other incredibly well, Zouma brings physicality, aerial presence and pace whereas Silva brings vision, leadership and positioning. I agree if you have Zouma next to Rudiger who both have similar attributes it just doesnt work as well but Zouma with someone like Silva is a truly elite partnership. 

Silva was just integrating into the team and getting back into fitness. Since then he's made no mistakes whereas Zouma always seems to have a mistake in him. But I'll judge this at the end of the season and see what's what. For all I know Zouma could prove me wrong and have an amazing season, I'm just sceptical about it. I feel as though he'll always be a level below from what we really need there despite still being a good defender. 

I also don't care for his distribution at the back. 

43 minutes ago, Slojo said:

Silva was just integrating into the team and getting back into fitness. Since then he's made no mistakes whereas Zouma always seems to have a mistake in him. But I'll judge this at the end of the season and see what's what. For all I know Zouma could prove me wrong and have an amazing season, I'm just sceptical about it. I feel as though he'll always be a level below from what we really need there despite still being a good defender. 

I also don't care for his distribution at the back. 

I agree and think that our next big signing should be a long term dependable CB that can grow in the side with Silva but still be able to pair up with the more erratic Zouma. Don't get me wrong there are elements of Zouma's game i really like but we still need a counter balance to his bouts of recklessness or poor decision making. Silva is the epitome of that calming influence and sadly Rudiger is anything but. A cultured CB that allows for Rudiger to depart and still can become the heir to Silva in time could be the cornerstone of our continuing improvement and move to the next level.

6 hours ago, Zeta said:

Was expecting a much tougher game from Seville. Was easy in the end, don't think they really threatened more than a couple of times and their defence was poor.

When the team selection got declared, I almost posted that this wasn’t a team to win in Seville ( or keep a clean sheet I told my mates ) - shows you what I know !!, but I too was expecting a much harder game, Rennes were more threatening than Seville ?!

Anyways, fabulous outcome, so pleased for Oli - well done mate, but also pleased for the other “lesser lights” in the starting eleven, who have often been the brunt of our annoyance, angst and ignorance too.

Lets hope finishing top doesn’t come back to bite us arses init.

Ollie and Dave show . . . .

 

 

 

On 03/12/2020 at 06:57, doctorblue said:

The good news is that the last game of the round is such a dead rubber that even Kepa can start..

Scooby Doo isn’t that confident?

 

Edited December 4, 20205 yr by erskblue