3 hours ago, Munkworth said:

A podcast I listen to painted David O’Leary out as a madman who used to inject his players with ‘Baby Serum’ because he obsessed with making them all wee little babies. I know this is useless information to pretty much everyone but it makes me laugh. 

Is that a euphemism? The mind boggles either way! 

1 hour ago, RomansRoubles said:

Fair pay to Tuchel today. We were the slightly better team. Luck was just not on our side. 

Don't personally feel was luck. Very even game, we did not win because we bottled 3 of the best 4 chances, Salah being the other one bottled.

5 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Don't personally feel was luck. Very even game, we did not win because we bottled 3 of the best 4 chances, Salah being the other one bottled.

A lot of things went against us - mount hitting the woodwork, offsides, one clear disallowed goal, pool mostly taking unstoppable penalties,  etc. It just isn't your day sometimes. Sucks but proud of how we played.

5 minutes ago, RomansRoubles said:

A lot of things went against us - mount hitting the woodwork, offsides, one clear disallowed goal, pool mostly taking unstoppable penalties,  etc. It just isn't your day sometimes. Sucks but proud of how we played.

Absolutely we should be proud. We played the best side on the planet at the mo imo and we should have won.

Some of that bad luck is of our own making, mounts post hit, us not being able to stay onside, others not so much. We also got lucky though with Pools disallowed goal and Salah bottling his sitter. Luck went both ways imo.

I thought 3-4-3 has worked great in the past two matches. They play freely, quicker and with great movements.

Perhaps Tuchel has instructed to be more attacking, and having Havertz instead of Lukaku helps.

I thought it was a mistake bringing on Kepa for the shootout. Yes, it's worked in the past and it was probably already planned before the game started, but so what, Mendy was having a great game, I would have trusted him to save some of those penalties. His confidence from shootouts would have been sky high as well seeing as he just won a shootout with Senegal. It wouldn't have bothered me much if Mendy was having an average game, but when he is playing as well as that, then you have to leave him on.

Also, I thought Kepa was poor for once from penalties, he was diving too early and he definitely should have saved one or two.

Edited February 28, 20224 yr by Scott Harris

8 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

I thought it was a mistake bringing on Kepa for the shootout. Yes, it's worked in the past and it was probably already planned before the game started, but so what, Mendy was having a great game, I would have trusted him to save some of those penalties. His confidence from shootouts would have been sky high as well seeing as he just won a shootout with Senegal. It wouldn't have bothered me much if Mendy was having an average game, but when he is playing as well as that, then you have to leave him on.

Also, I thought Kepa was poor for once from penalties, he was diving too early and he definitely should have saved one or two.

I still think it was the right decision to bring Kepa but I noticed Kepa's early diving as well. He did guess right a few times but he could have held his dive back in a few cases.

Another thing that did not help was the fact we went second. Listen someone had to do it. But from penalties 5 to 10 each one was sudden death. We scored them all regardless but maybe Pool players might have crumbled had the roles been reversed. Little details but coukd of made the difference.

I think we all expected Kepa to come on, only because he is great at them, going back to the year we won the Europa League, and plenty of times since. But also Mendy seemed distinctly bad at them which was the other issue. After his afcon exploits maybe from now on its best to just stick with whoever has the feel for the game and mendy was having a blinder. Cant blame tuchel for it one bit though, he even mentioned how good kepa is in penalties at training too.

15 hours ago, Oli said:

Another thing that did not help was the fact we went second. Listen someone had to do it. But from penalties 5 to 10 each one was sudden death. We scored them all regardless but maybe Pool players might have crumbled had the roles been reversed. Little details but coukd of made the difference.

 

We lost both coin tosses it seems. The one to decide which end to play at and the one to decide whether to go first or second. 

60% of shoot outs are won by the team shooting first. 

15 minutes ago, bisright1 said:

We lost both coin tosses it seems. The one to decide which end to play at and the one to decide whether to go first or second. 

60% of shoot outs are won by the team shooting first. 

Some of the best penalties you are likely to see in a high profile match also

18 minutes ago, bisright1 said:

We lost both coin tosses it seems. The one to decide which end to play at and the one to decide whether to go first or second. 

60% of shoot outs are won by the team shooting first. 

I was surprised by that ... I always thought if you lost the first toss for choice of ends, then it was your choice of whether to go first or second ... or vice versa LOL

Being reported his press conference today was a little stormy. What I like about Tuchel is his willingness to say exactly what he feels whilst being diplomatic, making his interviews both informative and interesting. 

ANGRY TUCHEL SNAPS BACK AT REPORTERS – EXCHANGE IN FULL

Reporter 1: Should Roman Abramovich have a role in football?

Tuchel: It's too much for me to answer. I am not aware of the details and the whole situation. There are situations, like war, that are so much more important than football, this will never change. Situations like war are so much more important. The role of Mr Abramovich is not on me to comment because we don't know enough about it.

Reporter 2: Hello Thomas. You've already spoken about how there are more important things going on in the world than football right now but how much of a distraction is all of this for you, and for your players, and for Chelsea football club – how can you lift the players after Sunday [Carabao Cup final defeat]?

Tuchel: To lift the team after Sunday should not be too hard because I think everybody knows we played a very strong match, we played to our identity, we played with full commitment and a lot of quality. We can never control the result and a winner had to be found and was found after 22 penalties. That more or less tells the story. So that should not be the problem.

It's only two days. We gave a day off to clear our minds because it was not only a disappointment but it was also physically draining for us, physically demanding and that leaves us with a one-day turnaround to be ready tomorrow because that's what its all about and it's the next round [of the FA Cup]. This is life for Chelsea – we want to be competitive in different competitions so we have to be ready tomorrow.

Is that always easy? Maybe not. But this is what we do, this is what we demand from me, myself and everyone around the team, and last but not least the players.

You know, you always start the sentence, the question with the same sentence, 'we know there are much more important things than football but can you comment?' but you also decide to ask me about war and how often do I need to say it? It's horrible. It's horrible. There cannot be any other opinion about it, but why should we be more distracted by you at work? That's what I meant when I said it in the first place. It's out there. We know there are more important things out there. This will never change. This is about sports and there are a lot more important things out there. 

Still there is a large distraction going on and we are worried but at the end we try to create an atmosphere to come to work and focus on our work, which is our passion so we are very very grateful and very privileged to have it and it's not that that big a problem. But of course I think that everybody in Europe, more or less, has noise in their head that nobody likes and maybe it's the same for you. But still you try to do your job as good as possible and it's the same for us.

Reporter 3: Hello Thomas. How worried are you about the future running of Chelsea Football Club and I wonder what your message will be to the fans at the moment? 

Tuchel: I'm not so sure I'm the person to give messages to the fans. If we try to be calm here, and we are calm, in the centre of a storm, or of some noise around us that we cannot control that we are also not responsible for, it's in the end the best to stay calm and focus on what we love and what we do and this is sports. I think we have a right to focus on sports. I think the players have a right to be focused and this is what we can tell the fans and this is what the fans saw on Sunday. 

There is a big situation out there and there is a lot of commitment from the players, from both clubs and the fans and I think that everybody is aware there are more important things. The situation in Ukraine is much, much more important than this game of football and still there was a full stadium and still we arrive with two teams, two strong teams, that played a fantastic match and this is what we can do to the fans. To distract them, to entertain them and do what we do with maximum effort and a maximum commitment. I don't see any other solution how or what we could do different.

Reporter 4: Hi Thomas. Just on how passionately you spoke a moment ago about the horrors of war, how much do you hope that the owner is using –

Tuchel: – Listen, listen, listen you have to stop, I'm not a politician. You have to stop, honestly, I can only repeat it and I even feel bad to repeat it because I've never experienced war.

So even to talk about it I feel bad because I'm very privileged – I sit here in peace. I do the best I can but you have to stop asking me these questions because I have no answers for you.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sportsnews/article-10564713/Emotional-Chelsea-boss-Thomas-Tuchel-snaps-questions-Ukraine-owner-Roman-Abramovich.html

Reported on sky too

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/34651/12554796/thomas-tuchel-says-roman-abramovichs-decision-to-pass-over-control-of-chelsea-makes-no-difference-to-him-and-team

I guess he wanted to stop being always asked about Rom but no like this. Media really twisting the knife in.

19 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Reported on sky too

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/34651/12554796/thomas-tuchel-says-roman-abramovichs-decision-to-pass-over-control-of-chelsea-makes-no-difference-to-him-and-team

I guess he wanted to stop being always asked about Rom but no like this. Media really twisting the knife in.

Media kept asking the same question and nothing about football. I was getting pissed just listening to the questions. Can't blame him. 

4 minutes ago, RomansRoubles said:

Media kept asking the same question and nothing about football. I was getting pissed just listening to the questions. Can't blame him. 

They just want to cause trouble, they are not so stupid as to think TT knows anything about it.

Well done to him for essentially telling the scumbags to f**k off. 

They should probably ask him 6 more times if he thinks Roman is doing enough, not enough, too much, is too Russian or in general a terrible person, maybe even ask Thomas to comment on his cat's (Roman's not Tuchel's) day to day life. Maybe enquire about the length of his grass on one of his properties in another country while we are at it. 

Tuchel is an intelligent multilingual eloquent man so journalists know they'll get proper concise answers from him and they've sort of used it against him and he's rightly had enough. Can you imagine someone like Steve Bruce, Harry bloody Redknapp or really any other manager apart from Klopp maybe fending off questions about Roman and the Russian invasion. Pretty sure Lampard would have either refused or given pretty stock answers. I hope Tuchel is our manager for years to come I think he's the real deal as a coach and as a man.

1 hour ago, Munkworth said:

Well done to him for essentially telling the scumbags to f**k off. 

We agree on that one. 

Every now and again you find the rare decent journo but the vast majority are scum of the earth only I interested in pushing their own agenda to make misery.

bit like politicians.

13 minutes ago, bluehaze said:

Tuchel is an intelligent multilingual eloquent man so journalists know they'll get proper concise answers from him and they've sort of used it against him and he's rightly had enough. Can you imagine someone like Steve Bruce, Harry bloody Redknapp or really any other manager apart from Klopp maybe fending off questions about Roman and the Russian invasion. Pretty sure Lampard would have either refused or given pretty stock answers. I hope Tuchel is our manager for years to come I think he's the real deal as a coach and as a man.

He wears his heart on his sleeve and tries to talk as it is coming from him rather than prepared model answers, it's why I watch his interviews more than any other manager, it really does give you insight on how things are going on in the background instead of the same old boring stuff you get from other managers. I'll always be a fan even after he leaves Chelsea.

On 28/02/2022 at 16:53, Gentian said:

I thought 3-4-3 has worked great in the past two matches. They play freely, quicker and with great movements.

Perhaps Tuchel has instructed to be more attacking, and having Havertz instead of Lukaku helps.

Got nothing to do with formation, more on how our opp play

Love this guy. Hope he stays for a loooong time.

Hopefully he stays.

Don't want to get ahead of myself but chances are that he'll have absolutely nothing to spend going into the summer. And even greater chances that Marina and Cech who he has a good relationship will leave the club soon.

 

 

Some Journo's are really stupid, what are they expecting him to say ?  - Good on TT 

1 hour ago, Sindre said:

Hopefully he stays.

Don't want to get ahead of myself but chances are that he'll have absolutely nothing to spend going into the summer. And even greater chances that Marina and Cech who he has a good relationship will leave the club soon.

 

 

New owners may want their own man.