I think we are a bit tired and have a ton of injuries to players that are crucial to our style of football. 

I just went through the calendar and we are in for some trouble. A game every 3-4 days. 

Getting back injured players is crucial for our season.

13 hours ago, dansubrosa said:

I’m not even worried, you can’t expect us to sustain title challenge and keep winning when we have so many players out. It’s just a blip, when you have Mount and James in midfield you know we are short of players.

At least it’s clear that we need more quality in depth, get rid of the deadwood and bring in high quality players.

Players like Barkley and Sarr need to be replaced.

Problem is, most quality players aren't going to sign to sit on the bench. 

Squad depth and quality is not a problem. If it was almost all The squads in The world has bigger problems with their squad depth than us. 

We just have a major problem with injuries. If it derails our season it derails our season. You can't control everything.

Tuchel said Jorighos mistakes have come from fatigue and you can really trust it is the case. The man has been almost immaculate this season if you consider his role and position in our team.

1 hour ago, enigma said:

Problem is, most quality players aren't going to sign to sit on the bench. 

The game has changed considerably in recent years. It's no longer a game where you see the same faces game after game, especially with a coach like Tuchel in charge. At the start of the season (before injuries) we all thought the squad was a bit bloated, but he has managed to give minutes to everybody. At no point this season have I thought that certain players weren't getting enough time on the pitch. He has tried to and succeeded in giving everybody a fair chance. 

5 hours ago, evissy said:

I think we are a bit tired and have a ton of injuries to players that are crucial to our style of football. 

I just went through the calendar and we are in for some trouble. A game every 3-4 days. 

Getting back injured players is crucial for our season.

Can’t he change the style of football though? Why not tweak the formation to get the best out what you have till players come back. I can remember Fergie beating Wenger’s Arsenal with 8 defenders in his line up. IMO last night’s game gave him an opportunity to try something different, maybe even have a look at a couple of youth players.  

6 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Our players always pull this same trick. Get bored of a manager, stop trying, stop being professional till a new manager comes in.

I have seen no indication our players have gotten bored with Tuchel. It may be that he's not Mr. Popular, I don't know, but even if that's the case I can't imagine players let themselves be influenced by this. They've been in the footballing world since a young age, they will have learned that they may not like every coach/manager. Chasing them out for a new one, or working with another one at a new club doesn't guarantee a sweetheart who plays them all the time. And even that sweetheart will be swapped for another coach  Circle of football life. 

He has been unlucky with major midfield injuries which should mean we improve going forward.

Last night with James in midfield with Barkley and Saul seemed a risk.

Add to that having Sarr at LWB and Kepa.

I can understand Kepa getting a match as with Afcon approaching probably wants to see get him some minutes.

Yet we have only won 2 of our last 5 EPL games and none comfortably since October. 

So for me making so many changes suggests you are not treating the opposition with respect.

Until the midfield starters are back, he needs to find a solution as to how easy we’ve been to play through the middle the last while.  

I’m sure he will get over this little blip just as he did with the back to back losses vs City and juventus and the series of losses prior to the CL final. 

Tuchel has being outstanding in most parts and has given all players a chance except changing formations! 

We are stuck with only Jorginho in the middle, but with a plethora of attacking players.

Why not try the 4-3-3 formation that is working so well for Liverpool and Man city. Our players are not inferior to them. Mount and Havertz can support Jorginho in the middle, they both have plenty of energy and can provide box to box support from midfield.

At the top Lukaku being supported by Werner and Ziyech, speed power and skill combined. 

Something like this: 

                   Mendy

James - silva - rudiger - Azpi

                    Jorginho 

        Havertz               Mount 

Ziyech                                  Werner 

                     Lukaku 

I would love to see this line up. 

1 minute ago, Gentian said:

Tuchel has being outstanding in most parts and has given all players a chance except changing formations! 

We are stuck with only Jorginho in the middle, but with a plethora of attacking players.

Why not try the 4-3-3 formation that is working so well for Liverpool and Man city. Our players are not inferior to them. Mount and Havertz can support Jorginho in the middle, they both have plenty of energy and can provide box to box support from midfield.

At the top Lukaku being supported by Werner and Ziyech, speed power and skill combined. 

Something like this: 

                   Mendy

James - silva - rudiger - Azpi

                    Jorginho 

        Havertz               Mount 

Ziyech                                  Werner 

                     Lukaku 

I would love to see this line up. 

Funnily enough the last opponent TT altered the system for a back four was...Leeds.

2 hours ago, ducavis said:

Can’t he change the style of football though? Why not tweak the formation to get the best out what you have till players come back. I can remember Fergie beating Wenger’s Arsenal with 8 defenders in his line up. IMO last night’s game gave him an opportunity to try something different, maybe even have a look at a couple of youth players.  

You mention Fergie but the reason he often had to chase in his title races/wins is because he took a lot of risks with team selection/rotation in the opening half of season's. I remember once he made a similar gamble to what TT made last night and they got beat at home by Besiktas.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/8372974.stm

His logic would be that when it got to the business end his best Xl would be fresh enough to cope with the weekend/midweek turnover with minimul rest, and it usually worked out exactly as planned.

The impact of injuries should not be underestimated. I remember in Carlo's second season we were looking pretty good for another title before we hit an injury crisis late November. We then embarked on an awful set of results for the next month or so with a makeshift defense struggling. No doubt based on that we of course spent big in the January window, with mixed results. Despite a rally towards the end of the season we were unable to make up the gap, and of course Carlo was ultimately shown the door.

There is a decent chance we will invest in a player or 2 this January as well. However January signings don't always settle quickly enough to impact the current season. Our best chance of success this season is to get the key players back from injury and staying healthy. Especially in midfield. It was a real blow losing Kova to covid right as he was ready to return from injury. That would have been a timely return with others out. Fingers crossed he has a mild case and is able to return against Everton. 

4 hours ago, ducavis said:

Can’t he change the style of football though? Why not tweak the formation to get the best out what you have till players come back. I can remember Fergie beating Wenger’s Arsenal with 8 defenders in his line up. IMO last night’s game gave him an opportunity to try something different, maybe even have a look at a couple of youth players.  

He can why not. He didn't so he probably has a good reason. No time to prepare is something I feel is going to be a reason for that for a while. There is absolutely no time to prepare for games. Players change daily due to injuries and fatigue. 

If Tuchel is able to navigate this December the way we are in good situation regarding the title he's done amazingly well.

If the club really believe in and back TT then they should be working on deals to be ready for early January, not penny pinching, to get him at least 2 CB and 1 CM, possibly two.

Have to face facts. The decline of attention from Toni and AC has started already as they protect themselves ahead of summer moves, so we need to marginalize them and replace them.

Now whether that is recalling a player like Colwill or bringing on Kounde or whoever it needs to be done and done quickly otherwise those two will unbalance us even more.

Likewise Kante is breaking down more often, Kova gets injured too often and Jorgi needs a break at times. 

So again either Gilmour and Gallagher come back or you sign someone like the lad from Monaco.

If we leave it as is we will drop down the table like a stone and Roman will sack TT for fear of losing top 4.

 

I think Gallager next season could act as a box to box, with Billy G. and perhaps Declan Rice.

Need to buy in January, we wont get the 50+ games a season Kante back, that alone leaving a void to fill. Jorginho, Kovacic all have injuries, and RLC is never fit enough to last a while season, so either call loaned players back ( dont want ruin Callagher's outstanding season), or buy some quality. Give Westham 80M, they may have to seriously thinking about let Rice go, he's not going to sign another contract anytime soon.

9 hours ago, forbzy said:

The impact of injuries should not be underestimated. I remember in Carlo's second season we were looking pretty good for another title before we hit an injury crisis late November. We then embarked on an awful set of results for the next month or so with a makeshift defense struggling. No doubt based on that we of course spent big in the January window, with mixed results. Despite a rally towards the end of the season we were unable to make up the gap, and of course Carlo was ultimately shown the door.

There is a decent chance we will invest in a player or 2 this January as well. However January signings don't always settle quickly enough to impact the current season. Our best chance of success this season is to get the key players back from injury and staying healthy. Especially in midfield. It was a real blow losing Kova to covid right as he was ready to return from injury. That would have been a timely return with others out. Fingers crossed he has a mild case and is able to return against Everton. 

I don't think the season's are comparable atall bar the injuries. THAT Sunderland game was coming for weeks even with players fit while this time round we've gone from producing our best performances in years to our worst run under Tuchel at the drop of a hat.

Edited December 10, 20214 yr by Argo

for all the love and sympathy liverpool got with their injuries, here are the list of players we have out -

Trevoh Chalabah, Chilwell, Kante, Kova, Jorginho, Alonso

In any game  4 of them will start, so it is a tough job for sure and players like Mount / Lukaku / Havertz need to do it for us. In top teams you always have the one/two players who win you games single handedly and lead a title charge. We used to have it with Lamps/Drogba then Hazard/Costa. 

But this team is still looking for that one clutch player and that is today the difference between us and Pool/Citeh. Pool have Mane/Salah and City have KDB/Sertling/B.Silva even Utd have Ronaldo/Bruno.

For all the money we spent we were hoping werner/havertz/pulisic one of these will do it but doesnt seem to be happening for us.

19 hours ago, Dubair said:

Until the midfield starters are back, he needs to find a solution as to how easy we’ve been to play through the middle the last while.  

 

Until kante is back, he needs to find a solution as to how easy we’ve been to play through the middle the last while.

There I fixed it

37 minutes ago, Bob stark said:

Until kante is back, he needs to find a solution as to how easy we’ve been to play through the middle the last while.

There I fixed it

Kante is the best of the lot but I don’t agree with that at all , I struggle to remember teams running through the Jorginho and Kovacic pivot since Tuchel has come in.

19 hours ago, Argo said:

You mention Fergie but the reason he often had to chase in his title races/wins is because he took a lot of risks with team selection/rotation in the opening half of season's. I remember once he made a similar gamble to what TT made last night and they got beat at home by Besiktas.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/8372974.stm

His logic would be that when it got to the business end his best Xl would be fresh enough to cope with the weekend/midweek turnover with minimul rest, and it usually worked out exactly as planned.

There is no way you can win pl doing that when you have this city and pool as your title rival. If you relax in the 1st half of the season, you will be 12/15 points of them and your title aspiration is basically gone.

6 minutes ago, Dubair said:

Kante is the best of the lot but I don’t agree with that at all , I struggle to remember teams running through the Jorginho and Kovacic pivot since Tuchel has come in.

On top of my head, against arsenal

This season we've played 24 games in all competitions. Our leading starters on 20 games are Mendy and Rudiger. other than that only Jorginho (16) has even started in two thirds of the fixtures. 

We've had absence through injuries for Werner, Lukaku, Ziyech and Pulisic up front, Kante, Kovacic, Jorginho, Mount and RLC in midfield, Chilwell, Chalobah, and to a lesser extent Christensen and James at the back, and then you have the additional complications at centre back from the Rudiger/Christensen contracts scenario seemingly affecting their recent form. 

I'd say we've done bloody well to only be overtaken in the PL at the 15 game mark. And if Rudiger scores against Man United at the end of that game we'd still be top !

TT is doing a bloody good job in difficult circumstances !

2 hours ago, Bob stark said:

On top of my head, against arsenal

The Arsenal game where Chelsea won 0-2 comfortably away from home ? Strange example to choose. 

This is why I’ve never bought into the whole Christensen and Rudiger are now invaluable to the team and we need to keep them at all costs narrative. Tuchel won’t play them in a back 4 because they’re not good enough, we’ve seen it for years, they look good because the back 3 covers up their flaws. Not to mention they have Kante and Jorginho in front of them who are 2 of the best ball recoverers in the league