OK, this is how many matches the clubs have played so far since coming back from the international break on November 20.

Chelsea - 18

Liverpool, West Ham - 15

Man City - 14

Spurs - 13

MU, Arsenal, Brentford - 12

Leicester, Brighton, Southampton, Norwich, Crystal Palace - 11

Wolves, Newcastle, Aston Villa, Leeds - 10

Everton, Watford - 9

Burnley - 7

21 minutes ago, abramovich said:

OK, this is how many matches the clubs have played so far since coming back from the international break on November 20.

Chelsea - 18

Liverpool, West Ham - 15

Man City - 14

Spurs - 13

MU, Arsenal, Brentford - 12

Leicester, Brighton, Southampton, Norwich, Crystal Palace - 11

Wolves, Newcastle, Aston Villa, Leeds - 10

Everton, Watford - 9

Burnley - 7

We've played 36 games in all competitions to date. Rudiger has started in 30 of them. The next highest outfield player is on 23 starts (Alonso and Jorginho). None of the other midfielders or forwards have even reached 20 starts.

I think, despite the intensity of the schedule,  TT needs to do everything he can to decide on his best team and reduce the level of rotation, especially up front. Hellish task though given the injury and Covid disruptions.

32 minutes ago, abramovich said:

Of course Alonso needs to be rotated and cannot play every game, that wasn't my point. All I'm saying is that Emerson isn't an upgrade or an answer to our problems in that position, and we're currently struggling with Alonso as it is.

My point is that Emerson is bad but right now we need any player who can lwb otherwise this season is going to be very difficult. 

In perfect world aka manchester city, we will  sign Digne for 25 m and be done with it. 

3 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Question for those who feels the board are fully behind TT.

If the transfer window closes and we have not strengthened our squad with a new LWB, new RWB to cover the long term losses of Chilwell and James, does that show a lack of support for TT?

If we don't provided a lukaku alternative does that show a lack of support for TT?

No and no. There are other reasons why they might not spend this window.

6 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Roman: Hello everyone, thank you for being here today.

Bruce, Eugene and Marina: our pleasure Sir.

Roman: I want to discuss the ongoing problem with Romelu Lukaku. Did I make a mistake bringing him here?

Bruce: No sir no

Eugene: You do not make mistakes Sir.

Marina: He scored lots of goals wherever he goes, only not here.

Roman: So are you saying the problem is somewhere else?

Marina: None of our attackers are doing good.

Bruce: we cannot score more than a goal a game since Villa.

Eugene: You don't pick the team on match days sir.

Roman: So the coach is the problem?

Bruce: Look at our history, this always happens.

Eugene: is not our fault the coach cannot maintain the players levels. These players are winners.

Marina: we sack the coach, results get better,we win trophies.

Bruce: and your timing to do so is always brilliant.

Eugene: the next coach is sure to get Lukaku firing, this one just does not know how to use him properly.

Roman: so we sack our Champions League winner coach?

Bruce: if you think it's best boss.

Eugene: you are always so smart with these choices boss.

Marina: Sheva is available, he knows how a top striker works.

Bruce: we have a squad full of world class players, I see no other reason why we are not challenging City.

Roman: OK I will take it under advisement.

 

A commendable effort, Axman 😂 

So what happens come the end of the season if Azpi, Rudiger and Christensen all leave out of contract?

The team is in a pretty bad place right now and the uncertainty over the futures of so many key players can't be helping. 

The squad is bloated with players not even close to being first team regulars on big wages that we have little to no hope to shifting elsewhere. 

From the hope and promise we had going into this season as European champions we're once again in real danger of completely imploding. 

2 hours ago, abramovich said:

OK, this is how many matches the clubs have played so far since coming back from the international break on November 20.

Chelsea - 18

Liverpool, West Ham - 15

Man City - 14

Spurs - 13

MU, Arsenal, Brentford - 12

Leicester, Brighton, Southampton, Norwich, Crystal Palace - 11

Wolves, Newcastle, Aston Villa, Leeds - 10

Everton, Watford - 9

Burnley - 7

A game every 3 days in that period, depleted squad with no right and left wing back cover. No wonder we are struggling...there is no time to fix matters on the training pitch. Last night was the first sign that the strain of such a congested fixture list is getting to the players...the normally dependable ones struggled too. Lukaku and Ziyech misfiring is well documented but everyone else apart from Silva and Kepa had really poor games. I can't remember a game that Kante and Jorgi gave the ball away so much. Has Tuchel lost the dressing room? Spurs on Sunday will tell us a lot... though if we can't get up for that game we are in deep sh*t. Hopefully the board are working furiously to get deals done for wing back cover otherwise I can honestly see us missing out on top four and then questions will be asked of the coach.

3 hours ago, Jangz said:

if they were tired why he did not bring replacements on earlier - not as if they were setting the world on fire.. he had Kova/RLC/havertz/Werner to change it. Dont buy this excuse.. we drew again because of a poor tactical set-up and team selection... 

As i said TT has been very average in league management and needs to step it up.. for starters he needs to stop rotating every game - our players play like strangers.. 

Too many games have been trashed by his mystifying selections if i am honest.. last season/early in the season he was able to change it with  his subs and the only difference is that it is not happening any more.

Tell me how players like Werner are in terms of their health ? What were the recovery times in training compared to September or what were the medics saying about the amount of minutes say RLC should be subjected to ? Did any of the players sleep logs show any concerns? What about nutrition?
My point is none of us have seen any of the data Tuchal and his staff have and they know just how precarious players are in terms of their health. 
its oh so easy , and yes I too look at a game and think things are obvious yet they rarely are.
 

We drew yesterday  in part because no team has had to play or travel in the same way as we have. Ok its not be the full reason but it was a massive contributory factor

Yesterday wasn’t a scheduled game or indeed was it due to a us having cancelled any games due to COVID. It was played because of the CWC.

Even then there was absolutely no need for it to be played on a Tuesday in could have been played on Wednesday Spurs our next opponents play tonight against Leicester  who just by coincidence play Spurs on Sunday. 

Just as easily the PL could have re arranged scheduled fixture for the likes of Burnley or Spurs , Arsenal or indeed Newcastle and in effect rewritten the second half of the season which when you factor in the likes of Arsenal and Newcastle  will have a free weekend on the 4/5 February ( they are both out of the FA Cup) and with ease their scheduled league game due to be played in May could be slotted in. 
Likewise clubs have scheduled fixtures on days allocated to rounds 5&6 as more PL teams are eliminated it really shouldn’t be beyond the PL wit to move games around

In playing  3 away games in 6 days( I repeat my point it could easily have been scheduled for Wednesday but no whereas every other team has had a little bit of a helping hand we have been treated differently) so when clubs moan, which they will when asked to play . I just hope they will be facing the same schedule 

League wanting to ensure integrity of the competition my arse!

 

 

13 minutes ago, terraloon said:

Tell me how players like Werner are in terms of their health ? What were the recovery times in training compared to September or what were the medics saying about the amount of minutes say RLC should be subjected to ? Did any of the players sleep logs show any concerns? What about nutrition?
My point is none of us have seen any of the data Tuchal and his staff have and they know just how precarious players are in terms of their health. 
its oh so easy , and yes I too look at a game and think things are obvious yet they rarely are.
 

We drew yesterday  in part because no team has had to play or travel in the same way as we have. Ok its not be the full reason but it was a massive contributory factor

Yesterday wasn’t a scheduled game or indeed was it due to a us having cancelled any games due to COVID. It was played because of the CWC.

Even then there was absolutely no need for it to be played on a Tuesday in could have been played on Wednesday Spurs our next opponents play tonight against Leicester  who just by coincidence play Spurs on Sunday. 

Just as easily the PL could have re arranged scheduled fixture for the likes of Burnley or Spurs , Arsenal or indeed Newcastle and in effect rewritten the second half of the season which when you factor in the likes of Arsenal and Newcastle  will have a free weekend on the 4/5 February ( they are both out of the FA Cup) and with ease their scheduled league game due to be played in May could be slotted in. 
Likewise clubs have scheduled fixtures on days allocated to rounds 5&6 as more PL teams are eliminated it really shouldn’t be beyond the PL wit to move games around

In playing  3 away games in 6 days( I repeat my point it could easily have been scheduled for Wednesday but no whereas every other team has had a little bit of a helping hand we have been treated differently) so when clubs moan, which they will when asked to play . I just hope they will be facing the same schedule 

League wanting to ensure integrity of the competition my arse!

I agree but Tuchel did have players on the bench who are rested and could have started.

3 minutes ago, coco said:

I agree but Tuchel did have players on the bench who are rested and could have started.

Therein is my exact point we have absolutely no idea what the medics were saying about these players.
 

For instance after injury, after illness what were the Medics saying was the sort of time that say Werner should have ?

16 minutes ago, terraloon said:

Yesterday wasn’t a scheduled game or indeed was it due to a us having cancelled any games due to COVID. It was played because of the CWC.

League wanting to ensure integrity of the competition my arse!

 

 

Excatly, This game wasn't even meant to happen for another 3 weeks!

They literally brought the game forward 3 weeks to cram it into our only free week for a couple of months!

It's not like we are behind on fixtures, there are teams with about 4 games in hand on us with no idea or plan on when they will be played.

As bad as last nights performance was I think the Premier League was out of order for squezzing in last nights fixture unnecessarily at this moment in time.

We complained about about the fixtures they add a game to our schedule, Arsenal loan out players left right and centre and have a player sent off and they are rewarded with a game cancelled.

FWIW I think we are miles off City and even Liverpool, but the premier has done a number on us to make life harder for us to mantain a high standard.

57 minutes ago, ForeverCarefree said:

So what happens come the end of the season if Azpi, Rudiger and Christensen all leave out of contract?

The team is in a pretty bad place right now and the uncertainty over the futures of so many key players can't be helping. 

The squad is bloated with players not even close to being first team regulars on big wages that we have little to no hope to shifting elsewhere. 

From the hope and promise we had going into this season as European champions we're once again in real danger of completely imploding. 

We buy Kounde and stick with Chalobah and Sarr. This is the very minimum or else we might as well shut down.

2 minutes ago, Gol15 said:

We buy Kounde and stick with Chalobah and Sarr. This is the very minimum or else we might as well shut down.

If that's our central defensive options next season we're in big trouble. 

Just now, ForeverCarefree said:

If that's our central defensive options next season we're in big trouble. 

Kounde T.Silva Chalobah Sarr

Anything less and we won't be able to finish top 6.

2 hours ago, terraloon said:

Tell me how players like Werner are in terms of their health ? What were the recovery times in training compared to September or what were the medics saying about the amount of minutes say RLC should be subjected to ? Did any of the players sleep logs show any concerns? What about nutrition?
My point is none of us have seen any of the data Tuchal and his staff have and they know just how precarious players are in terms of their health. 
its oh so easy , and yes I too look at a game and think things are obvious yet they rarely are.
 

We drew yesterday  in part because no team has had to play or travel in the same way as we have. Ok its not be the full reason but it was a massive contributory factor

Yesterday wasn’t a scheduled game or indeed was it due to a us having cancelled any games due to COVID. It was played because of the CWC.

Even then there was absolutely no need for it to be played on a Tuesday in could have been played on Wednesday Spurs our next opponents play tonight against Leicester  who just by coincidence play Spurs on Sunday. 

Just as easily the PL could have re arranged scheduled fixture for the likes of Burnley or Spurs , Arsenal or indeed Newcastle and in effect rewritten the second half of the season which when you factor in the likes of Arsenal and Newcastle  will have a free weekend on the 4/5 February ( they are both out of the FA Cup) and with ease their scheduled league game due to be played in May could be slotted in. 
Likewise clubs have scheduled fixtures on days allocated to rounds 5&6 as more PL teams are eliminated it really shouldn’t be beyond the PL wit to move games around

In playing  3 away games in 6 days( I repeat my point it could easily have been scheduled for Wednesday but no whereas every other team has had a little bit of a helping hand we have been treated differently) so when clubs moan, which they will when asked to play . I just hope they will be facing the same schedule 

League wanting to ensure integrity of the competition my arse!

 

 

 

Yes TT has more data than us but if a player is on the bench you would surely think they can play more than the 10-15 minutes afforded for the game in question. My argument is that yesterday making subs late cost us, do you think the likes of werner / havertz would not have completed the game had they come on 15-20 minutes early?

I agree with your argument on EPL being harsh on us as compared to other teams but i also dont have enough information around it. CWC is something we knew about well in advance - we also have probably the biggest squad there is out there.. i just think we also need to look at it from a non-chelsea angle to really asses how we are performing as a team.

 

29 minutes ago, Jangz said:

 

Yes TT has more data than us but if a player is on the bench you would surely think they can play more than the 10-15 minutes afforded for the game in question. My argument is that yesterday making subs late cost us, do you think the likes of werner / havertz would not have completed the game had they come on 15-20 minutes early?

I agree with your argument on EPL being harsh on us as compared to other teams but i also dont have enough information around it. CWC is something we knew about well in advance - we also have probably the biggest squad there is out there.. i just think we also need to look at it from a non-chelsea angle to really asses how we are performing as a team.

 

CWC we did indeed know about remind me though when was it scheduled for ? It certainly wasn’t in February 22.

Again how many of the players was Tuchal worried about say after 60 minutes? What was the performance analyst at the game telling Tuchal about ? Was Silva still able to complete the game ? Let’s face it after just a few minutes they were worried about a potential match ending injury to him . In other words it may not about who was coming on it was about who needed to come off.

At this point in time we have lost 3 games  in the league . Of course we have drawn a lot but look at the games where we haven’t won and just how many of those came about because the opposition scored late into the game.
 

As for having the biggest squad nope that’s not correct. Irrespective all clubs are allowed to have 25 players over the age of 21. If clubs haven’t got that number then that should be a factor. For instance at this point in time Arsenal have just 18 in the over 21 squad. They have 4 on AFCON duties and one suspended. In effect 13 and two of them are goalkeepers. But the fact that they had less injuries in their squad allowed the PL to call a game off an he was faced with the dilemma make changes too earlier and in a blink we could be down to say 10 or maybe even 9

I try and look at things objectively but the fact that ALL PL teams have the ability to register as many under 21 s as they want indeed even Arsenals 3rd keeper is an under 21 who didn’t count toward available players because, well he was inexperienced under 21.

Edited January 19, 20224 yr by terraloon

In someways I’m glad Tuchel has said the players are exhausted mentally and physically. At least there doesn’t appear to be a more serious issue. 
 

Hopefully the players can have some time off after spurs and recharge themselves. 

8 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

Nothing much changed under Sarri after things started going wrong though. Our performances were still sh*t and I still remember very well that the only reason why we finished top 4 was because everybody else around us was just as bad. We ended the season winning only 1 game in 5. It was a miracle we finished top 4. Our performances in the league were so poor that I was glad the Europa League would come around and distract me from it. 

You say there was no miraculous upticks in form when Sarri took over from Conte, but that's not true either. We were undefeated for 12 games and in the mix for the title before one single defeat sent us spiralling out of control.

The points we got in Sarri's season were enough for top 4 something like 16 of the previous 19 season's. The idea it was fluked finish simply wasn't true. You say it was down a bit to other teams nor being consistent well ofcourse, we were all fighting for 4th instead of the league for a reason. 

And the performances at the start of Sarri weren't great either despite the unbeaten run, most of those games involved the 'boring' possession based games many grew to dispise but the fact it wasn't whatever the hell Conte was serving up in 17/18 meant it looked great by comparison and/or people overlooked it for a while

11 minutes ago, Argo said:

The points we got in Sarri's season were enough for top 4 something like 16 of the previous 19 season's. The idea it was fluked finish simply wasn't true. You say it was down a bit to other teams nor being consistent well ofcourse, we were all fighting for 4th instead of the league for a reason. 

And the performances at the start of Sarri weren't great either despite the unbeaten run, most of those games involved the 'boring' possession based games many grew to dispise but the fact it wasn't whatever the hell Conte was serving up in 17/18 meant it looked great by comparison and/or people overlooked it for a while

At the time the whole point was to change our playstyle and to finish top 4. He took Jorginho, fully changed the way we play and finished top 3 and won Europa League. You can argue that Hazard had his best season under Sarri. Sarri did his job really well, it wasn't flashy but he didn't care, he understood that what matters is the end result.

28 minutes ago, JM7 said:

In someways I’m glad Tuchel has said the players are exhausted mentally and physically. At least there doesn’t appear to be a more serious issue. 
 

Hopefully the players can have some time off after spurs and recharge themselves. 

Time for Tuchel to make some priorities. Play as many kids as possible in the FA Cup and forget about the CL.

6 minutes ago, Gol15 said:

Time for Tuchel to make some priorities. Play as many kids as possible in the FA Cup and forget about the CL.

But why? We're not winning the PL so what exactly should we concentrate on? Finishing in the top four so we could play in the CL next season? The very same competition we should somehow forget this season?

Just now, abramovich said:

But why? We're not winning the PL so what exactly should we concentrate on? Finishing in the top four so we could play in the CL next season? The very same competition we should somehow forget this season?

If we keep pushing in both CL and FA Cup we could lose the top 4 spot. I do expect us to progress to the next round since we should be able to win against Lille but anything more is just too much for this squad.

50 minutes ago, JM7 said:

In someways I’m glad Tuchel has said the players are exhausted mentally and physically. At least there doesn’t appear to be a more serious issue. 
 

Hopefully the players can have some time off after spurs and recharge themselves. 

Yeah I don’t really get why so few are willing to take this at face value rather than delve into pet theories about “unrest in the dressing room” coz “history” etc. it’s a perfectly legit reason for underperformance, as is the loss of Chilwell and James. No matter what one thinks of the board, they’re not just going to overlook these things.

9 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

Nothing much changed under Sarri after things started going wrong though. Our performances were still sh*t and I still remember very well that the only reason why we finished top 4 was because everybody else around us was just as bad. We ended the season winning only 1 game in 5. It was a miracle we finished top 4. Our performances in the league were so poor that I was glad the Europa League would come around and distract me from it. 

You say there was no miraculous upticks in form when Sarri took over from Conte, but that's not true either. We were undefeated for 12 games and in the mix for the title before one single defeat sent us spiralling out of control.

After the Man City drubbing which was the lowest point of his tenure, his record in the league was 6W 4D 2L, whilst also winning the europa league. It’s not amazing but doesn’t indicate to me anyway a team that just gave up on the manager. As has been already stated the point total achieved that season was good enough for top 4 nearly every other season so it wasn’t a fluke.

I still don’t think it was a miraculous up turn in form when Sarri came in for Conte either. His 12 game unbeaten run was impressive but it was 8W and 4D so not exactly a million miles away from his record in the 12 games that he finished the season with after Man City. It’s hardly unique to Chelsea for a new manager to have a “bounce”, which I think that run can partially be attributed to. 

8 minutes ago, Dean said:

Yeah I don’t really get why so few are willing to take this at face value rather than delve into pet theories about “unrest in the dressing room” coz “history” etc. it’s a perfectly legit reason for underperformance, as is the loss of Chilwell and James. No matter what one thinks of the board, they’re not just going to overlook these things.

It can be both. Just one toxic work collegue can shift mental dynamics so much.

Personally i'd have given the Chesterfield game to the U23's and told the main squad to take a short holiday. Harsh on Chesterfield and pisses on tradition a bit but sometimes needs must.

Edited January 19, 20224 yr by Argo