40 minutes ago, ForeverCarefree said:

Liverpool game now confirmed for March 4th.

Means we have a run of fixtures of 

Atletico Madrid, Feb 23rd

Manchester United, Feb 28th

Liverpool, March 4th

Everton, March 8th

Leeds, March 13th 

Atletico Madrid, March 17th 

So for those of us who have said Tuchel has had easier run of fixtures for his first six games, the following six should probably teach us more about Tuchel and the squad and where they are competitively. 

If we make it through that lot with only 2 losses, I think I'd be happy. 

I am hopeful that TT will be able to outdo OGS taftically and get us the win, if we can overcome the VAR handicap.

Liverpool away is a crapshoot. If their forwards show up our defence will be in pieces, if they misfire we have a chance. Everton at home and Leeds away I think TT can give us the edge over Carlos balanced style and the insanity of Biesla. 

But Atletico...yeah I dont see us scoring nevermind getting past them. Best keeper in the world and one of the meanest defenses.

has to ditch the back 3 idea asap, hinders us getting the ball forward quicker with players also having the easy ball side ways or backwards. it will also help having another body further up the pitch.

James and Chilwell are international full backs ad surely able to get up and back rather than having a 3rd centre back.

Lucky to have got even a point against Southampton, who on current form are comfortably the worst team in the league. 

That was an atrocious performance. 

No idea what Tuchel was playing at the team selection or more specifically the substitutions. 

Tuchel said after the Newcastle game he doesn't see Werner as a preferred options as the central striker but played him there in the second half. 

Zouma bought in for Christensen for no apparent reason. 

Jorginho not selected to partner Kovacic for the first time in the league. 

I could go on but that was pretty shocking today. 

Awful management today, got everything wrong. 

Bad day. First time since he's arrived when I thought his coaching decisions and tactics were wrong .

Tammy and Callum taken off tactically, both not good enough. Message sent

I like his post match interview honest clear straight to the point not hiding he seems pissed and knows what needs to be done.

Clear message sent that you must perform.

Edited February 20, 20215 yr by Brutos

I think he's done a good job but today was on him, he really made some odd decisions. That CHO one I can't even begin to wrap my head around... I don't think splitting up Jorginho-Kova was wise, I thought we missed that partnership in the middle that's been winning us games. Kurt Zouma cost us the goal when Christensen has been doing well in that position. 

Odd...Odd...Odd... 

I understand the line up apart from the Zouma inclusion, but I thought the substitutions were bizarre today. First he takes off the only recognized striker, when we're behind, then he takes off CHO, and then he brings on Jorginho, while we need a goal.

Yes, CHO was pretty bad in that forward role, but why didn't he just take off James and put Callum at WB, or take off a CB and went with 4 at the back. And surely when you want to win a game you bring on Giroud instead of Jorginho. Or did Kovacic have a knock?

2 minutes ago, Slojo said:

I think he's done a good job but today was on him, he really made some odd decisions. That CHO one I can't even begin to wrap my head around... I don't think splitting up Jorginho-Kova was wise, I thought we missed that partnership in the middle that's been winning us games. Kurt Zouma cost us the goal when Christensen has been doing well in that position. 

Odd...Odd...Odd... 

Well, we can't play Jorginho and Kovacic in every game and we have loads of big games coming up, so I wouldn't critisize him on that. If you have an option like Kante, you're going to start him some time in that run. And it's always better to rotate in the "easier games" than against Atletico or Man Utd.

But Zouma for Christensen was odd, because as a CB you don't have to run as much anyway and we have Silva coming back, so Christensen isn't going to play all of the games anyway.

Edited February 20, 20215 yr by True Blue23

Rubbish today, I've been saying nothing has changed since he got here and this shows it. Barely created a chance and he changed absolutely nothing during the game, other than to hook our 2 young player then throw them under the bus in the post match interview. I had no idea how people kept claiming we were having better on the last few games, it was exactly the same, the only difference was wolves, spurs etc didn't take their chances to get a result against us like saints did. 

Tuchel was brought in to steady the ship, not revolutionise our play. He's done well so far.

Got us into the top 4,made us defensively more stable and not as sus. 

He made a few errors today. Not hooking off Werner was one. There will be a few bumps along the way but that's inevitable. We march on. 

18 minutes ago, ForeverCarefree said:

No idea what Tuchel was playing at the team selection or more specifically the substitutions. 

He's been here three weeks so he's probably still searching for what will be his best XI. Under normal circumstances he'd have the pre-season to do that but now he's got no choice but to figure it out during a packed schedule of course.
So I can understand the reasoning behind his tinkering at the moment. I expect it too stop soon enough when he's found his best XI.

I like his directness though. Hooking CHO today seems harsh but it sends a clear message to the entire squad. He'll have a talk with Callum and he'll be fine and he's thrived under Tuchel overall.
But the message it sent and that is that unless you give 110% at all times you are going to get hooked.

 

Callum and Tammy will be fine if they have elite mentality and want to be the best, if they have fragile egos then they are not going to be the ones fighting in the trenches when needed. 

Haven't been the biggest mount fan am warming to him now though because he has an Elite mentality. 

Callum Tammy speak to the manager suck it up and deliver in training and on the pitch.

We are Chelsea not freaking Fulham...

We've done it again. Having precipitously sacked a promising young manager, with huge potential and an understanding of the club. we have gone back to what we know - an egomaniacal, "Look at Me Everybody" merchant. We'd better hope he knows his chips because we are in for another round of the club being all about the manager.

Can't blame him for Azpi and Mendy just finishing a bout of Ring-ring-a-Rosie when Southampton broke but the constant posturing and the grandstanding substitution does not bode well.

Also, he must have been told he has to play Werner because he has to have seen how ineffective he was today. To take CHO off because of his "body language" and leave Werner on despite his forehead dragging on the ground for the last 40 minutes beggars belief. 

 

7 minutes ago, Sindre said:

He's been here three weeks so he's probably still searching for what will be his best XI. Under normal circumstances he'd have the pre-season to do that but now he's got no choice but to figure it out during a packed schedule of course.
So I can understand the reasoning behind his tinkering at the moment. I expect it too stop soon enough when he's found his best XI.

I like his directness though. Hooking CHO today seems harsh but it sends a clear message to the entire squad. He'll have a talk with Callum and he'll be fine and he's thrived under Tuchel overall.
But the message it sent and that is that unless you give 110% at all times you are going to get hooked.

 

A lot of f**ked hooked players then

9 minutes ago, Brutos said:

That’s abit rich coming from you. You were one of the most vocal on Frank.

I have bit my tongue for the first month or so because I understood people were still quite raw over the Frank sacking so I didn't want to rub salt in the wounds but to say there's been no improvement from those horror last two months is totally wrong.

In those times teams were cutting through our defense and midfield like they were nothing, the gaps between them was enormous, the most outrageous example being a header out in our opponents final third ending up being a clean through chance on goal something you shouldn't even be seeing in under 8s football, we were struggling to string passes together and even the times we won it was done in the most unconvincing manner possible and/or the opponents being down to ten. The fact James Madison came out and may aswell have said that we were piss easy to exploit says it all.

Are things superb under Tuchel so far? No, but apart from one horror show at Oakwell we are if all else fails mastering one thing we didn't get close to doing in those last month's (and even at times when things were looking good/promising under Frank like the two Sheffield games last season), the basics. Game management, stringing passes together and actually having a midfield (which has also translated to probably our best defensive performances for a while even when we've played Kepa and had no Silva) however chances creation needs improving I can't argue with that. Similar principal to when we brought Eto'o in and played him instead of Torres, was the former fantastic? No but if all else failed he got the bare basics right the vast majority of the time, there was also arguments lobbying the latter equally or favourably then.

For the record I thought he got his selections wrong today, he should have put Werner up top (if there's one game that can work it's this one given the space they leave in behind), took Alonso and Kante (instead of Kova) off and left Ziyech firmly on the bench but I'm not having this there's been no improvement from those December/January horror shows. If you said there's not much if any improvement from the Autumn that I could understand there's certainly not a million miles in it (but then if we maintained that level Frank would still be here) but from the complete collapse of the winter? Absolutely no chance has there been no improvement.

Edited February 20, 20215 yr by Argo

2 minutes ago, Liam said:

We've done it again. Having precipitously sacked a promising young manager, with huge potential and an understanding of the club. we have gone back to what we know - an egomaniacal, "Look at Me Everybody" merchant. We'd better hope he knows his chips because we are in for another round of the club being all about the manager.

Can't blame him for Azpi and Mendy just finishing a bout of Ring-ring-a-Rosie when Southampton broke but the constant posturing and the grandstanding substitution does not bode well.

Also, he must have been told he has to play Werner because he has to have seen how ineffective he was today. To take CHO off because of his "body language" and leave Werner on despite his forehead dragging on the ground for the last 40 minutes beggars belief. 

 

I agree with the bolded part. Werner did nothing in the second half and yet he decides to humiliate Callum, who had to play in a position he doesn't really know well (he was basically a right sided striker), because everything needs to be set up, so Werner can play in that left channel...

Don't agree whatsoever with his assessment, but if that's what he saw then it's more or less understandable... unless the man you replace said player with is Hakim Ziyech. Whoops...

 

 

We brought in Callum Hudson-Odoi but I was not happy with his attitude, energy and counter-pressing. I took him off and we demand 100%, I feel he is not in the right shape to help us. It was a hard decision but tomorrow it is forgotten(...)

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 20, 20215 yr by PloKoon13

9 minutes ago, Argo said:

I have bit my tongue for the first month or so because I understood people were still quite raw over the Frank sacking so I didn't want to rub salt in the wounds but to say there's been no improvement from those horror last two months is totally wrong.

In those times teams were cutting through our defense and midfield like they were nothing, the gaps between them was enormous, the most outrageous example being a header out in our opponents final third ending up being a clean through chance on goal something you shouldn't even be seeing that in under 8s football, we were struggling to string passes together and even the times we won it was done in the most unconvincing manner possible and/or the opponents being down to ten. The fact James Madison came out and may aswell have said that we were piss easy to exploit says it all.

Are things superb under Tuchel so far? No, but apart from one horror show at Oakwell we are if all else fails mastering one thing we didn't get close to doing in those last month's (and even at times when things were looking good/promising under Frank like the two Sheffield games last season), the basics. Game management, stringing passes together and actually having a midfield (which has also translated to probably our best defensive performances for a while even when we've played Kepa and had no Silva) however chances creation needs improving I can't argue with that. Similar principal to when we brought Eto'o in and played him instead of Torres, was the former fantastic? No but if all else failed he got the bare basics right the vast majority of the time, there was also arguments lobbying the latter equally or favourably then.

For the record I thought he got his selections wrong today, he should have put Werner up top (if there's one game that can work it's this one given the space they leave in behind), took Alonso and Kante (instead of Kova) off and left Ziyech firmly on the bench but I'm not having this there's been no improvement from those December/January horror shows. If you said there's not much if any improvement from the Autumn that I could understand there's certainly not a million miles in it (but then if we maintained that level Frank would still be here) but from the complete collapse of the winter? Absolutely no chance has there been no improvement.

I agree with you. As much as I disliked his game and man management today, people who say that we haven't looked better in the last 6 games than we did in December/January are not being objective. Sure, there's a lot still to work on, especially in attack, but we are playing with a clearer structure and have clearly improved in possession and in defence. If it will be enough to compete with the best teams is yet to be seen however and we will know more at the end of our tough run.

Edited February 20, 20215 yr by True Blue23

Hopefully people realize 3412 system is designed to suit two players. One is Havertz the other is Werner. So when a system is designed for you, you have to be great every game, not good because being good is not good enough. 

 

 

 

 

On 18/02/2021 at 02:10, Gol15 said:

It's one thing to constantly looking to improve that's not an issue... When you said that "we control the games better specially against teams that allow us to do it" to me that doesn't really sound like you're convinced about our wins in the first place mate.

I find it odd that you're first arguing about how our opposition let us play how we wanted and therefore we won - now you're adding that the teams are not used to Tuchel so we somehow have this huge element of surprise. I think you're somehow refusing to give the proper credit to our team, yes hard games are coming up but we have done well to get the results we desperately needed and I that watched us struggling before this run of games won't deny that the quality of our performances have only gone up.

Pep won the PL twice in a row just 2 years ago, we won it back to back, so did Man United win not only back to back but 3 times in a row not so long ago and more than once since the late 90's, in the last 20 years there had been only 6 teams that won the league, Leicester and Liverpool joining just in the recent 5 years otherwise just 4 teams in 15 years. And we didn't win against Wolves we made sure that we don't lose and it was a draw but they beat us earlier in the season.

I am happy that we are winning but we've been scraping through with goals. How have our wins been convincing? I get that there are no easy wins but not once have we been as good as you made it out to be. 

Opponents are not prepared against a Tuchel team so they resort to standard tactics that worked against Frank which is a deep block, let Chelsea have all the ball because their attackers are not on form/not good enough. It's so blatantly obvious and it played into Tuchel's hands. With that extra space, CHO and Alonso as wingbacks could do damage and throw teams off balance. As said before, with Tuchel being new to the league, our opponents don't have videos to analyze and no patterns of play that they can disrupt, no exact strategy to prepare a countermeasure to. You add this to players being reinvigorated then it's a good advantage to have. But to say Tuchel had no impact would be a lie on my part because the basics especially tactics and positioning have been better than it was under Frank

I said nowadays in regards to the PL title meaning in recent times. I've missed the part about City so you are right about that. City's wins are more about the quality of their players that worked well in Pep's system and tactics than they have been purely on tactics but I digress. My initial point is that the PL adapts quickly so the bounce tend to end as soon as a few games have been played. 

You are buying into the hype too quickly, this Chelsea team is not as good as you made it out to be. I'm happy we've won the past 5 games but it's way too early to hope or expect anything out of TT's reign 

Edited February 20, 20215 yr by Deino

He's using the younger players as a scape goat for his own sh*t mistakes. I didn't think Hudson-Odoi was great when he came on, but I don't think he was anywhere near bad enough to be subbed off. If he was disappointed with Hudson-Odoi's work rate, then he should be livid with a few of the senior players. 

Looks like another one of those coaches that will take it out on the younger more inexperienced players when things don't go right. If he is going to be like that, then he is going to learn a very hard lesson when the same players that let our other managers down do the same to him.

Edited February 20, 20215 yr by Scott Harris