Tuchel confirmed Kante has been ill for a few days and took a punt on playing him. Think he said jorginho had a problem as well. So with Mount ruled out completely, it was a good time for Citeh to play us.

Edited September 25, 20214 yr by The Brit

7 minutes ago, petre ispirescu said:

Think Tuchel set up for a draw, but in the end fair play to City, even though it was a deflected shot, they were the better team.

Thankfully it's early in the season and it is a loss that does not mean that much in the grand scheme of things IMHO, we've had the worst schedule a club could have asked for in the first 6 rounds and we've done ok if you ask me.

United at home and Leicester away in the next 14 PL matches are the only two tricky fixtures for us - think we are just alright as things stand.

Oh and Villa beat United and that rat face Fernandes missed a pen at the very end. Ha ha. The so called title contenders with the easiest schedule of all could not even go at least one point ahead of other competitors after six rounds.

You're in for a shock if you think they will be the only tricky fixtures for us. 

5 minutes ago, Frankie8Lampard said:

I don't believe the issue is as simple as Mount not playing. He definitely would have been a factor in this game, however, if we played with two forwards beside Lukaku and actually played to win, we would have been able to beat city without Mount. This City is only dangerous if you allow them to play their game.

Poor game management from Tuchel. And I always hoped he understand his team. When a coach does not understand his team, it is always bad. The two major players that make us good going forward are James and Chillwell. And that is when the attacking players will perform well. 

But when the coach is playing Alonso instead of Chillwell. Then the attack will be poor. The right set of players that we should have in attack should be Ziyech, Havertz and Lukaku. If not, there will be no service for Lukaku.

Even if Ziyech was not doing so well in the previous matches, he might do well in this match and he might be a better threat going forward than Werner or whoever he used.

The fact that a coach of his caliber does not have his starting eleven is even annoying to me. 

Let's just put this to the side. No matter what Tuchel did, losing to City is a strong possibility. They are coached by the best manager ever imo. Don't worry and lets move on.

The team setup was very much based out of what happened in the second half against Tottenham. We went from struggling to dominating after Kante replaced Mount and Werner replaced Havertz. Against City 3-4-3 would have been a better choice, but without intensity, wich we lacked today, we would have still struggled.

3 minutes ago, hephzibah said:

Poor game management from Tuchel. And I always hoped he understand his team. When a coach does not understand his team, it is always bad. The two major players that make us good going forward are James and Chillwell. And that is when the attacking players will perform well. 

But when the coach is playing Alonso instead of Chillwell. Then the attack will be poor. The right set of players that we should have in attack should be Ziyech, Havertz and Lukaku. If not, there will be no service for Lukaku.

Even if Ziyech was not doing so well in the previous matches, he might do well in this match and he might be a better threat going forward than Werner or whoever he used.

The fact that a coach of his caliber does not have his starting eleven is even annoying to me. 

You lost me when u said Tuchel doesn't understand his team. He clearly said before the match that Havertz and Ziyech were out of form hence not starting. I do agree that we should have started Ziyech since Mount was injured. We had 2 strikers but no one to feed them. We might as well have played no strikers

23 minutes ago, Bob stark said:

The problem is not that simple. We have been playing with 343 but the one player has always been Ziyech or Mount. Their role is to connect the midfield with the two forwards which is our biggest problem today. 

That is why we need kova or kante to have their a game today but both didn't played well

It is pretty much the same as last season, whenever Mason didn't play we can't connect with our forward. 

 

 I'm not denying that Mount is one of our key players, but IMO it just seems like a lazy excuse to blame a loss on his absence alone especially since there were other issues like our approach to the game. If Mount played and we played as negatively as we did, we still would have lost. Focusing on Mount and/Ziyech misses the bigger picture of the game.

9 minutes ago, LongtimerLurker said:

Again I don't expect us to play like this again vs any team in the world. One thing we must remember is we've had a pretty ruthless fixture list and almost any team in the world would eventually drop points vs Arsenal, Liverpool, Spurs and City in their first 6 matches.

Playing only two attackers vs Man City at home we gave them too much respect. Like Pep said in his post match City were themselves and while our back line held up our midfield and attack was not us not the Chelsea under Tuchel we've become accustomed to. I like 352 but I think 3421 is the better suited style to our players it's what allows us to play out.

I want to watch entertaining football and that wasn't it but, I don't think anyone can be too negative we are still a top top team and the future looks very bright under Tuchel. Onwards and upwards guys! 

I disagree with you. It was poor team selection today. And thesame Werner who was poor last season was thesame player many people were shouting and clamouring for this season. Many people oppose themselves.

Werner who does not know what to do with the ball when he gets it is the player that some people want. There was no single creative player for us on the pitch. It seems to me that Tuchel is good at setting up the team defensively but he is very poor at setting up the team offensively.

37 minutes ago, Nick05 said:

Loftus Cheek was good today and showed glimpses of real quality play.

The game was very stretched when he came on. It suited him. Personally he should have come on for Werner, but then again Haven't should have also come on for Werner 25 minutes before.

Werner has one goal this season. One. 

4 minutes ago, hephzibah said:

Poor game management from Tuchel. And I always hoped he understand his team. When a coach does not understand his team, it is always bad. The two major players that make us good going forward are James and Chillwell. And that is when the attacking players will perform well. 

But when the coach is playing Alonso instead of Chillwell. Then the attack will be poor. The right set of players that we should have in attack should be Ziyech, Havertz and Lukaku. If not, there will be no service for Lukaku.

Even if Ziyech was not doing so well in the previous matches, he might do well in this match and he might be a better threat going forward than Werner or whoever he used.

The fact that a coach of his caliber does not have his starting eleven is even annoying to me. 

I agree to an extent about the wingbacks, fact is Chillwell is more defensively sound and 100% should have started this despite Alonso great recent form and even getting the winner vs City in the league last season. The James injury cannot be underestimated since it effected the way we played. I'm sure his athleticism would have made a difference on counters and whipping in crosses. When Andreas plays on the right he doesn't offer as much attacking threat as Azpil.

These are all factors to be considered so TT cannot be completely blamed the team lacked intensity from the first whistle it's not like he wouldn't have motivated them I'm not sure why we were so bad in transition today, first touches and final balls went a miss.

Playing 3 cms and 2 strikers means that we lacked a creative force and that is reflected in the shooting stats from us. I'm sure TT had his reasons but I agree with you Ziyech or Havertz in hindsight would have been better than a trio of 6s or what I assume was supposed to be one 6 and 2 8s.

Again though despite the peppering we only lost by a deflected shot, probably should have been more but realistically that was a game we should have drew or potentially won had we created more chances

2 minutes ago, USATim said:

Werner has one goal this season. One. 

I don't think Timo can be blamed for this result he offered a lot on the counter today if anything the team didn't supply him with any clear cut chances and the times he did get in, he put in a few dangerous balls across the goal

15 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

You're in for a shock if you think they will be the only tricky fixtures for us. 

For sure they are not and most probably we won't win 36 points of those other 12 matches, but my point is there is a decent schedule ahead of us and thankfully we've had a solid start of this PL season.

18 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

You're in for a shock if you think they will be the only tricky fixtures for us. 

No disrespect but that type of mindset is not the type to help lift up the team. Yes we lost and have to lick our wounds but we move on hopefully we learned our lesson on not becoming to passive and complacent, onwards and upwards 

In hindsight Tuchel got the approach wrong but I’ll let him off given how many times he’s got it right. Just outclassed today but we defended really well and they needed a bit of luck to finally get through.

On to Juve on Wednesday 

10 minutes ago, USATim said:

Werner has one goal this season. One. 

I bet I can guess who you'd prefer as an alternative.

The only positive from today is realization that RLC is still alive and still a baller.

19 minutes ago, hephzibah said:

I disagree with you. It was poor team selection today. And thesame Werner who was poor last season was thesame player many people were shouting and clamouring for this season. Many people oppose themselves.

Werner who does not know what to do with the ball when he gets it is the player that some people want. There was no single creative player for us on the pitch. It seems to me that Tuchel is good at setting up the team defensively but he is very poor at setting up the team offensively.

I think we'll have to agree to disagree I personally think Timo offers a lot to the team and actually see him as more of a creative player than just a goalscorer, especially if he plays alongside another forward who takes the goal scoring burden, add in another 10 or inside forward and I think you have a good front 3.

Too much emphasis in this team selection today was put on Kova as he's the only one this season that has really played a defence splitting vertical pass out of those midfield 3 that I believe has led to a goal.  

Yes the team lacked creativity so agree with you there but, I don't see how you can point a finger at Werner out of everyone on the pitch. He put in a peach of a ball for my boy Lukaku and he missed the ball. The only players that were really on it were the back line. 

Crucially for me it's the fact that we lost not playing our usual system. Some people are tweeting according to bt sport that Pep broke our system but, that is incorrect. Tuchel chose to play a different system today it may only be slightly different on paper but, in reality there is a big difference between playing 3 cms and 2 strikers vs 2 6s and 2 floating 10s with an out right striker.

We learn more from losing anyway, what did we learn if its not broken don't try and fix it. Yes 352 worked vs Spurs 2nd half but, that doesn't mean we needed to start with it vs City at home. I saw the team sheet and felt quite optimistic and I still think 352 can work further down the line but against specific opponents and certainly not Man City.

Edit: Also want to add in that Tuchel's history with attacking teams is impeccable. The goals will come City are actually hard to score against in the prem they haven't conceded since the 1st game of the season. I still think TT is doing the best possible job with what characteristics we have in this squad he made a mistake today but, nobody is perfect.

 

Edited September 25, 20214 yr by LongtimerLurker

22 minutes ago, Frankie8Lampard said:

 I'm not denying that Mount is one of our key players, but IMO it just seems like a lazy excuse to blame a loss on his absence alone especially since there were other issues like our approach to the game. If Mount played and we played as negatively as we did, we still would have lost. Focusing on Mount and/Ziyech misses the bigger picture of the game.

We didn't press against city in the final, i don't see anyone complain about it and clearly 2nd half showed why we didn't do it in the 1st place, when we started chasing we were completely open. City could have easily score 3/4 more. 

No Mount/Ziyech and we looks like disjointed  sound simple but it is that simple. No mount or Ziyech means we need Kante or kova to play their a game. Both struggled, we can't break their press and we were always on the back foot. In perfect world Werner is Hazard and he will drop deep to be that connector but he is not. 

I thought we did better in the 2nd half by kicking more long ball to Lukaku, if you can't break their press, route one football is the next best thing. Pool did it against city and it worked. 

Oops forget to add. When ruben came and you can see he could easily bypassed city press with his ball carrying suddenly our attack looked so much better. It sounds simple but it is. 

Edited September 25, 20214 yr by Bob stark

21 minutes ago, KonaKai Blue said:

Let's just put this to the side. No matter what Tuchel did, losing to City is a strong possibility. They are coached by the best manager ever imo. Don't worry and lets move on.

not that bothered today. painfull but great lesson to the gaffer and the boys.

Listened on the radio. Sounded like we were our usual slow, laboured selves. Surprised Werner started to be honest - he seems to be struggling towards the end of the game on Wednesday with his match fitness. 

12 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Never confident when we have an early kick off. Don't have the stats to back it up but we always seem to play poor in them.

And boy were we poor. Early kick off and one of us in the Spurs thread pulling a Chilwell saying "will we ever lose again?" And of course this happened.

Be more worried if I was a City Fan.

 

Dominated the game but only won because of a lucky deflection. Their lack of a CF is glaring obvious.

 

Think TT got it wrong today but he wll learn from it and TBH as long as he gets it right when it matters to me thats key.

 

Thought Lukaku was poor today, his holding play and touch escaped him. He will get better.

24 minutes ago, The Don Antonio said:

You lost me when u said Tuchel doesn't understand his team. He clearly said before the match that Havertz and Ziyech were out of form hence not starting. I do agree that we should have started Ziyech since Mount was injured. We had 2 strikers but no one to feed them. We might as well have played no strikers

I hope u will understand before it is too late. Why are they out of form? Is that how people like Hazard and Willian that we had before, play four matches and then go out of form? There is nothing like that. The coach should prepare his players very well for football matches and stop saying certain players are out of form.

No shots on target at home against anyone in unacceptable imo. To lose to a really great city aide who has won 3 of 4 titles can happen and there is no disrespect in that, but failing to get shots on target is simply not good enough.

TT got it wrong badly and the team did not bail him out. Sadly another big game where Lukaku does not dominate. City look far more hungry for another title than we do to win one today.