2 hours ago, SydneyChelsea said:

Cucurella should be playing DM in this system. He has great energy but we miss Chilwell's sheer speed at fullback.

Interesting thought that I had not really considered. I agree on Chilwell's pace. Gives us more than passing around in the U shape of death. Cucurella also provides the left footed passing angles that I am a big fan of in midfield.

1 hour ago, Spiller86 said:

Interesting thought that I had not really considered. I agree on Chilwell's pace. Gives us more than passing around in the U shape of death. Cucurella also provides the left footed passing angles that I am a big fan of in midfield.

Is Chilwell really that quick? I always thought his pace was pretty average. Not bad but not particularly good. 

6 minutes ago, True Blue23 said:

Is Chilwell really that quick? I always thought his pace was pretty average. Not bad but not particularly good. 

No Alphonse Davies but handy enough and faster than Cucurella.

I‘d rather see Chilwell play a game or two for 90mins being his old self before making plans that depend on him being at 100%.

and remember: in that case Alonso (atm) would be the sole back-up for him, and you discuss the potential speed of Ben - who you can‘t plan on playing each and every game since he‘d burn out / gets injured again for sure.

Not a fan of this idea although I could imagine Cucurella being in DM/CM quite well, except that we‘d lose almost every header there - so without a proper DM were back at start

1 minute ago, weetee said:

I‘d rather see Chilwell play a game or two for 90mins being his old self before making plans that depend on him being at 100%.

and remember: in that case Alonso (atm) would be the sole back-up for him, and you discuss the potential speed of Ben - who you can‘t plan on playing each and every game since he‘d burn out / gets injured again for sure.

Not a fan of this idea although I could imagine Cucurella being in DM/CM quite well, except that we‘d lose almost every header there - so without a proper DM were back at start

Cucurella has 2 assists already and he should have had the 3rd but Sterling hit the post. To change his position now when he's in good form would be to shoot yourself in the foot.

Jorginho has done well for us, time to get Chukwuemeka involved and that's that for this season.

13 hours ago, WhiteWall said:

This is a good point and one I echo. I would love for this lad to be the next big thing but we have said before the Premier league is not a proving ground for young talent. Hard as it may be you have to hit the ground running and slot in almost immediately. 

Bakayoko was only, what 22 or 23, new to the league and was sent off in 30 minds against Watford. He was rightly hammered for it because he looked out of his depth in most of the games leading up to it. 

We can't have it both wats just because Gallagher is from the Academy. 

However, I will say that this appears to be another player that TT is not playing in his favoured position.

Bakayoko was sent off in Feb. Not his second game. Let's give the guy a chance. He's Chelsea through and through. 

I hate our fans sometimes. 

13 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

I remember Saul's debut against Villa, we could spot instantly how out of his depth he was and Tuchel hooked him off at half time. Also, I am not writing him off, at least not entirely, I am saying in that role he was playing in the system we play, I do not see him adapting. It's not in his game to be playing possession football and having the discipline to hold his line and time when to attack and when to defend. He loves to be in the thick of the action in attacking areas. Carry on playing him CM and we will see more performances like we saw against Leeds and Leicester.

It's attacking midfield or nothing for Gallagher, but we don't play with a typical CAM because of our 3-4-3 formation, so I don't know where he fits.

I find the comparison to Bakayoko well out of place, like comparing Silva after his first game when he made fatal errors to Sarr, for example. He’s had two bad games, sure, but Bakayoko had plenty of them before the sent off, iirc.

On Saturday we started with 4222, probably Tuchel could have played him alongside Mount, so Loftus-Cheek - Jorginho, Mount - Gallagher, Sterling - Havertz. But I’m not sure why Tuchel is adamant to play him as a DM in that formation.

1 hour ago, Gol15 said:

Cucurella has 2 assists already and he should have had the 3rd but Sterling hit the post. To change his position now when he's in good form would be to shoot yourself in the foot.

Jorginho has done well for us, time to get Chukwuemeka involved and that's that for this season.

Gol are you worried about left back or that there might be competition for Jorginho's place haha. This smells a lot like Kante can't play as deepest lying midfielder...

1 hour ago, Gol15 said:

Cucurella has 2 assists already and he should have had the 3rd but Sterling hit the post. To change his position now when he's in good form would be to shoot yourself in the foot.

Jorginho has done well for us, time to get Chukwuemeka involved and that's that for this season.

I take it you haven't been watching much of the development team highlights ?

Palace have tabled a £27m bid. 

Surely we are not mad enough to sell him for £27m or even consider swapping him for Zaha?

Edited August 29, 20223 yr by ducavis

3 minutes ago, ducavis said:

Palace have tabled a £27m bid. 

Surely we are not mad enough to sell him for £27m or even consider swapping him for Zaha?

They having a laugh if they think they can obtain him for that fee. He was their player of the season last season and is a top prospect. Any fee should start from the £40m mark.

8 minutes ago, STATS said:

They having a laugh if they think they can obtain him for that fee. He was their player of the season last season and is a top prospect. Any fee should start from the £40m mark.

If Gordon is valued at 60 and Gibbs White 50, in today's market he should be valued similar. 

46 minutes ago, Spiller86 said:

Gol are you worried about left back or that there might be competition for Jorginho's place haha. This smells a lot like Kante can't play as deepest lying midfielder...

I'm just offering some common sense, if you have a player that is getting assists why would you change his position so that he's also playing outside of his natural position? Sounds like over-complicating something for no reason.

41 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

I take it you haven't been watching much of the development team highlights ?

I haven't so that's on me. Sadly De Jong is staying in Barcelona and our scouts don't know any other DM out there...

we'll probably end up paying 50 million for Lavia from Southampton in a season or 2 

 

 

4 hours ago, bisright1 said:

Bakayoko was sent off in Feb. Not his second game. Let's give the guy a chance. He's Chelsea through and through. 

I hate our fans sometimes. 

No one is saying not to give him a chance, except maybe the management.  But that is professional football. It is a very tough profession.

2 hours ago, ducavis said:

Palace have tabled a £27m bid. 

Surely we are not mad enough to sell him for £27m or even consider swapping him for Zaha?

Aye just read that too and no word as to our response yet.

51 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Aye just read that too and no word as to our response yet.

I would hope the second word is off...

15 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

They are going to take our £60m for Gordon and then give it straight back to us by signing Broja and Gallagher for £30m each 😆

They can get to f**k with that! Gallagher is more proven than Gordon and Broja is the only striker we have. Gallagher needs the season in and around the team, he's over desperate to impress right now but will do well over the season and better in the future if a scrap of patience is shown. Sell him and we'll be buying £50m Bakayokos and Drinkwaters for a decade trying to replace him.

3 hours ago, STATS said:

They having a laugh if they think they can obtain him for that fee. He was their player of the season last season and is a top prospect. Any fee should start from the £40m mark.

40m is generous considering we're being asked to pay 60m for players who achieved less.

Palace will keep trying until the end of the window for at least a loan, but prefer to buy. They are hoping the world cup strengthen their cause.

We won't stand in Conors way if he asks to leave, unlike Everton and others.

Some reports, including the sun (yes I know) have said the bid is real and we are leaving it up to Conor to decide on what he wants to do.

8 hours ago, Gol15 said:

Cucurella has 2 assists already and he should have had the 3rd but Sterling hit the post. To change his position now when he's in good form would be to shoot yourself in the foot.

Jorginho has done well for us, time to get Chukwuemeka involved and that's that for this season.

I was only entertaining the hypothetical idea of playing him in the center, which I would find interesting to watch since he‘s a top class footballer. But I‘d find the idea of shifting hime there to play a half fit Chilwell on the left where Cucu excelled at so far very strange. Cucurella fits very well as a counterpart to James: one is delivering passes & crosses into the box while the other rather gets into the box to score. I can easily see Tuchel using Cucu in a way Pep used Lahm during his Munich time: let him shift into the center often to build up and control. 
 

I think he‘s been extremely good so far.

20 hours ago, Spiller86 said:

Kante is irreplaceable. You don't find another Kante like you don't find another Lampard. You have to build out the rest of the squad to cover what he could provide as an individual. 

Gallagher will be fine but he'll be sharing time with Mount moreso than covering Kante imo. We'll be looking at Bellingham/Rice types to be deeper players next summer to cover for Jorginho and Kante likely moving on. Our concern really is that we don't have a defensively minded mid apart from Kante. I'm guessing we'll see more of James in there as time goes on ala Kimmich at Bayern.

I don’t think Tuchel is going to have Gallagher competing with Mount for that part of the pitch though, at least it doesn’t seem that way for now, long season ahead though with the World Cup.

3 hours ago, Term_X said:

I don’t think Tuchel is going to have Gallagher competing with Mount for that part of the pitch though, at least it doesn’t seem that way for now, long season ahead though with the World Cup.

Gallagher is all about the attacking element. We'd be crazy not to play him further up field if we get some decent cover behind. As you say long season and Mason can't be playing 50 plus games plus the WC.

Can't Tuchel at least try Conor in Mount's position because as things stand, both are in terrible form.

Maybe in the game after Soton