I believe the breaking of low block sides with see Pochettino go to a 4231.

The front 4 being, unless we sign a striker.

 

Sterling

Palmer

Nkunku 

 

Jackson or Broja

 

Behind them for sure is Enzo, and he is the most unique of our midfield 3. Leave the workhorses, the tacklers, the never give up Gallagher and Caicedo rotating the other spot imo.

Can Lavia be an Enzo back up?

Connor living proof that a player given a good run of games can re find form and better himself in the process, to think Bully the mug and tons of you lot on here wanted him sold to Spuds or Pikeys as he was never gonna be of the required level to play in a blue shirt 

 

He's proven all the doubters and begrudgers WRONG and he's PROPER Chelsea to boot a fan and a player, one of our own !

1 hour ago, axman2526 said:

Can Lavia be an Enzo back up?

Yes. What works in Gallagher's favor is his ability to play anywhere in midfield when needed. Complete contrast to 14 months ago where he looked utterly lost under Tuchel and Potter. Played CAM against City. Shifted over at RW to rotate with Palmer. Played as a #6 when Enzo was subbed off then played as a DM when Broja came on for Caicedo. 

We really need European football of any kind next season to make this squad not suffer any developmental bottlenecks. 

 

Caicedo/Ugochukwu  Enzo/Lavia

Palmer/Madueke  Nkunku/Gallagher/Carney   Sterling/Mudryk

6 hours ago, General said:

Connor living proof that a player given a good run of games can re find form and better himself in the process, to think Bully the mug and tons of you lot on here wanted him sold to Spuds or Pikeys as he was never gonna be of the required level to play in a blue shirt 

 

He's proven all the doubters and begrudgers WRONG and he's PROPER Chelsea to boot a fan and a player, one of our own !

Gallagher started the 1st game of season playing as if he was ngolo Kante. 0 run of games required. 

And in that game, the same as last year he wasn't good when receiving the ball straight from CB especially in the middle. 

Edited November 15, 20232 yr by Bob stark

He’s just not good enough. Far too slow on the ball and every pass is over/under hit. 

People love his endeavor, but he lacks any real football brain to play at the highest level. I appreciate his effort, and in a rotten era of injuries, his availability, but I truly believe we’d be a better team without him starting. I wouldn’t even begrudge selling as we can do better. 

Sick of him and letting us down.

Don't start him again and even better punt in January.

Waster

It's a shame he's out of the United game because that's a game I would actually select him for.

But in the typical game we need to bin this Gallagher experiment, we'll start to see far better performances with him out of the team because he offers absolutely nothing going forward. Running around and working hard doesn't cut it, we need better. 

Way too ill disciplined to be captain,  needs to learn from Reece. 

Edit - post meant for match forum!

Gallaghers position and role has to be questioned. 

Edited December 3, 20232 yr by PhilH930

Disappointed with him today. That was dumb, and he is lucky it did not cost us.

POTS thus far but glad to see everyone isn’t over reacting to the red 

The headless tacking needs to freaking stop just stupid silly tackles he needs to have a seat and what players like Maka, prime matic , Fernandinho who could foul all game and not get booked. He’s just racing around like the game is going to leave him behind.

2 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

POTS thus far but glad to see everyone isn’t over reacting to the red 

He's not been better than Sterling, Palmer, or Silva this season. 16 games as CAM this season and yet to score a single goal, but he's POTS? If it wasn't for the other 3 we would be f**ked. 

Weird that anybody would consider our attacking midfielder who can't create or score goals as our player of the season. Can't fault his work ethic, but no player deserves player of the season for that reason alone, he's lacking in quality in many areas to be nailed on first choice as an attacking midfielder. Today's red card was completely brainless and shows how poor he is at changing up his game to suit the situation. Even before the red card he was giving away fouls. You can't win every tackle, sometimes you just need to contain and wait.

Gallagher lacks the football intelligence and quality on the ball to be a top level player.

Edited December 3, 20232 yr by Scott Harris

29 minutes ago, El regreso said:

The headless tacking needs to freaking stop just stupid silly tackles he needs to have a seat and what players like Maka, prime matic , Fernandinho who could foul all game and not get booked. He’s just racing around like the game is going to leave him behind.

Gallagher's mentality is that he is going to chase you and he's going to tackle you, there isn't enough thought behind his decision making. You look at the likes of Kante at his best and he would time his tackles to perfection, he instinctively knew when to put a foot in. As soon as the ball was there to be won, Kante would take it, but Gallagher is going for balls that result in fouls 99 times out of 100. 

51 minutes ago, Victor90 said:

He's not been better than Sterling, Palmer, or Silva this season. 16 games as CAM this season and yet to score a single goal, but he's POTS? If it wasn't for the other 3 we would be f**ked. 

I think recent games have soured people again on Connor, prior to these few games I'm pretty sure most people would have had him as their POTS.

Also in fairness it wasn't quite 16 games as he has played holding mid too but yes would be nice to see some goals.

His position will be in danger when Nkunku returns I think. I take it Nkunku will take his position when he's in the team. 

5 minutes ago, Remodez said:

I think recent games have soured people again on Connor, prior to these few games I'm pretty sure most people would have had him as their POTS.

Also in fairness it wasn't quite 16 games as he has played holding mid too but yes would be nice to see some goals.

Nope just because you run all game doesn’t mean you are POTS. 

9 minutes ago, El regreso said:

Nope just because you run all game doesn’t mean you are POTS. 

I mean all you have to do is look back at the previous threads (Or just this thread) like 2 fixtures ago and work backwards, people were signing his praises. 

He made a mistake today, I'm sure he'll be the first to admit that but overall he's been good so far this season so no need for the kneejerk reactions. 

27 minutes ago, Remodez said:

I think recent games have soured people again on Connor, prior to these few games I'm pretty sure most people would have had him as their POTS.

Also in fairness it wasn't quite 16 games as he has played holding mid too but yes would be nice to see some goals.

Doesn't seem to be any general middle ground with opinions on Conor, if he has a good game he's our POTS is he has a bad one he's totally useless. Not saying people flip flop but certainly everyone on either extreme are the loudest depending on the game he's just had.

The truth is somewhere in between both extremes, an excellent 12/13th squad player but no way should he be a week in week out starter with everyone fit.

3 minutes ago, Argo said:

Doesn't seem to be any general middle ground with opinions on Conor, if he has a good game he's our POTS is he has a bad one he's totally useless. Not saying people flip flop but certainly everyone on either extreme are the loudest depending on the game he's just had.

The truth is somewhere in between both extremes, an excellent 12/13th squad player but no way should he be a week in week out starter with everyone fit.

My opinion is unchanged. Against the likes of City, I would start him because we need that extra player to cope with their quality. In games where we want and expect to dominate possession, he doesn't start. He doesn't have the ability we need. Caicedo and Enzo should be enough to deal with the dirty work, we need more quality on the ball in attacking midfield.

If Pochettino is still starting Gallagher in every game when we have Nkunku and Palmer available at the same time, I will be disappointed.

3 hours ago, Remodez said:

I think recent games have soured people again on Connor, prior to these few games I'm pretty sure most people would have had him as their POTS.

Also in fairness it wasn't quite 16 games as he has played holding mid too but yes would be nice to see some goals.

My criticism of Gallagher has been very consistent, I've been saying since the season started that he shouldn't be a starter. And I wasn't against selling him for a profit either which I'm still not but I think he's a good squad player to have. 

Most games he's played as CAM, but he's not contributing enough to the offence it's as simple as that. We've seen what Cole Palmer has been able to do since he joined, he has far more creativity and glides with the ball extremely well. Conor is very rough on the ball in comparison, takes numerous touches, takes more time, doesn't release the ball quick enough, slows down the play. I think he's a liability going forward if I'm being honest, I'll pick him in the big games though.

It's kind of like Ramires, I always picked Ramires in the big games but in games like today he's useless. 

Just a silly boy today, not much more I can say. Hope he learns from his mistake. 

6 hours ago, Victor90 said:

He's not been better than Sterling, Palmer, or Silva this season. 16 games as CAM this season and yet to score a single goal, but he's POTS? If it wasn't for the other 3 we would be f**ked. 

Sterling has had as many bad games as good, Palmer yet to score a goal in open play either and Silva has made multiple mistakes too. Let’s not rewrite history and pretend Gallagher has been one of our best players this season. A lot of posters have been incredibly quiet on here just waiting for a bad performance lmao. Embarrassing