Wasn't expecting a superb performance to be honest. I think our pre-season wasn't good enough in our performances. We still have a lot of quality in the team but something is still not working, we're missing few puzzles. 

First of all, our new signings are very good, I just hope Koulibaly's injury is nothing serious. Cucurella succeed to make a positive impact in 15 minutes, even Broja has gave more than Havertz. 

3 points, clean sheet and start of the season with a victory, that's what I'm taking from the game. We have a lot of work to do, we still need more changes.

COME ON CHELS!!!

This season is going to be the strangest and perhaps the most difficult for supporters to truly gauge where teams are.

Starting as we did on the 6th August is a couple of weeks earlier than should have been the case but the timing of the WC will create havoc.Players are going to be broken physically and some mentally come Boxing Day.

For me we are way under cooked but watching Liverpool yesterday so where they. Will be interesting to see at what state City are because they looked even further off the pace than Liverpool in the CS.

My guess is that some clubs are way too advanced in fitness and players will suffer burn out a lot sooner due to the lack of R&R at the end of 21/22 season

Luckily we got 3 points yesterday, we normally struggle at Goodison and whilst it wasn’t an  absorbing game it was job done . Now TT will be able to give the players a couple of days off and as important start to get players away from the group who clearly aren’t going to be in the final squad. The likes of Alonso and it seems CHO are no doubt unsettled and their very presence will be a major distraction. 
 

Transfers should be sorted before the first game of a season is kicked off but the requirement to have the transfer window open for 12 weeks and the early start to the season has created even more havoc but in this instance the sanctions that hindered transfer planning meant we were way behind the pack.

Yesterday we had 3 over 30 in the back three and two over 30 in midfield. TT clearly was hoping their experience would get us through, and it did but I just can’t see all 5 of those being regulars particularly the two in midfield we need far more energy and a better balance and alas Jorginho just can play the game at speed and Kante just can’t do anything like he could 3 years ago.

Our biggest problem is how we execute our style of play. I don't think it's Tuchels fault entirely that we came out of a game winning 1-0 from a penalty.

Some of our players need to have a long hard look at themselves. Either they are just performing below par or they are simply not good enough to compete in a top club  like Chelsea. 

As bad as Liverpool were, they know where the net is and still came from behind twice. You watch Notts Forest, yes they lost but they showed urgency to attack and tried to score.

For all our supposes quality, it's just the same thing. Sterling was the only bright spark giving me flashes of Hazard. The player touted as a generational talent however, absolute fraud. 

7 hours ago, just said:

But all three of those can carry the ball over distance. Beat a player. Have a yard of pace. Turn quickly with the ball. Draw opponents towards them. 

And all that, Sindre, commits opponents and open spaces. Little 5 and 10 yard sideways passes don't.

Does not help us against teams that park the bus like Everton yesterday. And most team does against us.

Kante and Mount will almost always struggle to create versus teams who sit deep and defend because they need the space that isn't found in those circumstances.

Kante had a good game yesterday though in general. But in terms of attacking the point still stands.

12 hours ago, WhiteWall said:

I agree on the CB. At least one more needed. Two injuries in that area and we could be in trouble. Maybe Fofana and someone as versatile positionally as a Pavard or Maehle.

Agree on the mid as well. Personally I would like Locatelli who I think could easily replace Jorginho and add much more. Don't get me wrong de Jong works but there are other options as well for the money..

I liked Broja today and I was impressed with Sterling. Sterling, like Havertz I think works better off of a main man though. Personally I would like Patrick Schick.

Finally, impressed with Cucurella,  impressed with KK and TT please don't listen to me, do NOT let Kante leave yet please. He won everything today. 

Schick would be a great purchase tbh. Suprised there hasnt been more links to moves with him. 

Wasn’t surprised it was sour, it always is v Everton. Just be grateful we finally nicked one against them.

Important thing is the new signings look good already. Scoring goals still biggest obstacle to this team’s chances.

meanwhile, the media negativity continues. A few months ago we were supposedly out of business or going down the tubes. Now there are new owners flashing the cash instead, chelsea are still getting slagged off, now for panicking and supposedly not knowing what they’re doing. 
sure, some mistakes appear to have been made. Understandable in circumstances and Doesn’t everybody? it seems chelsea can’t win no matter what they do.

Despite all of the off field stuff, it was important to get the win just alleviate any pressure. A loss would have unnecessary noise and pressure. 

Happy with the points.

Having just watched Brighton, not too impressed with our style of football.  Gotta accept that our way of playing has brought us relative success,  so it's bound to continue. New signings looked very good, expecting us to improve  by next week hopefully !

Come ON you BLUES !

21 hours ago, HazardousChoice said:

3 Imo.

A top centre back (Fofana)

A top quality centre mid (De Jong)

And a forward with a proven record in front of the goal.  It's painful to see a poor attacking performance and us desperately calling out for attacking impetus or something different up front and we bring Pulisic on to hide behind the opposition defenders.

I can't think of a successful team that didn't have a goal scorer on the bench who can impact games and while we've got a lot of quality on the bench not much of it in the final 3rd.

I miss Giroud.

Again with the attack on Pulisic. How about your boys Mount and Havertz? They played the invisible man role really well yesterday. Someday, very soon, your football naiveté will realize this offensive scheme of Tuchel's, predicated on wingbacks, with no viable striker and no high quality attacking midfielders, kills all attacking players. Sterling is going to find this out really, really quick as his stats plummet. But, by all means, keep dropping Pulisic's name in all of your whining diatribes. It is as old and predictable as a Tommy T offensive set.

27 minutes ago, USATim said:

Again with the attack on Pulisic. How about your boys Mount and Havertz? They played the invisible man role really well yesterday. Someday, very soon, your football naiveté will realize this offensive scheme of Tuchel's, predicated on wingbacks, with no viable striker and no high quality attacking midfielders, kills all attacking players. Sterling is going to find this out really, really quick as his stats plummet. But, by all means, keep dropping Pulisic's name in all of your whining diatribes. It is as old and predictable as a Tommy T offensive set.

This would be a much better defence of Pulisic if he wasn't absolutely dogsh*t for pretty much his entire career prior to Tuchel coming in.

I've been critical of Havertz and I don't think the system does him any favours  but Mount has performed well over the last 2 seasons.

But between the 3 of them ask yourself who the oldest is.  Who's the one that has never scored double figures in a league season? Who's the one that's never been an important player to either of his clubs across a season? Who's the one constantly benched by every manager he's had in favour of younger more talented players?

It's the one who's not good enough to be a squad player for us or play for any club in the Premier league.

Sterling himself looked very bright yesterday and while I agree the system doesn't do any of our attacking players any favours I think we could also see the huge gulf I class between him and Pulisic.

Which isn't a surprise given Sterling was a better player at 18 at Liverpool than Pulisic is today.  

Hype and marketing value can't replicate talent on the pitch.  

And it isn't some kind of shot I think it's a massive concern for us that if we're struggle offensively or Mount is having an off day we don't have any attacking quality on the bench to bring on and instead end up with Pulisic auditioning for Ghost.

Edited August 7, 20223 yr by HazardousChoice

44 minutes ago, HazardousChoice said:

This would be a much better defence of Pulisic if he wasn't absolutely dogsh*t for pretty much his entire career prior to Tuchel coming in.

I've been critical of Havertz and I don't think the system does him any favours  but Mount has performed well over the last 2 seasons.

But between the 3 of them ask yourself who the oldest is.  Who's the one that has never scored double figures in a league season? Who's the one that's never been an important player to either of his clubs across a season? Who's the one constantly benched by every manager he's had in favour of younger more talented players?

It's the one who's not good enough to be a squad player for us or play for any club in the Premier league.

Sterling himself looked very bright yesterday and while I agree the system doesn't do any of our attacking players any favours I think we could also see the huge gulf I class between him and Pulisic.

Which isn't a surprise given Sterling was a better player at 18 at Liverpool than Pulisic is today.  

Hype and marketing value can't replicate talent on the pitch.  

And it isn't some kind of shot I think it's a massive concern for us that if we're struggle offensively or Mount is having an off day we don't have any attacking quality on the bench to bring on and instead end up with Pulisic auditioning for Ghost.

If we get rid of Pulisic I'm sure we will suddenly unleash all our quick, attacking potential , stop endless non productive possesion, and have more shots on goal.

He isn't the problem you're fixated on a player that is no worse within our awful football style than anyone else.

16 minutes ago, The Rising Sun said:

If we get rid of Pulisic I'm sure we will suddenly unleash all our quick, attacking potential , stop endless non productive possesion, and have more shots on goal.

He isn't the problem you're fixated on a player that is no worse within our awful football style than anyone else.

He's much much worse than everyone else to the point people criticise Tuchel because our attackers aren't performing up to their previous standards.

But Pulisic has just had the best 2 full seasons of his entire career under Tuchel.  This is literally the best Pulisic has ever looked and he's still absolutely sh*t.

Now there's obviously an argument about how Tuchels style and system suits our attacking players and what we can do in midfield to improve the creativity in the team but it's a massive concern we're bringing on such an untalented player to give us a spark.

Liverpool brought on Nunez and will bring on Jota/Firminho and Diaz on occasion to change games.

City have a ridiculous amount of quality they can bring on. Mahrez and Alvarez came on today with the game won.

How can you criticise Tuchel when he doesn't have the attacking or creative midfield tools to work with? He's literally getting the absolute best seasons out of Pulisic we've seen in his career but if the talent isn't there he can't make him a premier league player.

Do you think Tuchel would have played Havertz out of position on the wing if we managed to get a decent winger like Raphina or Dembele in?

Edited August 7, 20223 yr by HazardousChoice

Anyone would think Pulisic has been a regular starter  and his presence is holding the team back !I

why are you obsessed with this one player who is usually out injured anyway ?

 

 

3 minutes ago, The Rising Sun said:

Anyone would think Pulisic has been a regular starter  and his presence is holding the team back !I

why are you obsessed with this one player who is usually out injured anyway ?

 

 

Given we're having to play Havertz and Mount out on the wing because our wingers are so sh*t I don't see how you can argue he hasn't held the team back.

A lack of real attacking quality and wingers that can dribble and create have been our archillies heel for a number of years.

Edited August 7, 20223 yr by HazardousChoice

4 minutes ago, The Rising Sun said:

Anyone would think Pulisic has been a regular starter  and his presence is holding the team back !I

why are you obsessed with this one player who is usually out injured anyway ?

 

 

American inferiority complex. See it a lot. Does it under the guise of Pulisic attacks - what is laughable is all of the attacking players have sucked under Tuchel - Havertz, Ziyech, Werner, Lukaku - but this guy is fixated on Pulisic. Injects him into every single one of his posts, to the point of obsession. Newsflash, Sherlock - this offense overall is complete garbage. The best wingers in the world would struggle, as you are soon to see with Sterling and you will continue to see with Mount. But save all of your vitriol for someone who played 20 minutes yesterday. Makes you look moronic.

18 minutes ago, USATim said:

American inferiority complex. 

Lmao 🤣

18 minutes ago, USATim said:

See it a lot

🤣🤣🤣

You follow a club solely because one of our worst ever signings is from your country just in the hope he might have 1 of his 4 good games a season.  

No one outside of America cares about Pulisics nationality. They care about chelsea and winning.  He's criticised because he's been embarrassingly bad his entire career both at his previous club and for us and there's no football related reason why he's wasting a squad spot here or going into his 8th season as a professional without having a good season.

The fact that people like yourself who support Puli not Chelsea and blame the club for him not being good enough will f**k off is just a bonus :)

Edited August 7, 20223 yr by HazardousChoice

51 minutes ago, The Rising Sun said:

If we get rid of Pulisic I'm sure we will suddenly unleash all our quick, attacking potential , stop endless non productive possesion, and have more shots on goal.

Funnily enough the game my patience snapped with him was the Super cup, where we started like a house on fire then him coming on for Ziyech totally swung the momentum of the game in Villareal's favour.

Well i say snapped then, he was driving me up the wall for the entire of the prior season but i gave him some leeway/benefit of the doubt due to the restart period.

Edited August 7, 20223 yr by Argo

8 hours ago, The Brit said:

Wasn’t surprised it was sour, it always is v Everton. Just be grateful we finally nicked one against them.

Important thing is the new signings look good already. Scoring goals still biggest obstacle to this team’s chances.

meanwhile, the media negativity continues. A few months ago we were supposedly out of business or going down the tubes. Now there are new owners flashing the cash instead, chelsea are still getting slagged off, now for panicking and supposedly not knowing what they’re doing. 
sure, some mistakes appear to have been made. Understandable in circumstances and Doesn’t everybody? it seems chelsea can’t win no matter what they do.

The media will only be satisified when we aren't a threat to anybody. They would love nothing more than to see Arsenal and United go above us again.

9 hours ago, The Brit said:

Wasn’t surprised it was sour, it always is v Everton. Just be grateful we finally nicked one against them.

Important thing is the new signings look good already. Scoring goals still biggest obstacle to this team’s chances.

meanwhile, the media negativity continues. A few months ago we were supposedly out of business or going down the tubes. Now there are new owners flashing the cash instead, chelsea are still getting slagged off, now for panicking and supposedly not knowing what they’re doing. 
sure, some mistakes appear to have been made. Understandable in circumstances and Doesn’t everybody? it seems chelsea can’t win no matter what they do.

I know that every fan of every club has conspiracy theories but I have been amazed during this transfer window whenever a player gas been highlighted on Sky they have been scoring against Chelsea. Its almost as if the VT editor purposefully looks for goals scored against us. Ronaldo, Erikson,  Richarlison, Maddison, etc. I'm sure it's just a coincidence....isn't it.

1 hour ago, USATim said:

American inferiority complex. See it a lot. Does it under the guise of Pulisic attacks - what is laughable is all of the attacking players have sucked under Tuchel - Havertz, Ziyech, Werner, Lukaku - but this guy is fixated on Pulisic. Injects him into every single one of his posts, to the point of obsession. Newsflash, Sherlock - this offense overall is complete garbage. The best wingers in the world would struggle, as you are soon to see with Sterling and you will continue to see with Mount. But save all of your vitriol for someone who played 20 minutes yesterday. Makes you look moronic.

I don't think that Pulisic is the answer for us on the wing, but he was not worthy of being singled out on yesterday's performance. While he was fairly anonymous, as you have stated so were many others.

1 hour ago, HazardousChoice said:

Lmao 🤣

🤣🤣🤣

You follow a club solely because one of our worst ever signings is from your country just in the hope he might have 1 of his 4 good games a season.  

No one outside of America cares about Pulisics nationality. They care about chelsea and winning.  He's criticised because he's been embarrassingly bad his entire career both at his previous club and for us and there's no football related reason why he's wasting a squad spot here or going into his 8th season as a professional without having a good season.

The fact that people liTheress plenty of ke yourself who support Puli not Chelsea and blame the club for him not being good enough will f**k off is just a bonus 🙂

You care about Pulisic more than anyone on this planet !  

It's unhealthy mate

 

2 minutes ago, The Rising Sun said:

You care about Pulisic more than anyone on this planet !  

It's unhealthy mate

 

But you can't fault HazardousChoice  for his accuracy and consistency of his argument. Whilst he seems to push a few buttons on here with some people, I actually find most of his posts bang on.......unsettling but bang on.

5 minutes ago, WhiteWall said:

But you can't fault HazardousChoice  for his accuracy and consistency of his argument. Whilst he seems to push a few buttons on here with some people, I actually find most of his posts bang on.......unsettling but bang on.

Think faulting him for his accuracy is exactly what we are doing. 

But you are bang on right about his consistency. Bang on.

8 minutes ago, USATim said:

Think faulting him for his accuracy is exactly what we are doing. 

But you are bang on right about his consistency. Bang on.

I'm not talking about subjective Opinions. I would expect that if you looked at the majority of his posts, whether about Pulisic or not, you will see that the statistical foundation of his points are generally spot on.

1 hour ago, WhiteWall said:

I know that every fan of every club has conspiracy theories but I have been amazed during this transfer window whenever a player gas been highlighted on Sky they have been scoring against Chelsea. Its almost as if the VT editor purposefully looks for goals scored against us. Ronaldo, Erikson,  Richarlison, Maddison, etc. I'm sure it's just a coincidence....isn't it.

Yes.