4 minutes ago, Valerie said:

Our first year was epic.

Bit odd because we lost our 8th game then

1 minute ago, WhiteWall said:

Bit odd because we lost our 8th game then

Shut up. It was epic, I tells ya 

11 minutes ago, Valerie said:

Shut up. It was epic, I tells ya 

You were there and he wasn’t, what does he know?

22 minutes ago, WhiteWall said:

Media said its the best start by any Chelsea manager for 116 years, which seems a bit odd as we've only been around for 117 years. Still, happy days

Certainly done brilliantly to have us confirmed as topping our CL group with a game to spare after the first two matches we had against Zagreb and Salzburg ... 

Excellent win tonight. Bottom of the group when potter took over. Now group winners with one game to spare.

 

Full credit to Graham and the team. Incredible turnaround given where we were after 2 games. 

1 hour ago, coco said:

rest some, test others.

Mendy, any youth defenders that can play, Carney, Hutchinson should all get starts.

1 minute ago, axman2526 said:

Mendy, any youth defenders that can play, Carney, Hutchinson should all get starts.

Zakaria?

3 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Zakaria?

Sure, against City too. However I firmly believe he has a January move lined up and would not be able to make thar move if he plays for us as he has already played for Juve this season so I don't expect he plays any part of the next 5 games.

Just now, axman2526 said:

Sure, against City too. However I firmly believe he has a January move lined up and would not be able to make thar move if he plays for us as he has already played for Juve this season so I don't expect he plays any part of the next 5 games.

Yeah if he doesn’t feature vs Zagreb we’ll have our answer. 

Bounced back nicely. If it wasn't for 3 insipid performances, I would be more excited with Potter's management

 

Not understanding the angst around Potter.

We're 9 games into his tenure and we now stand at 6 wins, 3 draws, 0 losses. This is exactly the same as Tuchel's record after 9 games into his tenure.

The football against Villa, Brentford and Man United was average but we still got 5 points out of a possible 9 from those games so far from a disaster.

Top 4 is still waiting for us if we want it, and we've done a terrific job to advance to the last 16 of Europe after a slow start under Tuchel.

I think some people are wearing rose tinted glasses around Tuchel because of his earlier successes. Outside of the Spurs game this season, the football under Tuchel was awful. We got smashed to a Leeds who are now battling relegation, lost to an average Southampton outfit and couldn't even get a point at Zagreb.

8 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Mendy, any youth defenders that can play, Carney, Hutchinson should all get starts.

You know who should get a start? ARMANDO f**kING BROJA! Starting this weekend. 

3 hours ago, Jezz said:

Not understanding the angst around Potter.

Repeating a lot of the same mistakes his predecessor was heavily criticized for so it shouldn't really come as a surprise. If anything Potter is doing more of it.

There is more tinkering and more players in wrong positions and the football is largely still dull. Certainly in the league where we struggle to even muster up a shot on target.

In the league he's had lucky breaks all over the place with Kepa being otherwordly. Won 3/5 but the only one we actually deserved to win was Wolverhampton.

You have to take into account that Tuchel lost matches because of Mendy‘s f**k ups like against Leeds or Real Madrid 1st leg last year. I still maintain that we would have never lost if Mendy hadn‘t had his regular brainfart.

Granted, the football has been dull under Tuchel bar Spurs but he also delivered some of the best Chelsea games I’ve seen like the win at Madrid in the 2nd leg last season or the Juve game last year when we won 4-0. The regret is that Tuchel undoubtedly counts as an Elite coach and after the whole ownership turmoil/ injuries of Chilwell and James (where he still reached two cup finals, almost knocked out Real and delivered Top 4) he never got the chance to turn it around when he got the players in. I will never forgive Boehly for that but it is what it is. Kepa has bailed out Potter oiften enough so far. Our ManUtd game was disgusting in the first half and people praise Potter for throwing in Kovacic but Tuchel would have started with Kovacic in such a game so I don‘t know about the praise.

And btw: Sterling as a wingback? Wtf?

Edited October 26, 20223 yr by GermanChels

14 minutes ago, GermanChels said:

You have to take into account that Tuchel lost matches because of Mendy‘s f**k ups like against Leeds or Real Madrid 1st leg last year. I still maintain that we would have never lost if Mendy hadn‘t had his regular brainfart.

Granted, the football has been dull under Tuchel bar Spurs but he also delivered some of the best Chelsea games I’ve seen like the win at Madrid in the 2nd leg last season or the Juve game last year when we won 4-0. The regret is that Tuchel undoubtedly counts as an Elite coach and after the whole ownership turmoil/ injuries of Chilwell and James (where he still reached two cup finals, almost knocked out Real and delivered Top 4) he never got the chance to turn it around when he got the players in. I will never forgive Boehly for that but it is what it is. Kepa has bailed out Potter oiften enough so far. Our ManUtd game was disgusting in the first half and people praise Potter for throwing in Kovacic but Tuchel would have started with Kovacic in such a game so I don‘t know about the praise.

And btw: Sterling as a wingback? Wtf?

You realise that Tuchel drew against Man Utd twice at home, right? 0-0 and 1-1, so seems a bit odd to criticise Potter for that game seeing as he changed things around after 30 mins into that game. Also, as Potter mentioned post game, Kovacic had still been struggling with a knock, so he didn't want to rush him back into that game, though he had no choice. Kepa is just doing his job, so is Kepa not supposed to bail us out by making great saves and doing his job as a keeper? 

6 hours ago, Munkworth said:

You know who should get a start? ARMANDO f**kING BROJA! Starting this weekend. 

For me Broja should be the first choice forward so normally he would be one of the rested against Zagreb. Since Potter does not feel thar way then I do expect he starts the midweek dead rubber alongside Ziyech and Carney.

Broja's been promising but still very raw.

Bar possibly a couple more starts he's being handedled perfectly so far in my opinion.

54 minutes ago, Argo said:

Broja's been promising but still very raw.

Bar possibly a couple more starts he's being handedled perfectly so far in my opinion.

Auba has score a few goals but has generally been non-exsistent. Might as well give Armando a go.

8 minutes ago, Munkworth said:

Auba has score a few goals but has generally been non-exsistent. Might as well give Armando a go.

Possibly but ultimately he's had most of his career so it's not too big a deal in the grand scheme of things.

We've seen how quickly negative momentum can build with young players with Christensen (and even to an extent Mount when he had a few months barely scoring or assisting in his first season) so my preference would be Broja dusting off the cobwebs in a more bit part role slowly built up.

Edited October 26, 20223 yr by Argo

1 hour ago, Argo said:

Broja's been promising but still very raw.

Bar possibly a couple more starts he's being handedled perfectly so far in my opinion.

Agreed. He looked a little lost when he came on last night for example.

17 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Zakaria?

Gilmour and Ampadu were/are both better and cheaper than Zakaria 

should have never signed him

look at Juventus how sh*t they are and they didn't need him

Edited October 26, 20223 yr by azpi28

The devotion to wingbacks and playing Sterling/Pulisic there is going to limit us in league play. 

1 hour ago, forbzy said:

Agreed. He looked a little lost when he came on last night for example.

 

1 hour ago, Argo said:

Possibly but ultimately he's had most of his career so it's not too big a deal in the grand scheme of things.

We've seen how quickly negative momentum can build with young players with Christensen (and even to an extent Mount when he had a few months barely scoring or assisting in his first season) so my preference would be Broja dusting off the cobwebs in a more bit part role slowly built up.

I’d just like someone upfront who generally seems arsed about being there which we haven’t had for quite sometime. Broja seems to actually give a sh*t. 

40 minutes ago, HonoreMeiBalsac said:

The devotion to wingbacks and playing Sterling/Pulisic there is going to limit us in league play. 

 

That's my concern.  It makes sense when you have James and Chilly available as they provide both strong attack and defense.  

 

But when you lose one you have to pick between players who offer attack but little defense (Sterling, Pulisic) or players who offer defense but little attack (Azpi)

 

I would want to try Cucurella at the right wing back role but he's too busy playing CB because we have so many CB injuries.

 

 

54 minutes ago, HonoreMeiBalsac said:

The devotion to wingbacks and playing Sterling/Pulisic there is going to limit us in league play. 

This. 

Back 4 has its problems too but we are much better IMO vs a back 5.