I don't think our future is as doom n gloom as most people think

Nkunku - Kai - Sterling 

Kova - Mount 

Dm

Chilwell - cb - cb - james

Gk

is a very interesting lineup. It is lampard 2nd season all over again. We need a gk and and we need a dm. 

4 hours ago, Bob stark said:

I don't think our future is as doom n gloom as most people think

Nkunku - Kai - Sterling 

Kova - Mount 

Dm

Chilwell - cb - cb - james

Gk

is a very interesting lineup. It is lampard 2nd season all over again. We need a gk and and we need a dm. 

Nkunku isn’t a LW though; you either play him as a LW or CF (preferably in a 2). Sterling is also more effective as a LW, something Potter doesn’t get. 
 

Sterling — CF — RW (Mount?)

                Nkunku

       Kovacic — DM

Chiwell — Koulibaly — Fofana — James

                  GK

6 hours ago, ducavis said:

Nkunku isn’t a LW though; you either play him as a LW or CF (preferably in a 2). Sterling is also more effective as a LW, something Potter doesn’t get. 
 

Sterling — CF — RW (Mount?)

                Nkunku

       Kovacic — DM

Chiwell — Koulibaly — Fofana — James

                  GK

Sterling is a bit predictable at LW and given that he no longer is arsed to take players on I'd keep him on the bench in all honesty. Hopefully that changes. (City fans also claim he was at his best at RW whilst Sane at LW). 

Doubtful this will ever be the team but...

Sanchez

James Fofana Koulibaly Cucurella

Fernandez  Rice

Sterling   Nkunku    Leao

ST

 

 

 

Potter has apparently been impressed with Chukamweka over the WC break. Might be an answer to the midfield issues. He’s looked decent when he’s come on and could offer something. 

6 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Sterling is a bit predictable at LW and given that he no longer is arsed to take players on I'd keep him on the bench in all honesty. Hopefully that changes. (City fans also claim he was at his best at RW whilst Sane at LW). 

Doubtful this will ever be the team but...

Sanchez

James Fofana Koulibaly Cucurella

Fernandez  Rice

Sterling   Nkunku    Leao

ST

 

 

 

Some exciting players, ruined by 2 retired players who put in half a$$Ed displays.

12 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Sterling is a bit predictable at LW and given that he no longer is arsed to take players on I'd keep him on the bench in all honesty. Hopefully that changes. (City fans also claim he was at his best at RW whilst Sane at LW). 

Doubtful this will ever be the team but...

Sanchez

James Fofana Koulibaly Cucurella

Fernandez  Rice

Sterling   Nkunku    Leao

ST

 

 

 

You will face similar problem to what France has in the WC. 

With Leao unwillingness to do any defending. You need other people to cover for him. Plus you want to allow Nkunku, leao and sterling to be aggressive up high. Eventually, you will see Mount as an am and Nkunku as st. 

20 hours ago, ducavis said:

Nkunku isn’t a LW though; you either play him as a LW or CF (preferably in a 2). Sterling is also more effective as a LW, something Potter doesn’t get. 
 

Sterling — CF — RW (Mount?)

                Nkunku

       Kovacic — DM

Chiwell — Koulibaly — Fofana — James

                  GK

Nkunku will be fine as LW because he is not really playing as winger. With Kai dropping, Nkunku and sterling can both push up playing like st. 

I think this is an interesting debate. I think it comes down more on how do you want to defend and how you want to press. 

 

 

10 hours ago, Bob stark said:

You will face similar problem to what France has in the WC. 

With Leao unwillingness to do any defending. You need other people to cover for him. Plus you want to allow Nkunku, leao and sterling to be aggressive up high. Eventually, you will see Mount as an am and Nkunku as st. 

 

That's a good point. I think that is where having a strong central midfield comes into play. Leao provides an explosive style of play that is extremely valuable, to a point where we need to compensate for it. 

 

On 21/12/2022 at 11:37, Sconnie Blue said:

I think the football we've seen the past several months has warranted some upset reactions. Forgive me, but If performances continue and we fall further down the table, are you suggesting we should just take it on the chin? 

Are you also suggesting we should be contempt where ever we finish because we have a better history than Bournemouth? 

I'm suggesting that in 5 decades of going to Stamford Bridge I've witnessed far worse results than those we've seen over the last few months.  Also worth remembering my old man's advice (he's been going 6 decades) - the performances and results are completely out of your hands, so why get yourself all upset son ? At the end of the day/ 90 minutes, its a sport, so chillax and enjoy instead of being angry and upset at a poor bloke like GP who just accepted a job offer to better his professional career, and don't forget to have a great Christmas and New Year, cheers mate ! 

17 minutes ago, General said:

I'm suggesting that in 5 decades of going to Stamford Bridge I've witnessed far worse results than those we've seen over the last few months.  Also worth remembering my old man's advice (he's been going 6 decades) - the performances and results are completely out of your hands, so why get yourself all upset son ? At the end of the day/ 90 minutes, its a sport, so chillax and enjoy instead of being angry and upset at a poor bloke like GP who just accepted a job offer to better his professional career, and don't forget to have a great Christmas and New Year, cheers mate ! 

That is disgustingly sensible, and will probably fall on a few deaf ears. 

25 minutes ago, General said:

I'm suggesting that in 5 decades of going to Stamford Bridge I've witnessed far worse results than those we've seen over the last few months.  Also worth remembering my old man's advice (he's been going 6 decades) - the performances and results are completely out of your hands, so why get yourself all upset son ? At the end of the day/ 90 minutes, its a sport, so chillax and enjoy instead of being angry and upset at a poor bloke like GP who just accepted a job offer to better his professional career, and don't forget to have a great Christmas and New Year, cheers mate ! 

If the club want us to have reduced expectations then that's fine in itself, but then they should also similarly reduce ticket prices to reflect that.

Not expecting instant improvements, but do expect Potter to stamp his authority and get players to try harder. No more of the we give everything cliche after a non-performance, there has to be a higher standard in place.

12 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

That's a good point. I think that is where having a strong central midfield comes into play. Leao provides an explosive style of play that is extremely valuable, to a point where we need to compensate for it. 

 

2 strong cm won't be enough to compensate for Leao unless you have two kante. 

 

8 hours ago, Bob stark said:

2 strong cm won't be enough to compensate for Leao unless you have two kante. 

 

All depends on what he delivers.

For this aspect of football my mindset is pretty straight forward, if you want Eden Hazard esque excemptions I expect Eden Hazard esque results, no excuses. Was the standards I set when Lukaku wasn't getting in line work rate wise and will be the same with Leao.

20 hours ago, General said:

I'm suggesting that in 5 decades of going to Stamford Bridge I've witnessed far worse results than those we've seen over the last few months.  Also worth remembering my old man's advice (he's been going 6 decades) - the performances and results are completely out of your hands, so why get yourself all upset son ? At the end of the day/ 90 minutes, its a sport, so chillax and enjoy instead of being angry and upset at a poor bloke like GP who just accepted a job offer to better his professional career, and don't forget to have a great Christmas and New Year, cheers mate ! 

The ‘don’t worry be happy’ attitude is all fine and well if investment isn’t considered. You don’t spend 250m and be contempt with finishing bottom half accompanied by horrible football. You don’t spend over 1 billion since the club’s last title win and be contempt finishing no where near 1st place whilst struggling to finish top 4 year after year. Saying, “at least we aren’t Bournemouth” is pretty undignified to say the least considering the huge disparity of investment between the clubs. 

I for one refuse to allow football give me the levels of anxiety it had a few years ago but football and expectations go hand in hand with investment. 

Merry Christmas mate. 

 

I read an article on footy365 saying Potter is in an Arteta like situation as he was at Arsenal  and needs to go through some major rebuilding before we can challenge again.

On 24/12/2022 at 20:49, Argo said:

All depends on what he delivers.

For this aspect of football my mindset is pretty straight forward, if you want Eden Hazard esque excemptions I expect Eden Hazard esque results, no excuses. Was the standards I set when Lukaku wasn't getting in line work rate wise and will be the same with Leao.

Agree. It is the same with any player. It is about what you bring to the table - what you take out from the table

On 24/12/2022 at 02:36, General said:

I'm suggesting that in 5 decades of going to Stamford Bridge I've witnessed far worse results than those we've seen over the last few months.  Also worth remembering my old man's advice (he's been going 6 decades) - the performances and results are completely out of your hands, so why get yourself all upset son ? At the end of the day/ 90 minutes, its a sport, so chillax and enjoy instead of being angry and upset at a poor bloke like GP who just accepted a job offer to better his professional career, and don't forget to have a great Christmas and New Year, cheers mate ! 

If the club wasn't saddled with debt, players weren't paid astronomical wages and ticket prices were less than £10, I'd agree. 

May your Christmas and New Year's be as jolly and happy as ever 

10 hours ago, strider6004 said:

I read an article on footy365 saying Potter is in an Arteta like situation as he was at Arsenal  and needs to go through some major rebuilding before we can challenge again.

I think most managers would have been with our squad, Tuchel was essentially one hell of a band aid, but even then it was becoming obvious we needed some major changes.

I still have faith, a lot of top managers/pundits rate him extremely highly, it’s just the constant formation and personnel tinkering that I’m struggling with. Hopefully today we can see a marked improvement and idea of where we’re going play style wise.

Would be welcome to hear someone from the club saying we are in a transition. I don't think we will hear something like that but it would sometimes be better to explain things rather than go over that normal stuff about trying to win every game....

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/dec/25/graham-potter-more-confident-of-changing-chelseas-fortunes-after-talks?CMP=share_btn_tw

Looks like he met up with Eghbali in California during the break. Been given support but also sounds like even Potter doesn't have much hope for Top 4 anymore.

What we need to do is encourage young players to take responsibility and to keep that winning mentality alive. We need to want to win at the same time. We also need to enjoy our football and realize we are far from the top.

Potter never seems upset when we lose. Even his statement yesterday was “it’s always nice to win”. No Graham. It’s not “nice” to win, we have to win. 

7 hours ago, OriginalS said:

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/dec/25/graham-potter-more-confident-of-changing-chelseas-fortunes-after-talks?CMP=share_btn_tw

Looks like he met up with Eghbali in California during the break. Been given support but also sounds like even Potter doesn't have much hope for Top 4 anymore.

It would be a miracle I reckon if we got top 4 now, especially after today's results.

but we can't continue on this losing run and playing with no effort or conviction.. Or with bonkers formations and players all over the place.  .. We can't keep treating games like a pre-season training session , and trying out the best way to play during actual PL games ..f**king hell I can't even enjoy spurs going behind in games anymore... !

I think both of these next two games are must win. No excuses from Potter. I don’t believe the players are buying into his methods or him. He seems like a nice level headed guy, don’t get the impression he’s like AVB…but they don’t seem to have confidence in him.  Potter constantly changing his formations and teams also scram a lack of confidence