1 hour ago, Sconnie Blue said:

I personally want to see Carny being used. 

Kepa

James Fofana Koulibaly Cucurella

Zakaria Kovacic

Broja    Carny    Sterling

Aubameyang

Hmm Broja as a right side attacking mid? Not sure that will work.

Think we will happily take anyone over Kai or RLC in that role, why not Carney indeed.

56 minutes ago, just said:

A quick YouTube search will show Billy Gilmour hitting loads of those with either foot!

Complete fail on our part tbh, Saul coming in and Gilmour going to relegation certainties in Norwich. Then this summer allowing him to leave when clearly a change in manager was in the works. 

I always felt with players like Gilmour, and going to the likes of Baker and Mceachran, they were much better suited to play in big clubs than they were battling it out in the championship or bottom half of table, at 18 or 19 years old. 

The biggest problem with the loan setup is that we raise and develop young footballers that have spent there whole youth career going into most games expecting to dominate and win, then when they reach their late teens, we expect them to adapt to mens football in totally different mindset, and then come back into our 1st team ready to compete. 

I'm glad Boehly is reported as wanting to move away from that model, and with the 5 sub rule coming in, im hoping we can find more opportunities to keep them here, and not fill the squad with mercenary bench players that managers are pushed into accommodating.

Probably the one thing I'm excited about with Potter as he seems to ease them in over the season, and let them earn trust.

18 minutes ago, big blue said:

Complete fail on our part tbh, Saul coming in and Gilmour going to relegation certainties in Norwich. Then this summer allowing him to leave when clearly a change in manager was in the works. 

I always felt with players like Gilmour, and going to the likes of Baker and Mceachran, they were much better suited to play in big clubs than they were battling it out in the championship or bottom half of table, at 18 or 19 years old. 

The biggest problem with the loan setup is that we raise and develop young footballers that have spent there whole youth career going into most games expecting to dominate and win, then when they reach their late teens, we expect them to adapt to mens football in totally different mindset, and then come back into our 1st team ready to compete. 

I'm glad Boehly is reported as wanting to move away from that model, and with the 5 sub rule coming in, im hoping we can find more opportunities to keep them here, and not fill the squad with mercenary bench players that managers are pushed into accommodating.

Probably the one thing I'm excited about with Potter as he seems to ease them in over the season, and let them earn trust.

Yes and no. While I'll accept the circumstances for him weren't ideal he was very poor for a lot of the season. I regularly stalk oppo fans forums (that have players I think have a chance here) and it was by some distance the worst reviews I've seen since Van Aanholt at Leicester.

The argument I always see a lot is "Jorginho would do no better at Norwich fighting relegation" when infact Jorginho won a place at the Napoli's and Chelsea's of this world by playing for Hellas Verona and being the main reason they weren't fighting relegation. Given there's many that think Billy is already better/more suited to us than Jorginho then shouldn't he be held to that type of standard?

That said i didn't agree with his sale and think he's the type that will peak in mid to late 20s.

There is something fundamental wrong in Chelsea FC. All the proven top players and extremely talented prominant young players we acquire regress during their stay at Chelsea whoever the manager has been. I hope Potter can change this. 

7 minutes ago, Argo said:

Yes and no. While I'll accept the circumstances for him weren't ideal he was very poor for a lot of the season. I regularly stalk oppo fans forums (that have players I think have a chance here) and it was by some distance the worst reviews I've seen since Van Aanholt at Leicester.

The argument I always see a lot is "Jorginho would do no better at Norwich fighting relegation" when infact Jorginho won a place at the Napoli's and Chelsea's of this world by playing for Hellas Verona and being the main reason they weren't fighting relegation. Given there's many that think Billy is already better/more suited to us than Jorginho then shouldn't he be held to that type of standard?

That said i didn't agree with his sale and think he's the type that will peak in mid to late 20s.

Question is though, why was Gilmour so poor for Norwich, yet played excellently for us and Scotland against some quality teams too. 

Surely his performances for Chelsea should be the main thing we use to assess whether or not he is good enough? 

Tuchel himself trusted him away at City where we won, which makes it even more bizarre that we deemed him surplus to requirements.

I wonder what Potter makes of him, Brighton and Potters ream are lauded for their recruitment, so they must rate him? 

6 minutes ago, big blue said:

Question is though, why was Gilmour so poor for Norwich, yet played excellently for us and Scotland against some quality teams too. 

Surely his performances for Chelsea should be the main thing we use to assess whether or not he is good enough? 

Tuchel himself trusted him away at City where we won, which makes it even more bizarre that we deemed him surplus to requirements.

I wonder what Potter makes of him, Brighton and Potters ream are lauded for their recruitment, so they must rate him? 

I haven't seen any of his Scotland games but as far as Chelsea are concerned, he was good at City but the week before that every shade of sh*te against Fulham. He also had some disaster games under Lampard aswell, Leicester in the cup (all be it out of his favoured position) was Bakayoko esque.

One thing i do wonder about him is what if Covid didn't happen, maybe with a run of games to build on the Liverpool/Everton momentum things would have been different (in the last couple of years).

Edited September 15, 20223 yr by Argo

2 minutes ago, Argo said:

I haven't seen any of his Scotland games but as far as Chelsea are concerned, he was good at City but the week before that every shade of sh*te against Fulham. He also had some disaster games under Lampard aswell, Leicester in the cup (all be it out of his favoured position) was Bakayoko esque.

One thing i do wonder about him is what if Covid didn't happen, maybe with a run of games to build on the Liverpool/Everton momentum things would have been different (in the last couple of years).

He is young, theres bound to ups and downs he was awful in the cup game away at leicester, the fulham game he wasnt great, but if memory serves me right, he was in a midfield 3 with Mount and Ziyech, not an easy task by any means. 

The other starts he has had, city, liverpool  everton, he was great, also scotlands best player vs england too. 

How many players have been that impressive in their 1st ever 10 starts in professional football for us? It would be a small number number, he certainly showed more than enough to warrant some more opportunities last season, instead of that loan.

I'm not even a massive Gilmour fan either by the way, but he earned more than he was given here 100%.

2 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Hmm Broja as a right side attacking mid? Not sure that will work.

Think we will happily take anyone over Kai or RLC in that role, why not Carney indeed.

I'd have Broja as a wide forward, not attacking mid. 

Carney really needs to see the pitch. 

 

13 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

I'd have Broja as a wide forward, not attacking mid. 

Carney really needs to see the pitch. 

 

Since I have seen nothing of either of them I wonder if Carney is that far ahead of Casadei in development.

Do we know who isn't going to international duty?

Does anyone else see this pop up on the main page as the latest thread commented on in thr general section and read the cutoff point as "Graham Potter - *offical* new Chelsea Mania"?

 

4 hours ago, Argo said:

I haven't seen any of his Scotland games but as far as Chelsea are concerned, he was good at City but the week before that every shade of sh*te against Fulham. He also had some disaster games under Lampard aswell, Leicester in the cup (all be it out of his favoured position) was Bakayoko esque.

One thing i do wonder about him is what if Covid didn't happen, maybe with a run of games to build on the Liverpool/Everton momentum things would have been different (in the last couple of years).

And against Arsenal, (where Tuchel subbed him off simply because he was the easy choice, despite him being our best player up to that point), he looked Fabregas esque at times.

Your previous comments in the post striking a comparison between Jorginho's time at Hellas Verona, and Gilmour's disaster of a loan move to Norwich do not bear close scrutiny Argo.

"Come 2010, however, the midfielder was struggling for game time. He went on loan to the fourth tier and then, after returning to Verona, was shunted around — right-back, centre-back, No 10. 

Eventually, Jorginho told his agent he wanted to leave. A return to fourth-tier football beckoned until a team-mate picked up an injury and the door swung back open. 'Everything changed after that,' Jorginho recently told the Telegraph".

31 minutes ago, just said:

And against Arsenal, (where Tuchel subbed him off simply because he was the easy choice, despite him being our best player up to that point), he looked Fabregas esque at times.

Your previous comments in the post striking a comparison between Jorginho's time at Hellas Verona, and Gilmour's disaster of a loan move to Norwich do not bear close scrutiny Argo.

"Come 2010, however, the midfielder was struggling for game time. He went on loan to the fourth tier and then, after returning to Verona, was shunted around — right-back, centre-back, No 10. 

Eventually, Jorginho told his agent he wanted to leave. A return to fourth-tier football beckoned until a team-mate picked up an injury and the door swung back open. 'Everything changed after that,' Jorginho recently told the Telegraph".

I meant the years onwards, when he got them promoted and was so good in the first half of the following season he earned a January move to Naples (with us apparently also interested strangely enough). He was a mere two years older than Billy is now.

Now ofcourse Gilmour could do similar, maybe even for Brighton this year and as i said i didn't agree with his sale, but given many feel he's better than current Jorgi let alone that one then surely it's fair to expect a similar impact to that one despite not being surrounded by WC players?

The team selection made sense. you play the old guys first. The younger ones (although obviously Koulibally is young only relative to Silva) then know they have to perform to get in the team and when the old guys are relegated to the bench its with the knowledge they were given the chance.

Although the performance wasn't great the Xg was over 1.9 but the attackers lacked confidence which means they either play it too safe or try too hard. Giving the attackers confidence is one job the coach can do but it isn't an easy one.

To make the team work at the level required to at a minimum get to the top 4 and hopefully win a cup requires moving some of the older players out. That includes Kante, Azpi and Silva it means getting skilful hard runners into the midfield. Top professionals are expected to be fitter as well as have better technical ability. Kova should only be playing for an hour anyway. He is always best that way.

The formation was good in the sense that Mount and then Gallagher get a chance to play in their best positions which is attacking mid.  Havertz was also in his best position but just doesn't have the confidence right now. 

Auba has done nothing much but you have to give him of all the new players a bit of time to make it work in his third team in 12 months.

Every team we play has a low block and we are pretty much forced to play possession football agains them and so we have to (1) learn how to score against that and (2) have defenders that are fast enough to cover the inevitable fast breaks against us. So Fofana and I think ultimately Chillwell (quicker than Cucu) will have to play and we will need one of the midfielders to be a hard working, fast moving, positionally aware defender.

Many a great coach has taken a couple of games to make the system work but generally its the younger players that respond best to a new coach and new opportunities and it likely wont be until Potter works 1,2 of them into the midfield that things will look up.

I'd be bringing on Carney to replace Kova after an hour, Gallagher for Mount and someone for Jorginho. The key to this Chelsea side is making the midfield and defence work as an efficient machine. The forwards can play together most of the game and work it out for themselves.

7 hours ago, Argo said:

Yes and no. While I'll accept the circumstances for him weren't ideal he was very poor for a lot of the season. I regularly stalk oppo fans forums (that have players I think have a chance here) and it was by some distance the worst reviews I've seen since Van Aanholt at Leicester.

The argument I always see a lot is "Jorginho would do no better at Norwich fighting relegation" when infact Jorginho won a place at the Napoli's and Chelsea's of this world by playing for Hellas Verona and being the main reason they weren't fighting relegation. Given there's many that think Billy is already better/more suited to us than Jorginho then shouldn't he be held to that type of standard?

That said i didn't agree with his sale and think he's the type that will peak in mid to late 20s.

He was getting raving reviews early in the Norwich season and got 3 MOTM for Norwich and Scotland (v England) in November. Why he turned into sh*t all of a sudden? I haven’t got a clue, but there’s a Cesc type of player if coached well or he wouldn’t have played as well as he’s done for Chelsea and Norwich being that young.

Glad we have a long break right now, Potter could work on a few things with players, they may come back a bit fresher,  regain some of the confidence, and we all get over the crazy drama in the last week. As far as the top 4 chase goes, we are in the same situation as 2 weeks ago, expect Brighton to drop out of the 4 soon now they lost their manager. We are in trouble in the CL, need a minimum of 4 points against Milan and 6 against the other 2, could see us in Europa league comes February, which is either a huge distraction or another trophy and way to get back into CL next season.

32 minutes ago, RMH said:

He was getting raving reviews early in the Norwich season and got 3 MOTM for Norwich and Scotland (v England) in November. Why he turned into sh*t all of a sudden? I haven’t got a clue, but there’s a Cesc type of player if coached well or he wouldn’t have played as well as he’s done for Chelsea and Norwich being that young.

I disagree with the Cesc type, i feel if he hits his potential he's more a Pirlo.

His contribution for Pedro's goal in that Everton game sums up how i see him as a player if he furfils his potential.

I thought the performance was improved and we were at least taking more risks. That chance created by Broja - I haven’t seen us counter attack a team for ages. We stopped doing it under Tuchel and just played in front of teams. 
 

Salzburg barely had anything all game so it shows the defence had tightened up. The XG was down for the defence which is positive. We should have won with Ziyech’s and Borja’s  chances. They were clear chances which is at least positive. 
 

It is harsh for me for me to say this and I’m basing it on zero evidence - but I don’t have a good feeling about the Potter era. It makes me nervous. I hope I’m proved wrong. 

2 hours ago, JM7 said:

I thought the performance was improved and we were at least taking more risks. That chance created by Broja - I haven’t seen us counter attack a team for ages. We stopped doing it under Tuchel and just played in front of teams. 
 

Salzburg barely had anything all game so it shows the defence had tightened up. The XG was down for the defence which is positive. We should have won with Ziyech’s and Borja’s  chances. They were clear chances which is at least positive. 
 

It is harsh for me for me to say this and I’m basing it on zero evidence - but I don’t have a good feeling about the Potter era. It makes me nervous. I hope I’m proved wrong. 

Like your post though I think Potter will do ok yet not excel, like most give him a year and a half.

He will improve our game too.

 

For me, I think we should be targeting Alvarez of Ajax, Ronaldo, and Trossard. We will have forwards covered and not relying on Havertz, Ziyech and Pulisic. Ronaldo and Trossard would be upgrades imo. Alvarez for central midfield reinforcement. I would like us to go for Toney too, but maybe a bit unnecessary. Trossard has worked with Potter, so maybe that would be an astute signing for a cheaper fee. What do you lot think? 

Am I the only one finding the situation a bit surreal?

I mean, in the past it didn't take me long to adapt to the likes of Pedro, Oli and Cesc as Chelsea players but I'm finding Sterling and Auba here with Potter as manager so odd.

Not in a bad way, I love Sterling so far, have nothing against Auba and Potter was my first pick once I heard Tuchel was gone but seeing all three of them on the highlights of the last game felt like an outer body experience, just can't get use to it.

I agree @Argo I think all 3 are people we would assume would ever be at the club....at least of old!

The new (and completely unimproved) Chelsea!

42 minutes ago, Argo said:

Am I the only one finding the situation a bit surreal?

I mean, in the past it didn't take me long to adapt to the likes of Pedro, Oli and Cesc as Chelsea players but I'm finding Sterling and Auba here with Potter as manager so odd.

Not in a bad way, I love Sterling so far, have nothing against Auba and Potter was my first pick once I heard Tuchel was gone but seeing all three of them on the highlights of the last game felt like an outer body experience, just can't get use to it.

Yeah, they don't feel.. Chelsea for some reason. Maybe I'm still bitter from the Tuchel sacking, who knows

7 minutes ago, Deino said:

Yeah, they don't feel.. Chelsea for some reason. Maybe I'm still bitter from the Tuchel sacking, who knows

Sterling feels very Chelsea already to me, might just be because of how well he's playing. But he runs a lot, shows passion and seems like he'd be a leader in the dressing room, which is what we've needed since Hazard left. It's just the rest of the squad that needs work. I definetely would have had more faith in the rebuild with Tuchel in charge though.