If we don’t start scoring goals pretty sharply under GP I will start to really worry. The longer our attack fails the more the pressure cranks up on GP. Some people saw signs in his first game but I wasn’t impressed, I hope I’m wrong  but I still think the players we have are THE main problem.

1 hour ago, coco said:

If we don’t start scoring goals pretty sharply under GP I will start to really worry. The longer our attack fails the more the pressure cranks up on GP. Some people saw signs in his first game but I wasn’t impressed, I hope I’m wrong  but I still think the players we have are THE main problem.

Which players though? Havertz? Yes, at a stretch maybe Mount. We have spent over £250m+ in the last window, granted it was under Tuchel but surely the team should able to score.

I feel the formation has to go. Sterling seemingly isn’t a fan, and I found his comments about the formation under Southgate very interesting; "I could say we just haven’t hit the back of the net but I think, even today (against Italy), we had to go over things to try to find where we can find that extra man with this five at the back. Do we put a midfielder higher up in the build-up?"

Scrap 3atb and play a back 4 I'm tired of this  it's bad enough we have to watch it for club and country. I want to see us move to a 433 or 4231 we have the squad for it. Kk and Fofana should be good enough to play in a back 4, Silva can also play there if his game time is managed well. The only defender is Azpil that has question marks. 

Jorginho, Kova, Kante, RLC are all capable of playing in a midfield 2 or 3. Conor, Kai, Mason can all play AM in a mid 3 or a sole AM in a 4231 and Sterling, Pulisic, Ziyech and Aubameyang can all play on the wing. Heck Mount and Kai can even play on the wing. Play Broja or Aubameyang through the middle with 3 other attack minded players and let's actually get in behind the opposition instead of always playing in front. 

I want to see something like 12/13 Hazard, Mata and Oscar. I know Sterling and Mount can get the numbers we just need 1-2 more to step up. I want to see James ans Chilwell play as fullbacks we already know they're great defending and attacking as wbs but they're good enough not to need another body in that defence.

7 hours ago, LongtimerLurker said:

Scrap 3atb and play a back 4 I'm tired of this  it's bad enough we have to watch it for club and country. I want to see us move to a 433 or 4231 we have the squad for it. Kk and Fofana should be good enough to play in a back 4, Silva can also play there if his game time is managed well. The only defender is Azpil that has question marks. 

Jorginho, Kova, Kante, RLC are all capable of playing in a midfield 2 or 3. Conor, Kai, Mason can all play AM in a mid 3 or a sole AM in a 4231 and Sterling, Pulisic, Ziyech and Aubameyang can all play on the wing. Heck Mount and Kai can even play on the wing. Play Broja or Aubameyang through the middle with 3 other attack minded players and let's actually get in behind the opposition instead of always playing in front. 

I want to see something like 12/13 Hazard, Mata and Oscar. I know Sterling and Mount can get the numbers we just need 1-2 more to step up. I want to see James ans Chilwell play as fullbacks we already know they're great defending and attacking as wbs but they're good enough not to need another body in that defence.

In fairness the football Southgate plays is far more negative than what Tuchel did at Chelsea. Even though we played a back 3 we dominated possession and created more chances than our opponents in 90% of our games. Problem is our attacekrs apart from Sterling were all mediocre 

On 25/09/2022 at 14:05, Nick05 said:

I miss Mata's free kicks and corners. They were quality almost every time.

I literally cannot remember the last time Mount did manage to get the ball over the first defender (and I am generally a big Mount fan)

Anyone else get the feeling Potter would accept the England job once Southgate steps down after an inevitable early World Cup knock out? 

On 23/09/2022 at 14:55, evissy said:

It is weird how bad we are at them. Why not try a trick or two here and there..? Is the schedule so congested we have no time to train them. Can't be that....

Why don't we shrink the pitch by around a metre on the touchlines and half a metre on the goal lines to bring the quadrant in a bit. This might give Mount the room for more backswing, but of course it will do the same for the Oppo. Having said that, they seem to be able to get corners into our box ok 🤔

I’d much prefer Frank in that job, Dan! 

I don’t think Potter is good enough for England.

2 hours ago, dan_cfc said:

Anyone else get the feeling Potter would accept the England job once Southgate steps down after an inevitable early World Cup knock out? 

He is said to be the FAs top choice.

Question is how much would they have to pay? I would imagine we put a substantial clause in Potters deal given we paid 30mill ish for him and his staff. 

Assuming Potter would take the job.

It's a silly story. In no world does a manager step down from one of the biggest clubs in Europe to manage an international side where he works with his players sparingly. 

 

2 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

It's a silly story. In no world does a manager step down from one of the biggest clubs in Europe to manage an international side where he works with his players sparingly. 

 

Glenn Hoddle did, as did Conte and probably others.

15 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Glenn Hoddle did, as did Conte and probably others.

Conte went on record after he resigned from Italy that it was a mistake taking the role as he missed the responsibilities of a manager at club level. 

15 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Conte went on record after he resigned from Italy that it was a mistake taking the role as he missed the responsibilities of a manager at club level. 

Sven left a very good Lazio for England.

I'd estimate there's less than a 1% chance Potter leaves the Chelsea job for England a few months after joining us, especially when we're paying him £12m a season.
 

Sven went to England for a considerable pay rise if I remember rightly, considering we've just paid about £20m for Potter and his staff to come to Chelsea England would have to cough up a massive compensation package to us as well as at least matching the £12m a season we pay him.
 

I think the England job will be between Dyche, Lampard and Gerrard. An outside bet would be Jose but I don't think he would pack up club management for a national team any time soon.

5 hours ago, dan_cfc said:

Anyone else get the feeling Potter would accept the England job once Southgate steps down after an inevitable early World Cup knock out? 

I would have but on 12m a year surely he'll hang around for his ultimate severance

11 minutes ago, timetowaste said:

I'd estimate there's less than a 1% chance Potter leaves the Chelsea job for England a few months after joining us, especially when we're paying him £12m a season.
 

Sven went to England for a considerable pay rise if I remember rightly, considering we've just paid about £20m for Potter and his staff to come to Chelsea England would have to cough up a massive compensation package to us as well as at least matching the £12m a season we pay him.
 

I think the England job will be between Dyche, Lampard and Gerrard. An outside bet would be Jose but I don't think he would pack up club management for a national team any time soon.

What about Bielsa. If Guardiola reckons he's a guru surely that's good enough 😉

6 minutes ago, WhiteWall said:

What about Bielsa. If Guardiola reckons he's a guru surely that's good enough 😉

Well if anything it certainly wouldn't be dull

27 minutes ago, WhiteWall said:

I would have but on 12m a year surely he'll hang around for his ultimate severance

Could well do. We don't know how short Todd's fuse is, may not take that long for Potter to get it. 

No one is going to give  potter a big job until he has  made his mark at Chelsea. There have been good reasons why modest achievements were acceptable in his career to date, but he is in the big league now where you have to get results. Results are not the only requirement but they are essential. 

so potter will be here until he either succeeds or fails. We will know the answer to that by the end of the season. 

10 hours ago, coombsie said:

I literally cannot remember the last time Mount did manage to get the ball over the first defender (and I am generally a big Mount fan)

That's what she said...

Aargh nothing like a childish cheap gag to escape the fact our country is going tits up.

In other news I agree.  Football has become obsessed with trying to deliver a perfect corner and, as a consequence, too many are sh*te. Think the stats are that something like only 3% of corners result in goals. That's a success rate only marginally better than France's at warfare. 

Playing the percentages we'd probably be better just lumping it in and hoping for the best!

Highly doubt he will leave us for the national team. Ironically though, if we didn't get him he probably would have been the main contender for the England position. 

8 hours ago, loz said:

That's what she said...

Aargh nothing like a childish cheap gag to escape the fact our country is going tits up.

In other news I agree.  Football has become obsessed with trying to deliver a perfect corner and, as a consequence, too many are sh*te. Think the stats are that something like only 3% of corners result in goals. That's a success rate only marginally better than France's at warfare. 

Playing the percentages we'd probably be better just lumping it in and hoping for the best!

Its been this way since it was decided the perfect set piece was low, driven, whipped and hard.....Like your sex life.

Its right though, trying to hit the perfect set piece every time is garbage, loop it in, hang it in, just get it in the right place, thats all that matters.

14 hours ago, loz said:

That's what she said...

Aargh nothing like a childish cheap gag to escape the fact our country is going tits up.

In other news I agree.  Football has become obsessed with trying to deliver a perfect corner and, as a consequence, too many are sh*te. Think the stats are that something like only 3% of corners result in goals. That's a success rate only marginally better than France's at warfare. 

Playing the percentages we'd probably be better just lumping it in and hoping for the best!

I was a fan of short corners and never got why people got so angry when Conte started doing them. I remember calling for it under Lampard when we were having no success with putting it in the box and the first time that season we do it like magic we score (Willian vs Spurs).

I have a bit more leeway with the first man argument though, the only way you can guarantee to beat the first man is a scooped kick which is a goalkeepers wet dream.

7 hours ago, dkw said:

just get it in the right place, thats all that matters.

Its just that we can't even do this 😉

2 hours ago, Argo said:

I was a fan of short corners and never got why people got so angry when Conte started doing them. I remember calling for it under Lampard when we were having no success with putting it in the box and the first time that season we do it like magic we score (Willian vs Spurs).

I have a bit more leeway with the first man argument though, the only way you can guarantee to beat the first man is a scooped kick which is a goalkeepers wet dream.

I wasn't a great fan of short corners, to be honest, especially because we seemed to always go for them. But, at the moment I feel that we could mix it up a bit and try short corners at times. It seems ridiculous that we keep persevering in long corners when whoever takes them can't even put the ball past the first player. Play short and try other things. Surprise the opponent with versatility in how corners are taken.