2 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

Kepa - 9 - Kept us in the game in the first half. Without him, we would have conceded 4.

Sterling - 5 - From RWB to RW to ST, not his day. Shouldn't be asked to play RWB, the result is the same as playing Pulisic there.

Chalobah - 8 - Very good. Usually he struggles in games where we are put under pressure, but he was excellent today.

Silva - 7 - Never put a foot wrong.

Cucurella - 3 - Really bad, worst game for us so far. He looked really uncomfortable having to defend and passing out of the back was poor. Didn't help Chilwell deal with Bailey's pace.

Chilwell - 5 - Not his day, nothing really came off for him. Attackers never gave him a pass out of defence and Cucurella was a terrible partner for him

Loftus-Cheek - 5 - Played within himself again.

Kovacic - 5 - Tidy on the ball, but offered nothing going forward.

Mount - 8 - Excellent, won us the game with his goals, back to his best of late.

Havertz - 3 - Another one of those awful games for Havertz.

Aubameyang - 3 - Shouldn't have started after playing midweek. We have Broja who looks eager to impress, use him, give him a chance.

Subs: 

Koulibaly - 6 - Much better than Cucurella, but as usual, can't handle players running at him

Azpilicueta - 6 - We needed somebody to come in make us more solid defensively and he did it.

Jorginho - 6 - Took control of the midfield which we desperately needed.

Gallagher - 6 - Much needed energy in attack, excellent cross to Sterling as well.

Broja - 5 - Never had time to do much.

Agree with all, although I thought RLC was better than a 5. I actually thought he got us out of trouble on a number of occasions when we were sloppy. 6 probably from me

Edited October 16, 20223 yr by WhiteWall

35 minutes ago, Droy said:

Which is what we needed mate. Someone to calm us down, keep a hold of the ball and let Villa run after it instead of us.

Nothing about being a f**king fanling or whatever. I said before Jorginho came on what would happen if he did come on and exactly that happened. It's not rocket science and he's a very tidy player.

The most important changes, (and also the most obvious), were Apzi and Koulibaly. They helped provide stability more than any other of the substitutions. In the first half we were all over the place defensively, with Cucurella having an absolute nightmare.

25 minutes ago, coco said:

 

Spurs are getting away with it. Their great fans booed them off at half time v Leicester.

23 minutes ago, Argo said:

As pretty much every player who plays that role does.

Really? I'm watching two players right now who do a lot more than that. Rodri and Tiago.

5 minutes ago, just said:

Really? I'm watching two players right now who do a lot more than that. Rodri and Tiago.

Funny you mention those two because they've also both got undue stick by the average PL fan because they're not badge thumping types.

De Jong will no doubt be next if/when he joins us or United.

Edited October 16, 20223 yr by Argo

1 minute ago, Argo said:

Funny you mention those two because they've also both got undue stick by the average PL fan because they're not badge thumping types.

De Jong will no doubt be next if/when he joins us or United.

He's going nowhere. When the bailiffs go in there they will impound FDJ. He's the only asset

1 hour ago, HazardousChoice said:

Did Potters wizarding powers tell him Tomori would be sent off early?

or did he select Jorginho from the start expecting our toughest game of the season in a hostile environment and felt Jorginhos composure would once again prove vital to our team.

You don't have to like Jorginho, it's clear by now you're simply not capable of understanding what he brings to the team, that's on you.

But acting like Potter has relegated him to game changing sub is simply not true, it's pure fantasy.

Jorginho will continue to start many games this season just as he has under ever Chelsea manager who's coached him.

If he is that vital how come he didn't start the home game? Don't win that one and the second leg is a meaningless game.

Incidentally, really pleased with how well RLC is coming on under Potter. Physical presence, carries the ball beautifully. Can play at tempo going forwards and backwards. Kovacic just needs to get his form back and we are sorted in the middle until Kante returns for his 5 world class performances you keep telling us about.

 

Kepa, Mount and two shocking Villa mistakes bailed us and Potter out here, very harsh on Villa imo.

Start with the positives though. Kepa was brilliant. No better way to put it.

Mount would have been MotM if not for Kepa. Worked hard as normal, used the ball well, but most importantly kept his cool to punish both Villa errors.

Chalobah plays and we win, solid display form him. 

RLC did very well as well, soon as he went to the right Villa looked less dangerous, and he matched up well against Villa's midfield for the most part.

Another lucky 3 away points again in the league. Better to be lucky than unlucky. It was very lucky Mings put in such a lovely header to set up Mount, and that Martinez did a basics things so wrong and move behind his wall. If he stays were he is, he saves the second goal.

 

On the bad though we were so bad that first half, but for Kepa we would have been behind at the break.

Chilwells tackle should have been a red imo. We got lucky.

Sterling at WB Hopefully is a one and done thing, he cannot and does not want to defend. We also saw why Man City were happy to let him go. Free his in the box misses the target, free header from about 8 yards misses the target, put through on goal at an angle, hits it straight at the keeper. Shockingly poor.

Speaking of shocking poor, Cucrella was abysmal. 

Lastly I don't like to see Broja used as a time wasting sub when Sterling, Auba and Havertz were all really poor. We could have used his physicality and work ethic a lot sooner.

Edited October 16, 20223 yr by axman2526

Neither Hazard or Rudiger started in El Classico - Rudi came on at 88 … regrets?

4 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

 

Chalobah - 8 - Very good. Usually he struggles in games where we are put under pressure, but he was excellent today.

 

Great call I think Trevo had one of his best games in a long time.

9 minutes ago, OnePeterOsgood said:

Neither Hazard or Rudiger started in El Classico - Rudi came on at 88 … regrets?

You forgot to add christensen and Marcos Alonso

3 hours ago, Argo said:

Funny you mention those two because they've also both got undue stick by the average PL fan because they're not badge thumping types.

De Jong will no doubt be next if/when he joins us or United.

De Jong stayed in Barcelona and he's still the backup for Busquets. Has to be a very lazy player so maybe we dodged a bullet there. 

4 hours ago, coco said:

Only one stat matters, we all know that by now.

The whole point about xG is it’s predictive power over a season. We got the points today despite being the second best team. If we play like that against better teams we will be heavily punished. The first half was abysmal. Both goals were due to gross errors by Villa players. Gifts. 

Chalobah made a number of poorly directed defensive headers. On paper we had plenty of attackers on at the start, mount, sterling, Auba, havertz, but we played best when we  had just sterling and mount. Really it was a woeful performance but points are points. 

12 minutes ago, ozboy said:

The whole point about xG is it’s predictive power

29 minutes ago, ozboy said:

The whole point about xG is it’s predictive power over a season. We got the points today despite being the second best team. If we play like that against better teams we will be heavily punished. The first half was abysmal. Both goals were due to gross errors by Villa players. Gifts. 

Yes but if we play like we did when we were robbed blind of two points against Spurs we will win the league.

If grinding sh*thouse results becomes a consistent trend like it did under Jose once the clock struck midnight in 2015 and Lampard post the restart then I'll worry but for a one or two games it's not to be alarmed at.

Today's positives were the 3 points, Kepa and his newly reinforced wrists, RLC's physicality ( I would like hime to turn on the odd ball though), and Potter recognising his misatkes and trying to rectify them. I was particulalrly encouraged that he made the chnages at half-time. One of TT's beiggest weaknesses was that he always gave the starting side 15 minutes in the second half to turn things around. 

You would think that Broja must be given a start to see how he gets on.  

Not the best of performance, helped by a gift from Ming and a piece of sloppy GK. However, not complaining as Potter rotated the players, and we were still able to win. Never imagined I'd see a Kepa MOTM performance, but he was magnificent. With the other GK we'd be 1:2 down at HT. Mount is getting back to his best. Not a big fan of playing 2 LBs together, we looked much more solid with a real Central defender in the second. I'm concerned about Sterling, a huge miss ( you can not afford to hit the bar in that scenario), and hasn't looked threatening all game.

2 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Kepa, Mount and two shocking Villa mistakes bailed us and Potter out here, very harsh on Villa imo.

Start with the positives though. Kepa was brilliant. No better way to put it.

Mount would have been MotM if not for Kepa. Worked hard as normal, used the ball well, but most importantly kept his cool to punish both Villa errors.

Chalobah plays and we win, solid display form him. 

RLC did very well as well, soon as he went to the right Villa looked less dangerous, and he matched up well against Villa's midfield for the most part.

Another lucky 3 away points again in the league. Better to be lucky than unlucky. It was very lucky Mings put in such a lovely header to set up Mount, and that Martinez did a basics things so wrong and move behind his wall. If he stays were he is, he saves the second goal.

 

On the bad though we were so bad that first half, but for Kepa we would have been behind at the break.

Chilwells tackle should have been a red imo. We got lucky.

Sterling at WB Hopefully is a one and done thing, he cannot and does not want to defend. We also saw why Man City were happy to let him go. Free his in the box misses the target, free header from about 8 yards misses the target, put through on goal at an angle, hits it straight at the keeper. Shockingly poor.

Speaking of shocking poor, Cucrella was abysmal. 

Lastly I don't like to see Broja used as a time wasting sub when Sterling, Auba and Havertz were all really poor. We could have used his physicality and work ethic a lot sooner.

This is a good post. Agree with all. I would add that Chilwell really concerns me. I thought he would grow here but I just don't see it. Possibly the most negative player we have. Even the first goal today he tip toed forwards and the got it nicked off his toe before looping up for Mings.

He looks physically and mentally weak, and I always feel he can be bullied. Maybe it's just a confidence thing but I just don't feel he is developing here.

57 minutes ago, ozboy said:

Chalobah made a number of poorly directed defensive headers. On paper we had plenty of attackers on at the start, mount, sterling, Auba, havertz, but we played best when we  had just sterling and mount. Really it was a woeful performance but points are points. 

That is fair, it was good he was getting to a number of headers before Villa players but a few were dropping in to or just beyond the D and always to a Villa player. Something to work on.

Otherwise he was pretty darn solid. 

11 minutes ago, WhiteWall said:

This is a good post. Agree with all. I would add that Chilwell really concerns me. I thought he would grow here but I just don't see it. Possibly the most negative player we have. Even the first goal today he tip toed forwards and the got it nicked off his toe before looping up for Mings.

He looks physically and mentally weak, and I always feel he can be bullied. Maybe it's just a confidence thing but I just don't feel he is developing here.

Ben was progressing quite well before his injury. Takes a bit of time to get over that. Let's see how Potter can help him.

3 hours ago, WhiteWall said:

This is a good post. Agree with all. I would add that Chilwell really concerns me. I thought he would grow here but I just don't see it. Possibly the most negative player we have. Even the first goal today he tip toed forwards and the got it nicked off his toe before looping up for Mings.

He looks physically and mentally weak, and I always feel he can be bullied. Maybe it's just a confidence thing but I just don't feel he is developing here.

Chilwell was one of our best player last year. Maybe the fact that guy had a freaking acl injury last year and didn't play football for 8 months play a giant factor

 

 

 

 

2 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Ben was progressing quite well before his injury. Takes a bit of time to get over that. Let's see how Potter can help him.

Whatever we can get from Chilwell this season is a bonus. 

4 hours ago, WhiteWall said:

This is a good post. Agree with all. I would add that Chilwell really concerns me. I thought he would grow here but I just don't see it. Possibly the most negative player we have. Even the first goal today he tip toed forwards and the got it nicked off his toe before looping up for Mings.

He looks physically and mentally weak, and I always feel he can be bullied. Maybe it's just a confidence thing but I just don't feel he is developing here.

not trying to be a smart Alec here but when he was injured he somehow gained mythical status ability wise. I never saw him as an untouchable, and competing against a pedestrian Alonso, and the guy we sold to the ammers, (sorry) he was always in with a shout of being the preferred starter

11 hours ago, just said:

You see, that is exactly what does my nut with the Jorginho fanlings. He came on and did OK, (didn't really notice him much though), thought Apzi and Gallagher showed a lot more in their time on the pitch TBH.

He moved the ball mostly backwards and sideways, no stand out moments, and yet you say he was "important" and controlled the midfield! Another fanling actually suggested it was a performance that showed we should be giving him a new contract!!!! You have to having a laugh, surely!!

I think Potter is using him perfectly at the moment, generally as a late sub to tweak the system.

Kovacic this season really concern me. It looks like he is carrying injury or something and he has so far played like headless chicken. 

In term of Jorgi, I thought Jorgi came and calmed our game. You mentioned why do we need somebody who just make simple passes, actually yesterday game showed why. You don't want your midfield to keep making bonehead pass and lose the ball like crazy. Jorgi on the other hand is very good at making simple conservative pass.