Once again Potter got the starting line up wrong. It’s like he doesn’t learn or doesn’t know what he’s doing. Going into the game with a midfield of Jorginho and Loftus Cheek was suicidal. Especially in front of a back four which includes Azpi and Silva. If fit, Kovacic had to start. Or Zakaria who at least is able to link midfield and attack. We were completely overrun.

Sterling, Aubameyang and Havertz doesn’t work. We can’t afford to leave Gallagher on the bench in games like this. Pulisic also is the only player we have who can actually take on a player with pace. Aubameyang needs a provider. He needs James who is unfortunately out long term. Otherwise Aubameyang is a waste of space. So why not play Broja who can at least get involved?

I thought Potter was some kind of tactical genius, but I am seriously underwhelmed by his efforts so far. He needs to pick up his game fast as we can’t afford too many displays like we’ve had lately. 

Edited November 6, 20223 yr by Socrates

22 minutes ago, Droy said:

Didn't i already tell you i lurked for a while? My general sense was that 95% of the forum supported Tuchel but that two or three were dead set against Tuchel so not that hard to remember who that was. With you i'm actually not sure where you stood but perhaps you could enlighten me?

I don't buy it. Anyone with the username 'Droy' should be raging about the lack of passion in the team or bemoaning the state of a sport in which Azpilicueta was booked for cleanly and fairly winning the ball with a raised leg.

Maybe something along the lines of AUBAMEYANG IS A f**kING WASTE OF SPACE WE SHOULD BE STARTING BROJA AT LEAST HE PUTS HIMSELF ABOUT A BIT

3 minutes ago, PloKoon13 said:

I don't buy it. Anyone with the username 'Droy' should be raging about the lack of passion in the team or bemoaning the state of a sport in which Azpilicueta was booked for cleanly and fairly winning the ball with a raised leg.

Maybe something along the lines of AUBAMEYANG IS A f**kING WASTE OF SPACE WE SHOULD BE STARTING BROJA AT LEAST HE PUTS HIMSELF ABOUT A BIT

I f**king am though!

It's a disgrace what we are seeing. For the last two months i think we have been as poor as we have ever been for the last 20 years at least. No passion, no energy and no nothing expect a manager who's keeping busy praising Arsenal and how they are such a great team. Being coached by someone who does that is pissing me off to no end. Just last week it was Brighton that was such a classy team when they trashed us.

 

57 minutes ago, Nibs said:

I said as much before the game. shows how far we have dropped. Only Silva would make their team. Thought he was class again today, bar the mistake which led to their goal but hardly surprising for the number of games he is having to play at 38!

I agree but if you were Arteta you wouldn't have dropped that Saliba to play Silva regardless of how good he is. Even Silva wouldn't have got into their team today 

49 minutes ago, Argo said:

Out of today's lineup or the whole squad?

Maybe Reece James would get in their squad. Not sure of anyone else

Just now, WhiteWall said:

Maybe Reece James would get in their squad. Not sure of anyone else

Squad? He walks in over Ben White. I would say all of Silva, Forfana and Chalobah are above any of their CBs not named Saliba aswell.

Just now, Argo said:

Squad? He walks in over Ben White. I would say all of Silva, Forfana and Chalobah are above any of their CBs not named Saliba aswell.

Clearly not on performances.  This Arsenal side have more points at this stage than their invincible side. How would any of our players get into their current side. We have looked suspect all season so far and haven't played anyone until recently. 

Just now, WhiteWall said:

Clearly not on performances.  This Arsenal side have more points at this stage than their invincible side. How would any of our players get into their current side. We have looked suspect all season so far and haven't played anyone until recently. 

Reece has been one of the best players in the world when fit this season.

Do you think Arteta would say no if offered the chance to sign him for any figure south of £70m?

10 minutes ago, Argo said:

Reece has been one of the best players in the world when fit this season.

Do you think Arteta would say no if offered the chance to sign him for any figure south of £70m?

Probably not but then again that has no relevance whatsoever to what I posted. I posted that none of our players would get into their side on today's performance. 

1 hour ago, Socrates said:

Once again Potter got the starting line up wrong. It’s like he doesn’t learn or doesn’t know what he’s doing. 

Maybe he knows exactly what he is doing, and it is getting him close to quite a nice pay day and a holiday.

2 hours ago, Droy said:

Didn't i already tell you i lurked for a while? My general sense was that 95% of the forum supported Tuchel but that two or three were dead set against Tuchel so not that hard to remember who that was. With you i'm actually not sure where you stood but perhaps you could enlighten me?

1 hour ago, Droy said:

I f**king am though!

It's a disgrace what we are seeing. For the last two months i think we have been as poor as we have ever been for the last 20 years at least. No passion, no energy and no nothing expect a manager who's keeping busy praising Arsenal and how they are such a great team. Being coached by someone who does that is pissing me off to no end. Just last week it was Brighton that was such a classy team when they trashed us.

 

Relax Droy, Sindre. At least we didn't lose 4-0 to them like we did in pre-season.

If you keep getting worked up like this you'll have to get another forum identity again.

9 hours ago, Jamieblue said:

I'm never one for houding managers/players out. However, that was- no hyperbole- the worst Chelsea performance I've ever seen. No attacking threat whatsoever. Jury's out on GP

No attack because we ain't got a midfield who can give them half a chance...and when they do eventually get one they fcuk it up.

The oddest thing about Potter is when players show well, particularly as they have in midweek games it's like he gets amnesia, forgets about it and goes right back to what hasn't worked at the weekend.

I can't explain it since he has the best seat in the house. 

So he might experiment on Wednesday and others might show well. But next weekend he'll go right back to the player selection which got steamrolled today. 🙃

9 hours ago, Droy said:

Weren't you one of those who wanted Tuchel sacked because he should get more out of these players?

Did I want TT sacked? No.

My position on TT was clear. He did a good job in coming in, stabilising a defence that had fallen apart under SFL and snagged us the UCL. Brilliant work, and he will  rightly have a place in our history for that....

...But he then let us regress.

We now have a squad of players, who have been coached to play some of the most boring, risk averse football I have ever seen. This has broken many of them IMO. TT played a big part in this, and it appeared that he did very little to get us to change away from the boring play. There were very little signs of evolution under him, and very few players improved, in fact most regressed. He rarely let the handbrake off, yet on the odd occasion he did, we looked good, but he couldnt or wouldnt change it, and we remained a lifeless and joyless team under him (for the most part).

The same must also be said for Potter at the moment, and we currently look to be a halfway space without an identity. But this comes with the caveat that he is still so new into the role, and is at least improving a couple of players. Chalobah looks good under potter. Kepa has stepped up and put some £££ back onto his value etc. So I remain hopeful for potter. Time will tell.

On to the players....

These are not Sunday league players of course, but the team we had out yesterday would not be getting in city or liverpools first teams. Are they good enough for the league? I dont think so, but they should still be doing better than they are. At the very least, we need our coaching team to try and get them out of the bad habits that have been drummed into them by a succession of bad managerial decisions, moving away from the risk averse sideways/backwards nonsense that Tuchel had them playing.

2 hours ago, nonotnowjim said:

but the team we had out yesterday would not be getting in city or liverpools first teams.

Thanks for the reply first of all jim.

Don't have time to answer the whole thing now but i don't think anyone are expecting us to be on City or Liverpools usual level. It's just that we have been outplayed by pretty much every team in the league since the new coach came in. That includes teams in the relegation zone and teams that are mid-table and a better team like Arsenal.

7 hours ago, just said:

Relax Droy, Sindre. At least we didn't lose 4-0 to them like we did in pre-season.

If you keep getting worked up like this you'll have to get another forum identity again.

I'll be anything you like babe. Now worry less about that and worry more about your Jorginho loving managerial pick 😂

It took about two seconds to identify that it actually hurts you that.

There is no passion in the game, no warrior . 

Sterling must be the worst player on the field, looks like he is a afraide when he gets the ball.  
 

10 hours ago, Socrates said:

Once again Potter got the starting line up wrong. It’s like he doesn’t learn or doesn’t know what he’s doing. Going into the game with a midfield of Jorginho and Loftus Cheek was suicidal. Especially in front of a back four which includes Azpi and Silva. If fit, Kovacic had to start. Or Zakaria who at least is able to link midfield and attack. We were completely overrun.

Sterling, Aubameyang and Havertz doesn’t work. We can’t afford to leave Gallagher on the bench in games like this. Pulisic also is the only player we have who can actually take on a player with pace. Aubameyang needs a provider. He needs James who is unfortunately out long term. Otherwise Aubameyang is a waste of space. So why not play Broja who can at least get involved?

I thought Potter was some kind of tactical genius, but I am seriously underwhelmed by his efforts so far. He needs to pick up his game fast as we can’t afford too many displays like we’ve had lately. 

Post of the day. As you say, the idea of playing Jorginho in front of a back four is crazy at the best of times in England but with RLC as his partner you've got to question the cognitive capacity of the management team.

Agree on the comments on Aubameyang and the current approach too. Truth is it is a poor set up. Hate to say it but are any of the tabloids running a Liz Truss style Potter v Wet Lettuce comp yet?

But silly to say none of our players would get into Arsenals side. They are yet to win a single thing, so lets put the brakes on their players for a moment. Meanwhile our players have done far more in the last few years than any of their players have done. Just because we have some players in bad form or injured, doesn't mean they are worse than what arsenal have because Arsenal have some confidence at the moment and in good form. Form is temporary, class is permanent. 

1 hour ago, Droy said:

I'll be anything you like babe. Now worry less about that and worry more about your Jorginho loving managerial pick 😂

It took about two seconds to identify that it actually hurts you that.

Oh you got me there Sindre. 

I'm honestly a bit surprised at some of the reactions in here. Obviously losing stinks and we didn't look great yesterday. But I don't see how that's all that much of a shock to anyone.

Our injury list is massive:

Kepa

Reece
KK (on bench but not long back from injury)
Fofana
Chilwell

Kante
Kova (playing through injury)

With Silva in the middle that's a potential starting back 5 and CMs all injured. What's more we've known for a long time now how reliant we are on wingbacks (particularly Reece) playing well.

Add on to this the fact we've got a new manager who (excluding an international break in which most of his squad were away) has had to prepare for games every 3/4 days since his arrival, it's no wonder we seem under-coached compared to a side that's been built to play how Arteta wants over several years.

Yes, Sterling hasn't been the revelation many of us were hoping him to be, and yes Auba is pretty one-note and Kai isn't living up to his potential. But I don't see how anyone could expect much different. We (almost) all had reservations about signing Auba, Kai's been a divisive player to put it mildly almost since we signed him. Things don't change overnight in football.

The manager's been given a 5 year contract, the squad is ill-balanced. Patience should be preached.

We've been a "win now" side for almost 20 years, domestically that hasn't born fruit for about 5 years now. If we want to build something that lasts, a new spine and/or a new blueprint for "how Chelsea play", I think we've got to be willing to deal with some short-term pain in order to hopefully realise long term-gain.

We've got City then Newcastle before the World Cup break, the League Cup is obviously a bit of an anomaly as Pep might field a side of teenagers, but I dont expect us to win either.
We could sit ultra deep against both and try and nick something on the counter, but would that serve us well for next season or the season after? Personally I'm happy for Potter to keep trying to get us to play his patterns/systems, and damn the results for now. We might miss out on top 4, but as I said, short-term pain for long-term gain

1 hour ago, cfr95 said:

 damn the results for now. We might miss out on top 4, but as I said, short-term pain for long-term gain

I understand where you're coming from but where this strategy fails is the loss of revenue. Our top 6 earners together (who are either underperforming or injured) burns a 70m/year hole in the club's pocket.

Boehly is still spending exorbitant amounts of money and the club just took on a debt of 800m just after Roman cleared the debt. 

The thing with short-term pain long-term gain is you need to be able to survive long enough to taste the fruits of effort. Arsenal and Pool suffered for close to 10 years in terms of recruitment and then went on massive spending sprees year in year out just to tread water, going through several managerial changes before they can enjoy a brief moment of domination.

How do we fix the holes in the squad with good signings when we don't have CL football whilst at the same time, having to spend tons of money on wages of underperforming players?

Edited November 7, 20223 yr by Deino

I have just rewatched the 1st half of this game and finally I understand our defensive shape. It wasn't a diamond, it was

         Auba

               Havertz.        Sterling 

Mount  Jorgi - Ruben

Potter is really playing FM in real life and it scares me. This constant change in shape both defensively and offensively is a bit too much for my liking and  some player has looked lost and unsure and it looks like what @SydneyChelsea said is starting to show. 

On 06/11/2022 at 12:44, Munkworth said:

Gerard Piquet's loss