I said during the game that we needed to score in the first half as City would step it up. It was disappointing that we barely tested Ederson. 

54 minutes ago, SFL82 said:

I mean how long we gonna stick with this guy, if we saw some progression some implementation of ideas manifesting anywhere then  maybe, but he basically took a CL winning squad and the job of an elite manager and turned us into mid table drivel. 

You think a few months is too long! Seriously!  Honestly I don't 'get' people like you, we have NINE of our first team out, thats NINE, not only has Potter inherited sh*te, he hasn't even had the chance to play the best of the sh*te he has!! Not only that he hasn't seem his team for over a month!  You think sacking Potter and putting in somebody else will turn us into title challengers!! I mean really!?

50 minutes ago, Term_X said:

With Hutchinson, the real opportunities were pre-World cup, Potter fumbled the bag with this one. Hutchinson should have taken more risks in the game, sure; but he should have already had games under his belt before being thrown in against a machine like City.

Spot on. Bournemouth and Forest were perfect opportunities to start the manning up process. 

I'll be honest though I am not massively in favour of throwing promising kids into a team that is bereft of quality, lacking in confidence, and being defeated week in week out. If Foden had been thrown into this team he would never have had the career he has had so far. Being surrounded by de Bruyne, Silva, Gundogan, etc has allowed Foden's talent to blossom.

We do have some really talented youngsters and it would be a crying shame if they fell short due to weak, ineffectual senior players incapable of mentoring them or being an example.

4 minutes ago, WhiteWall said:

Spot on. Bournemouth and Forest were perfect opportunities to start the manning up process. 

I'll be honest though I am not massively in favour of throwing promising kids into a team that is bereft of quality, lacking in confidence, and being defeated week in week out. If Foden had been thrown into this team he would never have had the career he has had so far. Being surrounded by de Bruyne, Silva, Gundogan, etc has allowed Foden's talent to blossom.

We do have some really talented youngsters and it would be a crying shame if they fell short due to weak, ineffectual senior players incapable of mentoring them or being an example.

To be fair I think Hutchinson was only on the bench because we have so many injuries at present. In normal circumstances he would probably only expect to get first team minutes in a cup game.

What's the point of Havertz? Has the ability to control passes and pick them too but can't beat a man, can't power shots past keepers, can' t accelerate past defenders. Elegant, yes, but ultimately underwhelming.

44 minutes ago, kutevictor said:

What's the point of Havertz? Has the ability to control passes and pick them too but can't beat a man, can't power shots past keepers, can' t accelerate past defenders. Elegant, yes, but ultimately underwhelming.

Billed as a 'generational' player more like 'generation game'    3 seasons now and only that goal in Porto to boast about 

I am fairly happy overall because I got to see several players who, imo, clearly want to play for Chelsea.

 

Silva

Hall

Zakaria 

Kovacic

Pulisic 

Hutchinson 

Gallagher

Carney 

 

End of the day what matters most to me is seeing that effort and desire. Better when it comes from top class players like JT, Lamps, Maka etc. But it should be the minimum we get.

We are going on a winning streak after Sunday, I can feel it in my bones 🙂

2 minutes ago, guddy69 said:

We are going on a winning streak after Sunday, I can feel it in my bones 🙂

Maybe. What is clear is Hall and Carney are ready to play more often and should play more often. They could do for us what Saka and Smith-Rowe have done for Arsenal.

3 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

I have never seen a Chelsea team as bad as this one.

With a fully fit squad not even close.

This team tonight you may have a point.

I’d start utilizing Fofana sooner than later. Carney as well. 
 

Start looking for buyers for Havertz. Terminate Aubameyangs contract. 

12 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

I’d start utilizing Fofana sooner than later. Carney as well. 
 

Start looking for buyers for Havertz. Terminate Aubameyangs contract. 

Unlikely but good ideas there.

Now make the best of what is left of this season Potter. Hall is ready to play more, start him, so is Carney, start gim. Use them, develop them. Reece James was not the amazing player he is now when he first came in to the side, what if we just stuck with the safe Dave and never developed him?

Use Fofana, he cannot be worse and he clearly wants to play for us. Give minutes to Hutch,  Casadei and Santos. 

Reece James is our best player, and we did not pay 62mill for him. We developed him, we developed JT. We took a raw lump of clay in Lamps and helped him become one of our greatest ever, because he wanted it.

Pick players who want to play for Chelsea, and we can develop.

4 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

Kepa - 4 - Totally at fault for the goal. He has to claim it, but he leaves it for a tap in. Did the same thing not too long after and we almost conceded again.

Cucurella - 4 - He looked positive in the first half, but he put in a complete disasterclass in the 2nd half. Panics defensively, especially against top sides.

Koulibaly - 6 - Better than usual. Luckily for him, he didn't get into many 1v1 situations.

Silva - 7 - Standard Thiago Silva

Azpilicueta - 6 - Better, but can't do both attacking and defending.

Zakaria - 6 - Some nice moments here and there.

Kovacic - 6 - Tried to make things happen, a mix of good and bad from him.

Ziyech - 6 - Same as Kovacic, tried to make things happen, a mix of good and bad.

Pulisic - 5 - Injured

Sterling - 5 - Only played 2 minutes before getting injured.

Havertz - 5 - Movement decent at times, but so many poor decisions throughout.

Subs:

Aubameyang - 2 - Dreadful again. Add to the collection of terrible signings.

Chukwuemeka - 7 - Very positive throughout, had a good game. Has potential to be the player I thought Loftus-Cheek would turn into

Hall - 7 - Tried to make things happen, very positive when he came on. Actually looked a better player than Cucurella.

Gallagher - 5 - Worked hard, but zero quality.

Hutchinson - 3 - Too soon for him, not ready for this level yet.

 

Zakaria was colossal - bosses the midfield and won back posession so many times. 
Chuck apart from the shot didn’t do anything of note

if havertz didn’t link and hold up we would have lost by 3-4 goals. 
 

rest I agree with.

Our game also improved a lot the fact that we didn't play with Jorginho.

He would have slowed down the transition from defence to offence the times we tried to break away. 

1 hour ago, axman2526 said:

Maybe. What is clear is Hall and Carney are ready to play more often and should play more often. They could do for us what Saka and Smith-Rowe have done for Arsenal.

Totally agree. Arteta only made progress at Arsenal once he discarded senior players like Auba, Luiz, Pepe. Bellerin, and gave the younger, hungrier players a chance

🤦‍♂️ Seeing this again you start to wonder whether the boy Kepa is doing an Ivan Toney.

6 hours ago, Droyman said:

You think a few months is too long! Seriously!  Honestly I don't 'get' people like you, we have NINE of our first team out, thats NINE, not only has Potter inherited sh*te, he hasn't even had the chance to play the best of the sh*te he has!! Not only that he hasn't seem his team for over a month!  You think sacking Potter and putting in somebody else will turn us into title challengers!! I mean really!?

👏👏👏👏 Excellent

5 hours ago, General said:

Billed as a 'generational' player more like 'generation game'    3 seasons now and only that goal in Porto to boast about 

I think the problem our "goal scorers" have is, with the exception of that provided by James, they don't get much service.

4 hours ago, Jangz said:

Zakaria was colossal - bosses the midfield and won back posession so many times. 
Chuck apart from the shot didn’t do anything of note

if havertz didn’t link and hold up we would have lost by 3-4 goals. 
 

rest I agree with.

Kante vs City in the Champions League final was colossal. Zakaria had a decent game, nothing special, but not bad either. Standards are really slipping if we are calling that colossal. That type of performance from Zakaria is a mid game for somebody like Kante.

Given the quality of the opposition and our current form it was always going to be a tough game. Add to it our horrible list of injuries and a difficult task of getting something out of the game becomes near impossible.

Having said that, I thought for the most part the team did OK. We were the better side in the first half despite losing two forwards to injuries, the team showed courage and some decent movement. Second half they went up a gear and made things difficult but ultimately I was happy we didn't down tools and kept fighting till the end.

Positives. Despite missing a number of players  the response on the pitch was positive and the crowd felt that too. We didn't create much, but there were some bright spots. Zakaria probably had his best game so far, Chucky and Hall were good, Kova was back to his best and even Havertz for all his sins worked well as a link up man. Cucurella, good in the first 45, struggled after the break. Azpi is done at this level but his effort is always there and he did the best he could. Silva and Koulibaly were good, all things considering. Conor brought some energy and fire from the bench, it was a welcome sight to see that passion from someone who doesn't play regularly. 

Negatives. Kepa, wtf were you thinking not collecting that ball. Aubameyang had a personal contest with Ziyech trying to prove who's lazier and more useless. Hutchison struggled and looked very raw, the lad probably needs a loan to develop.

 

9 hours ago, Droyman said:

You think a few months is too long! Seriously!  Honestly I don't 'get' people like you, we have NINE of our first team out, thats NINE, not only has Potter inherited sh*te, he hasn't even had the chance to play the best of the sh*te he has!! Not only that he hasn't seem his team for over a month!  You think sacking Potter and putting in somebody else will turn us into title challengers!! I mean really!?

Brilliant post, some "fans" just want the next shiney new manager from abroad, they think that automatically means he will succeed where the English manager wont. Our squad is shambolic, Tuchel has left it a mess with his transfers in the summer and its going to take 2 or 3 windows to sort out. Couple that with injuries and the weird world cup and its left any manager a difficult task. Its hilarious to see the same "fans" who gave excuse after excuse for Tuchel now turning on Potter after a few months.

13 minutes ago, dkw said:

Brilliant post, some "fans" just want the next shiney new manager from abroad, they think that automatically means he will succeed where the English manager wont. Our squad is shambolic, Tuchel has left it a mess with his transfers in the summer and its going to take 2 or 3 windows to sort out. Couple that with injuries and the weird world cup and its left any manager a difficult task. Its hilarious to see the same "fans" who gave excuse after excuse for Tuchel now turning on Potter after a few months.

Didn't you claim it (the squad) was the third best in the league earlier in the season?

How very sad. We are Chelsea, spent £200m on players and here we are praising the side because they worked hard. I am sorry but with financial backing we have , minimum should be competing for a C/L place. Newcastle are proving it is not buying loads of players but playing as a team and well coached

1 hour ago, dkw said:

Brilliant post, some "fans" just want the next shiney new manager from abroad, they think that automatically means he will succeed where the English manager wont. Our squad is shambolic, Tuchel has left it a mess with his transfers in the summer and its going to take 2 or 3 windows to sort out. Couple that with injuries and the weird world cup and its left any manager a difficult task. Its hilarious to see the same "fans" who gave excuse after excuse for Tuchel now turning on Potter after a few months.

Nobody said anything about foreign managers succeeding and English managers won't succeed. 

Tuchel's problems was shot conversion, his tactics were at least sound. This season he started terribly, sure but he warranted time. 

For Potter, almost every single game, the team comes out at 2nd half worse than when they started the game. It's far too often now that it's becoming legitimate to question his halftime team talk at least. 

1 hour ago, OriginalS said:

Didn't you claim it (the squad) was the third best in the league earlier in the season?

Weird isn't it. Just a few months ago it was the manager making players underperform, now it's the squad. 

Strange how the narrative changes.