On 22/08/2023 at 15:17, forbzy said:

Reminds me a lot of Gronkjaer in that he has great pace, but his decision making and final ball is poor more often than not. Hopefully this aspect of his game can be improved with coaching. He is young and could still develop into a very good player if he works on that aspect of his game.

He actually reminds me of a very early Ronaldo.  Multiple flicks, tricks, step overs and bu88er all end product. Hopefully like Ronaldo he'll take a chill pill, get a couple of goals, run of games and will start delivering.

At the moment he seems miles off.

Appently didn't turn up for training today either.

The fact he missed training is hardly surprising. He misses everything. 

18 hours ago, dermott said:

Because two top players are better than one, I'd've thought.

Agree but can you develop salah into this version of Salah with Hazard on the other wing? 

Whenever you have Hazard, you need to remember that he is one of the worse defender. 

 

18 hours ago, RIP Mourinho said:

Enzo is an 8 anyway, we spent so much on actual DM's so he can play as an 'attacker'. 

Like you say, not much difference between a 4231 and a 433 but we have no real number 10 atm so may as well stack up in the middle. 

I have no problem what you want. I like different ideas but you can see if you try to push one way, it benefit certain player and it restrict different players. 

Let's say I want to try to make murdyk and Enzo to play their ideal role. 

          Jackson 

Murdyk - Sterling - Madueke 

Chilwell - Enzo - Caicedo 

   Colwill - disasi -  Gusto

This is just one way. The question is why? Why not play Gallagher as a 10 who will crash the box, Sterling as between the line player and Chilwell push up high and wide. We surely can use  gallagher ability to get shot and attack the box. 😁😁😁

Or maybe Maatsen in murdyk position and sterling stick to playing as rw where he has been excellent in the last two game.

Edited August 24, 20232 yr by Bob stark

injured. FFS!!!

55 minutes ago, nonotnowjim said:

injured. FFS!!!

The club seriously need to look at the medical physios and fitness. He’s barely played, I keep saying it but bring back Eva!

Only out for a few days. 

55 minutes ago, Modueke said:

The club seriously need to look at the medical physios and fitness. He’s barely played, I keep saying it but bring back Eva!

Our flawless record with injuries carried on for years after she left.

I think the beginning of this 'run' was the end of the Sarri season when Callum and Ruben went down. Before that I don't think we had many if any team dehabilitating injuries under either him or Conte.

I guess the optimistic way to look at things is that many of the injuries we've seen early this season could be attributed to the massive increase in strength and conditioning work.
We've seen from the first few games that the teams looks fitter than it has been for a while, getting players to that point is bound to lead to a few strains and muscle pulls. Had we not had the undeniably sh*t luck of Carney, Nkunku, and Wes's injuries (all arguably "freak" injuries) all happening so close to one another I don't think there'd be nearly as much hysteria.

I may be mistaken, but I think I recall reading that Poch typically does a lot of conditioning work during the first half of every season, and then, once the squad are as fit as possible, switches those sessions up to focus on recovery.

Going from a side that would visibly fade 25-30 mins into each game to one that is still pressing and sprinting in the 90th isn't something that can realistically happen after a few Gacon tests and some extra laps of a training pitch. It's going to require staff to push players to their limits, here's hoping the recent injuries to Reece, Trev, and Mudryk are just examples of the players and coaching staff finding those players limits.

7 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Only out for a few days. 

The news gets worse. 

Seen his name come up in other players thread. Seems like a few have lost faith on him already.

Got me wondering where the Shed End stands on this.

Mixed feelings personally, not keen on flogging a dead horse with genuine talent like Gnonto/Chiesa/Mitoma about but on the other hand he needs a chance to turn it around. If he hasn't improved by January we should cut our losses.

Edited September 1, 20232 yr by the special one

There's obviously a talent in there - but it looks like he has no confidence.

But he does need to start producing soon.

Feels like his Chelsea career hasn't really started.  He needs minutes in a solid team so he has room to grow.  Always looks like there is potential but tend to agree he needs to start producing when he has minutes.

I'm thinking no more than yes and it's because I don't think he really suits how we want to play. He loves to run at players and sprint past them, but I don't think he will get that kind of space in this league. If we were a counter attacking team, or a team that would attack relentlessly, I think he would be a lot better, but we don't. He's expected to link up with players and get out of tight spaces, and I just don't think he is that type of footballer. 

I'm losing hope of a turn around by him at this point. He looked better in pre season, and then hes back to his panic station for real games. With cole palmer coming in its just another player to potentially move ahead of him in the pecking order. He looks light weight, he also looks like he needs a loan to play regularly enough to grow....but we paid too much to be loaning him out. Fact is we paid established star money for a tricky player with potential whos 50/50 on whether he makes it or not. Poor judgement just like the cucurella deal.

Edited September 2, 20232 yr by ALTE

It is difficult to predict. For 100m player he is just so raw. You see the crazy physical attributes but you also see so many problems in his game. 

If he is willing to defend betteryou can see him in Schurlle/timo type role in the short term. 

I really, really hope this kid succeeds. I never get the sense that he is trying anything less than 100% whenever he gets on the pitch. I also feel he works hard on the defensive side of the game. 

IMO there is truth in the view that he is trying too hard when he gets minutes and this is badly affecting his confidence; rushing things, snatching at chances etc. He obviously has ability and for me there is no doubt there is a real player in there, but he needs a consistent run of games to settle down and then we'll know one way or the other, but........... he may not get that here.

I've said before, it's really harsh to judge anybody that was brought into that mess of a team last season. The talent is obviously there, he just needs some confidence on the pitch, the games against Luton and Wimbledon would have been perfect for him to get some minutes but he was unfortunately injured. I've got faith that he'll come good over the course of the season and be a key player for years to come.

Salah at Chelsea was skinny, looked like he had the confidence of a nerd put in front of a naked Margot Robbie and that shot against Shrewsbury pops into my mind everytime I think about his time here. 

It's all about confidence and game time. And a clever coach with top man management skills. 

If Mudryk gets picked like he is now and given 15-20 minutes once in a while, I am afraid he will be a total flop. 

If Pochettino brings him on the left as a regular for a big run of 9-10 games then we might see the real Mudryk and could potentially unleash that potential we all talk about. 

With a squad of 30 players and lots of similar players competing with him I doubt he’ll get enough minutes to establish himself, compare him to Madueke who looks much much more the finished article  than this lad already and cost a reasonable amount. Bully stupidly paying silly money for this lad will always burden him at our club and in the media. 

How can anyone write him off? let’s set a ground rule - last season doesn’t count for any of the players still with the squad. That was a mess in its own right. 
 

This season he has played a total of 55 mins which isn’t enough to judge anyone on to say they are good enough or not.

my view: Trying a little too hard but also has come on in games where we are chasing a result, not the best games for confidence building. I’d imagine bit by bit throughout the season he will get some better games to build on performances from and end up in what’s likely to become a core 15 ish players  

There is a reason so many teams were interested in buying him, yes the price was a bit over the top. But his potential is immense. He clearly shows over eagerness, and the pressure to score is affecting him. The ideal scenario would be coming on perhaps for the second half, when 3 - 0 or so up. Once he scores and settles down, we will see there is so much more than just pure speed to his talents. My only fear is that he just doesn't get the chance to relax into a set role, and ends up another Timo, constantly frustrated.

He said hiself within 2 days of meeting Poch' he had a set idea of exactly what was required and expected from him, something that he'd never had since joining.

https://www.thechelseachronicle.com/news/something-happened-mauricio-pochettino-admits-22-year-old-chelsea-player-didnt-have-the-best-pre-season/

13 hours ago, the special one said:

Mixed feelings personally, not keen on flogging a dead horse with genuine talent like Gnonto/Chiesa/Mitoma about but on the other hand he needs a chance to turn it around. If he hasn't improved by January we should cut our losses.

Gnonto? Really?