5 hours ago, Sexyfootball said:

xG apparently only 0.37 for the Sterling miss today - obviously doesn't take into account the positioning of other players !

Does XG factor in the actual players involved now?!? Once the stats guys see Sterling and Jackson involved, it’s borderline negative XG 

Edited December 24, 20232 yr by PhilH930

28 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

Badiashile gifting the opposition goals from 12 yards in back to back games is *checks notes* the CM’s fault ???

Why bother post that when you know full well what my point is. 

I am amazed/surprised that people are turning on Poch. Truth is, we did more than enough to win the game today. Poch set the team up correctly. We created plenty of half chances, full chances and generally dominated the game. 
 

Where we went wrong was our inability to finish and be clinical. We saw the difference when Nkunku came on compared to Jackson/Broja. Nkunku had one half chance and one full chance and almost had 2 goals to his name (obviously scoring one). 
 

This is a recruitment issue. The players we’ve signed are either not good enough (and never will be)or they are simply too raw and need far more work. I believe that Poch has done his best to get a coherent team out of this lot but he can only do so much with the players he has. 
 

It’s going to take time. Poch hasn’t had his best team or anything near a full squad to work with. We’ve seen how weak the bench is in recent weeks. Sacking him would be an insane move. 

Edited December 24, 20232 yr by JM7

18 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Why bother post that when you know full well what my point is. 

Funny

6 minutes ago, JM7 said:

I am amazed/surprised that people are turning on Poch. Truth is, we did more than enough to win the game today. Poch set the team up correctly. We created plenty of half chances, full chances and generally dominated the game. 
 

Where we went wrong was our inability to finish and be clinical. We saw the difference when Nkunku came on compared to Jackson/Broja. Nkunku had one half chance and one full chance and almost had 2 goals to his name (obviously scoring one). 
 

This is a recruitment issue. The players we’ve signed are either not good enough (and never will be)or they are simply too raw and need far more work. I believe that Poch has done his best to get a coherent team out of this lot but he can only do so much with the players he has. 
 

It’s going to take time. Poch hasn’t had his best team or anything near a full squad to work with. We’ve seen how weak the bench is in recent weeks. Sacking him would be an insane move. 

What I'm concerned about with Poch is that his tactics are all over the place, the players still don't look like a team and his in-game tactical changes are almost non existent. Not to mention he's failed to instil any sort of confidence in the players, as soon as plan A doesn't work their heads drop and they have nobody to look to to change the game.

10 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

Funny

Post the Jay gif at least 

If Poch wants to sign someone in January who would be ideal?

Mbeumo from Brentford on the right wing? 7 goals, 4 assists so far, 24 years old, "PL proven".

Edouard from Palace as the targetman? 6 goals so far, 25 years old, tall.

Adams from Montellier as the targetman? 7 goals so far, 23 years old, tall.

Boniface from Leverkusen as the targetman? 10 goals so far, 23 years old, tall.

Assuming that Poch wants height and/or more goals...?

 

2 hours ago, timetowaste said:

What I'm concerned about with Poch is that his tactics are all over the place, the players still don't look like a team and his in-game tactical changes are almost non existent. Not to mention he's failed to instil any sort of confidence in the players, as soon as plan A doesn't work their heads drop and they have nobody to look to to change the game.

Not true we have turned around way more number of games this season than last season.. spurs / city/ Newcastle.. etc ..this lot is even worse than last year.

when GP took over we had kova / jorgi/ havertz / mount / Puli/ Ziyech/ kante/ Azpi .. that is a lot of experience and it was GP’s failure along with Boehly that led us here..

at this point we will have to patient .. extremely patient - poch is the least of our problems.. in the passage of play that led to their corner - we should have scored with Gallagher 

4 hours ago, JM7 said:

I am amazed/surprised that people are turning on Poch. Truth is, we did more than enough to win the game today. Poch set the team up correctly. We created plenty of half chances, full chances and generally dominated the game. 
 

Where we went wrong was our inability to finish and be clinical. We saw the difference when Nkunku came on compared to Jackson/Broja. Nkunku had one half chance and one full chance and almost had 2 goals to his name (obviously scoring one). 
 

This is a recruitment issue. The players we’ve signed are either not good enough (and never will be)or they are simply too raw and need far more work. I believe that Poch has done his best to get a coherent team out of this lot but he can only do so much with the players he has. 
 

It’s going to take time. Poch hasn’t had his best team or anything near a full squad to work with. We’ve seen how weak the bench is in recent weeks. Sacking him would be an insane move. 

I'd still like to give Pochettino till the end of the season, just as I wanted Potter to have that time.

Will he get it? Guess it depends how restless the fanbase gets and if Pochettino has a "sack me for cheap" clause like Potter did for dropping down the table.

2 hours ago, Gol15 said:

If Poch wants to sign someone in January who would be ideal?

Mbeumo from Brentford on the right wing? 7 goals, 4 assists so far, 24 years old, "PL proven".

Edouard from Palace as the targetman? 6 goals so far, 25 years old, tall.

Adams from Montellier as the targetman? 7 goals so far, 23 years old, tall.

Boniface from Leverkusen as the targetman? 10 goals so far, 23 years old, tall.

Assuming that Poch wants height and/or more goals...?

 

All with a grain of salt but apparently we want as many as 5 signings in the next window.

 

A left back (due to Cucurellas injury and Maatsen to try and be sold)

A right back (due to James surgery and Gustos injury record)

A CB (to replace Silva)

A new winger (Madueke apparently up for sale)

And a Striker.

 

A 6th could happen in midfield if Enzo needs time out and Gallagher is sold.

 

Media reports, maybe nothing, maybe on the money, depends who briefed them.

 

Am sure you have read the links to the Sporting defender and striker at a cool 180mill euros too Gol lol.

19 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

All with a grain of salt but apparently we want as many as 5 signings in the next window.

 

A left back (due to Cucurellas injury and Maatsen to try and be sold)

A right back (due to James surgery and Gustos injury record)

A CB (to replace Silva)

A new winger (Madueke apparently up for sale)

And a Striker.

 

A 6th could happen in midfield if Enzo needs time out and Gallagher is sold.

 

Media reports, maybe nothing, maybe on the money, depends who briefed them.

 

Am sure you have read the links to the Sporting defender and striker at a cool 180mill euros too Gol lol.

And then if we sign all the players Poch wants and we still flop people will say 'we've signed too many players, it's not Poch's fault'

The injuries also didn't help. We must be the unluckiest team in the world when it comes to that. It's difficult for any manager to build a cohesive well-drilled unit when he has those kind of problems.

11 hours ago, Sexyfootball said:

xG apparently only 0.37 for the Sterling miss today - obviously doesn't take into account the positioning of other players !

Fyi ,roma has one of the best XG in serie A  ,i think we should hire mourinho back

Pochettino said after the game that Chelsea "should not be where we are in the table.

He added after that we are "however this is a different Chelsea".

The team  should have won against wolve and it’s on the players for conceding the second and not taking their chances. But it’s on Poch the team selections and in particular and above all the lack of a clear plan around how to get the goal back. 

when the subs came on it was an utter shambles. Just not good enough. Disorderly. I can kind of understand why you might want to try Broja and Jackson at once, but in the end it was a flop. 
 

7 hours ago, JM7 said:

I am amazed/surprised that people are turning on Poch. Truth is, we did more than enough to win the game today. Poch set the team up correctly. We created plenty of half chances, full chances and generally dominated the game. 
 

Where we went wrong was our inability to finish and be clinical. We saw the difference when Nkunku came on compared to Jackson/Broja. Nkunku had one half chance and one full chance and almost had 2 goals to his name (obviously scoring one). 
 

This is a recruitment issue. The players we’ve signed are either not good enough (and never will be)or they are simply too raw and need far more work. I believe that Poch has done his best to get a coherent team out of this lot but he can only do so much with the players he has. 
 

It’s going to take time. Poch hasn’t had his best team or anything near a full squad to work with. We’ve seen how weak the bench is in recent weeks. Sacking him would be an insane move. 

Whilst there are valid elements here it just won't fly. Not with the media perception nor indeed on the platform that Poch himself set out.

The fact remains we have spent a billion and have a much reported over bloated squad. Because of the ridiculous price tags and the massive amount of over hype for average kids, every game, every formation and every substitution is scrutinised. Yesterday we weren't carrying a returning young emerging talent in Lavia on the bench, we were watching the possible unveiling of the £58m Lavia.

This narrative, this salivating desire of everyone for us to fail must be a burden on all.

In such an environment I would set my team up in the most sensible manner possible with players in their natural positions. Why add to the pressure, to the narrative. 

Where I am most disappointed in Poch is with the continuing apparent lack of fitness and effort. Why can't this team press as a coordinated unit, continously and throughout. We were told he was big on fitness and organisation. Organisation, that's a hoot. There was a point Yesterday that if Sa had kept a cool head they had a player on the half way line with not a single chelsea player within 30 yards.

We are in December.  I see no pattern, no spirit, no intensity, little movement off the ball. I see absolutely no progress and using kids or injuries as an excuse for this complete haphazard approach just won't wash. His in game management to deal with adversity is shockingly bad.

But even here the most telling point is Poch's owns comments from the outset. This is Chelsea, first we must win. Winning is everything.  These are his comments, these are the objectives set by Poch himself and broadcast to the world before a ball was kicked. 6 months in and we seem to hit new lows with some of the most abysmal performances we have seen.

We don't want to be changing the manager all the time,  but six months in I don't think it is too much to ask for a skeleton of a style and the team we are to become. 

As I’ve said previously can’t easily change many of the players, can’t change the owner, but we can change the manager. Every time we get ready to sack the manger the cry goes up “who is the alternative?” Every time an alternative is found. The relevant question is what level of points and/or performance meets the sacking threshold. In my mind the threshold was met a while back. 

3 hours ago, Wonmin said:

Fyi ,roma has one of the best XG in serie A  ,i think we should hire mourinho back

Is he bringing Lukaku back with him ? LOL

People saying we have no patterns of play ... we somehow seem to have created the second highest number of big chances so far this season (57) behind only Newcastle. 

10 more than Arsenal and Spurs, 7 more than Villa, and 2 more than even Liverpool and Man City.

Problem is our forwards are (still) crap, so we are not finishing enough of them. It was a clear mistake to go into the season with Jackson, Broja and Washington as our strike force, and with raw wingers (Mudryk, Madueke) as well to compound that. Losing both our #10s to injury has not helped either (Nkunku Chukwuemeka)

We also get very little goal contribution from midfield or defence, which puts even more pressure on the forwards to deliver.

Edited December 25, 20232 yr by Sexyfootball

Caught this on footy365 and perhaps as we were the only EPL match on yesterday we got a bit more coverage.

This is how they saw it together with general comments about us -

Raheem Sterling should have passed it, Armando Broja and Nicolas Jackson were awful, but incredibly, it’s the Chelsea defence that’s now the biggest concern. There’s still time to change your Christmas list, Poch.

Raheem Sterling was the only Chelsea player on the pitch, other than the two centre-backs, with a positive ‘non-penalty goals minus non-penalty expected goals’ score this season. He’s scored 78 more Premier League goals than his ten teammates combined. He had seen Armando Broja and Nicolas Jackson fluff their lines in a half hour of football in which he looked head and shoulders above anyone else on the pitch. None of that excuses him.

Just pass it, mate. Through on goal with Cole Palmer and Nicolas Jackson alongside him, Sterling’s shot was comfortably saved by Jose Sa. Palmer, like everyone watching, could not believe his teammate’s greed.

Chelsea had been on top up to that point – fluent even – with Sterling’s pace, Palmer’s passing and the two strikers’ runs in behind causing Wolves problems. But in typical Chelsea style, they failed to make their dominance count, increasing their lead at the top of the ‘Big Chances Missed’ charts – that’s now 36 this season, or two per game. Just pass it, mate.

Buoyed by Chelsea’s inability to convert a chance yer da would have made the most of after third helpings of turkey and a bottle of Baileys, the Wolves players responded, putting pressure on the Blues centre-backs to the point where the entire team gave up on defending.

Toti Gomes saw his free header at the back post saved by Djordje Petrovic before Mario Lemina quite literally stood still from a corner to nod the ball past the Serbian.

The goal besides, the Wolves players were able to force mistakes by doing little more than standing in the vicinity of their opponents, who collectively forgot how to control the ball on a day in which Chelsea’s defensive fragility more than matched their profligacy in front of goal.

The defence is more of a concern than the attack right now.

Though there’s no guarantee a £100m striker will come in and score goals, that is an obvious solution to their attacking woes. Christopher Nkunku’s debut, capped with a fine header, provided cause for optimism, as did the strong and direct running of Noni Madueke. It’s a wonder he’s not been used more by Mauricio Pochettino.

Such is the range of attacking options, assuming the owners do indeed sign a big-money striker in January or the summer, it feels like Pochettino – or whomever else might be managing Chelsea Football Club – will have to work quite hard not to stumble on a solution that works.

It’s not so easy to see a solution in defence that doesn’t involve buying an entirely new back four.

Reece James will have started eight more games in his Chelsea career than he’s been injured for by the time he’s scheduled to return from his latest injury, assuming Chelsea make the League Cup final and FA Cup quarter-finals (quite the stretch as things stand, admittedly). So they need a new right-back to cover their eternally crocked captain.

Ben Chilwell is just as injury-prone and didn’t seem to be particularly fancied by Pochettino when he was fit. Marc Cucurella isn’t good enough. So they need a new left-back.

Selfish Sterling way down list of Chelsea problems as Pochettino should ask Santa for new back four

Raheem Sterling should have passed it, Armando Broja and Nicolas Jackson were awful, but incredibly, it’s the Chelsea defence that’s now the biggest concern. There’s still time to change your Christmas list, Poch.

Raheem Sterling was the only Chelsea player on the pitch, other than the two centre-backs, with a positive ‘non-penalty goals minus non-penalty expected goals’ score this season. He’s scored 78 more Premier League goals than his ten teammates combined. He had seen Armando Broja and Nicolas Jackson fluff their lines in a half hour of football in which he looked head and shoulders above anyone else on the pitch. None of that excuses him.

Just pass it, mate. Through on goal with Cole Palmer and Nicolas Jackson alongside him, Sterling’s shot was comfortably saved by Jose Sa. Palmer, like everyone watching, could not believe his teammate’s greed.

Chelsea had been on top up to that point – fluent even – with Sterling’s pace, Palmer’s passing and the two strikers’ runs in behind causing Wolves problems. But in typical Chelsea style, they failed to make their dominance count, increasing their lead at the top of the ‘Big Chances Missed’ charts – that’s now 36 this season, or two per game. Just pass it, mate.

Buoyed by Chelsea’s inability to convert a chance yer da would have made the most of after third helpings of turkey and a bottle of Baileys, the Wolves players responded, putting pressure on the Blues centre-backs to the point where the entire team gave up on defending.

Toti Gomes saw his free header at the back post saved by Djordje Petrovic before Mario Lemina quite literally stood still from a corner to nod the ball past the Serbian.

The goal besides, the Wolves players were able to force mistakes by doing little more than standing in the vicinity of their opponents, who collectively forgot how to control the ball on a day in which Chelsea’s defensive fragility more than matched their profligacy in front of goal.

The defence is more of a concern than the attack right now.

Though there’s no guarantee a £100m striker will come in and score goals, that is an obvious solution to their attacking woes. Christopher Nkunku’s debut, capped with a fine header, provided cause for optimism, as did the strong and direct running of Noni Madueke. It’s a wonder he’s not been used more by Mauricio Pochettino.

Such is the range of attacking options, assuming the owners do indeed sign a big-money striker in January or the summer, it feels like Pochettino – or whomever else might be managing Chelsea Football Club – will have to work quite hard not to stumble on a solution that works.

It’s not so easy to see a solution in defence that doesn’t involve buying an entirely new back four.

Reece James will have started eight more games in his Chelsea career than he’s been injured for by the time he’s scheduled to return from his latest injury, assuming Chelsea make the League Cup final and FA Cup quarter-finals (quite the stretch as things stand, admittedly). So they need a new right-back to cover their eternally crocked captain.

Ben Chilwell is just as injury-prone and didn’t seem to be particularly fancied by Pochettino when he was fit. Marc Cucurella isn’t good enough. So they need a new left-back.

Despite being continually compared to luxury cars, the synapses between Thiago Silva’s feet and his brain are severed at least once a game, as was the case against Wolves, and if he’s got any sense he’ll leave this mess of a football club at the end of the season anyway.

Axel Disasis are ten a penny and Benoit Badiashile followed up his absolute howler against Newcastle by controlling the ball in his own six-yard box for Matt Doherty to seal the game for Wolves.

Wesley Fofana coming back and being anything close to the brilliant centre-back he was for Leicester would surprise everyone, and Levi Colwill’s return to Chelsea has deserved little more than a shoulder shrug.

That’s nearly £200m of centre-back signings, plus Colwill and Silva, and none of them look up to it.

It could be a system problem, they may need more time to form bonds and partnerships. But does anyone really expect any of these players to reach the heights of the best in the Premier League? Surely that’s what the Chelsea owners were hoping for having spent such ridiculous sums.

Is Badiashile going to match William Saliba? Can Colwill be Chelsea’s Virgil van Dijk? John Terry must be watching these games with his new screaming pillow handy, with the last one now in the bin having been torn apart by his teeth in a particular fit of rage.

The starting XI on Sunday was a poignant one for Chelsea fans questioning what the owners of their club have spent £1bn on since they arrived at the club. A strike force of Broja and Jackson with Petrovic in goal and Lesley Ugochukwu in central midfield doesn’t scream ONE THOUSAND MILLION.

https://www.football365.com/news/opinion-selfish-sterling-way-down-list-chelsea-problems-pochettino-santa-new-back-four

5 hours ago, abramovich said:

The injuries also didn't help. We must be the unluckiest team in the world when it comes to that. It's difficult for any manager to build a cohesive well-drilled unit when he has those kind of problems.

Every team has it. We cannot rely on this and even if we do it's still our fault for buying a squad of kids when everyone knows young players break with injury as they develop into seasoned pros. We can't class the consequences of our own design as being bad luck, surely

4 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Pochettino said after the game that Chelsea "should not be where we are in the table.

He added after that we are "however this is a different Chelsea".

It's these types of asinine comments that do him no favours. Mate keep your comments  to yourself and try to show us by your actions that you are anywhere near the required level as a coach.

51 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

People saying we have no patterns of play ... we somehow seem to have created the second highest number of big chances so far this season (57) behind only Newcastle. 

10 more than Arsenal and Spurs, 7 more than Villa, and 2 more than even Liverpool and Man City.

Problem is our forwards are (still) crap, so we are not finishing enough of them. It was a clear mistake to go into the season with Jackson, Broja and Washington as our strike force, and with raw wingers (Mudryk, Madueke) as well to compound that. Losing both our #10s to injury has not helped either (Nkunku Chukwuemeka)

We also get very little goal contribution from midfield or defence, which puts even more pressure on the forwards to deliver.

If we'd put more chances in we'd probably be 4-6th in the league. You could see Jackson and Broja both were 20 times worse than Nkunku when he came on. Jackson couldn't control one single pass. Sterling made a perfect pass to him over the d-man and he didn't think of scoring, he thought of controlling the ball. Any kind of decent striker sees that ball as a perfect Christmas gift and tries to head or strike it first time. f**kin hell that frustrated me. 

Nkunku's been on the field for 30 mins (in 2 games) and he's had 3 headers towards goal from which 1 went in. Our strikers have shared how many minutes and I remember one lousy header from Jackson against Tottenham that he didn't bury from 5 yards out. I don't know what to do with these guys really. These are basic footballing skills.

I would probably drop Jackson for now and let Broja play for 5 games in a row. Look at how refined and comfortable Gallagher is now that he's played almost all the first half of the season with the pre-season. 

I really hope Nkunku brings the attack to a new level. He already looked so good. I haven't seen so calm and controlled passes around our box since Fabregas. I have no idea why our players are so hasty making the final ball or the cross. They play well getting there and then all turns into save yourself -type of chaos. 

Anyway Pochettino has a big job navigating through these times when we have 10-15 players out all the time injured and we lack of goals. Hopefully the clubs sticks to him and lets him have a fighting chance with a more mature and experienced squad.

2 hours ago, ozboy said:

As I’ve said previously can’t easily change many of the players, can’t change the owner, but we can change the manager. Every time we get ready to sack the manger the cry goes up “who is the alternative?” Every time an alternative is found. The relevant question is what level of points and/or performance meets the sacking threshold. In my mind the threshold was met a while back. 

The comparisons are made to Romans era and the regularity of sackings then. What is not mentioned however, is that the sackings back then were due to either Fallings out or with a slippage of our high standards. What we are seeing now are managers that fundamentally do not have the tools to compete. Yes the relationship with the owners will be difficult but we should still be able to employ a manager and back room team, capable of introducing a competitive level of app.ication and organisation. 

We are all so punch drunk now we'll take a few years in the wilderness if we can see the shoots of something developing.  I just couldn't see anything developing with Potter. Lampard in fairness had a system it was just woefully inadequate and naive, and Poch again has shown no evidence of any form of plan.

1 hour ago, Sexyfootball said:

Is he bringing Lukaku back with him ? LOL

Hopefully economy class. Business class comes with free food in the VIP lounge