Not sure what you’re saying Starky old chum. But no doubt it’s interesting. 

6 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Robert DZ has a 13mill Euro release clause at Brighton.

Given our biarss love of Brighton I can see us sacking Pochettino in the summer and bringing him in.

Sounds like a steal, let's buy him out and give him another 15 wonder kids to work with, and see how that works out 😄

14 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

All in all,

1. Gallagher + Enzo is redundant. They both do the same role. 

2. We need a natural CAM. 

3. Our width needs to be operated by players who are unpredictable and can create their own chances. 

4. Front attacking line need to not be stagnate and flat. 

5. Build up needs to be much quicker if we want to implement a crossing game. 

 

1. Drop Gallagher for Caicedo

2. Play Palmer as a 10 until Nkunku or Chuk are back with Caicedo and Enzo behind.

3. Start Mudryk LW and Sterling RW. Would quite like to see Mudryk as a classic wide player on the right at some point too.

4. Let Broja take some workload off Jackson.

5. Love him but Silva is a bastard for this. Start Colwill LBB and Badiashile RCB when both are fit. Then a proper LB.

2 hours ago, ozboy said:

Not sure what you’re saying Starky old chum. But no doubt it’s interesting. 

If you watch our game vs bournemouth vs our previous. You will notice that suddenly our LW doesn't attack the box as much.

I had high hopes given this was one of the easiest starts you could ask for in terms of fixtures. 

But only one win in five matches vs a soon to be Championship club again and not scoring vs Forest and Bournemouth is just not good enough. 

I get it, there is no renowned no. 9 and the squad is relatively young, but at the same time the squad is not full of Academy graduates and players that were bought for 10-15M players either. 

I don't understand much from the tactics and some of Pochettino's decisions seem stupid to me. I am curious to see whether he is ready to drop some players or stick to the same confusing tactics once all the important players are back. 

I was hoping Pochettino would inject some pace into the team and we would start the transition from the slow, turgid, boring style to a more risky, attacking one given this is the perfect season to implement a style as there is only one game a week and plenty of time on the training ground. 

One Chelsea fan here on this forum said that as long as lots of the balls go through Thiago Silva and Gallagher during a football match, not a lot can change and I fully agree. I would add Sterling, too. 

I heard that there is actually going to be five English teams qualifying for UCL next season and unfortunately I can't see ourselves in the mix. 

https://theathletic.com/4874009/2023/09/19/chelsea-playing-well-no-panic/
 

It seems data wise, we are playing well. Finishing is an issue but the rest of it appears to be moving forward and looking positive. 

33 minutes ago, JM7 said:

https://theathletic.com/4874009/2023/09/19/chelsea-playing-well-no-panic/
 

It seems data wise, we are playing well. Finishing is an issue but the rest of it appears to be moving forward and looking positive. 

True. The problem has been a mixture of clumsy finishing and ridiculously bad luck. Sterling's free kick hits the underside of the bar, straight down, onto the goal line. 90 times out of 100 it goes in. Not to forget goal keeping. Neto made a couple of outstanding saves. It will come.

1 hour ago, JM7 said:

https://theathletic.com/4874009/2023/09/19/chelsea-playing-well-no-panic/
 

It seems data wise, we are playing well. Finishing is an issue but the rest of it appears to be moving forward and looking positive. 

So same as under Potter. 

Also the point raised about us being good defensively has to be taken with a pinch of salt considering the teams we have faced. 

51 minutes ago, dermott said:

True. The problem has been a mixture of clumsy finishing and ridiculously bad luck. Sterling's free kick hits the underside of the bar, straight down, onto the goal line. 90 times out of 100 it goes in. Not to forget goal keeping. Neto made a couple of outstanding saves. It will come.

I've never seen someone word it like this, surely you use the lowest common denominator hahaha 9 times out of 10!

17 minutes ago, Remodez said:

Also the point raised about us being good defensively has to be taken with a pinch of salt considering the teams we have faced. 

In some regard yes, but if you put it in the context of this season. Liverpool are 3rd having beat everyone but us, West Ham are 6th having beat us and Brighton, Forest are 8th and could have been higher if they would've been a bit luckier against Arsenal and probably deserved more against United. 

Granted Luton and Bournemouth are sh*te, and we should have more than 5 points based on our expectations of success at the club

20 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Interesting video detailing our structural concerns. 

 

Excellent piece of analysis 

40 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

I've never seen someone word it like this, surely you use the lowest common denominator hahaha 9 times out of 10!

I don't do small.

Prefer 99 times out a 100 myself but given the lack of goals...

2 hours ago, Remodez said:

So same as under Potter. 

Also the point raised about us being good defensively has to be taken with a pinch of salt considering the teams we have faced. 

It wasn't until mid January good performances started under Potter, these were his underlying number around that time.

It's what makes the timing of his sacking all the more bewildering, we stuck by him through that period above yet as soon as we started hitting the top end of all the underlying metrics again (and for the benefit of the results only that matter crew on a 3 wins out of 5 run which is more wins than we've had since) was the time we decided to sack him, and not only that but for Frank who ruined what little was good.

Baffling.

5 hours ago, RIP Mourinho said:

1. Drop Gallagher for Caicedo

2. Play Palmer as a 10 until Nkunku or Chuk are back with Caicedo and Enzo behind.

3. Start Mudryk LW and Sterling RW. Would quite like to see Mudryk as a classic wide player on the right at some point too.

4. Let Broja take some workload off Jackson.

5. Love him but Silva is a bastard for this. Start Colwill LBB and Badiashile RCB when both are fit. Then a proper LB.

Agree with all that, but Poch will still need to sort out how flat our attacking line is, hence the predictability in our play. 

I'm afraid he won't ever omit Silva either. 

On 18/09/2023 at 19:55, axman2526 said:

Too much is made over the injuries for me. Sure Nkunku would be a key player, James as well. But Marcus B, Cucurella et AL? Hardly devastating blows.

And even with those players out, we cannot beat Bournemouth and Forest? Not an excuse imo.

James and Nkunku could easily be the difference. It could have also set us on winning track if the two were available from the start. Score a couple of goals, win Liverpool. The mentality in this young group is fragile. By winning they could roll on, losing and it is very very sticky.

20 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Robert DZ has a 13mill Euro release clause at Brighton.

Given our biarss love of Brighton I can see us sacking Pochettino in the summer and bringing him in.

Can see Trigger-Happy Todd sacking Poch after spending another few hundred million in January.

By that time though de Zerbi will have a new contract and £100 million release clause.

The issue is that because of the age of the squad (22), the majority of players need ALOT of developing - which will take time. Most squads will sprinkle younger players in their squad but we’ve gone fully young. 
 

It’s going to take time. We’re not used to these type of situations either which will equally be frustrating 

James is undoubtedly the key, everytime we have a good run is with him in it, and vice versa. But his injury record is fast matching Kante's in the last couple of seasons. Nkunku is a very good player, but he hasn't played a 'real' game to be called a key player. Fofana had some good games for us last season, but again it's not a finished product. I don't think losing a Cucurella or Levia is why we are struggling. Despite our big money spending, we actually don't have that much proven quality in the team. Poch is not a miracle worker, and he certainly won't improve these players with promises in a matter of weeks or even months

49 minutes ago, JM7 said:

The issue is that because of the age of the squad (22), the majority of players need ALOT of developing - which will take time. Most squads will sprinkle younger players in their squad but we’ve gone fully young. 
 

It’s going to take time. We’re not used to these type of situations either which will equally be frustrating 

The concern is that there is no empirical data to draw upon to give us the comfort that even given time this will work. Even Fergie's class of 92 actually were embedded within a team of solid experienced pros. The decision to invest in youth for the future is a valid ploy and a project that we can all get behind, but i don't think any football fan with any real knowledge of players and the game would have advocated the wholesale tipping out of all experienced players and replacing them with unproven inexperienced players that do not have the tools individually or collectively to cope with adversity and overcome by collective problem solving.

Not only will this take time, but if we don't see incremental positive movements in the short and mediem term thsi long term project will fall apart. There remain, within this young group, players whose stock remins high. Fernandez, Nkunku, Colwill, James. When they stop believing in the project becuase they see no improvement, they will want out.

Its why we should have ensured that we had a few experienced pros within the group, for leadership, even if they ended up being disposable ultimately. 

10 hours ago, Argo said:

It wasn't until mid January good performances started under Potter, these were his underlying number around that time.

It's what makes the timing of his sacking all the more bewildering, we stuck by him through that period above yet as soon as we started hitting the top end of all the underlying metrics again (and for the benefit of the results only that matter crew on a 3 wins out of 5 run which is more wins than we've had since) was the time we decided to sack him, and not only that but for Frank who ruined what little was good.

Baffling.

Agreed. We were all but safe under Potter at that point. We may as well have finished the season under him and then made a decision in the summer. 

17 hours ago, RIP Mourinho said:

1. Drop Gallagher for Caicedo

2. Play Palmer as a 10 until Nkunku or Chuk are back with Caicedo and Enzo behind.

3. Start Mudryk LW and Sterling RW. Would quite like to see Mudryk as a classic wide player on the right at some point too.

4. Let Broja take some workload off Jackson.

5. Love him but Silva is a bastard for this. Start Colwill LBB and Badiashile RCB when both are fit. Then a proper LB.

Couldn't agree more with this, even point 5, I love Silva but I wouldn't mind seeing more of Colwill centrally. 

Good analysis on our attacking failings:

 

 

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/66862214

Pep has 5 injuries and they are in trouble. We have 10 and the squad is made of teenagers. Levels.

17 minutes ago, evissy said:

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/66862214

Pep has 5 injuries and they are in trouble. We have 10 and the squad is made of teenagers. Levels.

Heard it on the radio. Nearly burst out laughing, especially with Kova at best, a rotational squad player for him. 

And then the comments about Citeh not being able to afford additional salaries and transfer budgets for a larger squad because of the risk of going bankrupt!! Poor old Pep. Must be really tough for him!