Lad looks genuinely happy to be here.

Always love a striker that bullies others on the field and off it a quiet nice guy.

Really hope his dad and the team don't ever let him believe his own hype.

On 09/08/2025 at 17:35, JM7 said:

I thought last night showed where he needs to improve - his finishing. Had a couple of chances to score and didn’t. Compare that to Joao Pedro, one chance one goal. That’s the difference between good and elite

Think he will be useful overall but needs to improve finishing.

I don't think finishing is Delap problem. He will score.

But his overall game is worse than I thought.

Im very happy we have Delap

Interesting, manager who train the player daily agree with me

54 minutes ago, Bob stark said:

Interesting, manager who train the player daily agree with me

True but we don't need yet another player to play "in the small space". Crystal Palace is another in a long list of PL teams who have worked out they can defend against us by simply allowing us to play in the 'small space', because the players doing that aren't particularly good at making the final run behind to actually open a defence. Pedro at Brighton was playing as deep as a number 8, finishing moves at the edge of the box. He's simply not going to get those chances in this current system.

Delap needs to start because he actually moves the CBs around and unsettles the 'block of four' that we see in the centre. He creates a jeopardy that neither Joao Pedo or anyone else do, and that jeopardy creates a cascading effect that other players can exploit.

46 minutes ago, SydneyChelsea said:

True but we don't need yet another player to play "in the small space". Crystal Palace is another in a long list of PL teams who have worked out they can defend against us by simply allowing us to play in the 'small space', because the players doing that aren't particularly good at making the final run behind to actually open a defence. Pedro at Brighton was playing as deep as a number 8, finishing moves at the edge of the box. He's simply not going to get those chances in this current system.

Delap needs to start because he actually moves the CBs around and unsettles the 'block of four' that we see in the centre. He creates a jeopardy that neither Joao Pedo or anyone else do, and that jeopardy creates a cascading effect that other players can exploit.

It is true it all depend on the opp. But when you are a big team you want your st to be able to do both.

You will face team who predominantly will play compact (little space), so you want your st to drop link to destabilize opp line and help your team play, if all he can do is go long and whenever he drop he lose the ball, it is hard to build attack.

If all he does is go short then, it is the same thing opp backline can easily squeeze you and it is hard to play.

This is why more more big team want their st to be more "complete" than just a pure goalgetter.

Of course all of this is just general concept, if delap is Haaland, I won't even talk about his overall game, it doesn't matter.

Lastly, many want Delap to succeed because many doesn't like jackson.

I have supported Jackson and Madueke. Two player that many here criticized for myriad reason.

However, if we sign Ekitike (I only watch his game twice) and this is what he is, I will say thank you for you service Jackson, bye2.

The same with Madueke, if we got olise instead of neto thank you for your service Madueke, bye2.

3 hours ago, Bob stark said:

It is true it all depend on the opp. But when you are a big team you want your st to be able to do both.

You will face team who predominantly will play compact (little space), so you want your st to drop link to destabilize opp line and help your team play, if all he can do is go long and whenever he drop he lose the ball, it is hard to build attack.

If all he does is go short then, it is the same thing opp backline can easily squeeze you and it is hard to play.

This is why more more big team want their st to be more "complete" than just a pure goalgetter.

Of course all of this is just general concept, if delap is Haaland, I won't even talk about his overall game, it doesn't matter.

See this is where we disagree. I think that modern defensive teams expect this, and are quite capable in dealing with strikers who drop deep, as long as they are not chasing the game. Unless you play Pep-ball with exact defined areas, it is very hard for an attacking team to coordinate this against a set deep defence. One of the big problems we have trying to break down these sorts of setups is that there is no threat of a player running in behind the defence that the CBs need to think about. What actually happens is the striker dropping deep congests the area, and often doesn't meaningfully touch the ball which results in them being a useless player.

I think we need a striker who is able to run the line and pin the centre-backs towards their goal. It opens up a bit more space for the attacking midfielders to operate in because the defence can't risk the striker being played through on goal. If they defend with a high line he is a threat, and if they defend deeply. I think that both Delap and Pedro can play this role, with Pedro being a bit more versatile as he can drop deeper when Chelsea are defending a lead.

Just want him to be a thug and smash defenders to the floor and rough them up and compete in the air... He does look like he will enjoy the physical side of the game. Not worried about his goal output so long as he brings others into the game. We've missed this type of striker so hoping he starts tonight.

6 hours ago, Bob stark said:

It is true it all depend on the opp. But when you are a big team you want your st to be able to do both.

You will face team who predominantly will play compact (little space), so you want your st to drop link to destabilize opp line and help your team play, if all he can do is go long and whenever he drop he lose the ball, it is hard to build attack.

If all he does is go short then, it is the same thing opp backline can easily squeeze you and it is hard to play.

This is why more more big team want their st to be more "complete" than just a pure goalgetter.

Of course all of this is just general concept, if delap is Haaland, I won't even talk about his overall game, it doesn't matter.

Haaland can't play in tight spaces and is the best ST in the league.

Delap is fat better on the ball than you give him credit for, you don't come through City's academy without being able to play with the ball at your feet.

1 hour ago, Ukraine Bolt said:

Haaland can't play in tight spaces and is the best ST in the league.

Delap is fat better on the ball than you give him credit for, you don't come through City's academy without being able to play with the ball at your feet.

I think that's Bob's point though, no one gives a sh*t if they score a ton of goals

Basically Delap will be the one to feed Mudryk

On 10/08/2025 at 23:54, Bob stark said:

I don't think finishing is Delap problem. He will score.

But his overall game is worse than I thought.

I haven't seen enough of him play [for Chelsea] yet. It is early days. Too soon to judge innit. AND if he score, all is forgiven elsewhere.

Hmmmmmmm

Did decent for the most part. Linked up pretty well.

Going to be great when we finally face teams that don’t play 6 defenders.

Leaves a lot to be desired with his thrown ins...

I have a lot of respect for strikers that push the defenders to allow others space to play.

19 hours ago, SydneyChelsea said:

See this is where we disagree. I think that modern defensive teams expect this, and are quite capable in dealing with strikers who drop deep, as long as they are not chasing the game. Unless you play Pep-ball with exact defined areas, it is very hard for an attacking team to coordinate this against a set deep defence. One of the big problems we have trying to break down these sorts of setups is that there is no threat of a player running in behind the defence that the CBs need to think about. What actually happens is the striker dropping deep congests the area, and often doesn't meaningfully touch the ball which results in them being a useless player.

I think we need a striker who is able to run the line and pin the centre-backs towards their goal. It opens up a bit more space for the attacking midfielders to operate in because the defence can't risk the striker being played through on goal. If they defend with a high line he is a threat, and if they defend deeply. I think that both Delap and Pedro can play this role, with Pedro being a bit more versatile as he can drop deeper when Chelsea are defending a lead.

It all depend on the opp. But the key with big team is that because you have 🤑🤑 you can pick player who can do both.

It allow you to attack in multiple way which make you very difficult to defend.

Of course like I said if your st is Haaland, it doesn't matter if you are a bit one dimensional. He is faster and stronger than your CB so none of this matter

Edited August 23, 2025Aug 23 by Bob stark

1 hour ago, axman2526 said:

Leaves a lot to be desired with his thrown ins...

Shame of the family

Btw if you want player who can pin cb behind just play Jackson, jackson channel run is very good. Furthermore Jackson linkup and drop game is also very good. He just can't score.

Last two games, our st score exactly 0 goals. I think Jackson can do that easily 🤭🤭🤭.

Edited August 23, 2025Aug 23 by Bob stark

2 minutes ago, Bob stark said:

Btw if you want player who can pin cb behind just play Jackson, jackson channel run is very good. Furthermore Jackson linkup and drop game is also very good. He just can't score.

Last two games, our st score exactly 0 goals. I think Jackson can do that easily 🤭🤭🤭.

Get out.

Thought he was actually playing the role perfectly last night and was surprised to see him bought off.

Big, strong, great touch, vision, intelligent. It’s night and day from what we were trapped with last season.

3 hours ago, nonotnowjim said:

Get out.

Bob is not wrong, Jackson has shown numerous times he can easily score 0 goals 🙂

13 minutes ago, The Boehly Babes said:

Thought he was actually playing the role perfectly last night and was surprised to see him bought off.

Big, strong, great touch, vision, intelligent. It’s night and day from what we were trapped with last season.

I thought he was excellent, was great having a striker who can play as a pivot point, his hold up play was good, his lay off for Estevao for example.

He causes defenders no end of problems, he can score goals if needed also. I don't understand how anyone can be disappointed with him.

47 minutes ago, Valerie said:

Bob is not wrong, Jackson has shown numerous times he can easily score 0 goals 🙂

This. I can defend Jackson overall game easily. Pressing, Link up, channel run, bringing the ball up all top notch.

Now finishing that is whole another story. 🤭🤭