I see that a lot of people are happy with the walking football served last night during the first 45 minutes against Arsenal. I guess that standards have fallen down the cliff among fans.

46 minutes ago, WhiteWall said:

I am not sure that they underperformed to be honest. I think the majority played to the level that they are at.

The first part of his tactic was relatively sound. He stifled them. 30 Mins into the game and Gyokeres had touched the ball once. It was a decent tactical ploy to nullify them, take away any momentum from their players and the crowd. However with a goalkeeper that we know from bitter experience is a flapper of shots from distance, we should have kept ourselves organised and structured but still jabbed from distance routinely, which would have undermined their confidence and created doubt if Kepa mispunched or flapped.

Back to the recruitment policy. The issue that we have is that we didn't have any players on the pitch, barring Caicedo, that is capable of shooting from distance. Joao Pedro gets a pass cos i think he was excellent. That was the best pinning centre forward play i have seen against the Arsenal defence this season. Lobotomy Liam was on the wing and wouldn't have had the gumption to have had a 20/25 yard dig anyway. Cucurella is a flying wingback or a box crasher, and Enzo, whilst havign a couple of goes just doesn't hav ethe physique to be crashing in bullets form 25 yards. None of our defenders can shoot, especially from distance and James was rested/injured.

So without those potshots, follow ups, resulting corners etc, Arsenal settled in because as sound as the tactic of containment was, we still weren't hurting them.

We then bring on an unfit (?) Cole Palmer and a mid-bereavement Estevao (who had just flown 6,000 miles form Brazil) expecting them to unlock an entrenched and settled Arsenal defence that is currently the strongest in Europe..

We can say the lads gave everything, we can say that our second half performance was really strong but we just couldn't break them down, but the reality is that we never hurt them or unsettled them once and, in truth, even on their day there are players forming the core of this side that are simply not good enough for this level and the tactics being employed, through a mixture of lack of ability and inexperience. Who'd have thought?

Absolutely Bang On.

We all know deep down that we have too many players in the squad who just aren't good enough to be top level. So when you start a game with no Colwill, James, Palmer and Estevao (possibly Lavia too), it's a big ask, as it's really only Caicedo, Cucurella, Santos and Pedro who are at the required level and they don't have enough creativity or goals in them.

16 minutes ago, RMH said:

I see that a lot of people are happy with the walking football served last night during the first 45 minutes against Arsenal. I guess that standards have fallen down the cliff among fans.

No happy with it, but understand the methodology down to the circumstances / players we had missing.

9 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

Merson is bang on. We went out with a whimper.

I like Merson and normally have a lot of time for him but he does talk a load of bo**ocks. As LR said, it's easy to be a pundit and there is good reason why Merson had a shocker as a manager himself.

Merson is talking like this was the CFC of old, where we had quality in every position. We now have very few players who would force their way into the Arsenal starting 11 and last night hardly any of those started.

Think he largely got it right last night. Kept it tight for the first half then changed formation when Arsenal were tiring and brought on our best two players (Palmer/Estevao). Sadly both the players he brought on were absolutely sh*te.

Happy with Rosenior so far, a clear upgrade on our previous manager and unbeaten in the CL and PL.

3 minutes ago, GarnachoCheese said:

Think he largely got it right last night. Kept it tight for the first half then changed formation when Arsenal were tiring and brought on our best two players (Palmer/Estevao). Sadly both the players he brought on were absolutely sh*te.

Happy with Rosenior so far, a clear upgrade on our previous manager and unbeaten in the CL and PL.

Agree with you, I like that he tried something and this time it didn't come off. I thought overall we were decent, but some people need to recognise that Arsenal are better than us right now, and it's been the case for 5-6 years. going back as far as Jan 2020, we have played arsenal 15 times. Won 1, drawn 5, lost 10. It was shocking to realise that as they always used to be an easy win.

Going out and approaching the game differently, like we did last night, is probably the best way to get a result. On another night we win that.

I'll add that the Chelsea support last night was excellent. Wasn't able to get a ticket but throughout the whole 90 I could hear us chanting and outsinging their fans all match.

LR is learning on the job, hes experimenting and to an extent gambling with his selections and tactics.

Napoli whatever he did in the first half required significant changes in the second half. We got away with it v a medium quality team.

West Ham as above.

Last night against a much better team he set up very differently but was content to play out a defeat. His changes in the second half were ineffective in terms of the result.

The next four games Wolves Leeds Hull and Burnley should be interesting. Then hes onto the serious stuff. Four wins here will not make him the messiah or a genius to use his words.

I think we just might be getting mugged off by a big talking chancer, cant be sure but the signs are there.

Edited February 4Feb 4 by OTL

5 minutes ago, GarnachoCheese said:

Think he largely got it right last night. Kept it tight for the first half then changed formation when Arsenal were tiring and brought on our best two players (Palmer/Estevao). Sadly both the players he brought on were absolutely sh*te.

Happy with Rosenior so far, a clear upgrade on our previous manager and unbeaten in the CL and PL.

Palmer obviously about 70% fit. It's getting silly. His ailments have to be dealt with. No surprise Estevao wasn't flash after the week he had. Garnacho useless, passing backwards. Someone compared the second halves between Napoli and last night overlooking that Arsenal's defence, even if tiring, is 1000 times better than Napoli's.

2 minutes ago, OTL said:

LR is learning on the job, hes experimenting and to an extent gambling with his selections and tactics.

Napoli whatever he did in the first half required significant changes in the second half. We got away with it v a medium quality team.

West Ham as above.

Last night against a much better team he set up very differently but was content to play out a defeat. His changes in the second half were ineffective in terms of the result.

The next four games Wolves Leeds Hull and Burnley should be interesting.

I think we just might be getting mugged off by a big talking chancer, cant be sure but the signs are there.

Based on what? 75% win rate with his only losses being a 1 goal deficit with 10 men against the best team in Europe and a 1 goal deficit against the same team in the last seconds of the game, realistically it was a draw.

I want LR to do well, but he just comes across like an interim manager.

He had a plan last night but my god it was an awful watch. In the previous two games he's got the setup wrong, its felt like watching Maresca ball and getting it wrong first 45 mins of games only for a genius tactical switch to bring us back into it...

We have to start getting at teams from the get go.

If we nick a goal and take it to extra time he’s lauded as a tactical genius. Fickle bunch, this is the best we’ve looked in years.

1 minute ago, GarnachoCheese said:

If we nick a goal and take it to extra time he’s lauded as a tactical genius. Fickle bunch, this is the best we’ve looked in years.

Arsenal didnt need any more goals.😐

11 minutes ago, OTL said:

Arsenal didnt need any more goals.😐

They also have the best defence in world football currently.

2 hours ago, AndyDowsleftflank said:

Because Arsenal are WAY better than Napoli - especially the decimated side they played against us. Sometimes its not a lack of trying, but a lack of quality.

The major difference was that against Napoli, we took risks, we took no risks against Arsenal last night.

I'm just not having the "we lack the quality excuse". I've seen teams ruined by injuries come to Stamford Bridge and play like their life depended on it. I don't expect us to play naive tactics and gung-ho, but I expect more than just passing it around like a bunch of cowards and not even try any risks. You get nothing in this sport playing like we played last night, and let's not pretend Arsenal stopped us, we stopped ourselves like we always do because our tactics are always so negative. We even had Gusto booked for diving the moment he finally beat his man and had a chance to do something productive. It was a cowardly performance, similar to Conte's performance a few years back against City.

1 hour ago, GarnachoCheese said:

Based on what? 75% win rate with his only losses being a 1 goal deficit with 10 men against the best team in Europe and a 1 goal deficit against the same team in the last seconds of the game, realistically it was a draw.

Not sure where we had 10 men? No red cards under Rosenior. We drew against Arsenal with 10 men under Maresca.

Just now, Shweaves said:

Not sure where we had 10 men? No red cards under Rosenior. We drew against Arsenal with 10 men under Maresca.

Oh yeah, i thought we had 10 men but just checked and Neto was starting so that must be the confusion.

10 minutes ago, GarnachoCheese said:

Oh yeah, i thought we had 10 men but just checked and Neto was starting so that must be the confusion.

You're sleep-deprived. Have a lie down.

To be honest I’m not that upset about last night.

We could have given them more to worry about during the game, and as mentioned by someone else (can’t remember who) barring a couple of things like Delap on the right wing I could see the thinking behind the plan.

I was more annoyed that the last few minutes we refused to attempt more crosses just to mix it up a bit as Arsenal were way too comfortable.

The lack of squad quality is real and hardly any players would make it into Arsenal’s starting 11 so we are where we are.

I think Rosenior has done a decent job so far with the tools at his disposal because of quality, injuries and circumstances like Estevao’s family issue.

I’m prepared to judge him over a period of time rather than jump all over him after defeats to the best team in the country.

We are way behind Arsenal in quality currently.

Maybe when the board tweaks their transfer policies then we’ll compete more with the likes of Arsenal but as it stands I half expect us to come up short when playing teams of this level.

5 minutes ago, dermott said:

You're sleep-deprived. Have a lie down.

If only Neto had played then he would have sent me to sleep for a full 90 minutes!

8 minutes ago, GarnachoCheese said:

If only Neto had played then he would have sent me to sleep for a full 90 minutes!

That's ... desperate. Have a nap, come back with something better.

Seems to me he achieved what he set out to do last night. Get away with a "respectable loss" and move on.
One of the most gutless performances i've ever seen from us and not respectable in any way, shape or form as far as i'm concerned.

The bottom line is that he's prepared to experiment, to change things. Unlike Maresca, stubbornly the exact opposite.

Honest, I'm not too bothered by him, I think he's done a decent job so far, but I'm just sick and tired of the constant rotation for 'slight knocks', the apparently constant (so far) sh*t starting line up and borefest in the first half, the constant having to get back to basics in the second half by playing your best players, the constant adulation of players that then get barely no minutes, etc It's most likely not down to Rosenior (or Maresca for that matter).

4 minutes ago, dermott said:

The bottom line is that he's prepared to experiment, to change things. Unlike Maresca, stubbornly the exact opposite.

I wish he stopped experimenting and started playing his strongest team from the kick off, something we also said about Maresca.

1 hour ago, Scott Harris said:

The major difference was that against Napoli, we took risks, we took no risks against Arsenal last night.

I'm just not having the "we lack the quality excuse". I've seen teams ruined by injuries come to Stamford Bridge and play like their life depended on it. I don't expect us to play naive tactics and gung-ho, but I expect more than just passing it around like a bunch of cowards and not even try any risks. You get nothing in this sport playing like we played last night, and let's not pretend Arsenal stopped us, we stopped ourselves like we always do because our tactics are always so negative. We even had Gusto booked for diving the moment he finally beat his man and had a chance to do something productive. It was a cowardly performance, similar to Conte's performance a few years back against City.

It was a poor performance attackingly, and when we needed to push for a goal the end we didn't manage to put any real pressure on. However, if we did the same thing against them we did in the first leg Rosenior would be lambasted for his tactical naivety. At least this time we contained them and we were in it until the very end. Boring to watch, indeed, but I'm not quite sure how Rosenior should have set us up to give us more of a chance. When you lose the first game at home to a better side there's really not than many options available to you