Starting Here's your Chelsea team today! 💪Thoughts? #MCICHE pic.twitter.com/RvkmhT2myp— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) November 23, 2019
Lumpy answered that question. Mount dropped as Kante returns and goes alongside Kovacic and Jorginho.
Huge huge props to Pulisic for playing himself into the starting squad and getting starts against the best teams in the EPL
Please find your way to the Christian Pulisic Abroad Gameday Forum for today's match thread. 11/23 Matchday Thread: Manchester City v. Chelsea
players missing intl breaks due to injures, while starting their league matches both immediately before and after said break? interesting.
Pulisic serviceable today, driving a lot of the attack in the first half, was left a bit outside the main action for most of the second. But there's a reason he played 90: he was in a playmaking role, complementing the balls served centrally.
He put in a shift against quality opposition. Probably didn't help or hurt his cause long term. Got off without taking a knock so that's a positive.
I thought the mids did a poor job of getting the ball off their quickly enough. I also think Chelsea is better in a 4-2-3-1 than a 4-3-3.
My hot take is that the 4-3-3 is a fundamentally flawed formation and that just about every team is better in a different setup. It really needs world-class players in almost every position to work the way it's supposed to.
I gave CP a 6.5... Didn't get any shot on goal and didn't look full of energy...He probably wasn't fully fit...maybe 80%..Wasn't pressing as hard as his teammates throughout the match.
He looked really lively in the first half and then took a hard knock which, to my eye, slowed him down a little. Didn't watch the second half. He does get pushed off the ball easily. He'll get better. It's more about knowing you're gonna get whacked and timing the hit.
Yup... both were getting a ton of attention. I thought CP played pretty well. He missed a couple of crosses but he had several penetrating runs and two beautiful passes that could have resulted in goals... He also wasn't the recipient of much in the box all game. Man City is a great team and I thought the lads in blue put on a good show and demonstrated that they belong at the top of the EPL. Pretty even game.
I actually thought he played really well considering they would double team when ever possible. You can tell they prepped for him. He's a dangerous player when given some space facing goal.
My dream on this one is that when Pep returns to BCN so he can finally win the champions league with Messi again that he recruits CP and then we have dembo and cp bookending Messi. CP with the game winner against a resurgent Bayern under Ponchy.
True, but he had very little support from midfielders after the initial 25 min today. He made lots of runs all game, but nobody made much of an effort to play him into the final quarter with leading balls that he could latch onto while already moving. Without that, he was not the defense disrupter that we have regularly seen recently. Plus, those attacking dribbles are what get him close to goal, with or without the ball.
I thought he looked a step slow, and unwilling to make the runs he typically makes. Either that was scripted or he was hampered. I agree with the above poster that he looked like he dropped off after receiving a challenge mid first half. I half thought he might have been subbed off at the half. I was shocked to see him go 90, but I think those were the correct subs. Nice to be able to take off a defensive midfielder and slot Kante right back in for that sub. The weird part for me was that everyone and I mean everyone slated the last Chelsea coach for playing Kante out of position in a more attacking role, and the biggest game of the year rolls around for Chelsea and Super Frankie plays Kante exactly there. Guy's the best central defensive midfielder in the game right now. I have no idea why anyone would play him anywhere else.
I thought playing kante there was the right call for this matchup. He's such a smart, active defender, and to stop city, you have to attack them before they get the ball to their attackers. I think that although Chelsea played well, their lack of a quality cam revealed itself against city. Jorginho, kovacic, and their center backs played pretty well, but they ended up spending too much time on the ball without any assertiveness or direction. Couple that with abraham providing no holdup play in the second half, and their attack stalled. I think someone like Maddison or even coutinho would add a lot to their squad.