There is something about league play where the intensity and tactical discipline (for the most part) gets ratcheted up just a bit more.
Mount and Pedro lost the ball 8 times each but Pulisic lost it 9 times. Pulisic had 0 shots, created 0 chances, lost the ball more than any other player and only completed 1 dribble. He was completely rubbish, not even in the game and was rightfully hooked.
I think it was more a case of Chelsea having a draining game in a very hot Istanbul on Wednesday that went 120 minutes and then to penalties which they lost. They started at a really high intensity but gassed.
I said after the first 15-20 minutes. Do you have those stats? Mount and Pedro were far worse than Pulisic the last 45 minutes they were on the pitch together. Mount was the reason why the center of Chelsea’s midfield was overrun, and Pedro was super wasteful.
It was not about one player; it was about a game that transformed from wonderful attacking and defensive soccer into nothingness. There is no player on the Chelsea team who is stepping forward to assure the continuance of the great football Chelsea has to offer. When everyone played as a team, they were awesome. I think Kanté has to move back to central defensive midfielder and from there, he can control how the defense is organized and to push the attack. More constraints need to be placed on Mount's movement.
If anything he should have brought Barkley on for Pulisic and put Mount on the left wing like he did against Liverpool. I don’t think any manager is going to keep the player that has contributed nothing at all on for the guy who was their best goal threat over the course of the game. Pedro has a weak game too but Willian is best on the left and he needs to get him minutes. I guess Lampard was factoring this was a ‘welcome to big school’ kind of a game for Pulisic so the experienced Pedro was a better choice to leave on. Chelsea need Hudson Odoi to come back the player he was before the injury and kick on otherwise it could be long season for them.
Thanks for the thoughtful reply. I just don’t think Mount was as good as you are implying. He was better than Pulisic at the beginning of the game, but he hurt way more than he helped after his goal. And I’m not saying it was a horrible decision to take Pulisic out — as I said, he was ineffectual. He definitely needs to get on the same page with his teammates. He was making good runs that were ignored, then he was forcing the situation (and often turning it over) when he did get a sliver of a chance. But going back to my original point — taking out Mount would’ve had way more impact than the Willian/Pulisic swap. And I think as the game opened up, Pulisic would’ve had more opportunities to run at defenders (where he excels) versus trying to play out of double teams on the touch line (where he struggles).
I’m English and have followed Mount a lot and I don’t think he’s a good all round footballer, tactically I mean. He’s a goal threat always though which is why I think taking him out of midfield and put him on the left would have been better, into a position of less responsibility in running the game. Pulisic looked lost to me so seemed the clear choice to be replaced. I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree on this one.
Pulisic looked out of ideas on the left. I also felt like Kante and Jorghino did a terrible job of moving the ball between the lines and finding the runs on the wing. LC did a great job pressing those two and limiting their ability to play those dangerous diagonal balls.
True, but I was talking about the difference between Chelsea in the first 20 minutes versus Chelsea thereafter, in this particular match..
I saw CP play the ball into the box three times looking for a one touch return ball only to see it Blup! to somewhere unknown. CP is trying to play textbook Dortmund ball in the box. Rolls Reus or Alcacer, really any Dortmund player plays that one time ball and breaks teams down in tight quarters. I don't know if that is really possible with most Chelsea players. I will say that if Lampard is pinning his hopes of victory on a Mount, Barkley, Abraham trident, he's going to be fighting relegation. Some combination of Kante, Jorgi, and Barkely/ Mount need to get CONTROL of the midfield early and find CP on those early runs or they need to place someone near CP to play some one touch football. The ball was going into Pedro and he was doing f'all with it. He needs to be finishing not starting the break.
Pedro went 120 in that match - why not put on fresh legs? I don’t disagree that Pulisic didn’t have a great game and deserved to be subbed out though, just that Pedro and Mount outside of his goal weren’t great either but seem to have a longer leash, warranted or not.
He’s in there to create, and in this game he didn’t. Seemed unsure and lacking confidence or awareness. Pedro’s defensive work will make him a lock starter, impossible to critique his work rate.