Chelsea lucky on a VAR disallowed goal for handling. They seem to really miss Tammy Abraham as Giroud has been absent. And just like that, Giroud is replaced by CHO. Odd that Batman wasn’t the sub, but with 3 wingers on, Pulisic is now in the middle.
are kova and mount physically or contractually not allowed to pass or play the ball to CP? It feels as if those are overly restrictive constraints on the game.
he is going for it. he needs to try and flick it over because he is getting no space to shoot. At this point Mount feels CP is his competition but CP doesn't. That is a natural order of things.
He sits nicely at the top of the box for the pass. He sits right above CB's and bellow CMs BUT NO ONE WILL BLOODY PASS TO HIM!
Pulisic hits it well but off target. Not a gimme but needs to get that on frame if he wants to be a hazard replacement
chelsea has no one pulling the strings here. just a lot of guy with the ball running around while a group of teammates stands around at the edge of the box
poor game today from CHelsea. i think this one is on Lamp team looks unorganized, lack ideas and creations, very frustrating game.
Watch Mount's movement over the last 15. He literally spends the majority of his time within 5-10 ft of Puli clogging up passing lanes at the top of the box. Mount did not come on as part of the front 3. He's supposed to sit lower and connect the ball to the attack. And that's a problem as Chelsea is missing an AM who can turn and play vertical passes on the floor into the box.
Not sure if ESPN is right, but if they are: 16 fouls to ZERO?? Chelsea needs to sign Vinnie Jones pronto.
strange, but i think CP starting on the bench next week should be a good idea. he's clearly tired and legs are exhausted. give him a rest.
in these kinds of games with a disciplined and determined defense in front of them, this push it wide, cross, hope for a back post or near post goal might work, but when it doesn't they need that plan B passing to break teams down. CP is sitting there waiting to set his teammates up with a quick turn and flick or quick run and diagonal pass, but 1. no one is moving the ball fast enough 2. no one is finding him on that nice central cushion he operates from and 3. no one is making the run off him. Very frustrating. This is what Juan Mata used to do so well for Chelsea. He would get that pass and create with his back to goal and turn.
West Ham defended well and Chelsea had no creativity in the final third. They relied on getting the ball wide and hoping someone would get on the end of a cross, which West Ham had no issue defending. Chelsea's set piece deliveries were wasteful -- West Ham had maybe 2 or 3 corners and had 2 really good chances from them. Christian got into good positions but was too slow with his decision making at times, had a couple poor turnovers, and had 2 half-ish chances to score, but still one of Chelsea's better players along with Reece James and Zouma.
CP continued his new found attacking mentality, turns with the ball and pushes forward. That’s what was missing earlier in the season, He was by far the most dangerous player on the field in the 1st half. Tired a bit in the 2nd and just not the right spot at #9 for last 20 minutes. Obviously lamps wanted to keep him on, that’s a big vote of confidence, but wasn’t the right one tbh. wouldof/couldof/shouldof had the header early in the 1st, has to keep that down.. maybe done better on the left foot back post one but to be fair was really tough, However he has to do better on that final effort where Kante puts him in on goal, great first touch but that shot needs to go in. besides those, he was great again. I hate the hazard comparisons but damn does he resemble his style with the shifty burst of pace and close ball control.
For those who weren't able to watch, Pulisic's first opportunity (on a header somewhere around the 15th minute, very roughly) was a far, far better chance than the one that came off of James' nice cross. He should most definitely have put the header on frame. The James cross came too fast and took the slightest of deflections off either Giroud or the defender. Impossible to adjust for that in the fraction of a second he had. As someone else said, if he'd have scored that it would have been pure luck.
I meant I wanted to know who the subs were. I wasn't watching, just reading the thread. Up your PBP game, man.
On the heels of the debacle against Valencia I think Lumpy has a real decision to make. He either needs to sacrifice an attacking player to help monitor the team defensive shape OR he needs to add another attacker from midfield. I haven’t seen a team this vulnerable to the counter since watching Bob Bradley’s Swansea experiment. Kova and Kante and Jogi should be enough theoretically but central runs right through them and into the defense are killing this team.