So many factors that could have gone wrong today but didn't. 1. The bogey ground that is St James 2. The very early kickoff following the international break 3. The loss of several important players Huge 3 points and a top performance. Kante my MOTM.
Tammy got the MOTM on Bt sport. But Captain Kante for me. Clean sheet. 3 points. Should have had a few more goals. But after the international break this is good. Really solid.
PL App said MotM was Chilly. Shows that it was a nice, well rounded performance. Werner should have scored a couple of times, but made Tammy's goal obviously. This is EXACTLY the kind of game we would have let in a late equalizer even two months ago. I was waiting for it to come because that's how we've been conditioned to think over the last year and a half. Something has defeinitely changed Top of the League!
Little thing I noticed, there was a moment in the first half where Newcastle had a chance to score, Mendy came out and claimed it. Stuff like that matters because had he not done so, Newcastle could've definitely scored there. Now we need Pulisic to get healthy.
Very solid performance, Newcastle (like Sheff Utd) using tactics that worked against us last season, looks like we're finally getting on top of those weaknesses though, the only negatives I can think of is 1. We should have scored more (missed some sitters) & 2. The Palace kit!
Timo Werner looks more like his video game avatar than his video game avatar looks like him. It is quite disconcerting. pic.twitter.com/xeyli8mUeR— Philippe Auclair (@PhilippeAuclair) November 21, 2020
Glad Tammy got one, but he seemed a few steps behind all day. Doesn’t seem to be very helpful unless you put the ball right on his foot or head. I still like the team better with OG up top (or just Timo when we’re healthy.
Wow...we watched different matches Tammy is averaging a goal and an assist every 125 minutes this season in the unbeaten run of matches where the team has shown its best form in a long while. Tammy leads the press up top. Timo is fantastic but he has usually played with and played his best with a strike partner, and with Chill playing up wide, he really is more a 2nd striker, not a wing. Timo could have easily had a hat-trick yesterday, that is because of, not in spite of Tammy. Without Tammy playing in middle he would have the attention of the two cb's instead of Tammy, and especially against teams like Newcastle we are not a counter side where he can often wait and turn off the shoulder of the back 4 and he is not going to win long balls to clear presses, retain possession, or lay it off against parked buses and clogged midfields. Against sides like City and scouse, where we don't dominate possession and play mostly in opposition half with a full roster available maybe Timo will have an advantage in center, but then also nice to have a physical player up top to break their ferocious presses. Gonna be hard to fit in Timo, Pul, Zy, Tammy, Ollie, if all healthy at once, and CHO may be odd man out but in a congested season a good problem to have, and "all healthy" hoped for but may be less often then prayed. Love Ollie and hope he does see more deserved time as he can do a lot of that as well, but he lacks Tammy's speed which really shows in our press and in our few counters, one of which Tammy scored from off the Timo pass and one where an open Timo made the bad pass as Tammy flew into the box. "Abraham has five goals and five assists in 13 games for Chelsea this season. He has racked up 626 competitive minutes" "Abraham only lost one of his five contested aerial duels on Saturday he may now be inhabiting that role." "The striker managed the most shots of any Chelsea player on Saturday with three, but he also created two chances for his teammates, according to Statszone."
Ian Wright agrees: "I think today I thought Tammy was a lot better with his movement and got his goal in the end... "He [Timo] seems to play off a front man better." "On Werner’s best position, he added: "I think that suits Timo coming from there, coming from deep. "You saw with Tammy’s goal he went past the defenders like they weren’t there, he set Tammy up and he finished well."
If he looked a few steps behind it's because timo put the ball too far in front more often than not after hitting the pass too hard
sums up some of the stats from Kov's really good performance https://www.football.london/chelsea-fc/players/cheslea-midfield-kovacic-havertz-jorginho-19324959
too true, his best role is for a Sarri system, not our new look nor most systems, and he was too easily sussed out by good teams being able to be man mark him and Sarri's system out of a match and I don't think Sarri is going to get a chance at a team that can afford him. Should have flogged him to Arse, seems a good hard working team guy but going to be hard for him to play here (I hope), or transfer him for the money we will want to recoup. Perhaps he can find a good loan/option chance in Italy or Spain in summer or we can trick Arse into adding another agent for decent money.
I'm not sure how Pulisic gets back into this side at the moment. Massive match against Spurs this weekend. Like, for real.
Also think against bus-parkers we could get away with a 4-2-1-3 with Zy and Pul playing/switching at a #10 but then you gotta sit Mount or Hav but with so many congested matches rotation may do most of the job itself
Was on a meditation retreat so I could learn to be nicer to you guys That said, missed this one. Glad my #FreeRudiger campaign had its voice heard. His freezing out always seemed severe. I could see him taking Zouma's spot.