I do think Chris in the middle is the answer, but Ziyech has an eye for a pass and frequently puts it on the money. I think Mount mostly plays like Frank wants him too and he is a pretty good 8 IMO. A quarter of a billion dollars and I cannot see what frank wants to do. All I see is a disconnect between the midfield and the attack.
Agreed. Pulisic in the middle with CHO and Ziyech on the wings should be an opton. Not likely to happen as long as FL prefers Mount as an undroppable AM.
IMHO, to place CP in the middle is to waste his most important attacking attribute--his dribbling skill. A 10 has to be an attacking playmaker, the guy who plays in others with a cerebral passing game. Not saying CP can't do that, just that he shouldn't because nobody else will try to play him in with quality passes up the middle so he can prove his own strength. The fact is, at the moment, Chelsea lacks a team coordinator (doesn't have to be a 10) who can spray effective passes to any part of the attack. In other words, Chelsea has substituted Mount for Kevin De Bruyne and thinks it can still compete.
Pulisic's injuries are unfortunate for many reasons but right now I think people look at his lack of goals and assists and forget he was out for a long time. Besides the obvious negatives of being out due to injury it has allowed players like CHO to build some positive momentum. Let's also not forget that Pulisic has looked good in his minutes while most of team has looked pretty dreadful. He definitely deserves to play his preferred position on the LW. Starting Giroud up top will help get Pulisic on the score sheet. Werner has been terrible and also drags down everyone else's performances. Really don't want Pulisic starting with him up top.
People do that all the time to Vardy, he just keeps banging in goals. He is the Rodney Dangerfield of strikers. I've liked the kid since he turned down the chance to cash in and run away from Leicester.
https://www.skysports.com/football/...-and-billy-gilmour-have-earned-regular-starts Looks like Frank is going to bump CHO above CP on the depth chart for now.
Just a quick scheduling update: Chelsea @ Fulham is now on Saturday, not Friday, as Fulham now must play (a makeup game) @ Tottenham on Wednesday.
Lampard has been following the discussion with attention: "I've heard some people talk about the system with two eights as though they have to run in straight lines up and down the pitch," said Lampard. "It doesn't have to be that way when you have players with different qualities like Mason Mount, Kai Havertz, Mateo Kovacic, N'Golo Kante. "These players play in different ways and arrive between the lines and sometimes into the area inhabited by an orthodox number 10. "And that can be more dangerous than a number 10 that just stands there all day. They can be, for me, more dangerous, but those are the things that need time." So there! And if anyone here is serious about playing CP centrally as a number 10, make sure that he understands that he can't just stand there all day. https://www.skysports.com/football/...-and-billy-gilmour-have-earned-regular-starts {same link as the one N used to troll the Hudson-Odoi narrative, above}
Couldn't agree more. There's been very little I've seen from CP over years and years watching him that indicates he should be played through the middle at the highest level. You want to put his skillset where it is most likely to be impactful, you want him looking more often with 1 or 2 defenders between him and the goal, because he can beat 1 or 2 defenders consistently. You do not want him looking at 3-4+ defenders between him and the goal, because then you are marginalizing his greatest strength. He's not a great passer with tons of vision... he's a great, great dribbler who changes the shape of the defense with a single dribbling move, opening up things for all others in the attack in those moments. But it requires the representation of threat that comes with him still moving forward having passed a midfielder and towards a fullback. His dribbling threat causes that panic, his vision and passing to not. And that's why he's not played in the center... it blunts the edge of his finest weapon, no matter the opponent or tactics. Ziyech would be enough, if he were in a bit of a groove & Havertz were firing... there's your link between midfield and creative attack right there, with CHO/Werner/Pulisic providing runs and getting isolated against stretched defenses. But because of injuries, because of other expensive players not producing, the whole thing isn't working.
Pulisic has been very effective with the US as a 10... but that's because he's absurdly good in the open field and in the counterattack. He's not a break-down-a-bunker-10, and he's much better on the wing in 95%+ of the games that Chelsea is going to be in.
Yeah I don't consider his play for the US "at the highest level", and now that they have developed others more suited to playing through the middle he's out where he's more effective. But I mean... some of these rules go out the window when it comes to internationals, there's no question. Especially when it comes to generational talents playing for traditionally "not great" international sides. Davies for Canada, Alaba for Austria, among others.
Is there a quote somewhere, because I have never seen him say that. @EruditeHobo not sure I agree with you, but you raise some interesting points. I have resigned myself to him being a Left attacking midfielder at CFC anyway. I hope FL gets it sorted soon and finds a way to set the midfield up so they can be more competitive in that part of the pitch.
I don't expect CP to start next match but hopefully he can start 3 days later. There's been a huge campaign by the British press and even some Chelsea home base fan to start CHO above CP.... Here's an article below stating CP must be dropped because he hasn't scored/assisted enough. https://www.thechelseachronicle.com...fulham-would-send-wrong-message-from-lampard/ Alexis Lalas saying CP is too good for Chelsea, will not do CP any favors among his teammates..and the British press is starting to pick up his comments as arrogant Yankee talk. I personally think CP has looked better than CHO but has no stats to show for it...He gonna need to start providing these stats very soon...
They're both Academy product so they will always be a bit of bias among British based Chelsea fan toward these Academy players. Basically, you're gonna have to overwhelmingly outperform an Academy player to start ahead of him...just like CP did last year...This year is new and CP will have to do it again or lose his spot. Saying that, I don't think CHO is undeserving to get a run in the squad but from what I've seen, CP is more explosive and get himself into scoring chances much more..but he simply hasn't delivered stats to keep CHO glued on the bench.
Stats are important but we also got to take CHO's recent momentum into context. He scored against a League 2 side in the FA cup and a garbage time goal against Man City. Starting CHO at the expense of Pulisic does not make sense. Pulisic has looked like the most dangerous offensive player for Chelsea. Start Giroud with Pulisic and good things will happen.
If Frank falls into that line of “reasoning” it will be telling. My first reaction is that that is an absurd idea because Pulisic changes and disorganized defenses like no one else on Chelsea (and like few in the PL). But then I remembered who the manager is.