But I wrote in the AR thread that the door is now open for Bryan to take his slot. The coach might sit him a couple of games even after the suspension to teach him a lesson. If Bryan looks good?....
So far... one of the worst YA days ever. CP not showing up in the 1st half [worst half of the season] AR red-carded Adams not even subbed in for RBL Reyna DNP for BVB (Sick) Sargent (wide open twice in the center of the box and teammates fail to find him) Wes (probably won't play tomorrow) Dest (form dropping at Barca) I can't believe my hopes are all of a sudden resting on Hoppe (tomorrow).... a player I didn't even consider going into the season.
that title would best be assigned to the early or mid 90s when say a few of our guys couldn't get gameday in second or third divisions across Europe.
CP did have a much better second half.... and I think it was no coincidence that it happened when they went to a 4-4-2... cp played more centrally and that ball he served to Werner was a thing of beauty. That is why assist numbers are so screwy... that was better than 90% of assists you will see. Also had a great run/juke along the endline towards the end and left a nicely weighted ball backwards that werner couldn't handle and Azpi choked. Every time CP is in the middle of the pitch during a transition good things happen. It really seems like he is snakebit WRT to stats right now. An inch away from scoring on that Ziyech cross.... Werner fails to control the ball and lay it off to CP for a sitter. Said perfect long ball in transition to Werner... no assist. Heck... even on that cutback pass I thought Werner should have backed up or Azpi should have gotten the ball on target. Frank... please consider playing 4-4-2. In the end CP was terrible in the 1st but redeemed himself in the 2nd. Chilwell was terrible all game long and it seems like he does not want to pass the ball forward to CP. Their chemistry is terrible.
it really feels like this years chelsea takes a second too long to do everything. this makes them easier to defend and perpetually on the verge of being beaten on the counter. superior talent wins them a lot of matches but this is a garbage team
LMFAO......CFC loyalists are praising about CHO. What exactly did he do in his 20 min? What did I missed?
#Q reports Chelsea fans ready to storm headquarters, take Lampard away, and forcefully remove Pulisic and substitute CHO in for him. "What's coming cannot be stopped," he added.
An excellent observation from one of the regulars on the other forum. Did Frank really tell Pulisic to stop being "direct", after the run he had post lock down last season? You really do see Pulisic laying the ball off to Chillwell a lot more than we would want. "One of the main reasons why players like Pulisic are so ineffective this season is because Lampard has changed tactics on the wing. They aren't instructed to be direct anymore. They have become support for the fullbacks to overlap and get a cross in. It's not worked to our benefit though, it's made us much worse as a team."
Funny, but I rather keep the politics out from these forums. It's one of the few places remaining with some 'sanity'.
It's very hard to move between big English clubs unless you've run down your contract to force a move. They don't like strengthening rivals and all have the financial clout to say no to each other. It's a big part of the reason Sancho ended up in Germany - City told him they wouldn't accept an offer from any English club.
Still confounding what exactly frank is telling pulisic and chilwell. Their chemistry is so bad it seems impossible.
I was appalled by many things today, but CP-wise, two things struck me. First, there were several occasions in the first half (didn't notice it so much when he's on the side opposite the cameras, i.e., second half) when the ball was controlled by the left back or left midfielder and CP made a modest run to space along the left touch line, asking for the ball. It was not delivered (although it could easily have been). Rather, the ball was played back to a defender or laterally to another midfielder. The second and related issue was simply the number of times the ball goes down the right side. Folks here are remarking, justifiably, that CP is often "missing" from the game. Well, of course he's missing, but he could be found if the Chelsea players would bother to look. Even if found in this game, nearly all the balls he received were unimaginative passes played to him when he had no room for further maneuvers going forward and, moreover, they required him to start moving from a dead stop. Not his forte. Again, my favorite criticism, Chelsea have no brains (read: no Kevin DeBruyne) in their midfield directing traffic; they have Mount, instead (although I did like his goal today; an FL-type shot that will insure he gets an additional 20 consecutive starts).
He's literally one of the only attacking players they have who has pace, who puts themselves in good positions to potentially get goals, who can also hit some very incisive balls which might also create goals for others. All three of these things were on display in his brief appearance today. Doesn't mean he looked like a superstar... it was only against 10 man Fulham. But I think it's the overall skillset which is enticing. It would be exciting for me, if I were a Chelsea fan. And the natural sub is CP, unfortunately. if you want more passing which threatens to result in a shot on goal, you start Ziyech and CHO... not just on current form, but based on their general skillset. That said we will see what Frank will do. CHO / Werner / Ziyech would not surprise me in the next match, mostly because Frank's really still just looking for the obvious answer.
I’d like to see kante, mount, and havertz as three in the midfield with havertz floating to the right and interchanging with ziyech to see if that helps to create more movement/opportunities. now that may be a bit soft defensively and positionally in central midfield so heck if I know but it might help get havertz into the zones of the field he likes and gives him a clever player to interchange with in ziyech. okay now why does this matter for pulisic. His almost goal today was from a hard back post run and that was a big part of his goal scoring last year. With both havertz and ziyech potentially we see an increase in those opportunities created.
This begs the question of what exactly is it that they do during training and video sessions. I would think many will agree that this team is playing underwhelming, for the talents that they have on the roster.
Yeah, I would agree. I think this is a solution to the problem... if not for the form that both Havertz & Kante find themselves in currently.