Monday evening game this one. 3pm est or noon out west. Will we start seeing tuchel preferred 11? Will jorginho continue his hold over every manager he plays for? Would hope we can start seeing more quality up front, juggling the forward players isn't helping produce goals. At the other end hope we continue to see good defensive work. Looks like Havertz and Silva will be out until Southampton at least.
Well it's been a great weekend so far with our immediate rivals all dropping points. It's imperative that we capitalise on this. Too many times we fail to take advantage.
Brings his acoustic guitar with him and sings old Oasis songs. He is popular at Cobham. btw - IF Pep still wants him, we could swap him for Ilkay Gundogan?
Chelsea predicted lineup (3-4-2-1): Mendy; Azpilicueta, Christensen, Rudiger; James, Jorginho, Kante, Alonso; Werner, Mount; Abraham Maybe Kovacic? Maybe Chillwell?
I think Chillwell starts as Alonso played mid week. AC was injured so prob Zouma too. Rest looks right to me. Hope Kov over Jorgy.
Expecting famed midfield pivot “Jovacic” (Kovinho?) to play today though who really knows. Does Kante reassert himself as a starter today? Does CHO aka Cafu continue his RWB experience? Pulisic and Ziyech ??? Tamantha? Mason ?? BILLY ?! Lotta questions still. At this point I don’t really give a shit who starts as long as we manage the W.
3-4-2-1 1Arrizabalaga 28Azpilicueta 4Christensen 2Rüdiger 20Hudson-Odoi 5Jorginho 17Kovacic 3Alonso 19Mount 11Werner 9Abraham Substitutes 7Kanté 10Pulisic 15Zouma 16Mendy 18Giroud 21Chilwell 22Ziyech 24James 33Emerson
Glad to see tuchel is open minded about the whole squad. Kepa had a decent game in the cup and now he gets a chance in the league. A lot of pressure on him but if he can play to his potential it's good for us.
Kepa, why? Other than trying to raise his value above £3 and 20 green shield stamps. We need to win so the best team should be out there and that doesn't include butter fingers
Based on what I saw in the media, it's a clean slate and tuchel wants to see him in the league. He won't have much of a rope though I expect. Maybe he feels these boards have been too quiet lately
Ok so he made one good reaction save, to be fair he has always been good at those. But you need your keeper to be able to do the bread and butter work. I thought he still looked dodgy on crosses and hesitant in distribution. I am fearfully for my heart rate.
I suspect you're not alone there. Fortunately it is a holiday here so day drinking may be necessary. Like you say if he hesitates or makes poor decisions today, the punishment will be much harsher. Not having silva or kante is likely going to give him plenty of chances to show where he is.
TT in an interview said that he (Kepa) had a good performance last game and this was a chance to reinforce that and build his confidence and at the same time it was a chance to let Mendy relax so it was win win. He is paid the big bucks to make these decisions. We need to take advantage of the weekend results
Although you sound like you're kidding, yeah man, that is exactly why. The club's position is probably one nightmare season sitting behind the worst defense this club has trotted out in 20+ years probably shouldn't mean letting him go on a free transfer. Mendy also isn't exactly Buffon. It's more worth giving him a punt under new management than not.
While the emphasis is on the 3 points I do sincerely hope Kante and BG break thru sooner than later. Jorg will never be the answer.
The lack of both silva and kante concerns me. It would anyway but adding a goalie low on confidence is a risk. But given that newcastle are not a great team, it's a lower risk. I doubt his first league game back would be against City for instance. We have looked more solid with 3 at the back rather than the 4 kepa has played behind previously so if we can limit the attacking efforts to the occasional hard hit shot rather than a rain of crosses and a plethora of one on ones, that plays into Kepa's acknowledged strengths and masks his weaker areas. He has a higher ceiling than mendy imo because of that shot stopping ability. But we also know he has a low floor. Really hope we see more than one goal today from our forwards. It's a razer's edge to rely on a clean sheet to win matches.