Chelsea v. Aston Villa Monday, December 28, 2020 Stamford Bridge, London 12:30 EST Aston Villa have the same points as us with two fewer games played. They sit ahead of us in the table on GD. Will take a big performance to get three points, which says a lot about where we are as a club. But don't worry! The Final Puzzle Pieces are coming! Just be patient!
Assuming that is sarcasm. The big $ players are the people Frank wanted. He chooses the lineups and formations. Their inability to play to potential, and the lack of any chemistry or complementarity in the way the attacking players play is on him. Yesterday’s last PC was inexcusable.
It's totally sarcasm. Ziyech was the final puzzle piece. Then Silva was. Then Kai was going to create like crazy as a puzzle piece. Mendy was the final puzzle piece. Werner was the final puzzle piece. Now it's Rice. Or maybe Haaland! Or both. Or maybe the manager doesn't know what he's doing and was carried last season via sheer talent from Giroud, Abraham, and Pulisic during the restart.
Frank Lampard is a Chelsea legend. Idk if you were a Chelsea supporter when he played for us, but frankly go easy with your Frank-hate. Everybody knows that the final piece of the jigsaw puzzle is Danny. Danny Drinkwater.
HE IS? Thanks for the news flash. Lampard is one of the finest, if not finest, players to ever put on the shirt. But that doesn't make him a good manager. He's going to get every chance in this position because he's built up his legend. He's also got every single player he's asked for, which we haven't seen since Jose 1.0 - or since. I don't hate him as person aside from his political views. As a manager of my club, I think he's tactically naive, would rather shift blame, and has failed to motivate a group of extremely talented players. And in trying to improve our defense, he's made our offense worse - and the defense has stayed the same. If you asked me if I'd love to see Lampard succeed? Of course. He is extremely driven and will work tirelessly to figure this out. But when you see his solutions (Kante putting in crosses from the right wing; Jorginho coming in at all; Werner on the wing; Giroud starting over Tammy; playing Barkley ever; Playing Kante as a roaming, forward midfielder; Playing two injured half backs, it's hard to see the light. It's good that he's benched Havertz. Maybe try and play him centrally like the whole world has figured out but Frank.
Love the appeals to emotion. Getting called plastic because you point out whatever is going on seems to be an issue. Lamps is the first jersey I got with a name on the back, he will always be my biggest CFC hero no matter what happens next. Does not change that you can say he doesn’t appear to be ready for this level of management.
Oh you have heard of him too?!! Well done kid. Nobody called anybody plastic. Unless you are calling yourself plastic for some reason? Making stuff up is straight out of your hero Trump's playbook.
It has been a strange season. Pandemic. No or hardly any fans. Liverpool are top but they have also lost 7-2 to Aston Villa. Odd season all round. Point being, I still think Frank has some time to turn things around. Chelsea have lost three of their last four Premier League matches following an unbeaten run of 17 fixtures in all competitions.
Chelsea have lost three of their last four Premier League matches following an unbeaten run of 17 fixtures in all competitions. It really is amazing how quickly perception changes on a couple of 50/50 things in games that haven't gone our way? Reality, not playing well and have lost 3 of 4.... I get it , but just stop and think about it Ifs and buts Mendy makes a rash challenge and concedes PK, Mount FK off post. 0-1 Last second Neto goal , Zouma crossbar 1-2 Soft PK, Saka cross, a free kick , we miss a PK, Mount FK off post 1-3 If just two of things happen or don't happen are we in the dumps and questioning Frank? Wave a magic wand and reverse all of those things in our favor, are we in here talking about title ? I know reality is reality and they didn't happen but it just shows you how fickle sport is and how much people can knee-jerk
You imply that there haven't been question marks over our tactical approach for a while. This is not a recent phenomenon. You can point to things that went against us but there's an equally long list of things that broke our way, that's just how football works. I think Frank has the tools to switch things up but whilst he had something of a free pass last season with the lack of new players he gets no wiggle room this time (not so much from the fans but from the top office). The Villa match is really important for him and for the players who need to step it up. I really hope we see werner in the middle up top and kai in the middle of everything. I would like to see mount on the bench and james in street clothes.
This is the equivalent of calling someone plastic. "Idk if you were a Chelsea supporter when he played for us, but frankly go easy with your Frank-hate." Trump is who's hero? What are you talking about?
"You imply that there haven't been question marks over our tactical approach for a while. This is not a recent phenomenon." I definitely question the tactics used and it's become harder to support him when he seems to try and force a square into a round peg. It's very frustrating that we are almost into 2021 and we have only been able to see the lineup as many supporters envisioned it on the field for about 15 minutes due to injuries and tactics. Can you imagine the fear of opposition defense against a front 3 of Puli- Werner - CHO/Ziyech? I think Frank has been a little trapped by feeling like he had to play Tammy and squeeze Giroud in so he doesn't leave, but it's at the expense of what should be our #1 striker I just hope he gets it sorted soon as I was hopeful we may have found a manager to last for at least a 4 seasons...
Nobody called anybody else plastic. This is a fact. Making stuff up and presenting it as "fact". For instance, nobody called anybody a plastic, but here we are talking about 'plastic'. This a Trump tactic and it also appears to be a shared behaviour amongst certain posters on here. There is certainly some equivalency between these posters and Trump. They share a love for misinformation and false information.
Back to the Football. Chelsea head coach Frank Lampard has said he will make "six or seven changes", with Callum Hudson-Odoi set to make just a second Premier League start of the season. So, Frank is promising changes for this one. Hakim Ziyech is back in contention following a thigh injury. Timo Werner has gone 10 games without scoring. Timo's longest drought for more than 4 years. Chelsea Football club are unbeaten in six home games, winning four and drawing two. Chels have not lost their final Premier League match of a calendar year since a 3-1 defeat against Villa in 2011.
There’s really only one valid solution here. Starting line up and bench will be decided by popular vote. In game votes will occur for subs. Frank will remain on as manager but really just symbolically so.
FFS let's at least judge Lampard after a game where the team at least puts in an effort! Once you've put them on the pitch the responsibility becomes theirs! It was obvious to all that more than one of the players did NOT give 100% against Arsenal! Why did the players work so hard against Leeds and yet look so lazy against Arsenal? Complacency that's why, after 17 unbeaten games these young players think the game is won before the kick off, if you don't give 100% against ALL Premier League clubs your NOT going to win! Burnley may not have the quality in their team that other Premier League clubs have but you can almost guarantee that they give 100% (nearly) every game. It's never pleasant losing but losing because of lack of effort is particularly galling.
I remember season 82-83 (I was a young boy!). Chelsea escaped relegation to the third division on goal difference, the clubs lowest EVER finish. The fans (perhaps unsurprisingly) were baying for John Neal's head, John Neal himself offered to resign. I read Bates notes in the program for the first game of the following 83-84 season, a game against one of the promotion favourites Derby County. Bates relayed the fact that Neal had offered his resignation but pointed out that he had refused on the basis that the players were more to blame for the poor results, as he put it for some there was a lack of effort, others he said were 'frankly not good enough'. Bates gave Neal a couple of million quid and Neal raided the lower leagues (Spackman, Dixon) & Scotland (Nevin, Rougvie) for players, he turned the team from division 3 quality to top six in the First Division (Premier League). On the terraces the opinion of Neal changed from a 'clueless baffoon' to a 'tactical genius'. We beat Derby County that day by 5 goals to 0. Just saying
Thinking about this, it now seems pretty obvious what Frank was doing: play a full strength squad - including Chillwell and James - to secure points from Arsenal. Then, rotate for Villa. That backfired spectacularly and here we are. Here's what I think we'll see today from Lampard...or similar. He's already said CHO will start. His end product is poor, but what do we have to lose (besides the match): Mendy Az--Zouma-Silva-Chillwell Kante-Mount Kai CHO--Abraham-Pulisic
16Mendy 28Azpilicueta 4Christensen 2Rüdiger 21Chilwell 7Kanté 5Jorginho 19Mount 10Pulisic 18Giroud 20Hudson-Odoi
Was not expecting the CB changeup, though I suppose they needed a rest; especially Silva. -Christensen has the ability to make any keeper look terrible so that will be interesting. Though I hear he is "very good on the ball." -Chilly and Az on the flanks, as I suspected. -Jorginho, jesus christ. -No Kai. Maybe he'll see some time against Morecambe. -Giroud again, even though Abraham is the only one who looks like scoring -CHO needed this start and he needs to make the most of it. -Let's hope Pulisic gets more touches on the ball than Mendy.