All we're doing here is confirming that Rom, Pulisic, and Kai are your 3 best attacking players on the roster, and it's not all that particularly close. All this 'depth' that Chelsea fans brag about is a whole lot of average football
Chelsea suffers of military thinking. If one man digs a trench in 200 minutes, then 200 men would dig it in 1 minute. Right? ...right?
How do you rate Pulisic that highly when he is so frequently down with injury? I think, at this point, their best attackers are 1. Lukaku. 2. Lukaku. 3. Lukaku. after that, it's meh and hope for 0-0. There's a lot of potential in Pulisic, but there isn't a lot of being able to count on him. a team's best players are those they can count on.
He's not been injured prior to this for like a year. He was Chelsea's best attacking player, period, for the 2nd half of last season - and that wasn't remotely close. It's just that got pigeon holed into that super sub role BECAUSE he was the only dynamic player on the roster
I would love to see these three on the pitch together (with Kova) and see what the offense looks like then. I suspect it would be much more powerful.
Of course we would, but that is completely beside the point. Mount has demonstrated, virtually every time he has played, that he is technically extremely good. Very seldom does he lose the ball and his receiving ability is excellent. However, he is not a successful attacker and never has been. His technique and stamina are perfect for a midfielder, but his best contribution would be as a #6, at least until he learns to hit line-breaking passes. Chelsea does need a midfield playmaker and he could be it, but not yet, IMHO. On the other hand, as long as Tuchel accepts an abundance of 1-0 games, he is likely to stay an attacker.
According to FBRef (Football Reference, a stat site), last season, de Bruyne and Grealish were tied for first with 0.86 goals created/90 min. Bruno Fernandez was 3rd at 0.78/90, tied with Phil Foden. Chelsea had nobody in the top 10. Werner was #11 with 0.66/90. Mount was #36 at 0.44/90, also behind Havertz and Ziyech. CP was #47 at 0.41/90. (I don't know whether corner kicks contribute to this stat. If so, it would greatly inflate Mount's number).
From years of playing various fantasy soccer games, the guys who take corners, free kicks, penalties are the ones you want on your team. If you have one guy taking all 3 of those your numbers are gonna go way up relative to everyone else.
As a 6? That ain't happening. Bruno Fernandes leads Premier league this season with 5 through balls. Mount has 4. https://www.premierleague.com/stats/top/players/total_through_ball
With the current talent and prefer formation, Mount is neither a starter in midfield or in attack when everyone is healthy. There are only 2 midfielders and 2 attackers on the field at any given time with this 3-4-3 formation. He has to beat out all these players in order to start, and I find it extremely hard to do every week unless there's some level of bias or preferential treatment. Midfield: Kante, Kovacic, Jorgie Attack: Werner, Havertz, Pulisic, Ziyech
Mount's best slot is neither "pure" attacker, nor "pure" midfielder, but he is pretty reasonably effective in the transition. Where that puts him on the pecking order falls more to system than anything. He is best in more hectic/fast moving games to my eye, when he has a bit of space in front of him. I think if Lukaku stays healthy/on form the system/personnel shifts to what works best for him. I'll be interested to see what and who TT thinks that is.
Are you guys still arguing about Mount? He is no longer the teacher's pet of Lampard. Southgate and Tuchel also trust him. Based on how Tuchel has been selecting the team right now the front 3 is Lukaku, Mount and all the other attacking midfielder/winger types battling for the third spot.
I'd probably be more flexible than Tuchel if it were my job, but breaking things down the way you have here, I'd frequently be happy to pick Mount over Ziyech or Werner (assuming Lukaku starting.) Pulisic would be the best offensive sub if he's not starting, and Mount/Havertz are great subs for either offensive or defensive situations when not starting. That's a recipe for Mount playing in every match when healthy, and I think it's appropriate. Even if that means he's #4 on the depth chart for those two central midfield positions, he still may wind up one of the top minutes played guys on the team.
I am still very surprised he hasn't even given the 4-2-3-1 a formation a chance, given the number of attackers they have on the roster. 2 midfield positions for: Kova, Jorgie, Kante 3 attacking positions for: Mount, Werner, Pulisic Kai, Ziyech With this very rigid 3-4-3, he has to put a lot of attackers on the bench.
He's world class at chance-creation, it seems, based on that stat alone (chances / 90). I don't watch him week in and week out, so I can't give another assessment than that, but it's we don't have a luxury of players operating at that level.
Tuchel doesn’t trust any single pair of center backs on the roster against most opponents, hence why he’s playing 3-4-3. And credit to him, because they have been dominating defensively for almost 8 months, with nearly identical personnel to what Lampard had. Moreover, the team believes in the system right now (you could see it even after they went down a player against Liverpool), and everyone understands their defensive role, so until they buy a new center back, or they start leaking goals, this formation is here to stay.
For what its worth, Mount played 202 minutes for England in 6 days prior to the match against Villa. Southgate started him against Hungary and Poland, and he came on as second half sub against Andorra. (And he started the CL match against Zenit, so no evidence yet that his status has changed.)
Pulisic's biggest problem is his own play. If he can play at the level of June-July 2020- where he was world-class for that stretch- or right below that level (late Oct-Dec 2019), he will be impossible for Tuchel to keep him out of the starting line-up. It wasn't just goals during those periods...his movement and touch was sharper. He played with an arrogance & creativity + with such unrelenting pace and positivity in attack. He has it in him. This is his big challenge as a player- to produce those high levels more consistently during these next 2-3 seasons of his career. He will get his chances this season to prove he can do so once again.
Watching Chelsea every week, I am shock to learn that Mount is world class in chance creations. Perhaps a large portion of those chances came from dead ball situations.
Reupping previous analysis. Tuchel said 10 days on September 10. Chelsea don’t play until Sunday afternoon, so we probably won’t get any update until Saturday, and even then he is not expected to be back in training yet.
And here’s a direct quote from Tuchel today, which confirms: "No fresh injury concerns, good news," Tuchel said to the media on Friday afternoon in his pre-match press conference. "Christian Pulisic is in individual training and trying to come back as fast as possible to team training. He will not be in the squad. N’Golo is back in full shape and ready to play."