Been a fair amount of complacency from us today which was my fear. Too many little behind the back flicks and blind passes. Too many balls that hit the first man. Too many hospital balls from out of the back. Playing the form and not the team.
Got what we deserved, awful performance, we didn't create anything all game, Djinepo man of the match by a mile, that useless player (only picked cos he's Lampard's favourite) Mount once again Chelsea's man of the match.
Tuchel got his team selection wrong today. We really need an intelligent player in the double-6 position (and it shouldn't be Jorginho). The fact that we are using a back 5 just shows our mistakes in the transfer market.
The lack of pace from alonso really showed today. Mount on multiple occasions played a ball in front of him to run onto when he was in space only for him to get there second. I know he poses a goal threat but in terms of all round play it wasn't good from him.
Alonso's goal vs Burnley has earned him waaaay too many minutes. Did TT overlook possibility of CHO to LWB and Alonso off? We never got the game under control after the penalty
Agreed. Alonso definitely has his positive attributes but he also has holes in his game that are getting worse over time. The good news is by playing him at lwb those holes dont kill us at the back but the bad news is, it really jams up our attacks. Would like to see chilwell given a run of starts as think he can produce what tuchel is looking for. But there was sloppy play all over the place today. Mount looked good out there and continues to be a catalyst for good things. The next training session is going to be a long burner for sure. At least we didnt ship 3 like we did the last time we played this lot.
I think he can only do so much, the same problems are still there. The lack of a creative mid is killing this team. TT realized going to 3atb sufferball was a way to grind out some results.
The solution to this problem could have in been our squad all along. The best centre mid pairing I've seen during Lamps and Tuchel's time is actually Barkley and Gilmour, albeit only for 2 games before the COVID disruption. These two had a good combination of work rate, intelligence and ball carrying ability, and bossed Liverpool's and Everton's midfields. All of other our current centre mids have a significant deficiency of some sort: 1) Kovacic and Kante: limited awareness, not quick enough in their heads; 2) Jorginho: too slow and physically disadvantaged; 3) Havertz: jury is still out on this one but looking too soft for the premier league at the moment. The alternative is to try Reece James at centre mid. I'm sure he would use the ball better than Kante and Kovacic. However that creates another hole at right-back / wing back.
Just finished watching. Zouma, utterly useless on that first goal. Watching the player passing the ball 30 yards ahead of him and not the ********ing attacker making a run 5 yards away. He is athletic but he is dumb. Looking forward to having Silva back. Thought we could be incisive at times, driving through the middle, creating space for good crosses. We just didn't do enough with it and the final touch/shot was seriously lacking (Reece and Alonso put those two chances on target at a bare minimum any other day). Some interesting takes on here. In a frustrating game, we still managed to control the basically the entire pitch and, despite some sloppiness, we continue to look markedly better than the team that couldn't be bothered to attack through the middle or, I dunno, would lose a lot. Still, some of the passes and shot attempts were really annoying to see. Jorginho coming on and being supremely useless is classic, as always. Getting walked past by an OK step-over from a couple yards away, not moving and then just taking the player our was hysterical. Fascinatingly, consistently terrible. Tuchel is going to earn my ire if this is his idea of an impact sub. That said, Tuchel ain't happy at all with the performance and it will be interesting to see how the team reacts. Will his frustration turn into motivation or will our players succumb to the pressure?
Will be interesting to see how CHO reacts to being called out. The tactic feels a little Mourinho-esque. You have to think there's been some issues in training for this to manifest in 30 minutes during a match. Hopefully he channels the criticism into new effort.
IDK. We seem to be a draw waiting to happen, most games 0-0. Can’t find a group he likes. What did they use to call Ranieri? Tinkerman. Maybe this is inevitable as a new manager tries to get to know the squad, but we haven’t been much fun to watch. Happy to be not-losing. If I had a manic wand: Werner or Tammy up top (OG option) CP and Ziyech on the wings (CHO option) Mount in the 10 (Havertz as an option) Kova and Kante (Gilmour option) Chill Silva Rudi/Zouma James Mendy Alonso, Jorg, Azpi, Kepa AC for emergencies only.