Not a bad performance today, totally controlled the first half, Mourinho's plan was to 'spoil' the game (it often is these days), That useless b*stard Mason Mount once again man of the match!! :-D, in the first half CHO and James were tearing Ben Davies to pieces but faded a little in the second half. I thought Kovacic had quite a good game too! Beating Spurs away is always a beautiful feeling!
So, this formation. I hope to see us play a different formation at some point in the future. We have so many great attacking players and wing-backs mean we see less of our attacking stars. Tuchel is known for playing different formations which is good news. At PSG he mainly played a 4-3-3 and I would rather see that formation once he has steadied the ship.
You don’t have to be score goals to be a great midfielder. Modric hardly ever scores but his influence in the game is tremendous. Kovacic is the final third has always struggled especially after making one of his trademark runs. What makes Kovacic so good is he is one best press resistant midfielders in the world which is so important in today’s game. Mount also in the first half had plenty of chances to deliver a good final ball and failed every time even with time and space.
That was a bit maddening wasn't it? AC with nice header to Mendy so he could pick it up and then he stands there and puts it down as we struggled to play out of the back!
I agree it is not all about getting goals. Oh I am a big fan of Kovacic. Chelsea POY last season. The comparison to Modric is a good one. But one goal in 3 seasons with Chelsea is not quite good enough. Modric scores quite a few more. In his 4 years with Spurs Modric got 13 goals. I am not saying goals are everything, but it is not like Jorghino is going to score that many for Chels either, both of them need to chip in with some efforts every now and then. A few long range shots. A partial save and Werner would be there ready to pounce. Kovacic got through on goal today against Spurs and it was wonderful, but he panicked with his shot. Chelsea fans want him to score. He is so close to being a truly special player. Indeed, Kovacic very good today.
Silva was a big miss.. he is head and shoulders above most, some of the work he did up til he got hurt was so impressive.
Kick it up the pitch to who? As we were playing Mount as a false 9, who sometimes was a 10, not sure who was supposed to hold the ball up for us. Or I guess the real question is why do we play out of the back all the time? Mix it up a bit. Rudiger is not afraid to hit a long ball. But Jorghino is always about the short pass. Sometimes a hospital ball.
Chelsea had five times as many touches in the opposition box as Wolves, four times as many as Burnley, and had to settle for three times as many touches as Tottenham. 39 to 13. Tuchel becomes first Chelsea manager since Mourinho to start with three successive clean sheets.
I thought that maybe we should have let Werner take the penalty for the sake of his confidence. But apparently he aint even the no.2. Tuchel confirmed Mason Mount was the back-up option after impressing during training this week. The Chelsea manager said: “The guys took some penalties in the last nine days after training. “We have Willy Caballero and the guys pushing the penalty takers to be serious, and if you are not then you don’t score. “So you get a good picture of who is capable and today it was Mason and Jorginho on the sheet: we put the two names and I said to Jorginho just before the match if he feels confident to take a penalty, and he said clearly yes. “So we trusted him, but I did not discuss with him how to take it.”
Great to win...but were we good or were they awful. Does Kane make that much of a difference? They seemed lost all game. I’m sure there are brilliant reasons to play the line-ups he’s choosing, but seems like you’re always better off with your best players on the pitch. Mendy, Silva, Kante, Pulisic, and (for me) Mount would be locks. Build and rotate around them. Tammy and Zyech have been so good. CHO lately. It’s nice to have options, I guess.
Mourhino is embarrassing himself. Delusional. Thought they outplayed us. Had some weird argument against the obvious penalty. All excuses. Super rude and dismissive of the reporter after the match. “It’s a good question (about using Bale), but you don’t deserve an answer.” That’s bull$#!+. He’s a disgrace.
This win was worth more than 3pts. Building confidence and having executed tactics is just so refreshing to watch. One main difference I'm over the moon with is when a midfielder receives the ball. No longer are they endlessly passing it back to the defenders, they now turn with the ball and create space. So simple yet difficult to execute has only been possible because of the improved movement. Makes me so happy to see.
Tuchel singled out Mendy for a good performance. Staying alert when he had little to do and also complimenting him on his distribution from the back. In other goalkeeping news --- Ajax and Cameroon goalkeeper Andre Onana has been banned from football for a year for a doping violation. https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/55949730 Glad we didn't sign him. Ajax said Onana had mistakenly taken medication prescribed for his wife while feeling unwell. Same old story, like when Rio Ferdinand was banned for 6 months for taking his wife's cocaine.
Tuchel becomes first Chelsea manager since Mourinho to start with three successive clean sheets. There is the answer. Caution. Results driven. Sensible. Steadying the ship from the back. Building the defence. Making us solid. Building the confidence. etc. Hopefully we will move away from wing backs, play four at the back and start playing our more exciting players in time. Pulisic, Havertz, Ziyech, Tammy, etc are all waiting to score goals.
-Helped that Spurs/Jose didn't really care about implementing their own plan. -This is how Jorg can be useful when employed by a manager with purpose. Same for Kova. I've been a big anti-Jorgi guy, but he's been good under Tuchel and not forced to play outside of his skill set -Christensen filled in well for Silva, who will be a big miss. But again, Spurs didnt do much going forward. -God we need to finish. Imagine if we had a Costa/Drogba esque caliber striker.
Maybe. Sarri also employed him with purpose. Hopefully Jorg can be a little more pro-active under Tuchel. I get it. The little passes. They cannot score if they don't have the ball. But occasionally a long forward ball. Probing. Creative. Entertaining even. The problem with Jorg - and his attitude has always been top notch btw - is that if you don't have 3 CB's behind him he does become a bit of a liability due to his lack of pace. Maybe if we had two world class CB's it would work? Tuchel will maybe figure this all out. The defensive wonder wall.
On reflection we won this game courtesy of Dier giveaway. Also without Silva we were no where near as solid at the back. As well as his calming experience we missed his distribution out of defense. Hopefully he makes a quick recovery. Christensen looed nervous when he came on, hopefully time on the pitch and the training ground can help. We need someone to find their shooting boots. If it was not for Dier being dire ultimately this would have been as frustrating as the Wolves game. Sheffield United up next, they are improving of late and one of their forwards seems to save all his goals for us.
I hear you but we know from his time with us, and the All Or Nothing doc, that he doesn't really believe much of that.