The Conte Thread

[Johnnyeye 7,403]

1 hour ago, Barbara said:

we definitely need someone to replace Oscar. When Pedro was suspended, we didn't have anyone to replace Willian in the game if we needed or wanted to have another AM. That's a fact.

We also don't have replacements for our wing backs. Ivanovic ain't one. He only comes when we need to close the shop towards the end of matches. If Moses or Alonso get injured or suspended, there is no one to play their roles, unless we improvise. There's no way Kenedy, who has just been reintegrated to the team would play.

And that's not even considering improvement in the starting XI, as there are some positions we could definitely use improvement, in theory (because fact remains Pedro, Moses and Alonso are overachieving or playing out of their mind, you choose your vocab).

Verratti or Vidal in a heart beat to replace Oscar, one can dream

[FabHazard 655]

 

Gianluca Di MarzioVerified account‏@DiMarzio

With #Emenalo @ChelseaFC sports director, talking about #Conte. Coming tonight 11 pm on @SkySport #calciomercato

[Jase 43,479]

 

[iceboy 992]

Good to hear this from Emenalo.

[volfan89 97]

3 hours ago, Jason said:

 

Talk is cheap and we're on a 13 game win run. I'll believe it when he says the same after the inevitable run of bad results. 

[manpe 10,855]

17 hours ago, Jason said:

 

Not surprising, you just have to look at our bench game after game. We've been lucky not to have injuries or suspensions to key players, because our options from the bench are the likes of Aina, Ivanovic, Loftus-Cheek and Batshuayi. That's not good enough and doesn't inspire confidence.

[MefiX19 1,092]

20 hours ago, iceboy said:

Good to hear this from Emenalo  Lord and Saviour.

 

[The Chels 2,502]

I said in the pre-match thread that it's important not to overreact whatever the result, but it must be said that our performances against the bigger teams this season have left a lot to be desired.

Liverpool, City, Arsenal and Tottenham all exposed us defensively. The media have definitely overrated us in that respect and the big teams know we are there to be got at.

It's therefore even more vital that we remain consistent against the lesser sides. This will hopefully be enough to get us over the line.

 

[Amblève. 4,995]

Before you all go into panic mode just fucking remember we won 13 games in a row and are sitting comfortably on top of the table.

[Tautvix 1,321]

10 minutes ago, Amblève. said:

Before you all go into panic mode just fucking remember we won 13 games in a row and are sitting comfortably on top of the table.

Saying we are comfortably on top is false. We are on top but we are still gonna go to Liverpool, Man Utd, Everton... We are on top but let's not be overconfident.

Probably agree that we can't panic now. And we will see how strong we are now after we lost. So it is now vital to with the next game in the league... Away at Leicester. Gonna be very tough but it's a must win.

Talking about today's performance... Some player were just shocking. I mean Luiz, Kante and Pedro weren't playing for Chelsea today at all. Other were so so.

[MefiX19 1,092]

8 minutes ago, Mana said:

The only positive is that this isn't the first time we lost to Spuds in WHL on New Year's...and the last time this happened, we went on to win the league.

Actually if it's correct we lost at WHL in 09/10 season too.

[Tomo 21,681]

35 minutes ago, The Chels said:

I said in the pre-match thread that it's important not to overreact whatever the result, but it must be said that our performances against the bigger teams this season have left a lot to be desired.

Liverpool, City, Arsenal and Tottenham all exposed us defensively. The media have definitely overrated us in that respect and the big teams know we are there to be got at.

It's therefore even more vital that we remain consistent against the lesser sides. This will hopefully be enough to get us over the line.

 

Anfield is the worrying one, we should have enough to do Arsenal at home and i fancy us to get a point at Old Trafford, City at home god knows. If we keep up the consistency vs the lesser sides 5 points should do us in these games.

[bluephoenix 1,125]

39 minutes ago, Amblève. said:

Before you all go into panic mode just fucking remember we won 13 games in a row and are sitting comfortably on top of the table.

I am just playing devils advocate here but we are just 5 points clear of Liverpool. We have big games to play. If we can't step up against the better teams then it won't be long before we start bitching about how it all went down south.

Conte needs to act and adapt accordingly. In a way this defeat is a good check for Conte to analyze what he is doing wrong and to make it right.

[Fernando 6,374]

Hopefully we spend now because I was getting worried people was getting too comfortable with what we got. 

I even saw an article in ESPN where one of the main write said we didn't need to spend, we could win with what we got. 

Hopefully after today they still see we need more. 

[Jase 43,479]

Champions League and Europa League can't come back soon enough. Need them to help screw some of the other sides up.

[Henrique 9,133]

8 minutes ago, Fernando said:

Hopefully we spend now because I was getting worried people was getting too comfortable with what we got. 

I even saw an article in ESPN where one of the main write said we didn't need to spend, we could win with what we got. 

Hopefully after today they still see we need more. 

and they were right. Every team in the world want to improve the quality of their squads, but its not like we cant win with the current squad.

[Blue-in-me-Veins 4,067]

1 hour ago, The Chels said:

I said in the pre-match thread that it's important not to overreact whatever the result, but it must be said that our performances against the bigger teams this season have left a lot to be desired.

Liverpool, City, Arsenal and Tottenham all exposed us defensively. The media have definitely overrated us in that respect and the big teams know we are there to be got at.

It's therefore even more vital that we remain consistent against the lesser sides. This will hopefully be enough to get us over the line.

 

James York had a very good stat highlighting how night and day we are vs the top 6 and the rest. 

But if you look at today's result, we broke that trend. 

Today's match was not horrific. A la Liverpool/Arsenal. Spurs were the better team, no doubt, but they didn't really "destroy us". What today's match does show, is that, much like we've been ruthless towards other clubs, Spurs were ruthless when they created their chances. Look at the Xg map. 

What annoyed me the most about today was just the abjectness of the wingbacks in Alonso/Moses. They really really let us down today. Failed to keep possesion/win their battles. Alonso  kept getting beat 1v1 vs any body he faced, and Moses played Alli onside for their first goal, and offered very little in attack until we went 2-0 down. 

 

[Henrique 9,133]

1 hour ago, The Chels said:

I said in the pre-match thread that it's important not to overreact whatever the result, but it must be said that our performances against the bigger teams this season have left a lot to be desired.

Liverpool, City, Arsenal and Tottenham all exposed us defensively. The media have definitely overrated us in that respect and the big teams know we are there to be got at.

It's therefore even more vital that we remain consistent against the lesser sides. This will hopefully be enough to get us over the line.

 

Liverpool and Arsenal games were before the 3-6-1 system, and I would not say Spurs "exposed" the team defensively today. I'm not saying everything is okay in the defense. Azpilicueta is not a CB, and he was used in that position because both Terry and Zouma were injured when Conte decided to give the 3-6-1 system a try. Now that Zouma is back, he must be introduced in this side at some point, with Azpilicueta moving into Moses position.

The problem today was not "exposed defense", but imo Conte failed to deal with Spurs high pressure. The team barely had a midfield in the first half, and the defenders were forced to try long balls to the attacking zone. I thought it was a bad decisions to start Pedro in this one, since this game was more suited to Willian, and perhaps Fabgreas was the ideal starter instead of Matic.