closed Aston Villa 1-2 Chelsea

[Laylabelle 9,293]

Just now, Milan said:

After watching some games after the restart, I am actually really nervous how we are going to look and play...

Especially now Man U dropped points..let's not join them. All look little rusty so far.

[Muzchap 8,964]

Leicester bottled it 👍

[Muzchap 8,964]

Leicester bottled it 👍

[BXL70 395]

Man utd, Arsenal, Spurs, and Leicester all dropped some points. We have to win this again game at Villa Park!

[Jase 43,479]

Just now, BXL70 said:

Man utd, Arsenal, Spurs, and Leicester all dropped some points. We have to win this again game at Villa Park!

Still got Wolves next.

Given those teams have dropped points and set up a "convenient" situation, I won't be surprised if we end up a stupid result tomorrow. 

[Laylabelle 9,293]

13 minutes ago, Jason said:

Still got Wolves next.

Given those teams have dropped points and set up a "convenient" situation, I won't be surprised if we end up a stupid result tomorrow. 

Yeppp its all going so well atm...

[NikkiCFC 7,559]

10 hours ago, Jason said:

Accomplishments in terms of what? If we're talking trophies, then both have won everything there is to win at the club, except for the Champions League in Azpi's case.

Quality? At their best, both Ivanovic and Azpi are great defensively. Ivanovic may have scored more goals but then again, he is center back while Azpi is a full back. Going forward from open play, both are not that good to say the least. 

Azpi...a SQUAD PLAYER when he has consistently been in the XI every week, under 4 different permanent managers over 7 years? Okay, now you're just taking the piss...

Prime Iva was top5 RB in the world. I think there was a moment when he was the best after Dani Alves and Maicon.

Best two seasons from Azpi came when he was LB (Mourinho title season) and when he was RCB for Conte winning season. As RB he was solid at best.

Talking about trophies yes CL is a big difference. Iva was major part of that team at highest level. Goal against Napoli, heroic defending against Barca... Winning goal in EL final was also big. This is why he is a leader!

There is a reason why we did not do shit in the CL since Azpi is our leader. Also number of trophies is important and Bane have more.

Not to mention individually... 

UEFA European Under-21 Championship Team of the Tournament: 2007

PFA Team of the Year: 2009–10 Premier League,^[24] 2014–15 Premier League

UEFA Champions League Team of the Season: 2014–15

FIFPro World XI 4th team: 2014

FIFPro World XI 5th team: 2013, 2015

UEFA Europa League Final Man of the Match: 2013

...

Azpi has nothing of this.

But my point was never to compare those two. I respect Azpi, work horse, great buy for 7m, very pro player but not a legend and leader that is all!

[Jase 43,479]

7 minutes ago, NikkiCFC said:

Prime Iva was top5 RB in the world. I think there was a moment when he was the best after Dani Alves and Maicon.

Best two seasons from Azpi came when he was LB (Mourinho title season) and when he was RCB for Conte winning season. As RB he was solid at best.

Talking about trophies yes CL is a big difference. Iva was major part of them team at highest level. Goal against Napoli, heroic defending against Barca... Winning goal in EL final was also big. This is why he is a leader!

There is a reason why we did not do shit in the CL since Azpi is our leader. Also number of trophies is important and Bane have more.

Not to mention individually... 

Azpi has nothing of this. Not even close.

But my point was never to compare those two. I respect Azpi, work horse, great buy for 7m, very pro player but not a legend and leader that is all!

lol That is just your funny logic...whatever floats your boat. 

[Pizy 17,860]

Villa are dreadful and were ultra boring the other day against Sheff United. A flash here and there by Grealish apart they are horrendous.

Disgrace if we lose this considering we have a full arsenal of players available. I know it's the first match back but there's no way we should be losing or even dropping any points. 

Save our slip up for Man City next. 😅

[OhForAGreavsie 5,773]

If there is no room for Lewis Bate on the subs bench today then Frank should really have suggested that there be ten players on the bench for these games, not nine.

The three points are paramount of course, but it would be nice to see Lewis get his first involvement with the squad. 

[Vesper 27,266]

4 hours ago, OhForAGreavsie said:

If there is no room for Lewis Bate on the subs bench today then Frank should really have suggested that there be ten players on the bench for these games, not nine.

The three points are paramount of course, but it would be nice to see Lewis get his first involvement with the squad. 

did you ever find out what happened to Ashley Akpan, the now 16yo Polish-Nigerian English Centre back that was out of the blue told to go find another club?

https://tribuna.com/en/chelsea/news/2020-03-11-academy-prospect-ashley-akpan-to-depart-chelsea-leeds-united-frontrunners-to-sign-teenage/

he is still listed as being on Chels.

 https://www.transfermarkt.com/ashley-akpan/profil/spieler/639578

I know England and Poland's and Nigeria's youth teams were fighting over both him and his sister (Ashanti, one year younger and also in Chels academy)

https://www.thefirstnews.com/article/football-associations-involved-in-three-way-scrap-for-talented-polish-nigerian-footballing-siblings-5472

https://tylkokobiecyfutbol.pl/?p=68029

[Superblue 6,331]

4 hours ago, OhForAGreavsie said:

If there is no room for Lewis Bate on the subs bench today then Frank should really have suggested that there be ten players on the bench for these games, not nine.

The three points are paramount of course, but it would be nice to see Lewis get his first involvement with the squad. 

In his press conference, Lamps did seem to suggest that he wanted the increase numbers on the bench to be a permanent thing.

I actually think that it should be but perhaps with the slight change that it should be 9, with a minimum of 2 u21 players. Obviously there are ways around this to a degree as we have a number of players at present who form part of the first team and qualify under that bracket but I think it would present a longer term benefit to all top flight clubs to try to phase academy players into the first team setup, and I think in our case Lampard would view it as an opportunity to give more younger players exposure.

[Superblue 6,331]

A win today won't just build a gap behind us but will also put pressure on Leicester that they haven't really experienced yet this season. It would drag them in towards us and start making that fight for top 4 over two spots instead of one. Leicester's form was poor just before the break (I think it was something like 2 wins in 8 in the league) which is why we've actually made ground on them despite our own form being patchy at best)

With Leicester vs United and Chelsea vs Wolves being the final game of the season, there could genuinely end up being a winner take all scenario in both games.

[BlueLyon 9,359]

United, Spuds, Arse have all easier schedule. Im not worried about Arse, but other two will certainly pick it up. We simply have to win these games or it wont be easy to finish top 4.

[OhForAGreavsie 5,773]

32 minutes ago, Vesper said:

did you ever find out what happened to Ashley Akpan, the now 16yo Polish-Nigerian English Centre back that was out of the blue told to go find another club?

https://tribuna.com/en/chelsea/news/2020-03-11-academy-prospect-ashley-akpan-to-depart-chelsea-leeds-united-frontrunners-to-sign-teenage/

he is still listed as being on Chels.

 https://www.transfermarkt.com/ashley-akpan/profil/spieler/639578

I know England and Poland's and Nigeria's youth teams were fighting over both him and his sister (Ashanti, one year younger and also in Chels academy)

https://www.thefirstnews.com/article/football-associations-involved-in-three-way-scrap-for-talented-polish-nigerian-footballing-siblings-5472

https://tylkokobiecyfutbol.pl/?p=68029

As far as I know, his move to Leeds was only held up by the lockdown and is still on the cards. The club is always tight lipped about these things so I can only hope there was no disciplinary reason behind his departure. It is standard for scholars who will formally be released in June, to be told in January so they have plenty of time time find a new club. Like most academies, CFC work hard to help youngsters find the next step. 

[OhForAGreavsie 5,773]

23 minutes ago, Superblue_1986 said:

In his press conference, Lamps did seem to suggest that he wanted the increase numbers on the bench to be a permanent thing.

I actually think that it should be but perhaps with the slight change that it should be 9, with a minimum of 2 u21 players. Obviously there are ways around this to a degree as we have a number of players at present who form part of the first team and qualify under that bracket but I think it would present a longer term benefit to all top flight clubs to try to phase academy players into the first team setup, and I think in our case Lampard would view it as an opportunity to give more younger players exposure.

I like your suggestion but I admit I have always been against the expansion of the numbers on the bench because i think it favours the richer clubs and they/we have enough advantages as is. Insisting on some kind of academy representation is potentially the compromise which would make me buy in to the plan.

Without such a provision I'm dead against the idea. After all, the nine names on Man City's bench would be an entirely different kind of list to the one Norwich could muster.

[Superblue 6,331]

1 hour ago, OhForAGreavsie said:

I like your suggestion but I admit I have always been against the expansion of the numbers on the bench because i think it favours the richer clubs and they/we have enough advantages as is. Insisting on some kind of academy representation is potentially the compromise which would make me buy in to the plan.

Without such a provision I'm dead against the idea. After all, the nine names on Man City's bench would be an entirely different kind of list to the one Norwich could muster.

Completely agree. I think the current situation is necessary to a degree, especially when 5 subs can be utilised too, but moving forward it no doubt favours the squads with the most depth hence why I think that would be a compromise situation to trying to help more academy players gain exposure.

[LAM09 6,531]

Looks like RLC is starting. I wasn't expecting that