closed Chelsea 3-3 Southampton

[Azul 1,615]

14 minutes ago, Jason said:

You gotta factor the traveling, jet lag etc. He's 36, not 26. 

And furthermore, we knew when we signed Silva that he's not gonna start every single game. So, I don't get what's the fuss around this. 

I knew you were going to come up with that argument. Silva being 36, doesn't justify the choice of not starting him because he travelled from South America to the UK 2 days ago.

Lampard is too cautious when it comes to selecting players, we've seen a lot of that last season as well. Are you telling me that Mourinho would bench his best defender just because he travelled to South America? What a joke.

[ZAPHOD2319 3,873]

Ziyech also has a history at Ajax for missing games for small injuries. He minutes need to managed just like Pulisic until they show their bodies can handle the league.

[Pizy 17,860]

Yeah, this'll be a very tough match. No Mendy, best CB out, coming off a long break so will probably be rusty.

 

[MoroccanBlue 5,195]

Has to be this. Lampard needs to absolutely run it through CHO's head to take players on. We should still be winning this bar the two blatant liabilities at the back. 

Kepa

Dave---Christensen---Zouma---Chilwell

Kante---Jorginho

CHO-----Havertz----Pulisic

Werner

[Jase 43,479]

2 minutes ago, Azul said:

I knew you were going to come up with that argument. Him being 36, doesn't justify not starting him because of him travelling from South America to the UK 2 days ago.

Lampard is too cautious when it comes to selecting players, we've seen a lot of that last season as well. Are you telling me that Mourinho would bench his best defender just because he travelled to South America? What a joke.

It's easy for us to sit down here and complain about this when we don't know how's the exact condition of Silva after playing for Brazil and traveling all the way back from there.

And even if you don't want to accept that argument, then what about that second one? We were always going to have to pick and choose the games for Silva to play anyway. 

[Superblue 6,331]

4 minutes ago, Azul said:

I knew you were going to come up with that argument. Silva being 36, doesn't justify not starting him because of him travelling from South America to the UK 2 days ago.

Lampard is too cautious when it comes to selecting players, we've seen a lot of that last season as well. Are you telling me that Mourinho would bench his best defender just because he travelled to South America? What a joke.

He played Wednesday night. The likelihood therefore is he's travelled back Thursday morning so he has one day of training following a day of travelling.

Like some have said, he's 36 and needs to be managed throughout the season because we need him to stay as fit as possible and play as many games as possible for us. He likely wouldn't have played all 3 games in the next week anyway so would make sense for him to sit this one out for the reasons above.

[ZAPHOD2319 3,873]

It is unfortunate timing to sit him with Kepa in at goal.

[MoroccanBlue 5,195]

Not arsed about Silva but its Ziyech's situation that's annoying. If CHO wasn't so scared shittless of taking players on we wouldn't' have to worry. 

[Jase 43,479]

This is what Lampard said about Ziyech in full...

https://metro.co.uk/2020/10/16/frank-lampard-hakim-ziyech-chelsea-debut-13433952/

‘Obviously, we brought Hakim here and it feels a long time ago now,’ said Lampard.

‘But he also has not played since the Dutch league finished during the lockdown period, it’s a long time. 
‘He’s worked so hard, he’s been fantastic in terms of his professionalism to get fit, and looks really good in training.

‘It’s match fitness, I’ve got a really open relationship with him to know where he’s at and how I feel about it. So it’s just game minutes what we need now. 

‘But yes, of course, I’m really excited to get him in and around it. To bring what we brought him to the club for, which is the opportunity to create chances for us, to be the talented player that he is that we saw at Ajax. I look forward to seeing him play.’

[Azul 1,615]

31 minutes ago, Jason said:

It's easy for us to sit down here and complain about this when we don't know how's the exact condition of Silva after playing for Brazil and traveling all the way back from there.

And even if you don't want to accept that argument, then what about that second one? We were always going to have to pick and choose the games for Silva to play anyway. 

If he plays against Sevilla will he be fit enough for the Man UTD game? According to you he's 36 and can't play every match so I'm wondering what's more important for you PL games or CL games?

We got the easiest group apart from Sevilla so I see no reason why we have to rest players for CL games. I would rather have Silva start now, then rest for the Sevilla game, and afterwards start against Man UTD. 

[Jase 43,479]

4 minutes ago, Azul said:

If he plays against Sevilla will he be fit enough for the Man UTD game? According to you he's 36 and can't play every match so I'm wondering what's more important for you PL games or CL games?

We got the easiest group apart from Sevilla so I see no reason why we have to rest players for CL games. I would rather have Silva start now, then rest for the Sevilla game, and afterwards start against Man UTD. 

We have 4 days between Sevilla and Man United and the only travelling involved is between London and Manchester...

As for the Champions League group, I am pleased with the group we got but since we haven't proven that we are able to put away the lesser sides consistently yet, am not taking Krasnodar and Rennes for granted (the trip to Russia is gonna be tough). Moreover, if we want to qualify AND finish top of the group, we likely have to beat Sevilla.

[Azul 1,615]

Just now, Jason said:

We have 4 days between Sevilla and Man United and the only travelling involved is between London and Manchester...

As for the Champions League group, I am pleased with the group we got but since we haven't proven that we are able to put away the lesser sides yet, am not taking Krasnodar and Rennes for granted (the trip to Russia is gonna be tough). Moreover, if we want to qualify AND finish top of the group, we likely have to beat Sevilla.

Finishing first or second doesn't mean anything because we eventually will be facing the best sides of Europe if we qualify for the knockout stages. Whether it's the first game of the knockout stage or last game.

With PL on the other hand we're known to drop a lot of points with Christensen playing at CB. It's vital for us to get the three points this weekend when all the big teams are playing against eachother.

[Jase 43,479]

1 minute ago, Azul said:

Finishing first or second doesn't mean anything because we eventually will be facing the best sides of Europe if we qualify for the knockout stages. Whether it's the first game of the knockout stage or last game.

Yes but if we could avoid getting a big team in the Round of 16 and get past the round, then that would be nice for a change!

3 minutes ago, Azul said:

With PL on the other hand we're known to drop a lot of points with Christensen playing at CB. It's vital for us to get the three points this weekend when all the big teams are playing against eachother.

There's no guarantee Christensen will play...

And there's more room for error at this point in the Premier League compared to the Champions League group stage.

[ZAPHOD2319 3,873]

50 minutes ago, MoroccanBlue said:

Has to be this. Lampard needs to absolutely run it through CHO's head to take players on. We should still be winning this bar the two blatant liabilities at the back. 

Kepa

Dave---Christensen---Zouma---Chilwell

Kante---Jorginho

CHO-----Havertz----Pulisic

Werner

Mount for CHO I bet. Especially after all the praise Mount got for England international games.

[milka 3,307]

 Ouch ..... Kepa  again    

[Vesper 27,306]

LAMPARD: ZIYECH IS IN THE SQUAD BUT DUO MISS OUT

https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/2020/10/16/lampard-delivers-an-injury-update-ahead-of-southampton-visit?cardIndex=0-1

Frank Lampard issued a lengthy injury update at his pre-Southampton press conference, with the head coach confirming that Hakim Ziyech will be in the squad for the first time.

The Moroccan has recovered from a knee injury and will be in the matchday squad, with Ben Chilwell and Christian Pulisic also fine to feature.

Edouard Mendy and Thiago Silva will miss out, however, with the goalkeeper injured and the Brazilian not involved following a long-haul trip for his national side this week.

‘Mendy won’t be fit for this game but we hope he won’t be out for too long,’ said Lampard at his pre-match press conference.

MENDY WILL BE RULED OUT OF THE WEEKEND'S HOME FIXTURE

‘Thiago Silva after his trip [with the Brazil national team], is not in the squad. He’s not unfit but he’s not ready to play in the weekend’s game due to the travelling he’s done.

‘Ben Chilwell is in the squad. He’s got over some of the feelings with the injury he has had for a while that took him out of England squad, so he’s available for tomorrow.

‘Christian Pulisic is in the squad, he’s fit and ready, and Hakim Ziyech is also in the squad. He’s not fit to start but is fit enough to participate in some way, we hope.'

FRANK LAMPARD: "ZIYECH, PULISIC & CHILWELL ARE IN THE SQUAD, MENDY & THIAGO SILVA ARE OUT"

The boss was asked whether Kepa Arrizabalaga or Willy Caballero would replace the injured Mendy between the sticks against the Saints, but our head coach insists that is a decision he still has to make.

‘I’ll make that decision out of the goalkeepers tomorrow, so we will see with that one,’ Frank added.

Our head coach did go into more detail about the potential inclusion of Hakim Ziyech, who could make his long-awaited Chelsea debut this weekend, with Lampard excited to add the Moroccan into his side.

‘I’m excited to see Hakim play,’ said Lampard. ‘It feels like a long time since we brought him here, and he hasn’t played since the Dutch league finished before lockdown.

‘He's worked hard to get fit, he looks really good in training and he’s been fantastic with his professionalism in working hard to get back fit. It's just game minutes that we need for him now.

‘I have a good relationship with Hakim, we’ve had plenty of honest conversations and yes, I’m very excited to see him play and hopefully we can see him at his best, like he was for Ajax.’

 

video at the top link

[Vesper 27,306]

PRE-MATCH BRIEFING: CHELSEA VS SOUTHAMPTON

https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/2020/10/16/pre-match-briefing--chelsea-vs-southampton

[Hutcho 8,443]

Pretty standard. Lampard knows the condition of players 1 million times better than anyone else does so I'll trust his judgement.

 

Everyone going on about our injuries and then wanting us to play the best team available every game.

 

Silva had a 17 hour flight 2 days ago so obvious he ain't gonna be fully ready. Jet lag is a real thing so why play him when we have 2 games coming up shortly after.

 

Ziyech getting minutes is good, no need to chuck him in from the start as he'll get eased back in which is ideal. Pulisic probably starts though which will be great to see. And should mean werner up front.