quickpassnmove

Sooooooooo.... bye bye Hazard then? Don't think I'm going to watch this one.

You expressed some of the same thoughts I have precisely.

To me Drogba had something that opponents needed to worry about immediately. Bakayoko does not and although it's possible he can improved greatly, it's not likely; his ceiling is probably lower than what we expect for a Chelsea player (IF we're still a club that aspires to be competitive in Europe and win in England). Another summer has gone by and we have not improved in centre midfield again. N'golo Kante was an improvement over Mikel (who I never liked whatsoever), but aside from that acquisition, Fabregas is out of (legs) gas, we let a superstar leave (de Bruyne), sold Nemanja One-foot, loaned out RLC, sold Chalobah, Frank is gone, etc. N'golo, Danny, and Tiemoue. Aside from super N'golo (who is likely run-down, like Danny) and some nice passes from Fabregas, our midfield is looking like a marginally upgraded version of a Newcastle United budget experiment. Again, I don't see why Eden Hazard stays with Chelsea after this season.

Going to need a more effective attack in the next 5 matches to avoid smelling like an average side with a few stars. Left wing back is awful, centre mid is weak, forward line players not enough.

u like the Blackhawks games when they have 18 shots?

yep. Bakayoko looks like an overpriced average player for the moment. I doubt his ceiling is very much higher either.

This front 3 is not working.

Nothing.

Good to see Hazard and Zappa combining. That's something we need more of this season.

stupid that we didn't sign Hernandez despite trying for Llorente. With Hernandez and a better LWB signing, our season could have gone better. Hernandez, Hazard and Morata would have made a killer trio up top.

Didn't think Michail Antonio was this dumb... forget England with brains like that.

Chelsea have needed more in centre midfield for too long now. There's direct correlation between Kante's exhaustion and Chelsea's inept board.

I thought it was a good day for Ethan, but our squad and formation didn't give him much chance to do anything.

Aside from not winning balls, Ampadu had a very average match against another side that stacked the CM against us. Nothing special from Ethan at all, but this looks like the trend against Chelsea and I don't see us doing anything tactically to counter it --whether it's the fault of Antonio or our lack of quality players is up for debate. I can criticize Fabregas like anyone else this year, but I think that Cesc and our other players in centre mid are going keep on seeing this overloaded pressure in centre mid until our side changes tactics or gets additional players into the squad. We are too static on attacks, ineffective up top with combinations and outnumbered in centre mid because opponents can just focus pressure there to win the ball back. Having Kante there masks the problem because Kante can play like 1.5 players with great awareness, speed and balance.

Other than getting some better forwards, it would nice to see Zappa combine with Hazard more this season. I'm glad Ampadu got playtime today, but this match was a woeful exhibit of chelsea's attack. Not Batshuayi's fault.

should have just used 3 yeah, waste of time watching this match. zero on Chelsea attack.

except maybe Fabregas who looks completely done this season.

Willian is so awful.

Should get Bats playing with another striker up top. Musonda doesn't handle physical pressure well and Willian just has nothing.

Should be an interesting 2nd half if we actually start to produce some chances in their half. Willlian just looks like he has nothing at all in him; time to move him on. Musonda needs to start reacting to space and the 2nd pass more quickly.

I think he would have a better chance with Kenedy or Zappa to play off of (than Willian and Musonda).

Musonda just reacting to everything too slowly.

Well that's just typical right? Commentator says "he's not likely to score soon with shots like that" regarding Ruediger. 10 minutes later he scores.

It's too bad Bats is with Willian and Musonda right now. Musonda needs to keep the ball.

Sterling on the bench interesting. Ampadu Drinkwater CM.