MrExcalibur100

league* games

The thing is some members of this wonderful forum need to give players time. There's something called assessing players based on potential and pedigree. There's also something called an eye test. Even when he wasn't playing well, the quality was there. Pedro has won the World cup and Champions leagues. And he's done that being a critical figure in some of those sides. He's 29 as well. How he all of a sudden became a shite, no-hoper in some of forum members' eyes was just way off. Same with Matic. Guy was arguably (certainly one of) the best CDM in Europe in our title winning season before he got overplayed and fatigued and so many people wanted to toss him into the garbage can. Wanted him sold. I can understand feeling that way about a constant disappointment like Oscar but we need to judge players sensibly sometimes.

He's shooting more (averaging 3 shots per game compared to 2 in past season), he's making more runs into space, into the box and between the lines (we saw signs of that 2 seasons ago), he's dribbling less (because he's playing further up the pitch so doesn't need to dribble so much). Conte is doing the sensible thing with Hazard. Giving him as little defensive responsibility as possible within the system. Mourinho didn't have the common sense to do that. Instead, he claimed Hazard can become the best by "coming more to his direction" i.e defending the opposiing winger and fullback much more than a player of his calibre should and playing Hazard as an auxilarry left back at the sight of any strong team. This is 100% bullshit as we now know. Just look at some of our past battles with Man City, PSG, Arsenal, United for reference. It's a miracle Hazard actually won POTY playing for such a cowardly, negative manager. Mourinho was the one holding him back. Messi and Ronaldo and even lesser players like Bale and Neymar rarely defend for their teams but they work within the team structure without compromising it. Anyway, that's water under the bridge and I prefer to look forward now. Right now we have a player who in my eyes is currently the best in the world. None of the top players are playing better football than him right now. None. Anyway, long may the consistency continue.

No. We'll face adversity but no.

Hazard's 3rd goal reminds me of the goal he scored vs West Ham with that triangulation of him, Mata and Azpilicueta.

Messi is not like before. He's lost agility and explosivity and that's why I think right now Hazard is the best in the world.

This Italian is definitely coaching attacking football and is doing it well.

Alan Shearer is a bit like Scholes really. Two unbelievable players in their day but when you hear them talk football it's cringe-worthy.

We all know this but it's worth repeating. Willian will have a hard time keeping Pedro Ledesma out of the team. He duplicated Hazard too much and doesn't have an appetite for goal. Pedro offers many different things.

His directness is what makes him so deadly. He wasn't that great in the 1st half, but my god was he unplayable in the 2nd. They just couldn't deal with his direct running. As very few teams have failed to do.

Unbelieveable Antonio Roman please keep him for a very long time!!

UNBELIEVABLE PERFORMANCE!! The best I've seen in years. In terms of quality of football, much better than our 6-0 vs Arsenal. Wow, just buzzing over here. Will go celebrate with some CFC lads later today. Marvelous!!!

Wow! Arguably the best player on the planet at the moment. Not since Messi have I seen so much talent in one man. It's absurd really. A privilege to watch Eden play for Chelsea.

Hazard just might be the best player on the planet right now. He's like a god. The man is touched by god. Way too much talent.

BT Sport is pretty average calling Chelsea games. Ian Darke is annoying as fuck. Much prefer Sky Sports. Tyler and Neville are just great.

Now we're actually creating CHANCES not the ridiculous "chances" Mourinho used to claim we create. This is a super efficient machine we're watching.

There ya go Diego! Say what you want about his decision making but he's an insane goal machine.

Costa again misses an easy pass. Losing the ball any time he touches it.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!! SONS OF BITCHES!!

"While there are other factors that play a role in our low possession i think the biggest one is the lack of real quality passers in our back 3 and 2 man midfield" (a) You attributed our "low possession" to a lack of real quality passers and as I showed you, Matic and Kante are hardly ever misplacing passes. I'm not sure what having a great passing range has to do with our low possession in a sample size of 3-4 games. We were 4th in the league in possession stats a few months ago. This has more to do with the manager's tactics and not with Kante and Matic's lack of passing range. I also don't see the relevance in pointing out that most of their passes are straightforward (and I see what you're saying but I don't agree they are). Wouldn't that lend credence to the fact that they are in fact not responsible for our "low possession" to begin with? Anyway, I think your whole premise is faulty as it's obvious Kante and Matic aren't responsible for our low possession the last few games. "But teams are going to start figuring out ways to deal with us and then we are going to need the players behind the ball to be able to make those quality passes" (b) Okay. This is the point I have the biggest problem with. Why not we just wait and see if that happens first? I'm not currently understanding this desire to prognosticate the worst possible outcome for us. We're playing well and the team is balanced, which is something that has been an issue for years now with the Azplicueta playing out position madness. It's also not true to assume that the only way to counter-act whatever way you think teams will "deal with us" is by having "quality passers". Wenger has had quality passers in his teams for years and still hasn't won the league in a decade. Pace has always been a stronger factor in championship PL teams than quality passers. "I did say "a great passer that could still do the dirty work". The reason Fabregas isn't playing has nothing to do with him being a DLP and everything to do with him not being able to do the dirty work" (c) I'm not sure how you came to this conclusion. Hazard can't do the "dirty work" but plays every game. Pirlo had similar strengths and weaknesses to Fabregas but was the key cog in Conte's championship winning Juventus teams. You could argue the pace of Serie A is much slower, but Conte didn't even trust him with Kante and Matic at his disposal! The brutal truth is Fabregas is just not that good. For all his passing range, he's also completely unathletic and laughably slow. I agree that we can improve. But I just don't think now is the time to be looking across the road for the next shiny toy we can buy. We have no guarantees of being in the Champions League next season or Hazard staying. And if you really want to bring up names why not try the transfer forum threads? This thread should be about Conte not about who we want to sign next season (In November no less).

Perhaps. It's possible. It's been 2 decades since your team last won a league game at Stamford Bridge.

From that article, Conte said: “I do everything except counter-attacks. I do not play on the counter. I never even train counter-attacks. It is not in my concept of football. “When we have the ball, we have our ideas. When we lose the ball, we try to be tight, press the opposition and try to win it back as soon as possible." That quote is interesting in light of our last two PL matches were we seemingly seemed happy to grant the opposition the ball, PARTICULARLY in the 1st half till we actually started to dominate more with the ball in the 2nd. I wonder if this is still a reflex from Mourinho's training methods in some of our players or if Conte has changed his concept of football in a span of months.

People like to focus on his dribbling skills and flair, that's his most notable trait to the casual observer. But sometimes it's lost in some that he's also one of the best playmakers in the world.

You can't complain about possession in a two-three game sample size. Prior to the formation change we were a top 4 team in possession av per game. Since we went 3-4-3, we've been 8th. We've also scored very early goals in almost all games in that time span which has contributed to us playing counter-attack. I'm personally not a fan of playing on the counter and I don't think this team can play that way conistently (and shouldn't) but neither is Conte. http://www.football-italia.net/85476/conte-i-dont-do-counter-attacks He adapts his stategy to the requirement of the game. For instance, we scored early against Leicester and continued to dominate possession and take the game to them. This is because Leicester themselves are a counter-attacking outfit and it was the right tactical approach. As for the point about having real quality passers, the stats disagree. Kante is averaging a 90% pass success rate this season and Matic 87% pass success rate. They are rarely giving away the ball and they aren't simply making routine back and sideways passes either. Matic is a fairly ambitious passer. I think you're confusing two different things here. There is a difference between "a real quality passer" and having a comprehensive passing range. Kante and Matic are quality passers but they don't have the same depth of passing range as say a Gundogan, Verratti or Fabregas. The question is whether having that type of deep lying playmaker will work in this system or any sort of system Conte is comfortable in. The answer was presented in the case of Fabregas. No. And there's no reason now to clamour for deep lying playmakers of that mould. They won't help us win more games or make us a stronger team in our current 3-4-3 system. Teams are struggling to make any progress through our midfield duo. We averaging the least amount of shots faced per game of any team in the league right now. We've kept 4 cleansheets. We're creating many chances and were it not for profligacy, we would have crushed Southampton as well. Can things change for the worse with our current system. Yes. Will we continue to perform to this level all season long? No. Can we improve in certain positions? Yes. Right wing. CB. Clearly. But now is not the time to be lusting over other teams' players. Conte is right now is doing an incredible job. Doing what a manager is supposed to do, which is MANAGE and maximize the full potential of what he has, which he has done brilliantly. That should be the major talking point now. His tactical adjustments are worthy of significant praise.

Horrible take that makes little sense. Instead of trying to replace 1/3 of our starting XI, why don't we work with what we have? That is what Conte, a proper manager is doing. I don't see Zouma working in our current system. Replace Alonso (why?) with "Filipe Luis-type player and you will see how our possession play will magically improve". What does that even mean? Incomprehensible drivel with zero depth of thought behind it. Why don't we sign Aguero, Bonucci and Bale while we're at it? It's easy to say that right? Aside from the fact it's absolutely stupid and almost impossible to want so sign every top player that breathes (It's not Football Manager, you know), someones money is being spent I know you're entitled to your opinion, but sometimes it's better to actually have a well thought out comment. It just drastically lowers the quality of posts on here.