The Skipper

One of the best PL games in a long time, super quality from both sides. Superb game - great tactical victory from Frank, Jody and the rest of the boys. City showcasing why they're such a ridiculous team at times but some great performances from our chaps (Kanté and Christensen were superb defensively) to keep them away from the box. And we should've arguably scored 3/4.

Yeah this is the key takeaway from Kanté's game today. If we use him in that holding role, because of his ability to read and disrupt the game - he's invaluable against danger men. KDB is arguably the best CM in the world and Kanté shackled him (of course he still had to score a ridiculous free kick) - now how do you take this further? Kanté will be huge in tough CL games next season and beyond.

Always in my heart buddy.

Kanté's getting older too - makes sense to have him shielding the back four now. Feels like we have two complete opposites as DM options atm - Jorginho is super comfortable on the ball but lacks that defensive nouse and athleticism to disrupt play in front of the back four, whereas N'Golo's strength lies in the latter, and whereas he isn't anywhere near as bad as Jorginho is off the ball on the ball, he's not so comfortable with dictating from deep, but that's fine. He still held his own quite well even against one of the best ball winning teams in the world (yes I believe City are incredible at winning the ball and keeping it, hence why they have so much possession). As long as Kanté has options beside him that can relief the pressure on him (Gilmour would be a very interesting partner for him, Kovacic too in different yet similar ways), Kanté can continue to grow in that single holding role. It's where his future lies imo. The more he plays there the more comfortable he'd be too. Super exciting times next season - so many options for Lamps in midfield and going forward. Just need to sort out that defence now!

Christensen proving today that he is our most gifted defender. He seems to be getting over that mental block he's been experiencing, he's looked really good since the restart. Top top performance. If only we had a VVDesque CB to complement him...

El monstro performance today. Quite clearly our most talented CB I think...

Seriously hoping he does a DDG because this is looking dire. He's meant to be the most expensive keeper in the world but is arguably the worst in the league right now. Doesn't help his team out much at all. Also his wingspan seems to be super short for a goalkeeper.

Can I just say he's been really good recently. Is definitely our most talented pure defender. Finally not shying away from physical challenges and is finally showing off that defensive intelligence of his. Just needs a top partner and we'd be okay at CB. I'd actually advocate selling Rudiger and Zouma, bringing back someone like Ampadu and buying a top top CB like Koulibaly(?). Then we have the option of Christensen, Koulibaly, Ampadu and Tomori which is a huge improvement on what we have currently. He could end up being a very very good CB for us if we keep the faith.

This guy seriously stinks man, we definitely need to bring in proper competition for Tammy. Even play Giroud but not sure how fit he is.

No assists? Still, seems to be scoring more. That's a goal every ~225 minutes? Sure that's a huge improvement. Scores important goals usually too.

How many goals/assists/appearances is he on this season? Feel like he's really come alive in the final third this season albeit with lack of real consistent game time.

Must be said the Emerson for Reece James substitution was good. Moving Azpi to LB, recognizing that Mahrez was having far too much fun was a good move. Lampard is showing that his in game management is improving.

It's always been about quality and experience which we are lacking big time defensively, and arguably in attack as well.

Have been very worried about Kepa this season.

Bring it on I say. Last chance saloon for Jose too. If he doesn't do well here I can't see him managing at a serious top level club again.

Didn't he say he'd never manage Spurs out of respect for Chelsea? Of course he'll always be a somewhat of a Chelsea man but nowhere near as much as he makes himself out to be. You're right though, he's proven he isn't a proper proper Chelsea man already with his time at United. Maybe I'm reading too much into it but also he's in my opinion already taken a dig at the club too in his statement about how he's excited to "use their academy".

I don't agree sorry. Whilst maybe not as bountiful he still had something to work with. Jose had guys like RLC, Ake, Chalobah coming through PLUS already had guys like KDB, Lukaku, Oscar and Salah coming through. He had a great amount of talent after he came back but did not manage them well at all, and barely even took a sniff at the academy boys. Surprise surprise, he's also just become Spurs manager. This guy doesn't love Chelsea like he claims he does sorry.

Not buying it sorry. Nonsensical and lazy analysis from Jose, read between the lines. He's not saying it in a genuine way imo. He obviously doesn't agree/understand the whole youth movement to begin. He's talking about Chelsea as if we're the complete team already and aren't lacking in quality and experience which is ridiculous in my opinion. Nobody expected Chelsea to be ahead of City at this stage of the season, some even had us scrapping for top 10. This sort of analysis from Jose sounds like jealousy/he's been proven wrong because he didn't believe in the youth when he was here, so he needs to scrutinize them in this veiled way which on the surface seems like fair criticism but let's be honest, it's bitter from him. Fake constructive criticism. Let's actually keep it in context and look at all of our big games this season so far. We've played United, Liverpool (Super Cup), Leicester, Liverpool, United (League Cup), Ajax away and Ajax home. Let's just summarise these to see whether we've done bad in big games so far given our expectations. 1. United away, first game of the season. 4-0 scoreline flatters United big time. Lampard's first game in the PL, individual mistakes severely punished but overall we definitely looked like the side with more potential (which has held true so far this season). Nobody too surprised about this result. Tactically naive and missing lots of players. 2. Super Cup final. Against the best in Europe, matched them completely and we were arguably the better team overall. Lost on penalties. Already a huge improvement in a big game but again undone by some individual mistakes. Tactically pretty much spot on. 3. Leicester are the second best team in the league atm and have been outstanding. A game we had under control but a lapse in concentration caused a goal to be conceded (set piece yet again mind you). Tactically pretty spot on again imo. 4. Liverpool in the PL. Again undone by a set piece and some individual mistakes. However showcased a good framework tactically and didn't embarrass ourselves against the champions of Europe. 5. United League cup - put out somewhat of a B team and again essentially beaten by a wonder set piece goal. Not really important imo. 6. Ajax away and home. Superb win at the JCA, superb comeback at the Bridge. Glossed over by Jose as we're now suddenly expected to dismantle CL semi finalists. The point is that we've steadily been improving in big games and have put in some very promising performances. SFL has set his ambitions on creating an attacking team, a team that doesn't shelve it's whole identity in big games, something Jose fundamentally disagrees with as he's naturally a short term thinking, defensive coach. Jose doesn't do long term processes and to him it's about winning now rather than building something over the years like Klopp and Pep have. It's why he's been left behind in today's game. His criticism seems to be about Lampard's tactics when it's experience and quality that we're lacking. Overall we've been good tactically in big games. He's talking as if Chelsea should be beating all big teams this season which is far from the case. This is why I find his criticism disingenuous.

Too good for the U21s already :).

Literally the worst buy this decade.

Re: Solanke, he was more exciting at youth level indeed. Arguably more naturally talented than Tammy but what I love the most about Tammy is his mentality which Solanke doesn't have. He's always striving to improve and demands excellence and really fights for his spot. That's why he's left Solanke behind now.

Cheers buddy, legend. Read sorted for tonight.

Link?

This is what got me as well. He's a lot more intelligent football wise than I thought he'd be from what I've seen. He could become a real threat if he finesses that intelligent off the ball movement skillset.

Life mate haha. TC has always been great for high quality content, especially during its peak but there's still lots of great observers of the game about here lurking. Haven't had much time to post but have been reading on the off/monitoring. Super excited to finally see the academy guys coming through, a couple of us who have watched the youth over the years have begged for this. Couldn't have happened to a more talented bunch. Here's a question for you. Do you reckon the previous generation, if they had this chance would've looked as much of a real deal as these lot coming through now? Essentially, current bunch (James, CHO, Mount, Tomori, Gilmour etc.) vs the generation before who were just as good at youth football level (RLC, Christensen, Chalobah, Musonda, Ake, Dasilva etc.)? Obviously we have RLC and Christensen who've come through, just wondering what'd be like if these guys also had this sort of faith put behind them. Can't believe we're sitting in third at the international break.