King Kante

Yeah, I think he has admitted this. From everything I have ever read about and seen of him, he kind of strikes me like he treats training like most blokes down the local 5 a side league do.

Gladbach seem to still rate AC to a certain extent. I reckon there could be a chance of a AC+ cash deal.

Indeed. Mount has got a lot of criticism for reasons that are beyond me as he has mostly played out of position since coming back here. Mason should really be playing as either a No.6 or a No.8 (with me starting to lean towards him becoming a No.6 owing to his work rate both on and off the ball.) It is the same with Harvetz. Everyone on here said he should be playing No.11/False No.9/No.10 as that is where he played for Bayer. However, if you watched him, you would've seen that in the PL he would have to play No.8 as his single best quality is attacking the space and in the PL teams will just low block the f**k out of him in a No.9-No.11 role.

Who would've thought it, 433 is our best formation.

Well lets hope we do not get a Bambi Abrahams performance today. I am glad we have moved to 433 and I said it may be wise to rest Werner here. However, Giroud whilst limited in his movement is great at getting the ball down and involving the AM's. For me, whilst he may seem more limited than Tammy, he is actually a better player as he brings the best out of players around him.

Question: Has Giroud banged SFL's wife? Cannot see why he never plays, especially in this one.

Isn't he injured?

Alternatively, Amapdu may be able to slot in. He was very impressive against the Dippers. In my opinion, if Amapdu can stay fit and concentrate his game on becoming a DM (which I think is his best position anyway) then I think he becomes a usable option in the next 12-24 months. Tbh, with the options we have to play the pivot I was slightly surprised he wasn't kept as he is probably better suited to playing alongside Kante/Jorgi/Kova than any of those as a pair. I suspect, we it may have been because we couldn't shift any of them we loaned Amapdu as he is in desperate need of minutes.

Hazard has again said that when he is done at Madrid, he would want to come back here. Be interesting to see if we would actually take him back or not. For me, I was always of the opinion that he was a Rooney type player in that once he got to about 30 he was going to drop off a lot as it is quite clear that he does not look after himself like an elite athlete should. What do people think? Would you want a 31/32 Hazard back or do you want to leave it where it is and remember as he was?

433. That is all.

Well, if Mendy gets injured, I want Cech to start. No more Kepa/Willy please.

My point is, 4231 is a formation that does not works for us. Either he has to play CF in a 433 or out wide in a 433. 4231 is not an answer for us atm and if that means Werner has to adapt/be played out of position then that is better than us persisting with 4231.

Play him on the left. 4231 is a really bad fit for us as we do not have the CM's to play the pivot properly. Even in a 4231 he is getting isolated and lets face it, with all the long balls that get hit, we would need to play Giroud and have him as a left sided AM anyway. On to the game and great to see Mendy get another clean sheet. The difference between him and Kepa is massive. As for my MotM it goes to Ziyech.

Be fuming if he does. If he stays fit he'll be a very good player.

Currently playing like the DMF we're crying out for. Sheff Utd's best player of the first half against the Dippers.

I am ok with the tactics to a large degree as I understand we need to shore up at the back, however the subs left me fuming again. Why in the hell were Giroud and Kova not put on as the first two? As for the third I would be ok with Mount or Ziyech depending on how the game was going. I just do not get how SFL does not realise that CM is a real problem as it does not link the back line to the front line and how he appears to rate Werner and Tammy as target men with all the long balls being hit. MotM - Mendy/Thiago.

Well, I wouldn't say so good yet. But after having a T-rex armed, funsized gk in goal for the past two seasons it does make me feel a lot better. Only concern I have so far is composure and distribution. As for this game, we really need Kova on as we have no one linking the midfield to the attack. CM is now our biggest problem imo. As for the game the Walking Forehead seems to be able to do what he wants to us. Kick us in the balls, choke slam our players in the penalty area. Just waiting for a Tombstone as a finisher now.

So, Kepa out of the trip to OT with a 'shoulder' injury. How long before we see Cech make the bench?

Not surprised. He is the player from the next generation of youth products that looks like he could make the first team fairly soon. If we could've shifted Alonso and Emerson, I was expecting him to become LB2 as Dave can play LB if we found it was not working.

Please stop playing 4231. We do not have the CM's to play it properly as teams just keep running past Jorgi and Kante. Until we get a real DMF park the formation and try again if SFL wants. For me, go with 433. My team would be: Mendy James. Thiago. AC. Chilwell Kante Havertz. Mount/Kova Puli. Giroud. Werner Bench: Willy, Zouma, Dave, Jorgi, Kova, CHO, Tammy In my opinion, Ziyech needs to get some fitness still. I would be looking to start him during the week.

True. Atm, he looks and upgrade on what we had so in that respect he is winning. My thoughts on Mendy was that he was signed to be a GK1 this season but we may have an eye on another GK for next Summer and he would be a expensive GK2. Let's see how things play out over the next 20 games. It would be great if he is actually the long term answer.

Some people around here make me laugh. What exactly were they expecting from a 21 year old who had no pre-season to do when coming to a new country with a team that is in transition? Kai will be fine, you just need to give him some time, the bloke was never coming in and going to play like prime SFL within 10 games, especially as if you had seen him before you would've known that he is a slow starter to seasons and he isn't the most robust. This season for him is about acclimatisation. Personally, I set him a target of 15 goals in all competitions and around 5-10 assists. He looks like he is going to beat that on his current form.

I'll admit I was a detractor but that was mainly due to his habit of being caught out of position and his defendingone on one. I will need to see him play a few games against top teams before I can say this definitely not a problem but going forward I have been impressed. As ever with Chelsea signings I am against, happy to be proven wrong.

Happy to say that so far, it looks like I was wrong about Chilwell. Still need to see him play more games but he is doing better than I thought he would.

I find it really frustrating how SFL utilises Giroud. Should be one of the first off the bench 70% of the time as his hold up play can help bring the AM's/Werner into the game more.