Blues11

It doesn't matter who we play, Tuchel just runs the same formation over and over. Always understood it when we played against the likes of City and Liverpool, but against a struggling ManU it's still three in attack. Can we try something new against the bad teams once in a while? Tuchel is great but he deserves some blame for our poor performances against weaker opposition.

We have a stiff and slow striker in Lukaku and a stiff and fast striker in Werner. We really need a proper striker...

Sometimes it's hard to blame our attackers when we have zero creativity in midfield and with our wingbacks. Pretty much three attackers are tasked to create everything themselves at times.

Between Ziyech, Pulisic, and Werner, we've seen flashes from all of them. None of them are consistent enough. One week we praise one and eventually mention they should leave next window. I think they all have flaws and still need to improve. Ziyech is magic at times on his left foot. He's the best passer when given space and he can curl them in at any moment. To me his main problems are he's too sloppy in possession and can't take players one on one as much as we need him to. Some of the better comparable players like Mahrez, Raphina both drive into their opponents and put more pressure on defenders. He's also 29 so not sure how much better he can improve. Pulisic is probably technically the best one out of all three. He can be shifty and take on players when he's playing with confidence. Uses both feet well. His downfall is his strength and inability to hold up the ball at times. He gets pushed over and when there's a defender draped on him, he'll most likely fall and miss the shot or pass. Finishing needs a lot of work. He's the youngest out of the bunch and if he can somehow stay healthy and get stronger he can still help the club. Werner is the best fit for Tuchel's current system. The way he presses and his work rate is terrific. He does a lot of the dirty work so other players are more free to succeed. Technically I don't think he's good enough to be elite but can still help from time to time. His movements are stiff and when he faces opposition who pressure him he tends to disappear too much. I would do my best to sell Lukaku and one of the three if possible. If I had to pick it would be Ziyech because of his age. We still need an impact player who can take defenders 1 on 1. I also think each one of these players would do better if our midfield was stronger. Only Kovacic is someone who can advance the ball from time to time but his end product isn't very good. Kante isn't as sharp as he once was so turns it over far too often and Jorgi when being pressed is not good enough.

Being from Boston I know Steve Pagliuca fairly well. I met him during the championship they won in 2008 and I can say he truly cares about winning. Passionate owner who loves his players. They care about the fans and aren't afraid to spend to compete. The players love the current Celtics' ownership so I think his reputation here in Boston as an owner is very positive. If they were to win the bid I hope that carries over to Chelsea

Now we can see why he didn't play much. When you press him he's lost, he isn't quick enough to hold up the ball and just passes the ball back.

Why would you blame a manager with a one goal lead going defensive against Real Madrid nearing the 80th minute? They're not a great team but they still have special players if you give them too much space. Tuchel made a lot of great decisions tonight, waiting for subs and to go defensive was not one of them.

Agree with this 100%. As soon as we went up we should have made multiple subs and switched back into our defensive formation of three in the back. RLC and Kante have their moments but they make too many mistakes distributing the ball. Just park the bus.... Too many mental mistakes and we didn't take our chances towards the end of regulation and extra time. Plenty of chances.

Free header there for Kai....needs to put that on target at least.

At times this is the best I've seen us play in a long time. It's been a great game but ultimately too many mental errors through two legs if Real go through. Hope we get a lucky bounce or a hero moment from someone here.

Controlling the game and then Kante and RLC decide to just stare at each other and give it away....

I want to have the same optimism but we're literally passing it around like it's the training ground. Southhampton is giving everyone space including Alonso and Werner. We still have a chance but this win doesn't really change anything drastically.

Nice half for sure. Not much to complain about except we should have ten goals at this point. Southhampton is giving us so much space, almost like they're not even trying on defense.

I still think we have a chance. Would love to see James in a more advanced position when we're chasing, but the only problem is Vini is going to run circles around all our other defenders... AC was playing on skates tonight and that was just a dreadful mistake by Mendy. Regardless of what happens we need to improve in the midfield next window. When we have to change our shape chasing goals, -all of our midfielders get exposed. I still have hope and an early goal changes everything. Would rather see James being pushed up to RW with Havertz, Pulisic, and either Mount or Ziyech sitting behind the striker if we're still behind after halftime. It's better than bringing Lukaku or Werner off the bench....

Yilmaz trying to injure all our CBs

Didn't look great parking the bus that half. Was going to say take out Jorginho for Mount but he made up for it with a brilliant pass. Still need to be cautious as I think they'll continue to press Jorginho and test Chalobah.

Konate's shot should have been saved for sure. He wasn't composed tonight and jumped way to early against a CB.

He didn't even look tired at one point tonight....Just a class player.

That has to be one of the best scoreless games of all time. Proud of the way to team fought even in defeat. Lots of wasted chances with their highline but I have to single out the second half chance by mount. He made a perfect run and received a perfect pass....Could have picked either side to shoot and the fact that he hit the post with no defenders around him was shocking. A lot of us in this forum could have finished that chance... Aside from that everyone put in a good shift, even Alonso. Let's go far in the champions league now.

Kova and Mendy have been immense... Lukaku looks like he's played all 90 and has been pressing all game. He turned it around in Milan because he got into better shape but it seems he's back to the sluggish tank the Prem has seen before. If Pool Win, Mason Mount will be given a guard of honour by the whole opposition on their knees.

Pretty foolish comments while the season is still going on and he just got back from injury.... Maybe Tuchel will actually make some changes for once and not play with three center backs all the time. None of our attacking players are doing well and of course they all need to play better, but we leave three attackers out there and expect the likes of Alonso and Azpi to support on the wings....Our midfield is terrible around the box so it's really difficult for our attacking players to get a rhythm. It's time to make some adjustments for once. If we're playing Man City or Liverpool, sure play defensive and hope to secure a result. But we play the same way against the mid table to bottom table teams....Any team can beat us the way we're currently constructed.

Always blaming the players but this system is catered towards the defense and players like Jorginho. He's been awful... Once again we were so predictable and literally Norwich could give us a game right now. Tuchel deserves a bulk of the blame

I do believe Tuchel would experiment more but with our current squad I don't think he trust that we can change and be a good team. The main reason I think is actually our midfield. When we ran the 4-3-3 under Lampard, often we would be exposed by teams pressing our midfield. We either have holding midfielders who don't do well keeping possession on their own, can't shoot, not good close to the box, or we have attacking midfielders who aren't very versatile and don't defend well. That's why our current setup is probably the best for our midfield because it gives them more channels to pass to the wing backs and center backs. Less pressure on them so they can sit back and just distribute. I was excited for Saul because I thought he could have a role in certain formations but he looks all out of confidence...not good. You mentioned Goretzka and Kimmich....Goretzka is one of the more versatile midfielders in the game and Kimmich is no slouch in every department either. Much better all-around midfielders than anything we have. Tuchel has done wonders but he needs to prepare this team better for when we go down a goal or make some adjustments sooner against weaker opposition. We have become predictable and it has shown lately.

We will never be a fantastic offensive team with our shape and tactics under Tuchel. We're not built to look like City, Bayern, Liverpool, or some of the better offenses in the world. That's completely fine as we have shown we can still win when completely healthy. With what we have for a squad, Tuchel has done a marvelous job thus far. He deserves a lot of credit as we wrote off most of these players under Lampard. But it's frustrating watching this team never make any adjustments or get more players forward until the very end of the game. We'll always be a team that can beat anyone in the world or lose on any given day because our brand of football is always defensive no matter who we play.

Yes, we're missing a bunch of players but this team is turning so one dimensional under Tuchel. We only know how to play the 3-4-2-1 well and when we're fully healthy that's fine... At the moment Tuchel isn't showing he's making enough adjustments with what we have. Injuries and things will happen but to not win a game against a weak Everton side is inexcusable. We went in knowing Everton were just going to park the bus and we just played right into their hands with no adjustments. It would be nice to throw a different look from time to time especially against a weak side like Everton, get some more players forward and change the shape earlier for once...