Tomo

I don't know if this is a coincidence but he seems to be managing away/neutral games pretty well while making a pig's ear of games at Stamford Bridge.

Speak for yourself, he's the most comfortable I've ever been with a pen taker for us bar Hazard (wasn't a fan of Lampard's penalty techniques). Yeah he (back to Jorginho now) missed that one against City but apart from that no keepers have got close to his pens, his way isn't flawless and looks dodgy on the eye but for me he should be our first choice taker by a distance.

Very good, from where I was sat I genuinely thought ACL was best case scenario.

Why does Frank bring on Giroud when we need a goal and Michy when we're trying to see it out? Should be the other way round. Pedro and Willian, like it or not we will need the experience this season with every one around them being so young but never should they be on the pitch together at the same time. Add Azpi as wingback to the equation and it's an absolute eyesore. Funnily enough this was the type of game people moaned about seeing under Sarri, controlled it for the most part but struggled creating anything serious and got sucker punched. At this stage of our process this is a type of result that can happen, it's not like the Sheffield match that shouldn't have happened under any circumstances. Mount doesn't look too bad luckily because from my seat my first instinct was he done his ligaments at best. We need to try and work out why our young players keep getting injured and try and minimize it, last thing we want is this generation to be in and out of the team all the time.

The coaches should know, and if they can't work it out without seeing them play for the Chelsea first team they should be sacked on the spot. For example, i don't need to see James in the first team to know he's the real deal just like I didn't need to see Bamford there to realize he wasn't.

Tbh I don't really buy this notion that we were forced to play youth, even with the ban and Hazard going we had a deep enough squad that could have kept them away. We didn't have to let Zappacosta leave to make way for James, likewise Luiz/Fik, we could have just kept Drinkwater as 4th choice instead of handing that role to Gilmour and we could have took up the option for an extra year for Higuain instead of recalling Tammy. The only one who would probably have got a default place regardless is Mount (and even then there was the option to rotate Ross and Kova instead of playing him) the others we could have easily picked more experienced options instead. Ban or no ban this youth movement has been very much by choice.

I think I win the award for the biggest mistakes, I thought AVB was going to be spectacular.

It will also be very good for the National team, Kane will know anymore Euro16 esque shit shows will see him lose his place.

To add further context/hilarity 96, shots is the same amount of shots Bolton conceded in their first 5 possibly 6 games in League One this season, and in those games they mainly played 17/18 year olds due to having like 2 senior players.

Part of me hopes they sneak top 4 alongside us so they don't sack Emery. They will never get back close to the top with him incharge.

Looking at the mistake for Arsenal today and City yesterday (Adrian Vs Southampton aswell) got me thinking, we haven't actually hugely ballsed up playing out of the back (to that level) for quite a while. Our boys seem to have a better sense of danger in terms of knowing when to do it and when it's not going to work.

Arsenal have a massive pressure to get top 4 this season, if they don't it will be disastrous for them. They have splashed out on players designed to do the business now and they have a manager with no real philosophy as a manager (meaning if he ain't getting the results it's hard to justify him being at the club).

I think we have actually improved a fair bit defensively these last few games despite the fact we've still been conceding a lot. Pre season alongside United and Leicester were total horror shows defensively and we looked like conceding every time the ball entered our half (that's why I couldn't take Madison's MOTM seriously, we gave him the an unlocked door in the second half and he still couldn't find his way through us) however recently I think while we're still a long way off what a title winning defense should look like we have been very unlucky to have been conceding two a game still. Norwich and Wolves created fuck all but were clinical when they did breach us while Sheffield did a bit more we did completely nullify their attack for all bar one moment in the first half. Still a long way to go but we have made a positive baby step defensively in the last few weeks despite it not looking so on the scoreboard.

I can't be 100% sure and can't be arsed to check but I think I heard after the shit between him and Pogba at Molineux he's only took about 2 or 3 before this season.

We will need him over the course of the season whether we care to admit it or not. With Tammy looking like he's sown striker up, Mount as attacking midfield and Pulisic/Odoi on one wing we need an expierenced balance to them which is where Willian and Pedro will come in, hopefully the latter more than the former but both won't be able to play all the games. He should be let go at the end of the season but for now he's very much needed in the squad.

Tammy has already matched or bettered Rashford's PL goal tally from 3 of his 4 season's at United and is 3 goals away from matching his best tally. He's also only 6 goals away from matching his best tally in all comps. Not bad considering any comparison between the two was universally laughed about as recently as 4 weeks ago.

Worse, we could be visitors for the coronation!

While on the subject was Mason credited with an assist for Tammy's first?

I accepted a few weeks back Liverpool's PL win is happening at some point, if not this year then next, I've made peace with that. Just really hoping it next as three guesses who's last up at Anfield?

Against those two depends on who we have back, should Rudiger and Kante be fit next weekend I'd rather the 433 as we shown we can dominate Liverpool in the middle with those three (Kova, Jorginho, Kante) while Rudiger always seems to deal with Salah.

Despite the success today I don't really want 3atb being a regular thing. Too many games will come about where we struggle to create (infact it was the case today until Tomori's bullet opened the gate).

Ten years ago I'd be worried but this day in age as much as the romantics don't like to hear it an all round package as a goal keeper is required more than excellent shot stooping. He's a similar level to Ederson but the Brazilian's weaknesses with "actual goalkeeping" are well hidden due to playing in arguably the best PL team in history, the better we get the less of an issue Kepa will become.

That third goal was prime Torres esque. I knew he'd score a respectable amount of goals but I genuinely didn't expect the quality of link up play he's shown so far.

I said at half time game management was key, upto the 1-4 we we're seeing it out perfectly then panicked, it's something that needs to be worked on. Luckily we were too far Infront today. I guess it's par for the course though, at this stage of our team development it genuinely wouldn't surprise me to see us beat (and outplay) Liverpool only to see Brighton then shaft us at The Bridge with a 0-1.

Now we are going to find out just how much Lampard and the boys have learned from the Sheffield match. We are 3-0 up against a side who heavily rely on space and counter attack, there is absolutely zero excuse for this game to turn into any sort of battle now and if that means a boring possession based half then so be it. I think we are kicking off in the second half iirc, that in itself is a chance to chalk 2-3 minutes of the clock straight away. Just let's not fail in the basics this time and we should be fine.