Amblève.

That's how I see him too but Conte seems to disagree. He just seems to float around in Conte's system; it's too early to tell though

RLC would benefit from have a defined role. Is he a CM? An attacking midfielder A striker? A supporting striker? A player with a free role? I don't have a clue.

Great decision by the ref there.

I'm out

Cahill and Begovic, man. Never seen such a lack of communication.

You might check that again. People have been bringing up the Cech decision, Courtois' save percentage etc and judging by the general atmosphere in this thread I would say that "not fantastic" is a bit of an understatement in regards to people's opinions.

On-topic though I don't think he's been bad this season. Bar his shitty decision re: Swansea's 2nd goal he's been solid, even his distribution has been very good; anyone blaming him for the goals vs Liverpool needs their head checked IMO.

Off-topic but anyone remember when Chelsea uploaded Courtois' safe vs Werder Bremen from the pre-season game 3 years ago onto the Chelsea HP? My god, that was cringeworthy.

There's probably also at least 3 Chelsea fans in the world who would want Courtois dropped for Begovic permanently. What does that tell us Tomo?

"David Luiz did nothing wrong but the most important thing for central defenders is stopping efforts on your goal." - Souness So go criticise Cahill who was responsible for both goals, you fucking bellend. My fucking god, this idiocy is hard to fathom.

I absolutely do think that Matic was poor tonight, not the first time either this season. The role he's supposed to play doesn't suit him (at least not on this level) though so it's hard to actually expect good performances out of him. However, I do expect Conte to notice that Matic is simply not providing enough as the ball-carrier in that first-11 and to drop him or put him into another role as the season progresses. Whether Fabregas actually is a better option we have to fully see yet but I'd rather take my chances with him than with an ultra-defensive midfield that failed to provide any defensive stability and pressing vs Liverpool let alone to contribute offensively (And no, I don't think a one-off warranted Matic staying on the pitch; he had 3, I believe, more runs in almost the same manner that completely failed so banking on him providing any offensive output close to his assist is rather delusional). My reasoning for bringing on Fabregas at halftime has more to do with the way we played football in the first half than the result itself because we might as well have been 3:0 or 4:0 down considering the shit show we displayed. Even our only goal came after a Matic run that you see twice a season tops and nothing after that goal came even close being a decent chance. I get it, 2:0 down with still 45 minutes to play you try to keep your head and take calculated risks. 2:1 and you're suddenly back in the game again, once more you take a calculated approach and see what you can get. Unfortunately though this team hasn't looked convincing at all in these kind of situations for 1,5 years now, mostly simply because we don't have the players to keep calm and produce THAT one chance. Hazard was the only player on the pitch capable of doing so but he's only gonna do it so often. Fabregas who can pick out that one pass didn't get to play until the last 7 minutes or so and even when he was on the pitch he was used for putting crosses into the 18-yard box. Conte should have committed to one approach in the 2nd half instead of that half-assed system. Either try to run Liverpool off the pitch or bring on Batshuayi to occupy the space between Costa and our midfield but don't ever try to play controlled football with this collective of players when you're behind.

Starting your best passer would be a start; Oscar and Matic are too weak at resisting counter-pressing and you KNEW a Klopp-coached away team press the hell out of you. Granted Fabregas isn't a monster in that area himself to put it mildly but that midfield-3 consisting of Kante, Matic, and Oscar didn't work in the 1st half at all and you were already losing 0:2 anyway. Bringing on Fabregas for one of Oscar/Matic should have been a priority at half-time.

Our worst CB and it's not even close. Can't keep possession, has shit positioning, is afraid of tackling. Is there any other CB more limited than Cahill playing for a big club regularly?

Why not make these subs 20 minutes earlier?

Nah, I think you're just too emotional right right now to make a rational observation. Milner's just as slow as Ivanovic while also destroying every attack like Azpilicueta due to be right-footed. It's no wonder Liverpool have been attacking almost exclusively through the middle as well as from the right side.

Fuck me and that "might". They DEFINITELY are worse midfielders than Mikel.

That sounds rather ridiculous when you consider that Klopp's first-choice LB is fucking Milner.

Luiz has been good so far IMO. Looks like the only player capable of dealing with Liverpool's pressing.

Cahill needs to be exiled to North Korea ffs

Only good thing about this game has been Luiz keeping possession and playing passes from behind.

Matic and Oscar might be worse midfielders than Mikel and I'm dead serious. The latter at least knows how to keep possession.

What the actual Courtois

Yup, pretty much it. Chalobah had the potential of becoming a starter a few years ago, for various reasons he was never able to/given the chance to take the necessary steps. If it's gonna happen at some point in the future it's gonna be a loooooong process, no need to play club-trained players for the sake of it though.

No way of that happening, nor should it (not yet, that is). Throwing a completely new backline into a game like this would be suicidal. Say what you will about each of Cesar's, Cahill's, and Ivanovic's abilities but for most part they know the mechanisms of playing together

Mikel admits he paid his own money to save Nigeria's Olympics Fucking legend.