Blue Armour

Even if you ignore conspiracy theories and the bias, the fact is like Vesper said, the guy has put in substandard refereeing performances. Not the person you would want in a tricky away game right after the international break. Like you said, it could be a tight game. Doesn't take much to upset the odds. Personally, I hope for something anticlimactic and we just blow them to smithereens leaving Taylor unable to mess it up for us. But that's just wishful thinking at this point.

If we had Fergie in charge, this guy would be 'Atkinson'ed into the championship already.

How does this fucker keep getting a chance to officiate all our banana skin fixtures? Fresh from a disastrous international outing in that Spain v. France game., too.

Considering how poorly run some of the other top clubs are, you can only agree.

Exact date/venue to be confirmed later this month (around Oct 20th as I recall) based on the reports.

And now the club world cup is being postponed to 2022. Because FIFA couldn't find an alternative to Japan.

Fifa club world cup set to be postponed to 2022 😡

Consolations..at least it's not the first fixture in the day. Hopefully Kante, Ziyech, James & Pulisic will be fit and ready for the game.

Well...he's at least contributed well most of the times when fit. And maybe another positive being he won't complain about not getting game time.

This. The team had been pretty poor at this in the last 3 games., but a bit better in the last game. Ironically the best pass he got, came from Rudiger who went on that mazy run. Shame Lukaku was offside. Lukaku is not like Drogba or Kane who will either drop deep or play wide if they're not getting the ball. Lukaku needs more direct passes. And it's a bit weird because it looks like Tuchel actually wants him to just stay up front for the most part (unlike how he played for Inter). You'd think the midfield would do a bit more work to get the ball up to him.

At the moment, I would say Kovacic is more forward thinking and plays better passes in the final third. Both of them need to improve end product. Maybe RLC will improve with game time. He used to have good combinations with Hazard under Sarri

This is my mood right now when I think about how VAR impacted this game.

Lukaku is also more static compared to our other players. And today we didn't play the ball to his feet enough. And when he finally got chances he bungled them. Tuchel should show more courage and tweak his gameplay as needed. Felt he should have subbed Lukaku for Werner. At least our chance creation would have improved. After all,...its these players who won the CL. Not Rom. I don't see why he would have to complain about being subbed.

DP

Terrible, and in some ways a lot worse than the City game. Both CMs were playing far too conservatively, and Lukaku not adapting his game. It feels like playing with a crutch with Lukaku in these big games...and if he fails to do the one the thing he's been brought in to do...that's the worst. Should have scored in at least one of the 3 different occasions. Might as well have played Werner, because he would have at least created chances. Am fearing what @Tomo has been talking about earlier. The fact that Tuchel refuses to even sub off Lukaku to tweak our gameplan. In the end, 1-0 in a group game away to the strongest opposition is not the worst thing. But what a cheap way to drop points.

Agree with the lineup...but think Jorginho/Silva had some fitness concerns? Might see Kovacic and/or Chalobah instead. Also wouldn't mind seeing Ziyech restored to the lineup.

This. When Lukaku came, I already made peace with the fact that he is not Didier Drogba. His hold-up play and inventiveness is not up to par. But that doesn't mean he's useless in big games. I would still bet on him scoring given a decent half chance at any point in the game. His ability in front of goal is unquestionable. It just means that the team around him has to do all the work, and set him up. Today we couldn't. Kovacic and Kante could barely break out of our half with the ball, and very few long balls were played over the top to either Werner or Lukaku. Same happened at Anfield after we went down to 10 men.

Yeah, the main reason I'm disappointed was because this was our home against them. Should have done more to at least get a point. But anyway, last season they also beat us at the Bridge and we went onto win away. Also, City played Arsenal at home and also drew to Southampton, whom we face next. Need to take advantage where they didn't.

Yeah, hope that isn't a trend. I like that he's willing to try different methods, but hoping he doesn't settle on this one.

Come on Vesper, we need to be at least a little angry 😄 j/k

This same City team lost embarrassingly to Spurs at the season's start. They also had a terrible start last season only to win the title at a canter. So yep, 3 points on week 6 doesn't do anything. Just disappointed as a fan. Because this was the second big game of the season, possibly most difficult, and we lost it at home because we setup so negatively.

Well to be fair its only on loan, so it looks like they knew what they were doing. If RLC can maintain this form, then Chelsea are good.

Also slightly off-topic from the match itself, looks like RLC is moving ahead of Saul Niguez in the pecking order. Not that it wasn't obvious from the last two matches. Seems to have got some of his swagger back.

Don't think anyone is saying its the end of the world. It was always bound to happen. We've had difficult fixtures one after another, and Tuchel got it right in all of them bar this one. And on the topic of this one, he got it woefully wrong. Negative setup and didn't correct it at halftime despite that terrible 1st half. But yes, I agree the goal is to compete and be closer to the title. I don't agree with the notion that we're only fighting for top 4. This team, barring injuries, is much better than that.

Lukaku could have done better on a couple of occasions, but it was negative ultra defensive setup in midfield that cost us this game. Just woeful until Kante was swapped for Havertz