Blue Armour

When I saw him get hooked after a poor performance during the Wolves game, I knew it was only going to be a matter of time before Tuchel would restore Alonso to his place in a back 5 formation. While I think we can manage with Alonso as a LWB for a while, its up to Chillwell to re-secure his place in the starting 11. His performance has dipped a lot from his early season form. Hope the loss of his starting 11 spot will motivate him to do better in the future games. We won't be playing back 5 forever, and Alonso will get caught out in any other formation.

Wonder how much of that is on Lampard though. According to the Athletic, his personal signing of the summer was only Chillwell. The rest were dictated by the club. Granted, as a manager he would have had a hand in convincing them to come, using his reputation as a player. But I doubt he was the one who convinced the club to cough up the amount of money we did for Havertz.

I agree. I think the only real curveball that can come their way, when facing those teams, are the midweek fixtures, notably Champions league. Thankfully for them, their first opponents are Borussia Monchengladbach. Don't think their squad will be too badly stretched. Plus they'll have KDB (and possibly Aguero) returning within a couple of weeks.

Its funny how a lot of journalists are seething at the fact that they couldn't get a straightforward United-Liverpool title race. I just saw an article on the Mail describing how they think its possible for City to slip up in the upcoming fixtures

Recently heard that he has a connection with Tuchel too, on his aunt's side. 😉

Hope Tuchel uses this as an opportunity to see how Gilmour can be integrated into his midfield. We need more passing ability from the center of our midfield.

I've liked how he has gotten more out of Kovacic and Jorginho since his arrival. They are far better now than they have been all season. I guess all the additional instruction and close control training sessions with the small football are working. Jorginho even did well in the face of Sheffields high press, something he normally struggles with. Still have concerns with that pairing for the long term. Kovacic runs well with the ball, and he attempts more through balls, but he needs players playing further ahead to make the most. Plus, he can't finish. For someone with such excellent close control, his shots tend to balloon off his feet. Jorginho's passing is also too slow and sideways at times. It slows down our play, and when we don't have Thiago Silva at the back, the CB's and him almost combine to make it lethargic. Hope Tuchel tries Gilmour in the upcoming cup game, and see how he can benefit his midfield.

I would rest Mount/Kante/Pulisic for this game, and play Havertz & Ziyech because they both need to get more match fitness. I would also play Werner, because he needs to regain confidence in front of goal, and this might be his best chance to do so. Also a chance for Frank to try something different from his beaten down 4-3-3. Go for something like this: If he doesn't start with Werner, I hope he at least comes on as an early sub. Pulisic/Giroud/Anjorin could also come on as subs. If Frank is feeling bold, he could also experiment with playing 2 recognized strikers up top.

I bet @Fulham Broadway won't acknowledge that we even played a league cup final in 2008

Okay, okay...Spurs are shite. I will laugh if they lose.

Spurs can be a league cup team. Arsenal can be an FA cup team. Chelsea can be the London club that has won the CL, PL. Dream bigger.

Spurs are going to win it with Jose. Fitting that their last trophy was the league cup in 2008.

https://www.si.com/soccer/chelsea/.amp/news/thiago-silva-reveals-what-frank-lampard-said-at-half-time-during-man-city-defeat Thiago Silva reveals Frank Lampard's half-time message against Manchester City

Probably Reece James. In the future. Touch wood.

Very good read again. (Seriously considering subscribing to that website ) It basically sums up a few of the things I've been bleating in different topics over the past few weeks: 1. Mendy is not good enough for a side with title aspirations. 2. We wont find a better option than Mendy any time soon (at least not this season), which means our back 4 and CDM have to do a better job at limiting his exposure to shots. 3. Our back 4 obviously performs better (as evidenced by this season and last) when they receive more support from players upfield, with their coordinated press. Which brings us to that big question. Why is our press so shite in games? It works well in spurts during games, and sometimes for a few games in a row. Against City it worked for the first 10 mins. After that the players (esp. Mount who normally is relentless) just gave up. Roy Keane also brought it up in the post match interview. You would think that after 1.5 seasons, this is something that Lampard would've drilled into his side by now. Not sure what is going on in training.

Depends. But you have to remember that you are still talking about a 21 year old player who is nowhere near the finished article. The players ranked above him are far more experienced, including Grealish. Is it good enough for Chelsea, which already has a lightweight attacking midfield? Probably not. But for Mason Mount, I think its good enough at this stage of his career. Its not Mount's fault that we pinned all our hopes on Havertz getting up to speed quickly, and loaned out our only 2 experienced attacking midfielders in Barkley and RLC.

Well, for a start. He seems to have given them a couple of days off following the City defeat. Hope it wasnt to whip them into shape after they return

Lampard SHOULD use the upcoming matches against Morcambe and Fulham to test new tactics and formations, instead of trying to fix his broken 433 formation and wing play tactic. It might be the only time he gets to do it as Chelsea manager.

Well if you want to be really specific, Lampard is nothing like any of the other coaches in the PL right now Ole at least had experience relegating a team, and Arteta was an assistant manager. He has the least experience. Which is why I say his achievements last season were remarkable given the circumstances.

Not really the same teams by any stretch, but looking back, this match kind of reminded me of how Arteta's Arsenal faced off against Spurs. Instead of playing cautiously he tried to attack an inform Spurs side with his out of form players, and got duly punished. Fast forward to us, with a squad short on confidence, and Lampard chooses to attack an in form City side with the best defensive record in the league. We are sliced through like butter Should he have changed his approach and played a more compact setup with a lower block for this game? Should he at least try to do this for the upcoming games, till his team regains confidence? We saw how playing conservatively and getting a clean sheet against United help us set a foundation for our 17 game unbeaten run. Should he try the same again?

Yeah, but a lot of those CF's have a great first touch and can operate in tight areas, and play with their backs against the defense. Other than dropping deep to receive the ball, I don't see how he can be successful as the lone CF. He could thrived in a setup similar to what Liverpool used to have for Torres, but we don't. As someone already mentioned previously, we rarely play on the counter, thus leaving little room for our forwards to operate in.

Start of a Klopp meltdown? He might be right, but he seems rattled by the way United have been getting penalties in their favor this season.

"You got beaten by a bunch of shrimps" Nope...definitely does not sound nice.

Lot of the top managers can be absolute nutjobs at times. Basically living in the moment, analyzing every second of their teams performance, ready to make changes.

That gif is so appropriate given our current situation.