Blue Armour

I think its better for his health if plays more matches,..its the 'rest' days that we need to be worried about

Could have seen it out. We were in control at that point, but Christensen does what he usually does and wilted under pressure. He's a defender that can do a decent job for 89 minutes, and then completely screw things up in a matter of seconds. I put him and Emerson in the same bracket of weak mentality players, that should rarely start a game. If anything, all he does is keep Tomori from playing.

Disregarding the fact that it's another poor result in a string of poor results, based on this match alone, this performance was better than the previous 4 games. Small consolation, but calling this the worst Chelsea performance ever is some of the most reactionary shit.

Don't care about the FA cup game, but it would be a shame about the City game if it were moved. This as convenient as its going to get facing them. Any reschedule will result in us facing them mid week, and knowing the FA and the broadcasters, they will probably make us play 3 fixtures in 6 days just to face City

We should be able to manage without Ziyech, but his passing range is a lot better than the others. That alone can make up for a lot deficiencies in the team's play, and can be instrumental (ala Fabregas in Mourinho's 2014 Chelsea). The press from our attack and midfield has also been shite this month (other than Leeds), which has led to our defense being more exposed. Fatigue is convenient reason for this, but it seems more complicated than that.

Yeah, that's what I was also wondering. Retain Giroud, swap Jorginho for Werner. Especially since we were chasing a win. I've seen so many Chelsea games in recent years where managers (including Lampard) have thrown on extra forwards in winnable games. Lampard seems to have become more conservative this season. Maybe worried about the team getting hit on the counter, and to be fair, that happened against Wolves, and with Christensen/Rudiger at the back, who knows what would have happened. And, looking at post match interview, looks like Lampard isn't bothered about this result at all. Does this look like someone concerned about his role at the club? Maybe its just because we are not yet at the midway point of the season and others are dropping points, but it does give some perspective on what the club's end-season objectives are. I think a comfortable top 4 finish is the minimum. It maybe early, but we are too off-track at the minute. Anyway, last Chelsea game of 2020. End to a terrible month of football.

Werner needs to be fed quick passes through the channels. I've seen a lot of games (even where he plays on the wing) where he stands on the shoulder of his defender waiting for that through-ball to come. Unfortunately the supporting players don't have either the vision or the passing range to find him in these situations. He usually gets fed the ball in situations when there are defenders in front of him, and he has to make something of it, and that makes him much less useful. Giroud would be more useful (other than heading crosses) if players like Mount/Pulisic linked up with him a lot more in the opponents box. That aspect of our play was a little better today I felt. Instead of lazily going to the wide area first time and whipping in the cross (like against Everton/Wolves), we tried to concentrate play in the middle moving the Villa defenders around, before sending it out wide. That's how the Chillwell goal came about

Yeah well my point is that the formerly 10th place Everton is now sitting in 2nd place. Its not just United who had upswing in form and table position. Granted we should be more stable than those teams., but at this stage of the season you can't call anything.

We should go the whole hog, and play Tammy-Giroud-Werner up front, with CHO, Pulisic out wide, and in the midfield, just Kante.

Ah okay. Even if you think United are getting favorable decisions from VAR, the stats this season are not as skewed as they were last season, and certainly not to a degree where it influenced all their games since Arsenal. Also forget United, what about Everton who beat us when they were lying in 10th place?

Not sure I follow,. What part of Chelsea/United is not on a level playing field? You mean squad strength?

Yes, I got the scoreline wrong. But my point was that they lost. Everyone was praising Arteta ball at the time, and threw Ole under the bus. It took just 3 weeks for people to realize that the result meant nothing in the grand scheme.

Excellent read, and it offers clues on how to figure out that big elephant in the room, which I keep mentioning. Why has our pressing deteriorated so rapidly from Nov to Dec? Its like night and day I think the point regarding this being an avalanche effect is a good one. We basically have overworked a lot of the players by playing them continuously over the previous month, and the effects are being felt in the last few games. I think the decision to go to a 4-3-3 (which I don't think was the original plan, given how we loaned out both RLC and Barkley) and Lampard's persistence with playing 4-3-3, just because it produced a string of good results, have resulted in him playing certain players over and over again without much rotation. This goes for Mount, Werner, Kante and the two full-backs. It might not have been so bad if we had at least one of the 2 loanees with us right now. And maybe you could argue that the Ziyech/Pulisic/CHO/Havertz injuries didn't help. The lack of pressing has also made us a lot more vulnerable in recent weeks. We went from being the team with most consecutive clean sheets, to leaking goals again. Its not really because Mendy became less of a keeper. Its because our back 5 is getting more exposed.

It maybe speculation, but wouldn't be surprised if that were true.

Our press was brilliant against opposition in the November PL games, and even with our B team away at Sevilla. West Ham game and Arsenal had sufficient rest days preceding those games. No excuse for fixture congestion there. Maybe these players aren't physically conditioned well enough yet, and after the flurry of December fixtures, the wheels have started to come off.

Not sure why he couldn't play him in a more central role against Arsenal, especially with CHO returning. Now with fully fit wide players, he should do it (or if not drop him from the starting 11). Unless he plans to give Pulisic a breather, in which case,...shit.

I wish I could know what he says to the team behind close doors too, about that, and other things. Like, regarding why we seem to press with high intensity in some games, and look absolutely lethargic in others. This has become a feature of his Chelsea tenure.

Hmm., but wasn't that your point regarding Lampard's response to Klopp (that this side is not a title favorite)? That the squad could take comments like that from Lampard in the wrong way, and see it as lowering estimations of themselves?

Sigh...not even sure what team is going to take to the field. Is Silva going to start again? If the team was below par and ragged against Arsenal, how are they going to perform with just 1 day of rest? If both full backs were fit, I wish Lampard had rested either James or Chillwell. (The former could have used some rest, considering how rusty he looked) Not comfortable with Emerson and Azpi starting together again. Not against a team like Villa.

Hope CHO can finally deliver a good WC performance when starting against a good team. Too many times we've seen him do fine in a cup game or as a sub, but then perform below par when starting against a top side.

When do you realistically think the board will even think of giving Lampard the boot? IMO it will depend on how far we are away from top 4 when we arrive close to the midway point of the season. Basically by the time we play Leicester or Fulham., meaning the results of the Villa and City games will dictate that. At this point in this season, you cannot rule out top 4. We went on a 17 game unbeaten run before the Everton defeat, at a time when United could not buy a home win, and Everton were lagging in 10th place. The club does not care how great or how poor we were in individual matches as long as the points are on the board. That's for mid-season. Now what about end season? I don't think a simple top 4 objective would be sufficient there. If we scrape through like we did last season, the board won't be happy. They clearly invested in the team to cement our place in the top 4 this season. If the likes of Leicester or Everton or even Tottenham come close to preventing a top 4 finish, that will be it.

That is an interesting point, and I don't have a good answer to that. That comment from Lampard about tempering expectations came right after Klopp's comment, and we've been a shitty side ever since then. I think the squad have given up on chasing for the title, and it shows in the lack of intensity on the pitch. And so far, Lampard is struggling to give them additional motivation (besides winning the title) to do better.

Its like trying to build a plane while its in the air. Its tempting to think that all will work in harmony eventually, but there's only so much time allowed until disaster hits. Like Tomo said, we've entered the sink or swim period, where a few bad games on the trot will convince the board to pull the trigger. The Chelsea team might be merciful, but the Chelsea board isn't. For Lampard's sake, you would hope he would make the most of the next few games. Unfortunately he looks to be facing the worst opponents possible. An in form Villa in less than 2 days, and an in form City. Backs to the wall stuff. If there was ever a time for him to flex his skills as a coach, now would be it.

Yep, can't put my finger on it. Lampard keeps bringing it up when it fails, just like he did today. At this point, you have to ask why he's letting that happen in so many games. Its not just 1-2 players either, its the whole team. That is one area he needs to shore up fast.

No, it won't make him a good manager. Also, my comment about Ziyech was not meant to defend Lampard. Jason had asked about what we could change to turn things for the better. I just remarked that Ziyech coming in could result in a turnaround. To me, Ziyech returning is not even that important, because the biggest problem in my IMO, is our complete lack of intensity & coordination in pressing. That's one of the things that Lampard is at fault for.