Blue Armour

Jorginho's form during Sep-Nov last year was his best ever during his time with us. He's gone back to playing passively again. He was never great at putting a defensive shift, but he made up for it with stellar passing when he was on form. Now he's playing in cruise control most of the time. The only noticeable elements in his play is when he tries to lead the midfield press, and the occasional long ball (which sometimes works a treat, like his assist for Werner against Southampton). In hindsight I wish we had retained either one of RLC or Barkley, instead of keeping both Kovacic-Jorginho. It would have helped when rotating the squad for midweek games I imagine Lampard originally envisioned us playing 4-2-3-1 for the majority of this season with Havertz in the CAM role. But things change quickly. Pre-season might have helped him decide whether 4-2-3-1 was really the way to go, but here we are. Seen this happen many times before. Ancelloti starting with 4-4-2 diamond...realizes 4-3-3 was a better fit for his first 11. Conte starting 4-2-3-1, realizing 3-4-3 was better.

Yeah it was 4-3-3, the only issue is players like Kovacic/Kante are more used to sitting back in a double pivot. They don't always take up the same positions that Mount or Havertz do, although Kante tries. Still would like to see Mount-Kante-Kovacic, with Kante back at CDM for the weekend. Not comfortable with Jorginho playing there unless its a team that parks the bus..

Maybe some former player? Someone you never particularly liked

Weird choice of squad rotation...but will hopefully be proven wrong. Would have thought Kovacic would be the natural choice to replace Havertz, keeping Kante where we was at CDM. Not a fan of Kante playing further forward. Or Jorghino being the defensive shield. Could have also given either Timo or Tammy a rest, and brought in Giroud/CHO. No rest for Thiago either.

Well if it's any consolation, he's back in training now.

Jason, stop using the same Pulisic image for all our match threads...I think you're jinxing him!

Do we need to bring up Arsenals brilliant form leading up to this game? Or do you really want Arteta, the guy who almost always sets his team to sit back against decent tier opposition, to manage the club.

Our pressing game was superb, and made all the difference today! 4-3-3 with Mount and Havertz to harass opponents and Kante to sweep up behind...that's the way to go. And we have two bombing full-backs to compliment the attack...ngl, this reminds me of our play from ten years ago. Exciting stuff.

Perfect attack. Perfect defense.

I would like to see Giroud play in this one,.but not counting on it.

Well tbf...they finished above us., so they were always a threat. I'm more concerned about the new threats that have sprung up this season. Teams that finished well outside the top 4 last time.

Rotating front 3 --- ala Drogba, Anelka, Malouda

Ironic, considering that we used to be the MOST (or one of the most) dangerous team to visit Old Trafford during the Fergie era.

@Tomo I know you have pointed out how good our style of play was under Frank in the early part of last season, with the 4-3-3 and Kovacic/Jorginho in midfield In hindsight, I do wonder if that was a by-product of 1 year of play under Sarri, or something that Frank wanted, and introduced. I'd like to think its the latter, as it seemed like a breath of fresh air compared to the majority of our games under Sarri, were we seemed to have dollops of possession with no-real end product. I guess Frank did over complicate things since the season re-start, but our play these days doesn't seem to resemble any of the high press, high octane football from early last season. Hope its just development phase, where he is trying to reintroduce those tactics to a rebuilt first 11

Also, just saw the Sky Sports news about Son and Kane getting close to the all time no.1 stats of deadliest PL duo, which is currently held by Drogba and Lampard at 36. Ffs, I think we're the only club in recent history to simultaneously hold records for that, highest scoring PL team, highest points tally, least goals conceded, highest scoring midfielder, most wins in a PL season, best undefeated home record, highest scoring defender. All those records are slowly being taken by other clubs over the past few years. We really need to turn ourselves around in the coming years.

Fucking hell...seen this happen too many times over the years. Underperforming shite side suddenly gets their tails up and in cup final mode when we come to visit. Hoping for something anticlimactic, and we instead tear Burnley a new one. Dont want to listen to another press conference about a Sean Dyche masterclass.

At least Kovacic can break out of a midfield press by dribbling. His passing is lacklustre. Jorginho's passing game has regressed from his early season form last year. These days he is effective only against teams that sit back. Kante I feel is underperforming. Not that he's worse than the other two, far from it. Its just that without someone like Conte or Sarri to apply pressure, he is letting his offensive game slip. He is so indecisive when in the opposition third. Mount is too lightweight to play in a central midfield pair. He would fare better in a 3 man central midfield. I would stick with Kovacic-Kante for most games and swap Kovacic for Jorginho only against teams that are sitting back. Against teams sitting back, I might even swap Kante for Jorginho, but that's not going to happen.

Haha, at this point I think it's a testament to the quality of the Chelsea academy. Even those that don't make it to the first team can find great success elsewhere.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.chelsea-news.co/2020/10/frank-lampard-reveals-players-failed-follow-instructions-southampton/amp/ Frank Lampard reveals the players failed to follow his instructions for the second half in 3-3 draw Well, its nice to know that it wasnt part of the original plan to be suckered into Southampton's press.

Should trade ours for theirs.

If we're going to blame individuals for mistakes, that's one thing. But it looks like there are different individuals vying for that every weekend. Against West Brom it was Silva and Alonso. Today, you could also argue that Havertz, who otherwise played well up front., imagined that he was back in the Bundesliga when he sloppily gave up possession for the first goal, and lost his man (Walcott) for the their 3rd goal. You can blame it on individual errors for the odd upset, or if it's the same repeat offenders. Not sure that applies to us anymore. It doesnt seem that simple

Kepa, De Gea, Pickford and Adrian walked into a bar.... .....well let's just say there was a lot of beer on the floor afterwards.

Adrian vs Pickford