Blue Armour

Depends on whether Frank learns his lesson and decides to not persist with 3 at the back for every single game. Once in a while its okay. However, I'm wondering if 3 at the back is the right approach for Spurs this time. Mourinho's teams seems to struggle against it, but I wonder if he would have learned something by now.

The amusing thing is..., the press thinks we need to move players like Barkley and RLC out of the club in order to balance the books. No mention about players like Drinkwater, Bakayoko or Baba Rahman They've probably forgotten that they used to play for us, lol.

I'm wondering if we'll go with a back 5 for this one. Zouma-Silva-Tomori at the back. Always seemed to work against Mourinho's Spurs last season. Alonso might actually be useful if that's the case, but I doubt he's going to return to Lampard's lineup any time soon after that mistake.

On a side note...not excusing the team's performance in any way, but is interesting to see the articles popping in the English media (this from the Daily Mail): "Bilic furious with Havertz hand ball in Chelsea equalizer" "Thiago Silva sees 3 goals shipped in torrid first half display" "Chelsea fans call on club to sack Lampard in the tunnel" And for United's win: "Is this the cRaZiest premier league match ever?? " We are definitely up against harsh critics this season.

I have no idea what Frank is going to choose. I know what lineup I would select. The only thing I know Frank might finally have made up his mind on is that Havertz will play CAM, or right behind the CF for best results. That's the only certainty regarding his selection for the attacking players.

Its not going to help, and I will be REALLY worried if we don't see attacking players lineup consistently in their respective positions, within the next 3 PL games. I would expect Pulisic/Ziyech to claim the RW/LW spots, but that's about it. If I see Mount starting on the wing again, after those 2 become available, then I will really question his tactics. I'm already worried about the lack of defensive organization. Not sure a new keeper is going to helps us keep clean sheets.

Don't think he actually does, and that's not entirely on him to be fair. The lineups for our 3 PL games are something like what we would see in a pre-season tournament. Its a bit unfair on him because he haven't had a real pre-season. The glaring errors are at the back for me. We still suck at set pieces. Doesn't matter if we have an experienced head in there or not.

What upsets me is that there are still so many individual errors that have carried on from last season. Even experienced players like Silva, and lethal finishers like Werner, are bungling up at crucial moments. I still maintain that Lampard's team will perform better with Pulisic and/or Ziyech back in the fold, but moments like these make me question if its down to coaching. If teams like Everton are able to put up consistent performance, what does that say about Chelsea's man management?

Very well played today. Most importantly, his attitude was POSITIVE today. Completely unselfish, setting up Havertz for his goals. This was a big departure from the second half of last season, where he was moaning and desperately trying to score, in order to win his place back. It LOOKS like its going to be a tough competition between Tammy, Giroud and Werner for that CF role, at least based on this match. Might be a headache for Lampard, but one that's good for the club.

Is he going to be the goal scoring central midfielder we've been lacking for a while now?

Compared to our current squad, these guys were built like tanks!

Finally!! We get a proper pre-season underway. Time to build up form and fitness.

Honestly..these are the things that concern me,..more than our overall approach in games. I was hoping to see more improvement from last season, with regards to this.

Gundogan becomes the 3rd city player to test positive for covid. Will go into a 10 day quarantine immediately. With rising infection rates, this season will be a real test of how disciplined players are. Carelessness would mean that they could potentially jeopardize a club. It's an absolute disgrace that international matches are being allowed to go ahead though. It just increases the risk factor.

Well, tbf they resorted to an extreme level of conservative football. Conte's 'sufferball' tactics against City away from the first minute till the last, in his second season, were just vomit inducing. Yesterdays game was nowhere near that bad.

Zouma-Tomori was our best pairing last season. Not sure how AC went ahead of him in the pecking order

More precisely., Klopps bitches. We have trouble securing results against his teams. Even Kenny Dalglish seemed to have our number. And that goes even before the Abramovich era.

I think it's because we dont trust our full backs to do the job on their own.

Not a bad shout actually. These are the kind of matches that would be useful to get him settled. He might play, given that he was subbed at half time against Liverpool

Might have made sense,..but doesn't look like anyone from the injured list is returning for this game. Expecting to see Tammy/Giroud to start up front, with CHO on the wing. Possibly Rudiger and Azpilicueta returning to the starting 11, Barkley in the middle, with Caballero in goal. Maybe even a return for RLC.

Yeah, the Mount on the wing experiment can stop. Looks like Werner can also do a job defensively if played on the wing. Works very hard.

I honestly think Havertz's price tag has confused a lot of people. Like you said, he is still a work in progress. One for the future.

I too would like for us to show more ambition against the bigger teams, but just not with the players we had on show today. I'm sure that will change when either one of Pulisic/Ziyech return to the starting 11.

Don't jinx it!

Yeah, that's what I thought he said too. I meant that if you're willing to take the same stance that he is, then I understand. It just means that you're willing to sacrifice a few games/results along the way.