Blue Armour

Well Hazard has only missed 7 over several years. Granted, its all relative. Would still love to see Werner given a chance at those. Instead of always relying on Jorginho. Would be interesting to see who takes up ownership if Jorginho's not in the team

No one really, and I think that was accepted from the beginning. Yes we would have been more attacking with other lineups, but we would have leaked more goals. Would you have accepted that? Some fans would have. Like @Tomo said, if its part of 'growing pains' then so be it.

Interesting. Am hoping he settles in to the team soon enough, so that he can start moving up the pecking order. Jorginho seems to have no plan B with penalties. Its always about placement.

Look's like he isn't Eden Hazard then. sigh...miss having penalty takers like Lampard and Hazard. Willian was also pretty surefire from the spot.

Is Werner's penalty record good? Would love to see him take over. It would be nice to give him more ownership of the team. Jorginho is a big hit or miss for me in that department

Well, then the real question is whether CHO and Havertz would have done better in lieu of Pedro/Willian and taken the game to Liverpool. And mind, Gilmour was having the game of his life against the Liverpool midfield in that game. Firminho was also absent for that game (including Henderson, if I'm correct). Might have to agree to disagree here, but I have my doubts whether we would have been able to replicate those tactics with the players we had today. I think we would have been ripped to shreds, but that's my opinion. I think playing defensively like we did today was the right call.

Exactly my point. For once, we did not look tactically naïve against a big team. Eliminate those mistakes, and we would have most likely come away with a point at least. Which is not bad, considering the lack of first 11 players.

Maybe not. If him playing in the middle is really much better, its not a bad shout. My point was that is unrealistic to expect too much from him so soon., at least after his Brighton showing. Ironically though, I thought the few contributions he made in today's game were pretty decent. His square pass in the first half to set up Kante (of all people) was brilliant. Hope to see more of that. Yes, it might have meant more attacking threat. But that's a big MAYBE. What is more certain is that we would have been more open in midfield. I will admit that you can question the manager and ask why he didn't ask the players today to get closer to Liverpool. Anyway in hindsight, its possible to name a lot of options that may have worked better, given that we got the worst possible result from the one option he went with. Hmm, looks like I didn't remember it the same way. I thought we gave up possession before that. Its a shame that the players didn't get close enough. Inconsistent pressing from the players. I will admit that that is on the manager to be more aggressive with his team to ensure everyone moves as a unit. Shame that Jorginho didn't do the one thing we usually helps out with (calling others to press)

I will agree that there was a period where he dropped Jorginho, seemingly forever But he played majority of the first half of last season (during our best period last season in fact) and reclaimed his position after Gilmour got injured. So, its not surprising he would use him again if needed. Like I said, I do not think he will be part of the starting 11 for too long, if players come back I couldn't care less about the armband though. There is no John Terry in this squad. You could tie it to a tree at this point and it wouldn't make a difference.

But from where were you expecting creativity to come from, if not Pulisic or Willian. Havertz? Don't give me that BS about him not playing in his 'favored' position. The guy hasn't settled in yet and is not ready. He could have taken a risk with CHO or Barkley in the lineup instead and played more gung ho, but I can guarantee we would have been ripped to shreds on the counter. Christensen's mistake came from us giving up possession high up the pitch., one of the few times we decided to play with 'attacking intent' in the first half.

He needed someone to help clog up the midfield, and Mount presses more than Barkley, CHO or RLC. If he was more adventurous he would could have played CHO on the wing and dropped Jorginho for Mount. Clearly that was not the plan. If we had Pulisic and/or Ziyech fit today, I can guarantee he wouldn't have resorted to such tactics. Jorginho would have been dropped and you would have had Mount Kova and Kante in midfield. Maybe even Kova dropped for Havertz (unlikely though, since he still hasn't settled in).

Definitely better than the Brighton game. Kepa was also more vocal in this game..Although I don't think that will matter much, now that Mendy is coming in.

Its because of the squad options available. Mount is a given in his teams. When all players are fit, you will be guaranteed to see Timo-Pulisic-Ziyech up front, with Kovacic-Mount-Kante completing the midfield 3. If Havertz settles in soon, you will see him displace one of those midfield 3.

I don't know about every big team, but he was certainly not wrong to try it today. Key attacking players missing. And no, this was not a home game. You can't call it a home game when we're playing in an empty stadium.

You wanted us to be more offensive against Liverpool? They would have gutted us like they did in Anfield. We simply did not have the players on pitch to take the game to them. I think the team did fairly well limiting them to the chances they got. Might have even pulled off a 1-1 draw if it weren't for the Kepa and Jorginho blunders.

Agreed. Surprisingly not as bad as I thought it would be. Obviously the result is terrible. Apart from the customary Kepa goof up and Jorginho's terrible penalty, team looked pretty solid. I'm really looking forward to our play following the return of squad members. Shame we have to deal with that shitty international break in between.

Like you said, it depends on how often the good outweighs the bad. Hopefully everyone will be patient with Havertz and give him the chance to come into his own. Media is going to be ruthless though, simply because of his price tag. Good to see you back btw. Been a while!

OMG...the Liverpool bias is unending. One little heat of the moment decision made by Lampard and these Liverpool hounds jump on it like some kind of unnerving itch. If they win another title this season it would be simply unbearable, not because of Klopp and his team, but because of biased clowns like these. They're everywhere.

Replace Havertz with Mount and I will agree. I can sense a lot of people on this forum are itching to see Havertz start in his favored position and prove his worth. I'm going to take the unpopular route and say that he still needs time to bed in. I absolutely dont want him to start, fail and then have the entire media and pundits jump on his back and Chelsea's back., especially after a crunch fixture like this. Unless he is the type of player who loves turning up for big games, I do not expect to him to improve dramatically tomorrow,..not after last weeks show and certainly not against Liverpool.

Haha, I was expecting someone to point that out.. he's terrible at recovering from an onrushing attacker, but he can move up the pitch to support an attack alright.

Lampards press conference pretty much makes up my mind. With all the injuries, we need to clog up the midfield, play a low block and hit them on the counter with pace, using Timo and/or CHO/Alonso. Do NOT allow them to get 3 points. Already frustrating enough that we are playing 3 out of 5 fixtures against the 'top 6' at home without any full crowds., in the first half of the season. No need to give them any more handouts.

He wanted the legendary number of Salomon Kalou

It's not his reaction to long range shots that scares me the most. It's his command during setpieces. Doesnt seem to have a clue on what to do in a crowded box, flapping at the ball, not vocal enough with his defenders. Every corner and free kick presents a nightmare scenario. I think after his confidence was shot., he has become a lot more timid, and his teammates dont listen to him during setpieces. What happened to the Kepa that stood up to Sarri and told him to return to the stands???

Did Havertz press hard though? I remember that one lung bursting run to win back the ball he lost in the 2nd half. Aside from that, and a few off the ball movements into the box, he was fairly anonymous. However, yes, I fully agree that he needs more game time. He hasn't had a pre-season, and was played out of his best position. Also, its a new league and he is really young. Hope he gets time to work his form up though. Media and opposition fans will be on him like hounds because of the price tag. Thankfully he gets to play his first few Chelsea games without the scrutiny of the crowd.

AC in particular, in this match. Surprised to see him throwing his body in the way of shots, etc. when I'm normally used to seeing him playing so passively and giving up under pressure. We are still terrible in set pieces though. Without Azpilicueta playing, we looked even worse with no one taking charge. Kepa is not vocal. Hopefully Silva and/or Mendy can fix that issue.