Blue Armour

I thought he learned from his idiotic decision to start with Tammy against West Ham. Nope. He gave this lamp-post of a striker an instant reward for scoring a goal against CP. I've said it before, Tammy should NEVER start a game till the end of the season until he gets into hot scoring form. And what an absolute STUPID decision to keep Tammy on in this game, and remove the most influential attacker in Pulisic. Probably also trying to please Willian, who is probably running ragged after playing 90 mins of every game, and is ironically halfway out the door. And what's Lampard's idea for fixing a leaky defense? Simple: Keep rotating the back four every time we lose a game. Won't be surprised to see Willy Caballero come on for Kepa in the next game. That will be his next 'fix'.

At this point, I don't really care who plays in our back 4 (or even in goal). Its a merry-go-round of idiots. I know Azpi will never be dropped (and to be fair he defends alright 7 out of 10 times), and will probably include Alonso, simply because he gives an option in attack. Reece James has looked rusty since the restart, and his defending has never really convinced me. I don't think the race for top 4 is the best time for him to get match practice as a starter

Don't quite agree. He was anonymous in the 1st half., and all at sea in the 2nd with Crystal Palace taking 60% of the possession for long periods of the game. Anything but solid, IMO. The instant Jorginho replaced him, we go back to having 70 plus percentage of the ball. The kid is good, but he has been poor since the restart (barring that one long ball he played to setup a goal in 1 match). Shouldn't be starting right now when we have crunch fixtures coming up.

Rest, especially Hudson Odoi

I've been saying it. Plenty of people on this forum have been saying it. The moment we lost Kante and Kovacic, we should have resorted to Jorginho to control the midfield. He finally plays in this match, probably 70 mins later than he should have. Its bizarre. Even if the intent is to move past Jorginho in the future, why would you sacrifice the game when it was obvious we were playing like a 10 man team with Gilmour in the middle of the park. He waited so long to introduce Joginho. Embarrassing to concede 60% of the possession to Crystal Palace. Gilmour has NOT looked the same since the restart. Its actually detrimental to keep playing him in this state, as his confidence will only plummet. His passing (even though the intent of his passes were good) were off the mark, and led to so many turnovers. Too lightweight and poor positioning in our defensive transitions, barely making interceptions. Hope Jorginho starts the next game, especially if Kante and Kovacic are out longer. I would start him even if one those 2 were actually available.

Glad someone in the press asked the question about Jorginho.. ...was getting the impression that the folks at Cobham had forgotten that he is part of the squad

Well...with Kovacic, and now possibly also Kante, missing a game...I hope that Lampard does not resort to playing Billy Gilmour over Jorginho in the middle of the park. Billy has not looked the same since the restart, and is a defensive liability.

About Giroud needing to start every match!

Honestly..that's the only reason I can think of (for now) for him not playing...haircut and a shave..

@Jason Replying to you here since the west ham topic is closed. Its matches like this that show that Giroud deserves to start. Simply because he offers more than Tammy atm, in terms of link up play at least. I wouldn't start Tammy in a league match until he rediscovers his scoring form., and the easiest way for him to do that is to come on at half time when the opposition is tired. IMO, if players are fit, I would start the 4 of Giroud, Pulisic, Willian and Azpi in every match till the end of this season.

I know this will be in people's heads..., but I hope he does NOT chop and change the back 4 after this result. Maybe bring on Zouma for one of the CBs but nothing more. Experimentation with the back 4 is just a disaster waiting to happen at this late stage. I do not want to see lackluster Emerson play and make our attack even more inept Getting rid of a winning formula with Giroud starting up front, was itself a massive mistake. Hope he rectifies that one.

Even dropping Giroud for Tammy. Breaking a winning streak in the PL with Giroud starting Why TF was Tammy even called to start?!! Its not like he was in hot goal scoring form. Honestly, this team just isn't equipped to defend consistently for long periods. Unless we take advantage in front of goal, an accident waiting to happen against teams that just sit back and counter., ala Man Utd.

Knew that shirt logo was meme worthy. Didn't think it would trigger it on its debut. All round terrible day. Wasted a chance to go 3'rd. Conceded 3 goals. Dropped 3 points. Oh yeah....F*cking 3!!!! on the shirt.

Honestly they better be paying big bucks for that oversized logo. I mean the kit is practically a billboard at this point

Honestly do kit makers even do pre-screening with a group of fans, like movie producers do with a test audience, before settling on a design?? Seems annoying when they just go with a questionable choice (referring to the massive sponsor logo in this case), to leave fans stuck with the design for an entire season. Also, does 3 really need to be front and center like that? Could have just put a smaller size version of the logo, along with the text 'three.co.uk' or something like that. The massive logo in the center looks horrendous and distracting. But not complaining too much. We seem to be pretty successful recently in seasons that have terrible kits.

Haha..Frank at the end. I get it that Liverpool won the title, but they just keep making almost every question about them. He made it clear that he's more interested in questions about Chelsea than Liverpool.

One of the few players on the pitch today, that played at 100% match fit tempo. Largely responsible for both the goals we scored. When fully recharged, he is fantastic

I was referring to his 433 with Anelka playing out wide, not the diamond formation. But yes, 2 strikers would force us to sacrifice a winger. On the plus side, it is an option for good squad rotation. Keeps everyone fresh

Hmm. Wonder if Lampard will use Werner like Ancelotti used Anelka.

Jeez,...you'd think during a lockdown with no football, there would be no drama. But NO, this is Chelsea

I wouldn't call anyone of them mediocre..but I do worry about Pulisic's ability to last an entire season without some kind of injury problem. In our title winning campaigns, our best players, be it Lampard or Drogba or Hazard, barely missed games.

Highly doubt it will be cancelled. Most likely they will push it out even further if situation worsens. If season is voided as it stands, then nothing counts. They will use last seasons standings. Interesting to see if Arsenal would get a CL spot over City if that happens, and City is unsuccessful in their CAS appeal. If season continues really late, not sure what is going to happen with players who are out of contract in June (looking at our front 3 including Willian)

Now, there is talk of all remaining PL games being played behind closed doors The Times is claiming that a plan could be pit in place as early as this week.

Just stupidity. Just like that 'no handshake' rule for the players in the PL games. Was that just meant to send a message to the public? Because later on in the match, the players were just grappling with each other during corners and butting heads. Flu > more deadly than Covid. But everyone loses their minds over the latter.

Another match to be impacted by Covid looks like. Behind closed doors, based on the latest reports.