Blue Armour

8th is the upper target I set for Chelsea after the first 5 games this season. Nothing changed so far. Just hope we don't lose any talent (whatever we have) next summer, besides the obvious departure of Silva.

I would argue Arsenal are more boring to watch in comparison to last year. But that means they are also a bit more ruthless.

Tottenham getting away with it again. Basically saved by the width of the goal line Everton more than deserved a draw.

Wish players would stay off social media, or at least ignored it. Apparently James is upset with all the hate coming from his latest sidelining injury. But that's what you have with flippant internet fans who find fault with every little thing. Should just ignore mouth pieces that slag off a player who can't do much about his condition.

A bit unfortunate, but it is what it is. These short term recoveries and re injuries weren't doing him any favous. Hopefully surgery can grant him the full recovery

Drogba, Ronaldinho and Pochettino: Drogba & Poch even get into a tiny scuffle, lol

You have got to be trolling. Sanchez with excellent distribution skills? It was barely 2 weeks ago (forget which match) that he kicked two successive goal kicks out into the stands.

In all seriousness, it's because Clearlake want everyone to sign those ridiculous long term contracts, and Gallagher (rightly so) has second thoughts about it. These long term contracts remind me of how NBA player Scottie Pippen re-signed a long term contract with the Bulls, when he came on as a rookie, and then stayed stuck with a lower than deserved salary for a long period of time. Clearly that's why Clearlake want our players to do the same.

There's no such thing as Chelsea youth player, unless it's a Boehly-Clearlake certified Chelsea youth player. Posers probably want to replace all of the previous regime's players with their own signings, and also make a profit on the way.

If surgery improves chance of recurring injuries, he should take it. Even if it means sitting out the rest of this season. This constant start-stop routine is not good for him, either physically or mentally. Also, I wonder whether changing his full back role to become more defense focused will help his fitness moving forward. More Ashley Cole, less Trent Alexander Arnold. I know everyone loves the bombing full back role, but I'd prefer the goals and assists to come from the attacking players, rather than the defenders.

4 full backs in the team, and almost always, 3 of them are out. You can't make this up.

If Nkunku does play in this game, hope Poch's call to rest him in the Sheffield game was indeed the right decision.

In all fairness, it's rather a pathetic look for the league if the same team wins the PL 4 times in a row. And not a good look for us if they match our CL record. It's the only thing Chelsea has over City atm. Besides the record for least goals conceded in a season.

Hm. I think our best performance was against Arsenal- before Sanchez had his brain fart and we ended up drawing the match. Yesterday's game was okay-ish., IMO. Thankfully Cole Palmer and Raheem upped the ante when it mattered, else it would have ended up another insipid match of missed chances. Which has happened too many times against defensive opposition.

Yep, a real headscratcher that one. I haven't been overly critical of Poch so far this season, but this decision was a bit grating. This was as easy a time as ever to introduce Nkunku, and instead he opted to play Broja and Jackson up front. And later Maatsen, who's probably on the way out. A league cup game would normally be a simple fixture to make the introduction., but given how important this competition is for a squad that has won nothing of note, and also given the opposition is bloody Newcastle, I'm not so sure. Who knows. Maybe he'll have a perfect debut against Newcastle and Poch will make me eat my words. 🤷‍♂️

Yup, Caicedo had his best performance yet. Managed the whole midfield well., with support from Gallagher.

There is such a thing as bringing a player up to speed., especially one lacking a lot of match fitness.. I mean, fair enough, if Nkunku simply has an on switch, and plays at 100% for our next easy opposition Newcastle, then well done. Let's do just that.

As opposed to playing when? Might as well wrap Nkunku up in wool and not make him play a single minute for the rest of the season., in that case. If a player is fit to be in the matchday squad, he is more or less fit to play.

Instead of giving Nkunku his first few minutes, Poch decides to bring on can't-hit-a-barndoor-Broja, and make us watch him fluff his lines. Thanks Poch.

Yep, called it. Easiest fixture to introduce hi before the fixture pileup.

Not a medical expert., but isn't a surgery required only if the hamstring won't heal on its own? Not sure if there's a surgery to 'fix' his hamstrings., for good. I.e. lengthening it so that the injury has less chance of reoccurring.

Havertz did not play under Poch last season. Havertz played under shite management of Potter/Lampard So yeah, the players were not the real problem then. But this season the players are completely different. Your post makes it seem like Poch was the one handling the squad last season.

I think this will be the easy fixture in which Poch will finally introduce Nkunku. And after two back to back defeats, and James injured, he'll be desperate to roll the dice.

Exactly this. It doesn't matter how much potential this squad has. We are the youngest squad in the league and every match we start at a disadvantage because of this. The Everton team that beat us aren't classy by any means, but they are more street smart than our lot. All they had to do is wait for the opportunity and punish, because our lot aren't decisive enough in the final third. Reminds me of how late 2000s era Chelsea used to smack Wengers young Gunners team for fun. Maybe things CAN improve if Nkunku miraculously hits top form quickly enough on return and doesn't suffer setbacks Because that is one player who IS decisive in the final third., and can punish the opposition. But until then - this will be the state of the team.

Dyche and Howe took their teams forward as soon as they joined. So did Poch at Spurs. Potter was going in full reverse and smiling all the way.