Blue Armour

This team is odd at times... On one hand, it can do incredible stuff against the odds, like drawing away to Liverpool despite being a man down, nearly turning a tie against Madrid in the CL, and rescuing 3 points here. And on the other, it can be wasteful with chances created, and also leak goals from individual errors. We are still missing that one talisman like figure that we had in Drogba/Hazard. Kante when fully fit and in form is our only bet atm.

That's what I fear. They could really solidify a top 4 spot,... But that being said, we were 5 points clear at top of the table in Nov last year and we know how that ended. So, never say never.

Exactly this. And our problem is never really to do with the strength of opposition. Complacency is the issue with our team, and it's plagued us since last season. We either don't turn up or just shoot ourselves in the foot with individual errors.

This is true. He nearly setup Sterling for his second goal (the one where he hit the post). Definitely deserves more credit. That being said, we still need a goal scoring reinforcement to give him and Broja competition.

I take back what I said about Cucurella. He really stepped it up in the 2nd half. Great distribution by him, and great movement by Sterling, RLC, James and Kai. Yes, Kai. Shortcomings regardless, felt Havertz put up a good shift in that second half. And thank you Silva. What a warrior. We're still playing with fire though, without signing that additional CB. On another day Vardy would have gobbled up those chances he got by going against Chalobah.

Bring Chillwell back. Cucurella stealing minutes based of his decent cameo in the first game. Hasn't done anything that's amounted to more than what Chillwell would do at his best. Gallagher not ready for the step up.

Now Tuchel is saying 'maybe no one comes in' because there's very little time remain this window.

We could still plan to use Auba like we did Giroud. Bring him on in games where we're really struggling to score (even if that seems to be every game these days.)

Why is Chalobah being loaned out? Even if we get Fofana, that leaves us with only 3 natural CBs for a 3 CB formation.

Looks like we're leaving it late with just a week to go. Think it will just close with Fofana and either 1 or 2 of Aubameyang/Gordon signed for exorbitant amounts.

His absence in the past 3 games has largely gone under the radar., in the media at least. Looking forward to seeing our normal CM double pivot of Jorginho Kovacic again. Think this could make a big difference for us next game.

But there were reasons for us to become a different team this year, right? The cornerstone of the CL winning side was the tight and efficient defence. Rudiger and Christensen were huge departures which were not Tuchels fault, but rather poor handling of contracts. The team was plunged into chaos with the sanctions shortly after we won the CWC this year. I don't have to remind you of the horrible questions Tuchel had to face from the press shortly after the sanctions. No manager would want to go through that. To top it off., he's also went through an expensive divorce around the same time. I know that's all in the past, but considering all that the club and Tuchel have been through recently, they deserve some slack. Heck, I didn't even complain about Nike, who despite making odd kit designs this year, have at least stuck with us through the sanctions But at the same time, I do not like the club shooting itself in the foot. That's why I share some of the same concerns you have over certain signings. Like the Aubemayang one. That's a Tuchel driven decision for sure, and I have strong apprehensions about it. This maybe wouldn't happen with a proper DOF in place. If that move fails, it's all on him. I'm also apprehensive about Tuchels growing negativity. The Tottenham match seemed to bring it to a boil. Chelsea managers and negativity never do well. I just hope he can turn it around in the next couple of games.

Chelsea as a squad have declined since the Drogba and Hazard eras. We don't have world class attacking players of that ilk. The last time we won the league, JT was still in the squad. Our decline in PL win % is not entirely on Tuchel. The only good yardstick for comparison is Lampard

The script for this early part of the season seems to have been written by an Arsenal fan. Their chance to mock all the other club fans that mocked them a lot last year.

Bear in mind...this is a different regime than Roman's. So who knows about what will happen with Tuchel. But yes, all the signs of a shit show season are there. Maybe a world cup reset midway through the season might not be bad after all.

Hope Kovacic is back for this game. If not, start with a 3 man midfield of Gallagher/Mount, RLC and Jorginho, with a back 4 and press the home advantage. Instead, its likely we see Chalobah and either of Cucurella/Azpi in a CB role, with Chillwell and James playing wide.

DP

Its pretty decent. I don't know if he's good enough to lead the line week in week out, but I would take a punt on him for sure. And I would hurry up, if so. Other clubs are lurking. Been a bit intrigued in him since last year when press started making comparisons to Drogba. Definitely not Didier, but I feel he could connect a lot better with our midfield players than Lukaku or Werner.

Do it.

Against Arsenal it was a 4-3-3 with Mount, Jorghino and Connor, so it was even worse. Nothing to shield our defense This time it was a back 5. That being said, I like our performance for the first 15 mins of the 2nd half when he went back to a 4-3-3/4-2-3-1 with RLC, Jorginho playing deeper and Connor moving further forward. Only issue is Mount being played out wide, which lessened his influence on the game. All this tampering with formations feels like Tuchel is deploying players in unnatural positions just to accommodate certain players and formations. I think he needs to do the hard thing and drop 1-2 of his first-eleven favorites and play the right personnel in the right formation,...whatever can get the team playing well enough with solidity again., even if it means upsetting those players.

I knew he had his shortcomings (you should see his stats about how often players can dribble past him, compared to other CBs in this league)....but at least have some common sense, being an experienced CB? 2nd yellow was totally avoidable. Still...don't want to throw him under the bus, because it's just his 3rd PL game. Silva has had his moments too after arriving, and he's adjusted well. Hopefully KK can do the same.

Everyones talking about Mendys awful mistake, but Koulibalys second yellow was even worse IMO. What the hell was he thinking? We were anyway 3 down. This isn't like the 1st leg of a CL game where another goal could make a difference. That too from an experienced CB. This is the sort of shit that we would bench Chalobah for, and even he hasn't done something dumb like that. Just hoping this is just him adjusting to the frenetic pace of the PL. Even Silva had his moments when he first came here.

I know its reactionary to look to sidelined players after horrible matches, but we're missing this guy big time. We play with a lot more assurance in CM when he's around.

So....is Fofana ready to start against his old club?