Blue Armour

Kovacic., Broja on as subs.

It's really annoying. IMO, VAR shouldn't be involved in any of these types of decisions. It was supposed to be meant for clear and obvious errors. But the officials have chosen to abuse the system, opting to create more drama instead. Basically to turn the Premier League into a cheap sitcom to increase ratings.

Exactly what I meant, when I compared their performances to our first season under Conte. We used to grind out 1-0 wins like this with Costa scoring. They are going to be awful to watch but will still be consistent., and could upset bigger teams in match ups against them. I doubt Conte will combust in his first real season with them, so we're in for a rough ride this year. To make it more difficult, Arsenal seem to be better than last year and United seem to be on the mend.

What is up with this guy? Ever since Sterling arrived he seems to be content with playing second fiddle and play in cruise control. I'm seeing more involvement from RLC in our general play. Hope it's just a case of him just warming up. He started last season a little slowly as well.

Raheem Sterling just singled out Kai Havertz for his great effort in his post match comments. I think Havertz did a lot for the team in the 2nd half after we went down. To use Sterlings own words - "worked his socks off" He deserves a lot more credit than he is getting here. But yes, we need a clinical finisher in our ranks.

Either him. Or worst case Ivan Toney. How is Mitrovic's link up play though? Toney has decent link up play.

He was alright IMO. Vardy got clear of him on 2 occasions, and would have put those chance away on another day. Chalobah still has room to improve. Hopefully Fofana can step in right away, or at least give Chalobah impetus to raise his game.

I think we will likely see some rotation on Tue for our front 3 attackers.

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