Blue Armour

Now that the transfer window is closed and that he has a more settled squad, hopefully he can concentrate on getting them to play better football with more spirit. Because it's been mediocre so far.

Agreed. Although we needed some luck based on the law of averages. Also, another terrible performance for the majority of a game. Hope Tuchel sorts it out.

Probably...and he should. But Tuchel always gives priority to the CL, and will likely play his 'strongest' 11 to start the tournament with a win. Meaning his favorite Mendy will start the game.

Needs to start the CL game midweek. Would also like to see if him and Havertz can combine with each other.

I'll give Fofana a pass because it's only his first game with us, but he doesnt seem to be getting tight enough to attackers to block crosses coming in from his flank. A prime example of this is for the West Ham chance that cannoned off the post in the 2nd half. The cross came in from his flank, and Koulibaly was woefully out of position to prevent the shot. I'm hoping Fofana will improve, and KK settles in, but we really need to go in for another world class CB or two next season. And hope Colwill has a good loan at Brighton.

That just makes me more pleased about the VAR decision

Surprised we never went for him. Club relying on the 'safe' option as always.

I said at the start of this thread that he needed to be dropped. Clear favouritism from Tuchel.

Cowardly subs. Still keeps 3 CBs on. Leaves RLC with a yellow card on the pitch. Tuchel keeps shoehorning his favorite players in to unnatural positions instead of playing players in positions of strength. If Abramovich were here he would be walking a tight rope.

In 3 months, it will be time for the world cup. But agreed. This is about Kovacic. It really depends on the nature of the injury though. If Kounde could put it off till end of the season, there's a chance this could wait. Anyway, its all conjecture. No one has really confirmed if he even needs surgery. Until it becomes official, I wouldn't worry. Too many other question marks in the squad already.

Basically continue to play but risk having niggling injuries from time to time., or have surgery and sort it out once and for all. I don't know what type of knee injury it is., but hope if they decide to do surgery, the recovery time is more like what Kounde had as opposed to what Chillwell had to go through In any case, I doubt he will go under the knife soon. Else Tuchel wouldn't have proclaimed him ready for tomorrow's match. No way they decided on a surgery in a matter of minutes.

I remember Chelsea seemingly being his first choice over Arsenal before he moved to England. Even posing in blue (or was it his car) when hinting at his next club. 3 years too late, but let's hope he can bring it.

Don't forget the treatment home for central midfielders, like Kante, Kovacic and RLC

And the contract length. Ostensibly not that long either.

Seems to be full of energy, and is a Drogba fan. Hope he can bring it to the pitch. We've been lacking that since Rudigers departure.

Upside to me is better movement off the ball, and more effort in pressing the opposition. If Pulisic is not on form and beating players (hard to say when he decides to turn up) then we gain little else. To me, Broja is the one who really needs a crack at starting the game. Pulisics little cameos have looked unimpressive so far. Plus, he seems like a really disgruntled player at the moment. It should have been him instead of Odoi going out on loan.

A DM with less ball playing ability than Kante is asking for trouble, But.......I Hope this guy can handle the pressure and play a quick pass if nothing else. If his job is only to sit in front of the defence as a Makalele type player , I don't see why we can't switch to a 433 and play our attacking midfield players in their right positions (looking at Gallagher/Mount).

Fair points, and whilst I do agree that Tuchel seems to be on a short fuse these days, I'd argue I've seen the same with Arteta too. He practically drove Aubameyang out of the club (despite advocating for his contract extension initially), and also put Xhaka on the spot (rightfully so in this case) when he went on a red card spree. Maybe Arteta is a calmer head behind the scenes, but I haven't seen Tuchel behind the scenes so can't compare. @blahblahblah what's your take on Arteta v Tuchel? I saw you like the Blues11's post so surely you must have an opinion. Personally for me, the jury is still out on Arteta. He's done a great job so far this season, but at the same time he was given a lot of time for his ideas to take hold, costing Arsenal even Europa conference league football along the way. By that token, Tuchel, while largely disappointing so far this season, has earned more time to bring his vision to fruition.

If there's some kind of solace so far this season, our home form has looked far better. Hope that continues, and hope it makes a difference to our season.

Agree about dropping Mendy and Mount. Less thrilled about bringing in Pulisic, especially if he was as horrible as people say he was in the last game. Ideally this would have been a job for CHO, but since we don't have him, I'd rather keep Havertz on. At least he has some work rate if nothing else.

What does everyone here think of Arteta? Almost everyone agreed that his first few seasons sucked.. Now that Arsenal stuck with him and that he's on top of the table, what's your opinion? Is he a superior coach to Tuchel. Genuinely curious what people think.

You know...if we're praising Arsenal and Arteta now.., we should remember the awful performances they had with Arteta in the last 2 seasons. And the fact that they still stuck with him. By that token Tuchel also deserves time. And no, our squad isn't significantly better than theirs.

I don't get why we're so keen to offload attackers and midfielders without any reinforcements in sight. Feels like the priority this window was to reduce the wage bill more than anything else This squad is far weaker than last season.

In my view Koulibaly was never a Rudiger replacement. I always viewed him as the 2nd CB signing we needed, in addition to a world class CB like Skriniar. Koulibaly was there to fill the squad and take on Silvas role after he retired ( and probably won't be anywhere near that level IMO).

Hope he passed his medical. At this point I'll take an injury risked CB over the horror show that awaits with relying on three 30+ year old CBs for cover.