OneMoSalah

Looked a lot better in a 3. Suits him more. Obviously the question is then do we continue with a back 3, 3 in CMF and Hazard off Morata or back to 343?

Fair play to Conte because Christensen came in today (after an up and down last few matches himself) and looked better than Luiz has in the last 3 or 4 games for me. Luiz has his pros and cons like anybody else but he’s been clumsy in the last few matches he’s played at center back.

Could of had a hattrick today. Just crucial moments his control let him down like when he feinted past Smalling and chose to do so again and also at the end. Class performance though.

To be honest he suit’s Liverpool a lot more than he would suit us. If I could have any player from Liverpool’s forward line it would be Mane. Think he’d be the perfect right sided player for us.

I don’t think so. Cahill isn’t even a marketable player either as opposed to an Eden or a Morata or whoever who maybe make the club money from sponsorships or image rights although that sort of things don’t happen too often in the Prem I believe. It’s mind blowing yes but I honestly think when Conte made Cahill vice captain or whatever in the absence of JT last year it showed he trusted him very much and he’s gone and made him captain so he is obviously a player he likes and wants in the team. Otherwise he wouldn’t have done that.

The benefit of a team willing to follow their manager, invest without hesitation and compete with teams to sign the best players.***** Napoli are an amazing team, play with such style and press high and City bar a wobble at first comfortably beat them once they got properly going. City this summer went for fullbacks and a GK that suited, as they desperately needed them, got them and already had the main bulk of their MF and FW line. They were good last season at points but two new full backs of high quality (never thought I’d say that about Kyle Walker) and a very good, assured, commanding GK and they are a different team. Like we could of been with Alex Sandro, Oxlade Chamberlain and Marco Verratti... well I’d imagine we wouldn’t get him but hey no harm trying 😂 To give Spurs credit they done excellently tonight too. The differences between ourselves, City and Spurs in the upstairs of the club so to speak is all different but they are showing that it can be done a different way as we’ve done in the past. There is no one way to run a club but these guys are reaping the rewards of different approaches.

Yeah valid points but again realistically selling Costa and Matic, two players who were extremely valuable to our squad in the two title wins in the past few years was never going to end well considering both are top 5 in the PL for their respected positions. Realistically (Or unrealistically) I think we should of maybe looked at offloading Cesc or benching him at the least and pursued a Veratti or Jorginho like player (although I’d imagine Cesc would be excellent in a 3 with Matic and Kante. Wishful thinking but think Cesc was more a problem than Matic when we didn’t have the ball as opposed to Matic when we have the ball. Ultimately the board fucked us there I feel. Costa may have downed tools so to speak since January but he was still key in some matches, still took chances, he had a similar situation under Jose in the second half of his first season. I just think for such a great manager like Conte to alienate somebody without properly securing a more than suitable, better or like for like replacement is idiotic, Costa said he would have stayed and came back to get himself into contention. I think even to January it would have been better to have him that not. To go into a unrelated point I think if Conte doesn’t get a good set of results in November he could be facing the sack. Honestly we’ve sacked managers for less.

To be fair this last couple of games he’s been poor but the common thing with him is he usually gets himself one or two big chances where as Batshuayi plays bad and doesn’t. Once he gets a goal or two again he will be fine. He’s hardly Torres

He’s looked better for us in a MF 3 (Spurs and Atletico) than a MF 2. It’s clear he’s not a holding midfielder but a box to box midfielder. Like at Monaco he had Fabinho holding next to him. Kante is not a holding midfielder either but he is much more comfortable doing that than Bakayoko and Cesc well, he isn’t a holding midfielder either. Matic is more suited to a holding midfielder role, I think Matic and Bakayoko would of been a much better pairing tonight than Cesc and Bakayoko. Although Baka has a lot to show, he’s struggled a lot. He will come good at somepoint, he has potential but unfortunately he won’t surpass the standards of Matic who was key last season and throughout his time here.

This was bound to happen eventually, we would get steamrolled by somebody because of a build up of poor out of sync performances, it was inevitable eventually. This season has been hit and miss but before the season even began there were 4 major fuck ups on the board and Conte’s behalf 1) releasing John Terry and NOT offering/begging him to take a coaching role 2) alienating and selling Diego Costa 3) selling Nemanja Matic. Without even mentioning to Man Utd by the way and 4) Poor recruitment. 1) Well it’s fair to say we could do with some stronger leaders on and off the pitch, guys like Cahill, Luiz and Azpi are all experienced enough but are they even half the leader Terry was? Heck he didn’t play much last season I know but he has always been a key part of the dressing room and you can bet your money on what he’d be saying to certain players in these last few games we’ve had. Guys like Azpi, Cahill, Cesc, Hazard they seem to me as if they are all “too nice”, there’s moments from tonight and lots of other games were years ago you’d expect to see a JT, Drogba, Lampard or somebody in that sort of mound taking people aside and saying a look cmon what is happening here, sort it out sort of thing. Sure Terry is one guy but he always sets an example and his experience and character is undoubtedly missed. 2) Alvaro Morata is a great footballer and will be a good long term investment eventually as he has won a lot and has a good skill set but he’s not Diego Costa. He’s not got that bullishness or brute force that Costa has, not able to bully defenders and that is hurting the team in some games. Morata has got some key goals yes but has shown also some limitations against much more physical defenders in the PL particularly. Sure he’s adjusting still but he needs to get prepared better for next season physically for sure. I wonder what it would of been like if Costa and Conte were on good terms and he was kept until Janary at least. Would of been a great alternative. 3) Matic. What more can I say? His sale has improved United’s midfield a huge bit and severely weakened ours as his replacement so to speak is not a like for like replacement. He has promise Bakayoko but not as a holding midfielder, as a box to box midfielder who has a more dependable partner defensively than Cesc. Sure Kante is a huge miss to any team too but I think people are maybe now realising exactly how important Matic was last season as well, especially after seeing Cesc and Bakayoko struggle a lot this season. I agree with a comment Phil Neville made: whoever made the final decision to sell him should be sacked which as far as I’m aware Conte said he didn’t want to sell him so somebody upstairs has got some explaining to do. Aging or not, you could still depend on him more than Cesc next to Bakayoko in a MF two and that they’d play a lot better than what we seen tonight defensively in MF. I get we need creativity in MF too but so many games last season we went with Kante-Matic in the bigger games and it worked almost every time. It was tried and tested, Matic looked rejuvenated to the high standards he’d set before and Kante was fantastic. 4) Recruitment. Well where to start? We pursued Alex Sandro all summer to no rewards, never signed an alternative (heck Juve even wanted Matic and we didn’t try swap him + € for Sandro) and it’s likely Marcus Alonso will play almost every game for the second season in a row because again there’s no way Kenedy is ready or at the standard to beat him to that role like season. Alonso will need to rest or come out of the team at some point be it potentially due to an injury or poor form. Zappacosta signed for 20M to back up and compete with Moses, who has looked a good option in that wing back role, fair enough job done considering Chamberlain, who could of been a good RWB here I Real went elsewhere but another RWB.. the jury is still out on him, although Azpi could have always played there, which is why I was confused how we signed a RWB and not a LWB at all. Id have thought if it came down to it and Conte could of only signed either a right or left wing back this summer I guarentee it would of been left sided wing back but hey here we are. Drinkwater signed for depth, homegrown, looked alright in limited minutes so far, time out injured was disappointing as he could of given us another option earlier in season. Bakayoko has potential but has struggled a lot if paired with Cesc and not Kante and I don’t think that’s a coincidence, he’s not a Matic replacement and never will be better suited to that role. Morata good signing, played high level at club and international level, won trophies, good level of ability and will continue to grow too and also same with Rudiger regarding ability, experience at club and international level. Now regarding another striker, maybe Llorente wasn’t best person out there but as a number 2 with that profile he would of been a good option, can hold it and link up with players, is a threat in the air and around the box. Michy is more a poacher who fair enough he’s got a decent goal scoring record here more than anything else, his holdup leaves a lot to be desired and personally I don’t think he’ll make it past next summer even if Conte is still here or not. I think this along with LWB is for me the most important issues to look at come January, we need someone to either come in then or get it wrapped up for the summer because we are fucked if Morata and Alonso pick up injuries. Batshuayi and Kenedy are a few levels below. These guys are not good enough for a top team like Chelsea unfortunately. Pedro and Willian are aging but for me tonight in the first half Pedro was one of our top performers with Eden. He would be good to keep for outwide but Willian is another player who come the summer could be a casualty. Although I think he can be kept until then. Ross Barkley must be avoided at all costs as well. Also how many of these new signings got a full pre-season? Must do better next summer. Still firmly believe Conte is the right guy, he’s got a system which brought success and if we had better and faster summer recruitment I feel the season would of begun better. For instance Alex Sandro is a lot bette than Alonso who is a good player. Look at City with two new FBs. Sometimes you only need to change one two or three players in the first 11 but it makes all the difference in a positive way, we seen that with Courtous and Costa coming into our first 11 when we won the title under Jose a few years ago. I thought the board would of learned from a few summers ago what failing to have a suitable plan B regarding targets can do. John Stones for instance never signed, no plan B instead plan Z, Papy Djilibijojdushdh not even gonna attempt spelling his surname arrives o recommendation from the technical director. Also signing second rate players like Baba Rahmann (another one from Emenalo. Would he of been signed by any other title winners by club? Even as a plan B,C?) - and then eventually resorting to using Kenedy at LB midseason😂 - when we needed a more developed first team left back (oh wait we didn’t have Filipe Luis because we stupidly sold him back to Atletico). The board has taken a lot of flak and taken a lot of praise but honestly more often than not, apart from turning a profit and complying with FFP, they let the club and manager down time and time again

Luiz, Bakayoko and Alonso looked off the pace for me. Don’t think Luiz should just be in the team just because he is good with the ball considering we have Christensen kicking his heels on the bench who has looked pound for pound just as good a defender at times if not better. Rudiger looked a lot lot better than Cahill has. Alonso needs a rest and high level competition (other than cup games he’s played almost every week since arriving here) for me, criminal we only have one left wing back of a high standard in comparison to Kenedy who is extremely raw and still tryna learn the position. Thought Morata was very good but his finishing has to be better he could of had two, when the bigger matches come around again he might only get one clear chance. He does everything well, times his runs, links etc but I suppose missing chances doesn’t get him down he keeps trying. Eden also played very good. Hopefully He can continue like this and score more goals.

If we can, 3 man MF of Kante - Baka (form not good but big physical presence) - Cesc. Roma dominated the MF against us and hopefully our wing backs press their fullbacks at moments as opposed to sitting off. Won’t be a straightforward match on their turf though. They look a really exciting energetic team.

Another decent cameo. Baka has a lot of work to do if he’s to stay in the team I imagine. Although his presence could be useful in there next to a Kante/Cesc/Drinkwater.

To be honest 35M and a fuck tonne in wages (apparently we offered a good bit more than Pool) for a player who wouldn’t of necessarily wanted to play as a wing back which is where Conte told him he saw him playing (despite AOC skill set being suited to it), it wasn’t worth the risk. I’m glad he’s at a team that’s struggling, we’ve not done exceptionally either but you can guarentee we will turn it around we have a better team with more experience in winning trophies/competing for trophies in my eyes. I think in the future he will rue the decision especially towards the latter stages of his career because I guarantee Chelsea will have more trophies than Liverpool in that period. I guarentee he will still be a player with no definitive position or role by then too.

Think he will grow into a more rounded player yet. Some good things, some bad things, seems to intercept ball a lot but seems really ponderous on the ball no idea what to do with it at times but also then you see at times he can play some tricky first passes. He does go missing too which is a major concern considering he’s a more defensive minded player. Somebody mentioned Tolisso above me (on spare phone other ones getting fixed, real pain to try quote) but he has been extremely poor and out of his depth at Bayern, Chelsea isn’t Bayern but Chelsea aren’t Lyon either. Always a risk.

He definitely looked a lot better on the ball here than at Bolton and also seemed to read the play slightly better. I think on a whole he improved because of the fact playing in Europe as well against higher standards of teams as well as competing with the higher standards of players that were at the club in comparison to Bolton. He was in the PL team of the year for two or three seasons running as well I’m sure so surely he had to have improved (system maybe suited him better under Jose too, two sitting MF players offering protection with a narrow back 4 was a common thing). It’s fair to say now maybe he struggles on that left side because teams isolate him yes but when he played in a back 4 on the right side he was more than capable of distributing the ball sure he wasn’t doing anything particularly amazing because he was in a team that most games would have the majority of the ball, although like I mentioned about wide CB in a back 3 they have to be more progressive with the ball and play more in the opposition half at times than a CB in a back 4 (or most of the time). To be honest I think he does need to be taken out the first 11 for a while. Or maybe redeployed to the right side of the back 3 is Azpi ever missed a match, maybe be more comfortable there but still not a excuse for piss poor performances we’ve seen at times. Also if he gets a renewal it will be the standard one year but I don’t think Conte is afraid to phase guys out, he literally played Terry in a few games at the start last season then took him out and he rarely ever played bar cup matches.

Yeah I hope that if they do give him a contract it’s a more reduced role. I think though to say he’s not evolved or improved as a player here is harsh, he had a baptism of fire against Napoli with Luiz under AVB and his back 2 (probably was considering the full backs were about 50m out of position every time 😂) but honestly I think when we played a back 4 over the years until that disaster season after winning the title he was deservedly starting, he was usually always preferred by Di Matteo, Benitez, Mourinho and Hiddink ahead of David Luiz (the rash as fuck younger one, well maybe he still can be but suppose we’re nowhere near as much exposed with a back 3 as we were at times with a back 4 😂) and others in central defence. I think GCs lost a yard of two of pace and it’s showing as well as the fact he’s starting to be targeted a bit more by teams or has been the last two seasons which has made him panicky, also you’ve mentioned regarding the lack of ambition with the ball at times (think being right footed on left not completely helpful, was same with Azpi at LB in the past too) but I agree, the wide CBs really need to be able to step up and play a bit more maybe be a bit riskier with it. I hate to say it but I really think Spurs with (can’t remember who’s exactly where) Sanchez/Dier/Alderwereild on the right and Vertonghen on the left are perfect examples when they play a back 3. Like you’ve said if GC can’t go to Alonso he goes safe, which not always bad but not always good either, where as his Spurs counterpart JV is very comfortable at playing a grounded pass through the lines into the feet of an Alli/Kane/Eriksen at times or travelling with the ball into the space, I just don’t see that with GC, although there’s also the chance such a pass isn’t on as nobody’s made themselves available at times. I hope we look to invest in a good left footed CB who can play a bit more for that role next season (as I was hoping for in the summer window just past in all honestly) because it would help building from the back. Also if he’s a bit calmer when defending too at times, would be helpful. Although all in all with that being said, some of the criticism of him has been OTT. Like Brana, Willian, Mikel, whoever else has gotten it tough few years. Also maybe post better suited for GC thread. 😂 Azpi is class though hope he retires here.

Glad he’s getting minutes still and really like him as a player but there was has been a few concerns for me with him and the rest of the defence recently. For Everton’s goal he really should do better, judge the flight of the ball after Rudiger tries to deal with it rather than just kind of guess and make an arse of whatever he was trying to do. Even before it Rudiger is all over the place dealing with a high ball, the whole airkick/attempted airkick/withdrawn airkick from AC really just lets Niasse waltz past him (ok yeah sure I know he couldn’t risk fouling him but he can read it better) and then Rudiger and Cahills attempted dealing with ball across box whatever you want to call it is ridiculously poor. I know the Roma game was a week or two ago but for Kolarov’s goal he has to go out quicker too/continue going out to him, he seems to be going out to meet him, hesitates, then again decides to close him down and boom it’s a goal albeit a cruel deflection but if he doesn’t stop he gives Kolarov a split second less and perhaps he blocks the shot. Also I think somebody has mentioned for the Dzeko goal, but my take on it was that it really it was lazy more than anything, really poor to not be as tight to someone of that quality, fair enough it’s a 1/10 chance of him finishing from there on his weaker foot (although having seen Dzeko when he played in Bundesliga and in Engiand too he was always exceptional at shooting with both feet) but even then Dzeko’s not even remotely fast, sure his movement is good but Andreas tracks him. Maybe he doesn’t expect him to shoot from that angle but again he could be a lot tighter. Although the team and defence as a whole, was pretty poor that game as well and Christensen was probably the least of our worries in a very mixed performance. I know it’s maybe not much to analyse or think about and it could be being picky but there has been more said about less in the past so I think it’s only right to look at those incidents as weak defending. Anyway as the season goes on he will maybe rectify those mistakes in similar situations. Other than that his distribution and calmness has been immense along with most of the other aspects of his performances for a guy of his age, albeit he has top level experience but he has made mistakes and will continue to do so because he’s young. I hope Conte stays for the remainder of his contract so we can continue with a back 3, as the central birth is tailor made for Andreas and I think he can really bring him up another level defensively because I know for from watching Conte’s Juventus and Italy teams, their starting points was a formidable defence and I think that every team regardless of manager, frontline, midfield is useless without a good solid defence (look at Liverpool).

I think for him as well the team needs to try cross the ball a bit more often at times rather than trying to play through the middle with one twos etc, he can do both, clearly, but in the box he is always moving, always sharp as we’ve already seen. He scored a lot of headers for Real and he has got a few for us as well.

I wouldn’t go as far as that based on one game but he is a decent option to have although like I said it’s only one game, he needs more minutes. Cesc even with his limitations positionally and physically is still a lot better for me.

They will be right up for this. Fair enough that guy from their academy is in interim charge but even their first half against Arsenal they were really aggressive and pressed, so don’t be surprised if they are right at it for the full game because they’ve been shocking so far this season and I’m sure they’ll have a point to prove after going to shit against Arsenal. Plus we should be looking to try progress in these cups and win them this season as we have no chance winning the league the rate City are going at.

Board can be blamed and a lot of it is deserved due to poor summer recruitment/lack of recruitment but tonight Antonio must take the brunt of the blame for how he set the team up and how he didn’t react to what Roma were doing. The 352 was a disaster because we sat in with a back 5 and their full backs were spare every time they had the ball until we went to a 343 and pushed up. It was blatantly obvious it wasn’t working the whole first half, he should of changed it at half time, it was painful watching us at times. Roma just pinned our wing backs back and we couldn’t get out. They looked like a real top team, they are good yes but we made it easy for them.

Completely outplayed. Roma looked a proper team while we looked like a group of individuals that were all over the place. I totally underestimated how good Roma were too, hopefully we get it together for the game against Watford. Atletico drawing earlier too was a missed opportunity.

I know what you meant regarding the Ballon d’Or and maybe furfulling more but the point is still he can improve here yet and be as influential as he has been in title successes like we’ve seen in the past few years. For me he shouldn’t be looking and going well I can’t push myself more here so I have to go to Ronaldo’s Real or Messi’s Barcelona and be just a cog (a very good cog) in comparison to the “main cog” he is at Chelsea. Some of the players around him can do better too yes but I think looking at that game (1 game but was shockingly unusual from him) it’s fair to say the effort and performances of Palaces guys in comparison to us that if we could of had De Bruyne, David Silva, Paul Pogba, Leroy Sane... anybody else you want bar the two big hitters and we’d probably still have lost just because of the application more than anything else. The team needs improvement, I still think we could of gotten a Sanchez, Douglas Costa (well maybe not doing poorly for Juventus) or Bernardo Silva in the summer but we didn’t, so who do you go for? The team isn’t that bad, the squad is light in depth but we knew that, there arent a great deal of players at that level that are easily obtainable. Guys like Ross Barkley would of been a mistake as would Riyhad Mahrez. Ultimately I reckon the summer window will come back to bite us in the arse come the end of the season. Still think the clubs ambitious, just not able to compete with the lure of a Mourinho or Pep or willing to run the risks of FFP like United, City, Real, Barca, PSG whoever else.

I see more of Brazil than Bordeaux so hopefully Malcolm gets a chance in the NT, either that or I’ll have to watch a bit more Ligue 1. Fekir though will be an excellent player if he can stay fit