Superblue

That's two of the most highly regarded tactical coaches in this era that Lampard has now managed to bamboozle and out-think (you could even say school) in Bielsa and Mourinho. Lampard is far from perfect and there are still parts of his management that need improving but for someone who is only 18 months into management, there is definitely something there about him. He needs to be backed by fans and club alike and I do believe in time he'll rebuild and re-shape this club to get back to challenging for the league. Hopefully we'll look back in 3-4 years time at today's result as the moment Lampard really announced himself on this stage.

Not sure what I make of Isco. At times he looks unplayable and at other times he's peripheral at best. The big question would be are those inconsistencies down to not being a regular or because he's just not as good as he's often made out to be. Struggling to get into the Real Madrid team isn't a huge worry for me because Kovacic was in the same position and he's been fantastic this season and is starting to really show just what a player he is when he plays regularly. Would Isco benefit from the same thing?

Completely agree. Almost all of Liverpool's players have developed into what they've become at Liverpool. They weren't purchased as ready made. And even whilst they have some top players now, they are incredibly strong as a team. Somebody as talented as Hazard I don't think would work at Liverpool because he wouldn't be prepared to press as intensely as Mane does. They've not focused necessarily on who the best player available on the market is, but who is the best fit for them. Spurs built a lot of their own side in a similar way too (Alli, Son, Vertonghen, Eriksen, Alderweireld, etc). The key thing for me though with both cases above was the level of continuity that allowed these players time and patience to develop and grow. Compare that to us where we went from buying young after the Champions League win (De Bruyne, Salah, Lukaku, Oscar, Hazard, Azpi, etc) to Mourinho who doesn't have time for younger players and wants ready made experience (Fabregas, Costa) to Conte with a very specific system to Sarri who plays a completely different style to now Lampard who is similar in some aspects to Sarri but clearly wants to play with more pace and energy. We've made some bad blunders in the transfer market but they haven't been helped by some huge changes. As an example we brought wing backs for Conte in Alonso and Zappa who simply aren't good enough full backs now we've changed to a back four. Bakayoko and Drinkwater were purchased specific for Conte but both are technically limited and have no chance since Sarri and then Lampard have come in. I have no problem with buying players who aren't in the mould of ready made players already in their prime and I'm quite happy to go for a player who might not be everybody's first choice on paper but suits Lampard and his style. So long as there is continuity. Even if Lampard was to completely flop and be replaced, someone else similar in their methods needs to be installed (i.e. attacking football, happy to use the young players, etc) so we're not back to square one yet again.

Not sure what is correct and what isn't, but a fairly low release clause may be realistic as wasn't his contract running down last season and he re-signed. Perhaps at the time he was willing to re-sign but with a fairly low release clause which would allow him to move to a bigger club when the time is right. That way too at least Leipzig haven't lost him on a free. I think he's played things perfectly to be honest. How many players are quick to move to bigger clubs too early and get lost in the shuffle and lose momentum. He's stayed and this has been a real break-out year for him, just before the Euros with Germany. After this, he'll have a pick of clubs or stick where he is.

Oblak for cash + Kepa might just be attractive enough for Atletico because he's highly rated and regarded in Spain. Not sure how much cash they would want though.

It's no guarantee that this rumoured £150m is just for January. It could be Lampard's transfer budget for Jan and the summer before selling any players.

If we managed to get Werner we'd be set for years up front. 2 young strikers who both offer different skill-sets and can even be used effectively together.

Some of the rumours of players we're being linked with - Ben White, Chukwueze, etc lends weight to the club being prepared to possibly take a backwards step or two for a couple of seasons to rebuild the club patiently and go again. There just seems to be such a calmness around the club at present. Usually a poor run like this there would be rumours everywhere of how much pressure the manager is under but there hasn't been a sniff. If anything all I've read is how pleasantly surprised the club is with how this season has been going and how pleased the hierarchy are with Lampard's use of the academy. I mentioned in a previous post that Chelsea's young players should theoretically be kicking on and hopefully developing into top players in a couple of years time, at which point a number of Liverpool's main players will be hitting the '30' mark. Does the club make an aggressive push now to try and challenge them or bide our time and quietly develop this team underneath them for a couple of years? Very much like how Liverpool have done things under Klopp prior to last year. The proposed £150m transfer budget won't stretch too far nowadays when you're talking the very top level of players. Maybe 2 players. In my opinion we need at least 2 year's of transfer windows to catch up to where Liverpool are at present. That gap won't be bridged in one summer window. It will be interesting to see what sort of transfer strategy we operate in January and next summer - do we buy a couple of real world class talents in their prime to add to what we have here already, or do we look to add more top young talent to what we already have and build a young team and aim to develop all together.

By no means do I think it's an easy deal to pull off, but Madrid and Zidane clearly don't want him and he wants to leave. I just feel that if he was somewhere where he was (1) appreciated again, and (2) the 'main man' he could flourish. For the team too, it would just be a huge lift to have someone like that join the club. Now that Hazard has left, we no longer really have that player that other teams have to consider creating a defensive plan to contain them. He would be that sort of player, taking some pressure off the younger players we've got in those positions. I don't see the Spurs connection being an issue, that was years ago. It would be similar to Fabregas I feel, if the offer was on the table and Bale felt it was the right move he'd take it irrespective of his Spurs history.

If Real Madrid want rid of him or would like him off the wage bill then I'm sure something could be arranged. And even then, it's far less of a commitment than dropping £80m and probably a 4 - 5 year contract on £150-200k per week for someone like Zaha. Giroud and Pedro will very likely come off the wage bill - that would cover a good chunk of those wages.

Someone who I think would be worth a punt in January is whether we could persuade Real Madrid to let us have Bale on loan. He's obviously not a long term choice but I believe he would be perfect for making an immediate impact for us. He'd be a talisman like figure that could help decide games and be just what we need as a spark in the second half of the season. He'll want to be fit and firing for Wales in the summer and I believe Lampard would be the perfect person to man manage and motivate him. Then in the summer, we can make more long term decisions.

Always going to be a hard draw regardless but that's the whole point of the Champions League - to challenge yourself against the best on offer. When things click for Bayern they look devastating but they also haven't been firing on all cylinders this season and have been caught flat a couple of times. The winter break will allow them to be fresh but will it leave them under-cooked? It's far more important for us at present to arrest our drop in form. If we're in good nick though come February we could pose them a few problems ourselves.

Alongside Rudiger, I would completely agree that they are our best players in the squad and all at a prime age in their careers. But I don't think the three as a combination is actually our best midfield and this is where things are problematic at the moment. In my opinion all three are better suited to playing in a midfield two. Playing the three together just doesn't seem to click properly. Last season they were probably Sarri's chosen midfield three and it was a massive struggle because none of them offer huge attacking ability and/or instinct. Last season any attacking play and impetus we had was nearly exclusively courtesy of Hazard and without that luxury this season Lampard has had to try and change our approach and be more attack minded to plug that gap. I feel reverting to a midfield three of Jorginho, Kovacic and Kante takes far too much away from us offensively, especially in some of the recent games where we should be winning anyway. I think this is where Mount's importance comes into play as he is the one that can link the midfield and attack together. Barkley would be the other option but he's been injured for a fairly substantial period and wasn't on the bench Saturday (still suffering) so options have been limited. The other option would be to bring Willian or Pulisic into a central role and play CHO or Pedro but both have looked pretty abysmal in recent times. A fully fit RLC this season would have flourished in this role I believe. It's tailor made for him to have a bit of a free reign to drop deep, push forward, etc. It would have helped Mount too because at the moment he probably is suffering a little and needs a rest but other's aren't performing either. But I think the idea he's overrated is way off the mark. He might not be the classiest of players but he is very effective at what he does and he's the sort of player that manager's love to have at their disposal because he's extremely hard working and intelligent (his pressing, the spaces he picks up, etc). It's not a coincidence that our loss of form has coincided with Mount's, much in the same way that Derby last season went through a difficult period when Mount got injured.

Don't really know much about him to be honest, but I wouldn't be against thinking outside of the box with some of our transfer targets. If this is the sort of player we are targeting though it looks like our rebuilding plans are much more long term than trying to plug short term needs.

There's no getting away from the poor run of form we're on at present but there has to be more patience at times from our fan base. It's no surprise that our midfield is a particular strong point in our team. Kovacic, Jorginho and Kante are all in their mid to late 20's, in or around their peak. Compare this to our main attacking players, with the exception of Willian, who are all in their early 20's and need time to develop. Consistency was always going to be an issue this season for them. I've mentioned in previous posts, Liverpool's front three are all in the 27-28 age bracket, all in the prime of their careers. And if you delve deeper into their squad, nearly all of them are in the 25 - 30 age bracket. The only two younger players I believe they have who play regularly are Trent and Gomez and both have about 3 years worth of experience under their belt now. City have a few younger players, but they also have some key players that are now well into their 30's such as Fernandinho, Silva and Aguero, whilst Walker will be 30 in the summer and Mahrez and De Bruyne will both turn 30 next season. We have a glut of players in their early 20's and very inexperienced at the top level, and a fair few players in their 30's and regressing. We don't have a huge amount of players in that similar age bracket throughout our squad (and some of those we do aren't good enough anyway). Even with a top drawer window, we would be hard pressed to touch Liverpool at present, whilst you'd also expect City to go again. We need a couple of years realistically to be challenging them. In that time you would expect these younger players to have the experience levels that someone like Trent does, and will hopefully continue to develop to be a big influence for us. Transfer wise, we either need to make a decision of buying similar younger players with the plan for them all to develop together over the next couple of years, or some more players within that 25-30 age bracket which will help to bridge the gap now whilst some of our younger players develop.

Irrespective of whether Lampard is the right appointment or not the club has backed itself into a bit of a corner appointing him. There will be riots if the board sack him early, such is his standing at the club. All the positive publicity we've had too this season will be pissed against the wall if we pull the trigger early. And what will happen with (a) the style of football we've tried to implement over the last 18 months and (b) the academy players coming through. Bringing in a more defensive minded coach that is concentrating on the short term will send us backwards long term. I do still believe that Lampard is the right appointment at present to be laying the foundations that we will long term reap. If he's not good enough to take us to the next level of winning trophies (i.e. Poch at Spurs) then that is a debate at the time but at present in my opinion we need to try to play our way back into form and get through this patch. A signing or two in January may also give us a bit of a boost, and Lampard really needs next summer to be judged properly. I can't think of many other managers going into a top job and not having any opportunity to bring at least a couple of their own players in.

100%. The club almost needs a season like this one to take stock of the situation and realise just where we are at present. Despite the recent results, the young players coming through this season has been a massive positive and helped fill some big holes the squad had before this season. The signing of Pulisic also looks to be very good and he should continue to develop and get better in the future, and the signing of Kovacic was also extremely important and he has really kicked on this season (which should also be noted with the academy players and Pulisic that you would expect them to be even better next season for the experience this season). But on the flip side it's quite simply not enough and we need more quality to be added. Whoever makes up the transfer committee at the club have done a pretty good job in the last 12 - 18 months after previous failures and I hope this can continue over the next couple of seasons because they will be vital for bringing in the right players.

I know it works two ways and the players at times need to inspire the fans and do things to get the crowd up but the atmosphere at the Bridge feels like it gets continuously worse each year and there are very few times recently where the crowd has picked up our players and pushed them on like other clubs get. It's strange because the atmosphere in European games has always been pretty excellent but in the league, especially in 3pm kick off games it always seems piss poor. Our support away has always been excellent. I think it's an interesting point given our poor home form this season compared to away.

The difference though is Pulisic started coming on in games and impacting them and took it from there. We look worse with CHO on the pitch at the moment. He's not justifying a start. I think Lampard is trying to change things up with the full backs and midfielders, but at the moment there isn't much else he can do with that attack without significantly worsening it. Recent weeks have showed how little faith Lampard has with the likes of Pedro, Giroud and Bats but I think it's entirely justified. None are at a good enough level anymore.

This isn't a new problem. We've had quite a few seasons with bad slumps in form or a capitulation over the winter but we had stronger personalities in the dressing room in previous years to grind results out and get us out of a slump. The worry is I don't see many players in this squad capable of doing that. I have no issues with the changes we've made the past couple of seasons because the football we were playing earlier this season was some of the best I've seen for a long time. But now we're seriously short of form and confidence, it seems like it's only one way we can play now and the problem with that is we don't have the firepower that the likes of City and Liverpool do to win a game when playing poor. Liverpool have been nowhere near as good as they were last season in my opinion but the front three are all so dangerous at all times they are winning games for them. All of City and Liverpool's top attackers are in their mid to late 20's or even 30's for Aguero. Our's are in their early 20's with the exception of Willian and it shows. It's a hugely steep learning curve at the moment.

Any sane Chelsea fan would admit how fortunate we were last season to make top 4 and (barely) capitalised on Spurs completely falling apart, and United and Arsenal struggling for any form of consistency. We also didn't have Leicester to contend with last season either. Losing our best player and main attacking output without the ability to replace him was always going to be a huge problem. How many of us questioned where the goals were going to come from in the summer when Hazard left and RLC was crocked. Other key players last season have regressed massively (Kepa, Azpi, Pedro, Giroud, Luiz - I know we sold him but watching him at Arsenal is a 'what we could have had') and others have been crocked for long periods. The squad we had was never going to contend with this and challenge at the top end of the table. We've been incredibly fortunate that the young players gave us a boost and we've found a striker capable of scoring goals.

Have you seen Hudson-Odoi recently when he's played? Did you watch his performance today? And seriously you think dropping Tammy will help things? Giroud and Batshuayi are nowhere near good enough. The problem Tammy has which he didn't earlier in the season is the players behind him have completely lost form and aren't creating anything.

Resting for who? He tried Giroud and Pedro against West Ham and they were abysmal. Batshuayi is one of the most limited strikers I've seen at the Bridge. We are not in a position to rotate because the level of players backing up the first 14-15 players are simply not good enough.

Unable to score against West Ham and Bournemouth at home is a huge problem at present. With the loss of form of our attacking players is really highlighting the extreme lack of depth we've got in the squad. But let's not make this sound like a new problem, we've had these issues now for the last couple of seasons but Hazard was able to bail us out in tight games like this.

There's a big mentality problem with this group.