Superblue

He scores when he wants...

Great goal

Started well, then had a period where we really struggled under pressure. Kind of expected though, we have 4 players on the pitch playing their first away game in Europe, let alone the Champions League. Big learning curve, but I'm happy with how we wrestled back the game in the last 5-10 minutes.

Squad is starting to look that much stronger depth wise now considering Barkley and Pulisic not even in the squad and Rudiger, Emerson and RLC still to return.

I'm assuming it's a back 3 with Reece and Alonso wing backs. I dont mind that although I would have had Christensen in over Zouma who i think is better suited to a back 3.

Just waiting for the meltdown from over the pond with Pulisic not even in the squad.

There's slow. slower. slowest...and then Jokanovic! Offered absolutely nothing positive. We had a really good quality midfield at the time but it was an ageing one which made his signing all the more baffling. I think probably what his saving grace is compared to the likes of Torres and Bakayoko is he wasn't brought as a big money signing to go straight into the first team. He was brought primarily as a backup and thank god stayed that way.

Which is why I think Lampard has taken him out for a bit. Look how much Pepe is struggling, he looked dreadful tonight! I'm confident Pulisic will be a very good player for us and offers some qualities others cant in this squad. His ability to run in behind in particular could be a very potent weapon and I think this season at least he'll be better suited to being a second half substitute running in behind tired defences, especially those chasing a game.

Read an article today that shows at present his productivity with and without the ball is overall pretty poor compared to the other players in his position. He averages fewer tackles per 90 mins (1.62) compared to Pedro (1.85), Mount (2) and Willian (2.49). And fewer interceptions per 90 mins (0.65) to Willian (0.83) and Pedro (1.85). His dual success is only 37% compared to Mount (46%), Pedro (52%) and Willian (67%). With the ball, he averages fewer shots (0.65) compared to Willian (1.66), Mount (1.86) and Pedro (2.59). Creates fewer chances (1.3) than Mount (2.15) and Pedro (2.96). And averages the lowest dribble success (42%) compared to Pedro (60%), Mount (63%) and Willian (75%). It's also not a coincidence that his last game in the league was Sheffield United where Azpi kept getting targeted and whilst had a poor game, was hardly getting much help from Pulisic. I think at present Lampard simply doesn't trust his all round game for the team. Tomori got his chances initially by performing in training and Lampard has also talked up Batshuayi's effort in training recently which has coincided in more minutes on the pitch. Pulisic just needs to keep developing and improving by working hard in training and chances will come. It'll be up to him then to take them.

I think this is extremely impressive considering that Hazard left, RLC, CHO and Willian were/are all out injured and we started the season without a proven striker who most of the fan base was confident in scoring goals for us. The expected goals is a big one because it shows we aren't just shooting from all angles, but we're actually creating very good chances too. I remember with similar stats Derby were very low on expected goals last season and there were lots of people questioning that they weren't creating good enough chances under Lampard. Defence obviously needs work but this whole project is a work in progress and we have to take the attacking play as a big positive at present and we look the most exciting we've been now for a good couple of seasons. Still feel that settled personnel in this team will make a big difference when defending. Rudiger and Kante missing practically all season and Tomori getting better every game, I'm sure we will get a lot better. And if not, then we know the area that needs most work in the transfer market next summer.

It's really not fair on Pulisic because he's young, needs time and seems like a nice lad. But the constant barrage of US soccer media moaning about him is really not helping matters and if it continues some may view him as not worth the hassle when it's not even his fault. My bleacher report feed for Chelsea is practically useless and unreadable now because every other post is some US journalist or website moaning about his lack of game time like hes the worlds best player and should be a guaranteed starter. I suppose though it gets us used to having a player a whole country relies on because in the next year or two we'll have the same with Gilmour and Scotland!

Agree Jorginho was superb today. How he's playing under Lampard is ironically what I expected from him under Sarri. Tomori is first choice now for me, he seems to be getting better every game.

Great result today. I thought the performance was measured, controlled and professional by and large which is a big plus because you can't go and outscore teams all the time without clean sheets. Get a string of results and build some momentum and I think top 4 could be extremely attainable this season. Set pieces are still a concern because that was Brighton's only way into the game today.

I feel the most impressive thing about last night was how the young players played with so much confidence. Yes, it was only Grimsby and there will be far harder challenges for these boys along the way, but playing in front of 40,000 fans is an entirely new experience for many of them and none of them shied away and just played safe. All were comfortable and demanding of the ball and looking to make things happen. How many times in the past has a player been brought on in one of these games for the last 5-10 minutes and touched the ball just a couple of times and it's equated to a complete waste of an opportunity. Whatever people think about Lampard, and I can understand some reservations about his inexperience currently, but he is definitely the right manager at this moment for these kids.

Rudiger definitely needs to get fully fit with a run of games this season to assess just how much difference he can make to this back line, and also to see how well he can strike a partnership with Tomori. I'm not sure who would constitute 'elite'. Would that be top 5 - 10 in the world? Van Dijk almost feels like an anomaly because he's far ahead of anybody else, attainable or not, at present. I wouldn't class Rudiger as elite as per above, but I do think he's in the group below this (probably somewhere within the top 10-20 centre back in the world). Beyond Van Dijk (and possibly Laporte) I don't think there's anyone in the Premier League that is any better than him and the market is completely broken now with the Maguire transfer. That means looking abroad, and there will be some definite risk involved picking up a defender who needs to adapt to the league but also step into a leadership role as the senior player within that defence (assuming long term Reece James replaces Azpilicueta). A big question when Rudiger returns is can he improve further? Maybe not so much technically, but he will need to step up in the absence of David Luiz and be the leader in that defence, especially if Tomori ends up being the other first choice centre back. He definitely on the face of things, seems to have a leadership mentality and appears to have an excellent relationship with some of the younger boys but he has to step up now and show it because it's sorely needed. Hopefully we get to see a good stretch of games with Rudiger and Tomori as the centre backs and allows us to assess if it will be good enough to challenge for trophies moving forward, or whether it is an area we need to improve on next season in the market.

I dont think that will be far off, but I think Guehi may start as it seems a bit of a risk to play both our currently only fit senior centre backs.

Definitely a big issue, cannot argue that and needs some serious addressing over the coming weeks. It should take the highest of priority because theoretically some of the teams we have now in the next few weeks will struggle to contain us if we play with the intensity we did yesterday, but set pieces will give them a real chance to take points.

I'm pretty sure I saw a stat that 8 of the last 11 goals City have conceded in the Premier League have come from set pieces.

I actually think that the defending in open play has improved in the last couple of games, and seen a massive improvement from the United and Leicester games where we were extremely naive and cut open at will. It's far from perfect, but there is definite progress being made on this and there should be further improvement with personnel too as it can't be downplayed just how important Rudiger and Kante are in this team. Lampard has clearly made and shown willingness to make adjustments also as our attacking play is far less frenetic compared to the start of the season. We attack and press in a much more measured and controlled way now. Again, definite room for improvement but there are also definite signs of progression. There have also been tactical and formation changes throughout the season such as the wing backs to match up to Wolves and packing the midfield in two games against Liverpool where we've been arguably the better side. The set piece defending though is woeful and at the moment is the biggest issue that needs seriously addressing. This is the one area where we do miss a Cech or Courtois figure as they are confident to come and attack a lot of corners and wide free kicks and in doing so it gives more confidence to the defence as a whole. Kepa, for a lot of his other strengths, does not command his area well enough at present and this doesn't help matters. It's also not all Lampard's fault, some of the players need to take responsibility at times. The Valencia goal was a basic error of players not going with runners and not enough players are attacking their areas well enough from corners, etc. However, it is down to Lampard to work out the best method moving forward because it could be a big reason for dropping multiple points this coming season. I understand the argument regarding results and performances but we are very much a work in progress at present. The attacking is much improved to last year, especially when you consider Sarri had Hazard last season at his disposal and also found a key stream of goals later in the season from Loftus-Cheek. Lampard has had to adapt a pretty inexperienced attacking group to those losses and we look much more exciting and there is far greater intent to our play. Opening us up that bit more has also had to be navigated without our best centre back and defensive minded midfielder too. At the very least though when things are a work in progress, performances are more important than results so long as there is patience and understanding. Last season OGS got United results and carried some momentum on for a couple of months from that but they weren't playing well and rode their luck enormously. They are now paying the price for this because their results have tanked and their performances on the whole haven't been good enough. When we manage to string some wins together in a row and build some momentum, I think it will be much more sustainable because our performances have mostly been a lot better and should improve even further with (1) key personnel coming back and (2) confidence, especially for the younger less experienced players in the squad.

I expected this season Tammy and Mount to succeed because I felt the opportunities would be there for both with the ban and the injuries we had (although both have pleasantly surpassed what I expected from them this early), but I didn't believe Tomori would get much of a chance this season given the centre back options we had at our disposal. Lampard needs a lot of credit firstly for letting Luiz leave, to open up a 4th spot in the squad for Tomori. There will be times this season we'll miss his experience but, as I've posted before, Lamps has chosen to build the long term foundations at the club over short term fixes. He also deserves some credit for having the bottle to reward players based on their effort and dedication in training. It's refreshing and will push these players on hugely with their development because no one's place is guaranteed and the hard work needs maintaining. But once that spot was opened up huge credit to Tomori for forcing his way in. He's definitely ahead of Zouma now and when Rudiger is fit, I believe he'll be ahead of Christensen in the pecking order too. He has all the attributes to be a genuine top class defender and he's very comfortable on the ball as a bonus, he just needs experience now. Very, very impressed with him and if these youngsters continue to develop the way they have started, by the end of the season they could well have filled some huge holes in our team which were there last season.

Probably been the right thing against Liverpool and Wolves who are two of the best drilled teams in the league with regards to counter attacking and making use of spaces left. However, I think you can afford to play with Pulisic as a winger higher up the pitch in some of our games coming up if we either played with wing backs or played with the 3 in midfield we had yesterday because either of those two formations should give a better balance and platform for the attacking players to operate higher up the pitch. The likes of Mount and Pulisic are hardly like Hazard either, they will be more than willing to put the hard yards in when defending. Pulisic just needs time. He has some very appealing attributes, namely his pace and ability and willingness to run in behind. From what I've seen too, he looks a decent finisher when in those positions and I think could become a very important weapon for us but he needs time to adapt to the pace and power of the league. Just because of the money we paid for him it's easy to forget just how young and raw he is. You only have to look at yesterday's opponents, Klopp ignored the clamour for Robertson and Fabinho to be chucked in immediately and gave both ample time to acclimatise (in Robertson's case the way Klopp wanted to play and in Fabinho's case both Klopp's way and adapt to the English game). He kept both out of the firing line and made sure they were ready.

Rich coming from Jose.

I was a big supporter of Frank getting the job in the summer for the main reason that it needed someone to come in and work towards the long term benefits of the club rather than the short term. The coaches at Chelsea have always known it will be a couple of years cycle and as a result aren't prepared to think long term. It's very much a 'what can I get out of this job' approach for the coaches and with good reason because a trophy or two can only help boost their standing and profile for future jobs. Bringing Lampard in, someone who has an affinity with this club and an understanding of what the supporters would love to see, we have someone not afraid of making long term decisions even if they have a negative short term impact because he cares for the club and wants to see the club have a solid footing for longer term success even if he isn't the coach. The transfer ban has obviously aided things, but he could easily put Giroud ahead of Tammy, Barkley ahead of Mount and kept Luiz and loaned out Tomori. I'm pretty sure none of them would have had much look in under Sarri if he'd stayed. What Klopp said today is right, the work that Lampard has put in so far in just a short space of time has already turned Tammy and Mount into big players worth a lot of money. Tomori is heading down that route, and Hudson-Odoi is now signed up too. Yes Lampard still has a lot to learn tactically but he's in just his second year of management. It has to be taken into consideration in the grand scheme of things and if he needs to gain the experience, I'd rather he get it now when a core group of players are also in need of it because if the academy lads develop as we're all hoping and we buy well next summer, we could start growing back into a real force again. Until then, for the first time in a long while I enjoy watching us despite the lack of consistency at present and I love seeing players finally be given an opportunity who deserve it. Those that I've watched playing and winning us youth cups and hopefully becoming big players for our country too. It's easy to dismiss the pride, particularly English fans, have in players breaking through at their clubs from the youth team.

Real Madrid look in dire straits at present and I'd be amazed if they're close to challenging again for the Champions League and Barcelona in Spain for at least the next couple of seasons. Big transition for them, and in that time they will also need to look to replacing the likes of Ramos and Modric too. By that time Hazard will be 30/31. All the talk and criticism that the club never adequately built a team for him, ironically Madrid are in a similar boat right now and need a proper rebuild themselves.

Agree with this. I can't understand what all the fuss is about. We can all debate if Barkley is the right choice but if Lampard has made the decision that he is the best man for that job then it's right that he's first choice when he's on the pitch. I think the whole issue is that Barkley had only been on for a few minutes and not really got into the rhythm of the game, hence why Jorginho and Willian who seem to be the next in line, wanted to make sure he was prepared to take it. Willian shouldn't have hung around for as long once Barkley said he was fine, but I can't understand how this is Lampard's fault. If he's compiled a list of penalty takers then that should be adhered by the players unless the one who is in line to take doesn't fancy it (and in that circumstance they really shouldn't be considered then anyway).