Superblue

Haven't had chance to look at last night's game thread, but surprised no one has made any comments in this thread. It is imperative that we keep this man fit to play as many games as possible this season. I'm sure there will be a couple of times throughout the season where we're stretched and he's made to look his age, but his awareness and reading of the game is exceptional and makes it look like he's a 28 year old out on the pitch. He's also vital to provide the ability to play out from the back. His calmness and assuredness on the ball is superb (it's everything Christensen was expected to develop in his game). So far, even as a short term measure and cost effective move to allow us to invest in other areas of the team this summer, he is looking to be a complete masterstroke of a signing.

This decision has to be viewed as basic as this - If Mendy went down long term with an injury, who would people rather see or feel more secure with in goal - Kepa, Caballero or Cech? Unfortunately that's where we're at now with Kepa because based on those options until I see anything that suggests an alarming decline since his Arsenal days, Cech would be my choice.

He played Wednesday night. The likelihood therefore is he's travelled back Thursday morning so he has one day of training following a day of travelling. Like some have said, he's 36 and needs to be managed throughout the season because we need him to stay as fit as possible and play as many games as possible for us. He likely wouldn't have played all 3 games in the next week anyway so would make sense for him to sit this one out for the reasons above.

Almost feels like someone upstairs is teasing us showing us in the Palace game what we could have, but is going to make us suffer for a bit longer with Kepa and Alonso.

Simon Johnson of the Athletic has said early signs suggest it's just a minor injury and more precautionary. Minor could quite easily be though a couple of weeks and I would imagine at present he's still a doubt for Southampton and the first Champions League game. I suppose if that is the case, it's an early opportunity to see what effect Mendy will have on Kepa. Caballero has always been a short term solution to take Kepa out the firing line, it's hardly put him under huge pressure. Signing Mendy was a huge statement to Kepa that he'll sit on the bench for the season if he can't sort himself out. In an ideal world we have two keepers capable of pushing each other for the first team spot, like United currently have with De Gea and Henderson.

Or teams abroad. Barca and Real are possibilities. Bayern too, they took Sane this season and wanted Havertz to wait for them. I wouldn't be surprised if they've expressed interest in taking Sancho for the future. It's their M.O. to gut the domestic opposition.

Unless there is a large financial incentive initially or the selling club wants rid, why would a selling club agree to an option to buy? An option to buy only protects the buying club to give them the opportunity to buy a player if they perform for them without the selling club jacking up the value. If it was an obligation to buy then I think some serious thought should go into it because Bayern are paying almost entirely then for his potential. It's not like a Havertz situation where CHO has a large portfolio of success at first team level to go with his age. But an option to buy just seems foolish to accept. If he struggles then we get him back next summer another year older and his potential possibly no closer to being realised. And if he excelled and, say put up Sancho like numbers over there, then we'd be selling him under market value (especially considering how much English players are valued).

I thought the performance today was overall excellent for this stage of the season. I've mentioned in the previous 3 league games despite an some doom and gloom that I've seen some pleasing aspects of maturity and development. The Brighton game, having retaken the lead we controlled the final 20 minutes to see the game out well. The Liverpool game showed more defensive resolve which wasn't there much last season and the second half against West Brom it was pleasing to see some more fight which again wasn't always evident last season. Today was one of the most controlled and comfortable games I've seen under Lampard. There were some stages of the game for 5-10 minutes where the game went very quiet and pedestrian but we were still in control of the ball. That is a huge thing to see from this side. We took a breather and went again, all whilst making Palace continue to chase our shadows and prevent them wrestling momentum from us. There were also some excellent tactical fouls high up the pitch that City are the masters of. It completely prevented us getting hit on the counter when we did lose the ball. Player wise, I thought Havertz was excellent. He doesn't need to be racking up goals and assists constantly to be judged. The space he manages to find, even with a team playing so defensively, and his confidence and natural ability to take the ball in tight pockets will be a massive weapon moving forward. I couldn't care less about Silva's age, he still looks one of the best defenders in the league and will upgrade us. I think that him and Zouma look the natural pairing and I hope Lampard gives that partnership as much opportunity as possible to play and work together. They need a run of games to continue to improve that understanding as there will be bigger defensive tests (although it makes a huge difference when players in front of them are doing their job defensively to snuff out most things before it even reaches the defence). And I'm delighted for Chilwell too. Completely written off by lots of fans (not just on this forum) before he'd even kicked a ball. In my opinion he was the second best left back in the league behind Robertson and solidified that for me. He will make a big difference to this side. I think he can still improve significantly too (he can attack more aggressively at times but I think that will come with more confidence). His crossing was mostly excellent, as was his corner taking. It made a huge difference having 90% of corners beating the first man and giving our players in the box a chance at them. We looked threatening with it most of the game against a side who are usually well organised in that area. We can go into the international break now with a lot more renewed optimism about this season and an excellent result to build on when we come back.

Havertz has looked very good. Everything is so easy for him and he's so intelligent drifting into spaces.

I really hope this activity is being made on the basis that a bona-fide natural defensive midfielder is being brought in.

I think it's far too early to be judging Lampard at this stage. I think there has to be an acceptance that Lampard has an end plan for this squad. He's brought players in who have clearly been agreed between him and the board who all appear to be on the same wavelength at present, and we've got some real top quality players into the club, some of which appear to have been sold the project by Lampard. Trying to integrate these new players with no pre season (and what we did have of one was completely disrupted by mass isolations and international football) and a number of players coming back in different phases due to different levels of fitness, injuries, etc was going to be a huge struggle. I don't think it's a coincidence that Wolves and United have both looked really poor since coming back, and City also look undercooked. I think all are suffering for the extensions to their seasons at present. However I mentioned it last night, following the international break (hopefully coming out unscathed), Lampard has to start focusing on rotating far less, and give the team as much opportunity to develop and build chemistry together as possible. The back line in particular needs a run of games together to build some consistency. If Lampard thinks Silva and Christensen are the first choice pairing then he needs to stick with them and give them chance to develop an understanding together. There seems to be over thinking at times by Lampard and at times he just needs to keep things simple. Our run early in the season last year had far less rotation, United's run in the second half of the season was built on very little rotating and Liverpool have shown in the last couple of years the consistency that has been built in this way also. I think if the same problems are apparent in a couple of months time, then questions do need to start being asked about whether he is the right man for the job in the long term. For now though I think time and patience is required.

Disappointed about this. I'm probably in the minority judging by the abuse that he gets at times on this forum, but I think Barkley is a good rotational squad player to have. He blows hot and cold and he certainly isn't regular starter material but when he plays well he can be very good and is capable of playing both a deeper and more offensive role in the midfield. I would much rather hold trust in him at present than I would in Loftus-Cheek who I think is far more desperate for the loan move away to get regular game time and to see if he will ever return back to what we were starting to see in the second half of Sarri's season.

I know we were chasing the game but we looked so much better suited in that second half against West Brom playing 4-3-3 with a holder and two more attack minded midfielders. This I think is the formation with the most potential. I don't mind Lampard having an alternative in his arsenal.to call upon in game or to throw up in certain situations when the situation or personnel calls. But Lampard has to settle on formation and settle on a first choice defence. These two things are critical moving forward. We can debate both to our heart's content on this forum, but at least then I think we will start to see some consistency to our play. Ironically the most consistent run of results we got last season was when we had the most absences and Lampard didn't have many options to choose from. The team was kind of picking itself early on in the season. Lampard needs to do something similar again. We need a run of 6 or 7 games after the international break with less rotation.

It is definitely part of Rice's game that needs work on but he will ultimately be being brought for his defensive prowess. If Kante struggles for fitness like last season, we literally don't have one alternative midfielder with an ounce of defensive awareness and solidity. Going back to your point however in the second half against West Brom, Kante played in the holding role and I wouldn't view him as the most progressive of players on the ball either. However on a number of occasions in that game (particularly in the second half) Thiago Silva bypassed Kante and was finding Havertz and Mount in space with quite a bit of regularity. And they weren't needing to drop extremely deep to receive either. His mistake aside, I think his comfort on the ball and playing out from the back would potentially help with that 'problem' if Kante or Rice were to play that role.

On one of the recent Chelsea training videos it appeared that the new coach was drilling the players during a small game for which players to press and when. I think this will be a key element of the defensive game because it's far too easy at times to play through our press and exploit gaps. Individuals like Mount and Kante press well individually and the new lads we've brought look like they'll also do well on this part of their game (Werner is pretty obvious, but I was also very impressed with the effort and amount of running Havertz put in against West Brom in the second half when chasing the game). However collectively, a lot of work seems to be needed on this. Like you've said however, no one is going to come in overnight and wave a magic wand. Even more so with no real pre season to work on this stuff. It is something I would like to think will improve as the season goes on, and it'll be critical over the next couple of months that we do see some improvement over this.

It's easy to forget in times like this just how bad Emerson was for long stretches last season and Alonso forced himself as first choice as the season wore on by being better. As I said that doesn't mean he's done enough to make that left back spot his own but I do think with Chilwell having been out, he's earned that spot over Emerson in that absence. Hopefully Chilwell will be in very soon, stay fit and play the vast majority of games moving forward.

That's a matter of opinion. One I don't agree with. Neither are good enough to be starting for Chelsea, both are reasonable enough to be a backup and that's all.

It's his first football for 3 months. I'd expect Lampard always had a plan that he'd build up across the midweek cup games. I don't think Alonso's performance will accelerate that plan because Lampard will just play Azpi there if needed. If he'd have started today and broken down everyone would be up in arms about Lampard pushing players too quickly, you can't have it both ways. There is an international break in a couple of weeks, it's paramount that the likes of Chilwell, Ziyech and Pulisic are back fully fit and raring to go when we return from that break.

Completely lost the momentum, poor decision from Lampard. Giroud should have replaced Tammy.

Abysmal

Basic mistakes. Punished. Every time.

Yeah I think once everyone is fit a regular constant of Mendy, James, Silva, Chilwell and Kante should make a big difference defensively to the team.

Alonso first choice left back moving forward?

100%. If Kante has another season like last, it will be our biggest issue this season. There is a balancing act, because (albeit Barnsley) our attacking play and certainly the movement and passing across our midfield yesterday was a massive improvement on recent games. There is a definite and real argument over Kante possibly hindering that aspect of our game. However he does make us look more solid defensively, and I don't remember us being anywhere near as open against Brighton and Liverpool as we were last night. I actually don't mind Barkley and I think he's better in that deeper role than further forward but he needs someone more defensive minded next to him if we're playing a decent side. Against some of the teams in the bottom half of the table, I think he's a realistic option at times because he gives more attacking thrust then our other deeper midfielders do. I personally prefer Barkley's all round game, and definitely his physical attributes in that position to Jorginho if I'm going to be honest. The only other possibility is whether Lampard sees James as an option to play as a more defensive minded midfielder this season. We obviously have the alternative at right back in Azpilicueta and I see them rotating this season. Not sure how ideal it would be because it requires shifting the pack around again to do this and I'd prefer James to focus on developing into first choice at right back. However if Kante can stay fit and we just simply need a back up sometimes to give him a rest, then it may be an option to use sporadically.

I think this won't be far off. I don't think Chilwell's 30 minutes will probably be enough to start at the weekend. Kante needs to come back in for the midfield balance as Barnsley did have some joy attacking us in the first half. However Barkley has probably now given Lampard some food for thought that he can be trusted to play that deeper position and will offer a more attacking and creative option. Havertz performance tonight should give Lampard the confidence to just let him off now and impose himself on the game in central areas. Tammy's performance tonight has probably earned him a place for the weekend, and Werner can be moved to the left to accommodate that. Even if Pulisic and Ziyech were fit for the weekend, at best it would be on the bench for a 30 minute cameo.