Jase

"I’m not about to start digging out a manager who has come in and made such a positive impact and difference at Chelsea since he arrived in January, but it is time that I speak on the Tammy Abraham situation." Didn't want to dig out the manager but ended up doing it anyway... Like it or not, the ship has sailed with Abraham under Tuchel. Just like with Matt Law, it's all rather opportunistic to bring this up after yesterday, even though we have managed all the results and got to 2 finals without Abraham. If we had won yesterday, pretty sure such articles won't even exist.

Precisely. There is no clear and obvious target once we look beyond Haaland, Kane or even Lukaku. Lukaku won't leave Inter unless their financial worsens and/or Conte leaves the club. Kane also seems very unlikely given there is Daniel Levy in the way and would Kane dare to cross the divide given he's a Spurs man? Haaland is the most obtainable out of the three but if Dortmund do qualify for the Champions League, will he leave? Will Dortmund sell this summer? They already made it clear they won't back down from their 150m+ asking price. Can anyone afford it this summer? On top of that, while Haaland may be a clinical finisher in Germany, can he replicate those numbers in England? He's posting a similar number of goals and big chances missed like with Werner last season in the Bundesliga, for example, and we've seen what happened with the latter this term. And how realistic is it to expect a 20-year-old to spearhead the challenge to win the Premier League and Champions League? It's easier said than done but the last 2 Premier League champions - Man City this season and Liverpool last season - have shown that a team can win the league without having a proper striker leading the line, so as long as the other players contribute their fair share of goals. Last season, Firmino only scored 9 league goals while Mane and Salah contributed 18 and 19 respectively. This season, Jesus and Aguero have scored only 8 and 2 league goals respectively but they have Gundogan on 12, Sterling on 10, Mahrez with 9, Foden on 7 etc. We should know this better too considering Drogba only scored more than 12 league goals TWICE in 9 seasons at the club and we managed to win the league 4 times during that period. If Tuchel wants to stick with the back 3 next season, then he might need to find players who are better suited to the system in some areas. Otherwise, he might need to switch to a back 4, get another attacking player on the field so that we can get more goals.

VAR was brought in to help "clear and obvious" error by referees but it has just made things worse because at the end of day, we're all still at the mercy of the officials controlling the VAR and there are too many fucking incompetent officials in England. Yesterday wasn't the first time we saw goals ruled out in such stupid fashion and it also wasn't the first time we got screwed over by VAR decisions this season! Football is really becoming nonsense with goals being decided by lines/millimeters and dumb offside rules. Unless someone is blatantly offside, what has happened to giving the benefit of the doubt to the attacking team? Does anyone even know what's the handball and offside rules anymore? We had the Werner goal at Anfield ruled out because his hand was in an offside position. We had Chilwell's goal ruled out because his left hand was in an offside position. But Leicester's goal stood even though Perez touched the ball, accidentally or not. Officials are just making things up as they go along!

Oh now you move the goalpost... Since when Tuchel has made selection based on that? You literally posted a video some time ago with Tuchel explaining his method (or whatever you want to call it) of selection.

Tuchel will have questions to ask if we really bottle the Top 4 but it's Lampard's failure to get the better of the top half teams that got us into this mess. It meant that we lost half the ground against direct rivals for the Top 4 spots. Yes, dropping points against Wolves, Southampton, West Brom, Brighton etc (Leeds managed to go unbeaten at home vs the Big 6) was frustrating but it can happen. Only City have picked up more points than us since Tuchel's been here and Tuchel has got more points (35) in 17 games than Lampard did (29) in 19 games.

It was just ONE chance! He was unlucky with the crossbar on two other occasions.

Havertz did well against Real Madrid but didn't start the next one at City...

Guessing you're suggesting that lineup based on what happened today? If so, does that mean your starting XI for the Champions League final would be based on the Villa game?

Really? That's your justification for Alonso starting? Getting a shot on target? Ziyech may have scored last week but his performances have been largely inconsistent. It's a cup final. Everyone bar Christensen and Kovacic were available. You play the strongest XI. It's clear that Alonso has lost his place to Chilwell and it's clear that Tuchel doesn't seem to really trust Ziyech because he has yet to start him in consecutive games (IIRC) and let him play the full 90 minutes in a game. Given the difference in playing time, it's bloody obvious that Ziyech is in the bottom of the pecking order of our attackers (not counting Giroud and Abraham) but some reason, Tuchel decided to start him and Alonso for defensive reasons! I can't remember the Xhaka free kick but don't try to divert away from Kepa's problem that I mentioned. It's a problem with him and it's a problem when he has to make saves against long range efforts. And let's not forget that Mendy is also slightly taller than Kepa, which mean he has longer reach than the latter.

He wasn't blatantly at fault but Mendy would have saved that goal. Kepa's weaknesses meant that he wasn't going to save. Just look at his little hopping/skipping movement before trying to make that save. He always does it before making a save from distance and that split second moment is always the difference between saving a goal and letting in one with him. Alonso may have scored the winner against City but it was clear by then he had lost the starting XI spot to Chilwell. Chilwell was quiet against Arsenal but he wasn't the only one. Tuchel chose Alonso because of stupid defensive reasons even if it means costing us going forward. And it was bloody obvious that Chilwell was desperate/eager to play against Leicester for obvious reasons. So, why did Tuchel not harness that into something positive, into an advantage for us by starting him? Werner starting was kinda obvious given his last few performances have been good and he has contributed either decisive goals or assists. That is less obvious with Ziyech. Although they were important, Ziyech has contributed only 2 goals (no assists) since the last international break and his performances have been inconsistent. Yes, Havertz and Pulisic did nothing against Arsenal but again, they weren't the only ones and it was only less than 2 weeks ago that Havertz performed very well against Fulham and Real Madrid. So, why did Tuchel not start Havertz-Werner upfront with Mount deeper like in some of the recent games?

Even if they did, I always still find it ridiculous. You don't see Guardiola suddenly start playing tall players against teams like Burnley, West Brom etc, do you? It's not as if Chilwell is weak, a dwarf and terrible at defending set pieces/crosses either!

I swear this picking a player based on height started from the second reign of Mourinho? Absolute nonsense that managers would prioritize height for defensive situations even if it means sacrificing impetus in our attacks! How could Tuchel think that having Alonso and Azpi as our wing backs would be great for our attack?

Am just tired of seeing us scrape for a Top 4 finish for the FOURTH consecutive season!

The question is, is Marina willing to give in and just loan Kepa out as well as cover the wages (full or part)? If she is, am sure there might be some takers in Spain.

You aren't necessarily wrong but we can't be putting in great performances to get to cup finals and then bottled them (or 1 for now) by not turning up. We can't be setting high standards with those performances and then letting them slip when it really matters. What's the point of us doing well if by the end of it all, we don't have anything to show for it? God, I fucking hate it when Chelsea get the hopes up, only to then dash them in stupid fashion...should know better after all the stupid bad moments over the last decade!

Funny thing is, City played their cup keeper Zack Steffen in both domestic cups. It cost them against us in the FA Cup semi-final but didn't matter against Spurs in the League Cup final. That being said, don't get me wrong, I wouldn't have started Kepa at all. Am just pointing out the circumstances that may have played a part in his selection, on top of him being a cup keeper.

You could say the same for us. Vardy and Iheanacho were barely a threat upfront and Leicester created nothing. So defensively, we actually did well. Where we failed was going forward. As much as Alonso gets more into dangerous positions more than Chilwell, he's not exactly a goalscoring machine. Chilwell himself has managed a few goals this season. And Tuchel said he played Alonso because of his height and experience but that certainly didn't pay off at all because we had 2 malfunctioned attacks from the wingbacks!

One can only imagine there was also club politics involved. Mendy would have saved that goal, IMO, but one thing I'd say though is if we had actually performed, it would have made Kepa starting redundant, just like against City in the semi-final.

Not sure if Leicester were necessarily hungrier because both sides were rubbish going forward. Only difference was a long range goal from nowhere.

And that's West Ham out of the CL running...

Win by a couple of goals? At this point, think we would all just be happy with any kind of win! Even the worst 1-0 win ever! It would be fucking tragic if we finish in the Top 4 but don't win anything again, despite reaching TWO finals OR it could end up worse...

You were certainly implying it. And heck, you even responded more to us losing in the Top 4 race than the cup final!

Are people happy with any referee? lol