Jase

Maybe the perception/expectation will change somewhat if/when we bring in a new striker this summer.

lol I have no problem with people wanting to criticize Werner. It's people's right to do so and it's fair at the same time. This West Ham game was basically Werner's season in a nutshell. What I don't get is the constant revision of Torres' and Morata's time at the club just because of Werner's struggles. I don't know if it's because of human's nature where it's easier to remember past things in a positive manner because they are already, long in the past. Torres is easily the worst. When we bought Torres, he was done physically and mentally because of those injuries at Liverpool. His goalscoring problem is well documented but beyond that, he was genuinely awful. He contributed next to nothing, always looked miserable and tried to shy away from the penalty area or getting at the end of chances. What's more nonsense back then was we tried to make a past-it player work that it held us back for like 3 seasons! In Morata's case, his main issue was to different Torres'. He had no injury issues, he was (still is) is a good age for a player, had (has) the right attributes for a striker but while, again, his goalscoring problem is well documented, his biggest problem was his mentality. The minute things went wrong for him, he would often just sulk on the pitch. He also often went down easily on challenges, moaned to officials about not getting decisions and I even remember that he complained a few times about not getting the support within the club. It probably also didn't help that he supposedly subsequently suffered depression during his time here. As for Werner, we know about his goalscoring problems but at the very least, he still works hard for the team and shows the right mentality to try and turn things around, which were things that Morata and Torres did not do. I know that may not sound like much to some people and it remains to be seen whether Werner can turn his goalscoring form around for the better in the long term, but at the very least, that attitude and mindset will act as a good platform to help him turn things around. It would be far concerning if he started to just ghost around on the pitch, doing absolutely nothing (e.g. not even doing the dirty work) while having problems scoring.

Yup, Tuchel did say pre-game that he went for 3 CBs at the back because of West Ham's aerial threat and am pretty sure that he chose to play Azpi anyway was because he was the captain. Otherwise, I agree that playing him as a RWB was just odd.

In other news...

Yeah but like I said, we were able to tear the smaller teams apart with the quality football but struggled once we came up against better teams. I do remember that we were poor in that game against United.

Can we not play Azpi at RWB ever again? So painful to see him get burned for pace - even from the simplest of moves - defensively. But on the other hand, while his end product isn't great, he does seem offer a lot more with his movement off the ball. Just watch Azpi's run that dragged the West Ham's defence deep and opened up the space for the goal.

I can't remember everything that happened in 2008 now but we did struggle and fail to beat Spurs, Man United and even Cluj before that. Think the warning signs were already there. It just slowly started to go south after the Liverpool game. It's a bit like Lampard's time this season, if you look at the results. We just strolled past every small teams then but struggled once we came up against a top side.

SHOOT BETWEEN COURTOIS'S LEGS!

Tuchel's tenure has been the opposite of Lampard's. Under Lampard, we can beat the bottom half teams easily but couldn't beat the top half teams to save our lives. Under Tuchel, it's the opposite. Pretty sure we have had more points against top half teams than bottom half sides under Tuchel.

Real Madrid 1-1 Chelsea PRE/POST-MATCH DISCUSSION, LIVE CHAT AND ANALYSIS 2020/21 Champions League Semi-Final First Leg 27th April, Tuesday 2020 Alfredo Di Stefano Stadium 20:00 Kick Off (UK time)

Can we please get Brentford or even Barnsley instead? Enough with the same teams getting promoted!

In case anyone was wondering... Also admitted he should have scored that second chance in the second half.

Our first win at West Ham in 4 years. Previously won there in 2016/17.

TBF, that's the important thing once we reach this point of the season - it's all about getting results. At this point, forget about the team clicking for good really. We might experience the Palace performance once in a blue moon but that's never gonna happen consistently, at least for the remainder of the season. We'll worry about that next season.

At this point of the season, just take whatever we can get. Worry about everything else next season...

We really just played a dodgy line-up and nicked a goal to win it. Ha. Take it and run!

WTF was going on there with Azpi and Moyes?

Will be tough still. Still gotta face RB Leipzig and Leverkusen in their last 3 games.

Werner undone all that first half with this second half... LOL Facing 10 men...better see this out!

With Neymar and Mbappe, I don't think one needs to play pragmatically/defensively...

The good thing was Chilwell saw Werner and played it first time for once. There was a moment earlier when the ball had been played perfectly for Chilwell to play a first time cross in but he took a touch first before playing it...it was maddening!

Need to see it again but don't think that earlier chance was easy to convert? If he had missed that goal, he might as well just quit football on the spot...