Jase

But didn't you say you hoped it will fire him up for the game? Thought he was poor in the first half. Don't know what's the stat at HT but he had only 4 touches after 30 minutes and thought he was pretty static compared to Havertz and co. Second half was better but it's partly down to Spurs having to come out and leave spaces behind.

Tuchel said Azpi has a cramp while Havertz broke his finger. Also said he decided to play the system that we saw due to the 2 COVID cases.

Chelsea 2-0 Tottenham PRE/POST-MATCH DISCUSSION, LIVE CHAT AND ANALYSIS 2021/22 Premier League Matchday 24 23rd January, Sunday 2022 Stamford Bridge 16:30 Kick Off (UK time)

Manchester City 1-0 Chelsea PRE/POST-MATCH DISCUSSION, LIVE CHAT AND ANALYSIS 2021/22 Premier League Matchday 22 15th January, Saturday 2022 Etihad Stadium 12:30 Kick Off (UK time)

Tottenham 0-1 Chelsea (0-3 on aggregate) PRE/POST-MATCH DISCUSSION, LIVE CHAT AND ANALYSIS 2021/22 Carabao Cup Semi-Final 2nd Leg 12th January, Wednesday 2022 Tottenham Hotspur Stadium 19:45 Kick Off (UK time)

Chelsea 5-1 Chesterfield PRE/POST-MATCH DISCUSSION, LIVE CHAT AND ANALYSIS 2021/22 FA Cup 3rd Round 8th January, Saturday 2022 Stamford Bridge 17:30 Kick Off (UK time)

But it also left us suspect defensively. We'll likely revert to the back 3 next week.

He just needs to be careful with diving into challenges. Did it like 2-3 times.

If you thought the Premier League were bad at handling the COVID situation, Serie A are on another level...

Impressed with the defensive, pressing effort in today's system but felt somewhat vulnerable defensively whenever Spurs got forward. Otherwise, good performance all around against what was Spurs' first XI.

Maybe making Lukaku do a 6-minute apology video might tame his ego a bit. 🙃

It's early days but with Rangnick struggling right now, it's kinda scary that the club have easily hired him last January.

One could argue that we paid/are paying the price for having a big squad. And perhaps we could have forced the issue by cancelling training and/or closing the training ground etc. Maybe we were too nice.

Spurs' performance reminds me of our worst ones under Conte. So passsive. We have dominated the game with this back 4/hybrid back 3/4 system without creating too much.

@Pizy, you got your wish...SIX minutes of it!

If you say so.....

But international football is different to the Premier League. Plus, it's not even just about having a fast CB beside Silva. It's also about whether Tuchel can still play the pressing game effectively for example. Can we still press high effectively with Silva in a back 4 and when he's more exposed compared to a back 3? Just like those 3 other players you mentioned, Silva's best work for us has come in a back 3. Big question mark over him in a back 4 with us.

I don't see how we retain Silva and then play him in a back 4. Even if those 3 defenders leave, Tuchel could just buy their replacements and stick with a back 3. The caveat maybe being he could get defenders who are comfortable in both systems.

Silva staying means the back 3 is likely here to stay. 👀

Another club that have an outbreak after playing us...

Don't think there's any chance of Chilwell returning this season. ACL injury takes a long time to recover and if he magically recovers fast, he won't the match fitness to play games either. Anyway, pretty sure we can add/remove player from the squad list this month. We still have space in the non-HG list and we can remove Chilwell or Lewis Baker, who is on the list for some reason: https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/2021/09/09/Chelsea-s-premier-league-squad-confirmed

It was interesting that when asked whether Lukaku has a long term future at the club, Tuchel said "ask him (Lukaku)" and then just cited his long term contract. One of the journalists also pointed out that Lukaku has never stayed for many years at a club, citing only 2 years each at United and then Inter. Funnily enough, his longest term at a club was at Everton and one of those seasons was a loan deal.

Simon Johnson seems to suggest it was more of the club's signing according to this latest podcast (from 22:54): https://podfollow.com/1488521447/episode/fad6dc858962d3bdb1b704a88596f8df86771794/view "Tuchel was on the phone to Romelu as part of the process to sign him. Of course Tuchel would have loved to sign Haaland, who was probably his first choice. You would sort of say "Does Lukaku tick all of Tuchel's boxes?". No but can Lukaku make an improvement on this Chelsea side? Yes. The club always wanted to sign to Lukaku again. They showed that in 2017. It was the best player they could get at the time. It's up to Lukaku and Tuchel to make it work." On a side note, The Athletic's Adam Crafton pointed out that Lukaku has a high school degree in PR, which makes this whole fiasco even more hilarious.

I know we want players to be honest and not just spout PR bullshit but I can't for the life of me understand how Neville and some other English journalists used that as an excuse to defend Lukaku in this situation. He literally disrespected Tuchel, the club and his teammates and made the fans pissed off. There's a time and way to be honest about things but everything he did was not them.

Think it's a combination of different things. They haven't had a dominant manager, someone who will hold these players accountable etc in ages. They haven't had a proper manager who is in tune with the modern game in ages. They also have a squad with some very average players.