Jase

We had two good team performances against Everton and Atletico recently and those were without Mount. Not saying Mount is bad but am not subscribing to the idea that we can't make do without him because he's not at that level...yet maybe.

Tuchel came in at the end of January. Werner has been a hindrance for a while? Have people forgotten that the second leg against Atletico only happened like 2 weeks ago or so aka 3 games ago, where he actually did well, where it was actually one of our better performances under Tuchel overall? And it was only this time last month that he also did well at Liverpool and would have had a goal too if it wasn't for the stupid offside. He's started 11 games out of 16 under Tuchel and has contributed goals in 4 of them while also doing decently overall in some of the other games. The performances haven't been consistent but they have been there. Plus, I've also said this a thousand times and people seem to be blind towards, another reason why perhaps Werner has played a lot under Tuchel and even Lampard is that Pulisic was in a bad form and had his injury problems. It's the same case with Ziyech and even Havertz. So, it's not exactly his fault if he's being used while others have been out, is it? I agree about maybe dropping him because at times, it looks like he's hit a wall after having played so many minutes in what has been a difficult first season in English football but on the other hand, with the amount of games, with the amount of rotation needed, how long can you really keep him out for? I suspect he won't start/play at Palace but will likely do so against Porto and maybe City next week. This is exactly what I meant in the other thread about our attacking players showing flashes of brilliance or contribution but none has been consistently at it. Are we also gonna pretend that this is all Werner's fault? Tuchel has tried so many front 3 combinations since he's been here - some without Werner - and they have not done well in consecutive games, it's just 1 game here and 1 game there.

The one good thing from this win and a 2-0 win is that our game plan next week should be clear - play on the counter like we did against Atletico instead of trying to getting caught in the fire with Porto like today. Although, Porto will have Oliveira and Taremi back for the second leg.

Have you not been reading my posts on Werner lately? 🤣

Am just suggesting it if things get worse. The bold part is debatable.

Not defending Werner here but who else has performed so outstandingly that they deserve to be in the XI week in week out? If we want to talk about what each player can do, then we know what Werner can do at his best, we know what Pulisic can do at his best, we know what Ziyech can do at his best and the list goes on. But who exactly right now is even performing to their best of abilities if we're being honest? Some will maybe have 1-2 good games, some will show flashes here and there. That's it. No one is showing the "I SHOULD BE IN THE XI EVERY WEEK" performance.

GOD, PLEASE NO! AM TOO TIRED/LAZY TO GO AROUND IN CIRCLES AGAIN! If we break it down a bit, Werner made an impact in terms of goal contribution early in Tuchel's tenure. So it was normal if he was starting back then and you have Tuchel selecting him for specific games/opponents (e.g. Liverpool at Anfield and Atletico in the second leg), which worked out well. And then you have some games where he didn't play/start. It's also not like the others have been done so great that they deserve to be in the XI every game. Plus with us playing almost every 3-4 days, there's always gonna be rotation. Maybe Tuchel rotates a bit too much from game to game but he was always gonna rotate anyway.

If we are talking specifically about tonight's game, it was shit overall from the team going forward, if we're being honest. Easy to say Werner and Havertz were shit when the service they got was rubbish. Even Mount, despite scoring, didn't do anything of note. On top of that, nothing really changed even after Giroud and Pulisic came on. The few times we got it right attacking wise, we saw Mount score, Werner send his header just over and then Pulisic hit the post.

Take the win and run.

The problem with Giroud is that if he doesn't score, he offers nothing. He has no pace, no mobility, his link-up play is average at best. And given Tuchel's style of pressing and counter pressing, it just doesn't suit Giroud at all. As for Abraham, I don't what are the reasons to be exact but we all have had our discussions over him. Maybe Tuchel doesn't rate him for the same reasons that many of us don't. 🤷‍♂️

The 2 subs haven't helped changed the flow of the game. And now Tuchel seems to be going defensive with more changes...

Why does he need to prove a point? It's not like the club haven't been trying to sign Haaland or some ST.

I believe this is Giroud's first ever appearance in the Champions League quarter finals.

Is it just me or has the referee given Porto every single decision!?

How ironic that we and PSG have scored with our shots in the game. We had 1 shot and PSG had 2 shots.

The service has also been shit. The Mount goal was the only time someone made a decent pass.

They are so fucking allergic to playing balls over the top. Look up, THERE ARE RUNNERS UPFRONT! THERE IS SPACE!!

You see what Kroos and Modric did yesterday in midfield and you see what Jorginho and Kovacic do in midfield. Night and day.

IF I'm not mistaken, only 2 players in that starting XI have played in a Champions League quarter-final previously - Azpi and Kovacic.

I really don't get Tuchel's logic of having TWO goalkeepers and TWO left backs on the bench and not make room for Gilmour at the very least. Got him to stay with the team in January and yet he's doing things like this.

Easy to forget that Werner was actually excellent in the last CL outing against Atletico and that he's the team's top goal contributor, despite his own inconsistency/problem. And you could argue that it's also a bit of rotation and all that because I highly doubt he'll start against Palace at the weekend.

For a nicer look...

lol I don't know where you saw it and Tuchel already confirmed Rudiger will start in yesterday's presser.

SUBS: Kepa Caballero Alonso Silva Kante Abraham Pulisic Zouma Giroud CHO Ziyech Emerson