Jase

Chelsea’s in-form defenders are giving Tuchel a welcome problem https://theathletic.com/2429314/2021/03/08/chelseas-in-form-defenders-are-giving-tuchel-a-welcome-problem/ Chelsea’s defenders are giving coach Thomas Tuchel a problem. Normally making a statement like that is due to a string of poor performances and/or a lack of clean sheets. But Tuchel’s issues are actually being caused by personnel performing so well. Why is that a cause for concern? While Tuchel’s primary focus right now is getting Chelsea in the top four as well as sustaining their challenge in the FA Cup and Champions League, the German has one eye on plans for next season too. Tuchel will be assessing in his mind who he wants to keep and let go, especially as the club are also laying down the ground work for any potential transfer targets. It is understood that signing an imposing centre back, one that can lead and dominate the backline, is on the wish-list. Bayern Munich’s Niklas Sule, RB Leipzig’s Ibrahima Konate and Atletico Madrid’s Jose Gimenez, who they have admired since 2016, are three of the names under consideration. As revealed by The Athletic, Chelsea made an enquiry for another Bayern Munich player in David Alaba last summer, but he made it clear he wasn’t interested in a move to Stamford Bridge. His wage demands would be an issue regardless. The centre half department is already a congested part of the squad, particularly when you take into account individuals out on loan too. When Chelsea were struggling to win games and keep opponents goalless under coach Frank Lampard, some of the decisions seemed easier to make than others. After going 10 games unbeaten under his replacement and conceding just two goals, it is far more complex. The displays of Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen in recent weeks is one of the reasons why. Both weren’t regulars under Lampard, who pushed the board to get rid of the former last year. In the 10 matches played under Tuchel so far, Rudiger has featured in all 10, Christensen seven. Both men are out of contract in 15 months’ time and will be able to talk to foreign clubs in January about a free transfer the following summer. Chelsea director Marina Granovskaia won’t want either man to leave for nothing and there have been suggestions that the club are planning to offer the duo new deals. That makes perfect sense but The Athletic has been told that this is news to those close to the pair. It is understood no discussions over an extension have taken place with either of them and neither camp has been given any indication of their intention to do so yet. There is a possibility to sell them this summer because the duo have their fair share of admirers at top clubs throughout Europe. But if they continue to perform at the high level they demonstrated in the 1-0 wins over Atletico Madrid and Liverpool, do Chelsea or Tuchel really want to let them go? It is not as if they will be able to demand a large fee due to their deals only having 12 months left. Mind you, the players themselves might want to pursue a move themselves should an attractive offer come in, especially if they have any doubts about how much Tuchel will use them in future. Christensen has been regarded as the back-up to Thiago Silva, who is training again after a thigh injury. The latter has thrived since joining from Paris Saint Germain last year and the intention on both sides is to trigger an option so the Brazilian stays for next season too. Silva turns 37 in September, but the standard of his displays means age isn’t a concern. The positive influence on the camp is another positive factor. His games will have to be managed, which is why keeping someone like Christensen around would be smart. The situation of club captain Cesar Azpilicueta also needs thinking about, as like Rudiger and Christensen, his contract expires in 2022. The 31-year-old’s fortunes have also improved by starting nine matches since Lampard left and he continues to lead the group on and off the pitch. Chelsea tend to discuss only one-year extensions with players over 30 — David Luiz (signed a two-year deal before being sold to Arsenal in 2019) and Willian (rejected two-year deal before joining Arsenal) are recent exceptions. Azpiliceuta’s long-term future, just like the others, may also be tied into whether Tuchel persists with three at the back and using him as a right-sided centre half where there isn’t as much running involved as at back or right wing-back. If there is a switch to a back four next season, there will obviously be less places available in the starting XI. One sellable asset is Kurt Zouma. Chelsea have considered it in 2019 and 2020, but Lampard wanted him to stay. Now a departure in 2021 could be on the agenda, especially if things continue as they are. Tuchel is clearly not too enamoured with the Frenchman having picked him just twice. He is fifth choice, which is some fall from grace because he’d featured in more games than any of the centre backs this season before Lampard was dismissed. The Frenchman is 26 so would command a good sum. There are two years left on his agreement and perhaps after spending seven campaigns trying to prove he’s worthy of a regular spot, he will decide the time has come to leave Chelsea and find an opportunity to do so elsewhere. Tuchel likes his defenders to be comfortable on the ball and play out from the back, which is not one of Zouma’s attributes. Then there are the loanees to consider. Fikayo Tomori is impressing at AC Milan having joined them in January. The situation is not clear cut because the Serie A club have an option, not an obligation, to buy the England international at the end of the season for £24.2 million. They had a similar agreement in place for midfielder Tiemoue Bakayoko (the option was worth £31 million) in 2018-19, but there was a suspicion they never intended to trigger it due to lack of funds. There is a possibility history could repeat itself. Tomori is a 23-year-old England international, who has played 27 times for Chelsea. It’s some call to let him go with the best part of his career still ahead of him. Mind you, as The Athletic revealed in December, Marc Guehi was being closely monitored at Swansea in view of a possible squad place. Sources suggest he is rated higher by some within the club than Tomori despite not playing in the Premier League yet. Naturally the departure of Lampard and assistant Jody Morris, two men keen on giving academy players a chance, may have affected things somewhat. However, Guehi continues to be a major asset in Swansea’s bid to win promotion from the Championship and his progress is hard to ignore. Others that shouldn’t be forgotten about are Ethan Ampadu and Malang Sarr. Like with the other loanees, pre-season training could be vital to their hopes of making an impression on Tuchel. Ampadu has had his moments at Sheffield United. The fact he has played 30 senior games (including five caps for Wales) this season, which already dwarfs the totals he’s managed in previous campaigns, is a good sign. But the 20-year-old’s cause hasn’t been helped by being at a team that has sat in the bottom three of the Premier League throughout. Sarr, who joined as a free agent from Nice last year, has been on the losing side twice at Porto, the first of which was his debut in the Champions League at Manchester City and the second came in the Portuguese league cup semi-final second-leg against Braga. Unfortunately, the Frenchman has just 18 appearances to his name. One would think that’s not enough to convince Tuchel. Clearly all nine options to play centre back that have been discussed here can’t be a part of Tuchel’s plans and the possibility of the manager bringing his own man in further complicates matters. Tuchel has a lot of thinking to do.

HA! Look who's talking...

Leicester were gifted the win by Brighton. City decided to flop against United. We're bound to drop points here then...

I mean sure but it would be better for us if United and Leicester are dragged into this dogfight as well, because we would have a tad more margin for error and having 6 teams, including us, chasing that 1 spot is too stressful!

Recent Premier League title defences after 28 games: 2013/14 - 48 pts; 6th (Moyes' Man United) 2015/16 - 39 pts; 8th (Mourinho Season) 2020/21 - 43 pts; 7th (Klopp's Liverpool) cc @Mana

Well, at least Lampard was right about this...

This feels like Klopp's final season at Dortmund all over again.

The relegation battle just got really interesting...

You know, it's kinda funny that we're all out here saying we need a #9 striker when Liverpool won the league last season without one - Firmino, a false 9 of sorts, scored only 12 goals, although Salah and Mane mostly scored them - and Man City are gonna win this season's title without a proper #9. Jesus is a central striker I guess but he has only 6 goals and below are City's league scorers this season: Gundogan - 11 goals Sterling - 9 Mahrez - 7 Jesus - 6 Foden - 6 Stones - 3 De Bruyne - 3 Silva - 2 Torres - 2 Mendy (+ 5 other players) - 1

Looking at Haaland's crazy numbers, I do wonder if he's really a rare goalscoring freak or whether he's peaking too early and that the numbers would eventually plateau to a normal rate at some point. Messi or Ronaldo wasn't even posting such numbers at 20 years old.

But his last notable/major injury was back in November? Since returning in late November, Pulisic has not featured in only 5 out of our last 24 games (played over 1000 minutes in the other 19 games) - missed 2 games due to tight hamstring (Everton and Southampton), 1 due to family issue (Sheffield United) and was an unused sub in the remaining 2 games (Krasnodar and Newcastle). He has looked fine physically.

Am not saying we should sell Pulisic now. All I'm basically saying is...WHAT THE F HAS HAPPENED TO PULISIC?

STILL THINK THEY'RE TRYING TO HELP US OUT!?

But the difference between Pulisic and Ziyech as well as Havertz is that this is Pulisic's second season at the club. Am sure we all expected him to kick on from what he showed last season but he hasn't done that at all. The others have at least factors like it's their first season in England, getting COVID-19 (in Havertz's case) for why they haven't shown their best form, even if we want them to do great/better as well regardless. And current formation or not, we do seem to have too many players upfront and players that want to be playing week in week out. It does feel like it needs to be trimmed down.

Never thought it would come to a point where we see a team being rather heavily reliant on Morata.

We can argue all day about whether Pulisic suits Tuchel's current system. The biggest problem with Pulisic right now is that he's just "dead". He's not even showing any kind of form, not even glimpses of it. Not under Tuchel and not even when he played in his winger role and played lots of minutes under Lampard this season. A few other players - e.g. CHO, James - aren't necessarily suited to Tuchel's back 3 system but at the very least, they are doing alright. They are showing some kind of form. But Pulisic? He's just like a ghost at the moment, he's just like an extra doing zilch.

My eyes bleed at that first video when we could have played in Werner early... Anyway, playing through the press and the others bit are what we saw under Sarri and to an extent under Conte. This is what can happen when we have a manager who implements a structure in the team and coach the players about possession and positional play. It also helps with our counter-pressing if we lose the ball along the way.

Will definitely fit in well here...

Not sure if those are the same quotes from some time back and nothing wrong with having dreams and all but what makes him think we would buy him back? The move ain't gonna happen, Oscar.

No WC qualifiers for Silva this month...

🤣

That's the price Milan agreed on when they made the loan deal. If they can't afford him, they should just F off!

Cox: The nine roles Azpilicueta has played for Chelsea https://theathletic.com/2427566/2021/03/06/cox-the-nine-roles-azpilicueta-has-played-for-Chelsea/ Over the past five years, the rise and fall of Chelsea defenders has largely depended upon changes of manager and changes of system. Antonio Conte’s switch to a 3-4-3 system a couple of months into 2016-17, at half-time of a 3-0 defeat away to Arsenal, famously transformed Chelsea’s campaign. It also hastened the end for both John Terry and Branislav Ivanovic, unsuited to playing in a system that involved covering more space than in a four-man defence. In turn, it benefited David Luiz, who liked playing as the spare man, and Marcos Alonso, a questionable left-back but an effective left wing-back. But in a four-man defence under Maurizio Sarri, those two looked less comfortable, and Frank Lampard liked neither. He sold David Luiz and sidelined Alonso, signing Ben Chilwell to play left-back instead. Then, however, the appointment of Thomas Tuchel in January meant Chelsea reverted to a back three, and Alonso has returned to the fold. Among all this upheaval, one man has invariably kept his place. Club captain Cesar Azpilicueta has demonstrated tremendous versatility since joining the club in 2012. Now into his ninth season at the club, it’s arguable that he’s now played nine separate roles. Role 1: right-back (RB) Right-back is the position in which Azpilicueta looks most comfortable. It’s the position he played for Marseille, where he was renowned as a combative and attack-minded full-back who enjoyed scampering up and down the touchline. Upon his signing, he appeared a very different option to existing right-back Ivanovic, considered a predominantly defensive player, even if the Serbian’s crossing improved the more he played out wide. For example, when Chelsea were losing to Corinthians in the World Club Cup final in 2012, Rafa Benitez tried to inject extra attacking drive by introducing Azpilicueta for Ivanovic. It didn’t work, but that demonstrates his reputation at the time — an attack-minded full-back who would offer more going forward. Within the broad scope of being a right-back, Azpilicueta’s role has changed under various managers. Under Sarri, it was about holding a solid position for long periods and concentrating on patient build-up play, and Lampard encouraged him to push forward more. At the end of his career, Azpilicueta will be looked back on, first and foremost, as a right-back. And yet in the majority of his Chelsea appearances, he’s played other roles… Role 2: right midfield (RM) These days, Azpilicueta is regarded as a pure defender, an old-school full-back about stopping wingers and getting tackles in. But Azpilicueta started out as a right-sided midfielder with Osasuna, and was deployed in that role in his formative days at Chelsea. When Roberto Di Matteo was dismissed following a Champions League defeat at Juventus, plenty suggested that his crime was fielding Eden Hazard as his lone centre-forward, but arguably a more unusual selection decision was fielding Azpilicueta on the right of midfield. Here, he’s over on the far side as Chelsea’s most advanced player. He performed well in that role, however, effectively man-marking Kwadwo Asamoah. Sure enough, the Ghanaian scored shortly after Azpilicueta was substituted. Azpilicueta was also fielded there on occasion by Jose Mourinho, most notably for a Champions League semi-final defeat to Atletico Madrid in 2014. Mourinho wanted extra defensive presence to guard against the attacking threat of Filipe Luis — whom Chelsea would sign that summer. Chelsea actually conceded two goals down the other side, however, when Hazard switched off and allowed Juanfran to run past him untracked. Perhaps Azpilicueta should have been used on the left side… Role 3: left-back (LB) Indeed, Mourinho had generally played Azpilicueta on the left of his four-man defence — to the extent that he displaced Ashley Cole, arguably the most successful left-back in English football history. Azpilicueta is hardly the first right-footed player to become comfortable at left-back — Paolo Maldini would be the most obvious example — but the most intriguing aspect is that Chelsea were playing two right-footers down the left. Hazard was the main man in the title-winning campaign of 2014-15 — he was awarded the PFA and FWA player of the season awards — but he wasn’t cutting inside with an overlapping player providing the width, as would later be the case with Alonso. When Azpilicueta did provide crosses into the box, it tended to be after he’d cut back onto his stronger right foot, as for this Diego Costa header against Aston Villa. Azpilicueta overlapped sporadically, but in general, this role was about maintaining his position, making sure the left-back zone was filled, and minimising the gap between himself and Terry, who didn’t like being forced to cover space on the outside. Role 4: right centre-back (RCB) Azpilicueta might have assumed that Conte’s switch to a three-man defence would mean him operating as a wing-back — indeed, after Conte’s substitution at the Emirates, that’s exactly where Azpilicueta played for half an hour, on the opposite side to Alonso. But when Conte used the system from the outset of matches, Azpilicueta became established on the right of the three-man defence. Despite lacking the height to play as a proper centre-back, and having the positionally unreliable David Luiz to his left, Azpilicueta largely excelled in that role. The only issue came when he was tested in the air — notably, Chelsea’s first defeat after Conte’s switch came in a 2-0 defeat away at Tottenham, with both goals featuring Christian Eriksen chipping the ball into Azpilicueta’s zone for Dele Alli headers. “I’m more central and maybe play more with the ball because we build from the back,” Azpilicueta explained of his role at the time. “I’m in possession more and there are no overlaps and not a lot of crosses from the wing, but it’s a role I’m enjoying.” Azpilicueta arguably played his best football in that position the following season, after the arrival of Alvaro Morata. He struck up a fine partnership with his compatriot, regularly crossing from narrow positions in the right-hand channel to supply Morata with headed chances in his impressive first couple of months, including this winner against Manchester United. Role 5: a half-back (HB), pushing forward to become an extra midfielder A variation on the above role came towards the end of the title-winning season under Conte, when Azpilicueta wouldn’t merely maintain his position on the right of a three-man defence, but instead push forward into a right-centre midfield role in the attacking phase, turning a 3-2-5 into more of a 2-3-5, with David Luiz and Gary Cahill alone at the back, and the midfield looking like a proper trio. Here, Azpilicueta pushes ahead of Cesc Fabregas and Nemanja Matic to help break the lines. This was based around where Conte considered the opposition’s counter-attacking threat would arise from. If it was about balls into midfield runners, Azpilicueta would push into midfield. If it was about longer balls from defence to attack, he would focus on minimising the space on the outside of David Luiz, and stay in a back three. This position doesn’t really have a name, but it’s comparable to the old “half-back” position teams used to deploy in the 2-3-5 “pyramid” formation, and broadly similar to the role Joao Cancelo has sometimes operated in this season for Manchester City. Role 6: right wing-back (RWB) As previously mentioned, Azpilicueta briefly played as a wing-back under Conte before being moved to the right of the back three, and he reprised that role at times under Lampard last season, particularly in a three-game spell before Christmas when Lampard used three centre-backs, but preferred Antonio Rudiger on the right of the trio. Azpilicueta was comfortable enough in that position, as you’d expect of a right-back who is happy to push forward. The crucial thing, though, is that while some defensive-minded right-backs would only be able to tuck inside and play on the right side of a three-man defence, and some attacking right-backs would only be able to play as a wing-back, Azpilicueta is happy to do both. Role 7: left wing-back (LWB) And if Azpilicueta can play wing-back on the right, and full-back on the left… then left wing-back shouldn’t be much of an issue either, should it? He only played this role a couple of times, both under Conte. When Alonso was absent, such as for the 2-0 defeat to Manchester United, Conte didn’t have a natural replacement as a wing-back on the left, so introduced an extra central defender in Kurt Zouma, and moved Azpilicueta from right centre-back to left wing-back. He made the same shift midway through the Community Shield defeat to Arsenal a few months later, after Alonso departed and was replaced by Rudiger. This was probably the role Azpilicueta looked least comfortable in, with a wing-back having more overlapping responsibility than a full-back, but he coped reasonably well. Although unable to hug the touchline and swing crosses in, he still timed his runs well — as for another assist for Morata, away at Stoke City, when he charged in behind to latch onto a Fabregas chip over the top. Role 8: centre-back (CB) A conventional centre-back? In a back four? Yes. Possibly only once, and you might well have missed it because it came on the final day of 2018-19, a 0-0 draw at home to Leicester, when most were focused on whether Manchester City or Liverpool would secure the league title. It was Sarri’s final league game in charge of Chelsea, although the Europa League final against Arsenal was still to come. This unusual move probably owed to Sarri being scared of Jamie Vardy’s movement into the inside-left channel and believing that Azpilicueta would be a better option than Andreas Christensen, who remained on the bench. Therefore, Davide Zappacosta played in Azpilicueta’s right-back role and the Spaniard moved inside to play alongside David Luiz as part of a traditional two-man centre-back pairing. It worked well — here, Azpilicueta is clearly the right-sided centre-back in a four-man defence… …and keeps pace with Vardy to nip ahead of him at a counter-attack and intercept a Marc Albrighton cross. In effect, Azpilicueta was almost handed a man-marking brief. Role 9: overlapping right centre-back (ORCB) The appointment of Tuchel has prompted a return to the 3-4-2-1 formation that Chelsea were playing, more or less, under Conte. Azpilicueta, sure enough, has become a right-sided centre-back again. But it’s really a new role. Remember the quote from Azpilicueta about his role on the right of a back three under Conte? “There are no overlaps.” That’s definitely not the case under Tuchel. Azpilicueta starts on the right of a back three but has constantly made overlapping runs around Chelsea’s right-wing-back, often Callum Hudson-Odoi, to catch the opposition by surprise. In fact, he scored the first goal of the Tuchel reign against Burnley in precisely that situation. There seems little chance that Azpilicueta will be involved in this move, but his overlapping run… …is eventually rewarded, as Hudson-Odoi slips him in, and Azpilicueta blasts into the top of the net. And therefore this feels very different to his role under Conte — as a Sheffield United-style “overlapping centre-back”, rather than one who holds his position — or pushes into central midfield. Azpilicueta has a contract until the end of next season, which will be his 10th at Stamford Bridge. In days gone by, players were rewarded with a testimonial to mark their decade at a club. For Azpilicueta, a more fitting tribute would be a 10th different role to mark his 10th season. Whether it’s as a false nine, as an inverted winger from the left or as an emergency goalkeeper, Azpilicueta’s track record suggests he’d be up to the challenge.

Unless I missed an injury, don't think that's a concern. We do have 4 days after Everton before the next game.