Jase

Of course his total now is bloody disappointing or if one were to just look at the overall come end of the season but the point here is the context of that interview. And we also don't know if he's going to play every remaining league game either, especially if we go deep in the Champions League and FA Cup. I feel like I should point something out regarding that but I best not speak...

How is it selective when by the time Lampard came in, Alonso had played in a back 4 for an entire season? How is it selective when selected as a LB under Lampard, Alonso was consistently dropping clangers? If I'm being selective, it's because there's already a big sample size of Alonso playing as a LB in a back 4 compared to Chilwell playing as a LWB in a back 3 now at the club. That's very debatable to say the least.

IIRC, we once fucked up a 4 v 1 counter at Man City a few years ago.

Our record against Solskjaer's United... L 0-2 (FA Cup) D 1-1 (PL) L 0-4 (PL) L 1-2 (Carabao Cup) L 0-2 (PL) W 3-1 (FA Cup) D 0-0 (PL) D 0-0 (PL) 🤢 As bad as Conte's run of results against Wenger's Arsenal!

See my reply to you in the Ziyech thread.

Did De Gea really have to do anything special to save that? Ziyech's shot was pretty much straight at him or well within his comfort range. He should have scored especially it was on his left foot. Great...so now you're saying we have playerS that are suited to face one type of teams here and another type of teams there? Apologies if I'm being rude but I can't help but laugh at the irony of people saying Werner should have started today after seeing calls for him to be dropped before the game. It's hilarious! The thing about today's game is that United may have decided to press high after seeing our starting front 3. Giroud doesn't have any pace to run in behind while Mount and Ziyech like to come onto the ball or receive the ball onto their feet. They aren't off the ball runners. Had say Werner started, would they have just sat back, as we expected them to, or would they have still pressed high up? If he had started and United just defended deep and he did nothing, people would then be complaining about him starting again. On Ziyech, how much of his second half performance was down to United suddenly deciding to not press high and sit deeper? Because he wasn't the only one who struggled in the first half and then suddenly looked better in the second half. Also I suppose if we want to make good use of Ziyech, then we also need to play him with the off the ball runners to get on the end of his passes. There was literally no one making those off the ball runs when he played today.

We can argue all day and will likely never agree on this but I'll just say this, since we're talking about a conventional LB being asked to play in a slightly unfamiliar role of a LWB, maybe some slack should be given especially when said player has only played 1 game here and 1 game there? Even Tuchel has pointed this out and I don't think Chilwell has been a complete disaster in the LWB role either. If Tuchel wanted to rest Alonso, why didn't he just do it against Southampton last weekend? Or given we have a decent amount of rest days between Atletico and United (4) and United and Liverpool (3) games, why didn't Tuchel just play him today and say rest him against Everton? I didn't say I expected more from Kante with his passing apart from just being more careful with it. We had no real control in the first half because United decided to press us and they disrupted us well. Jorginho won't have made a difference considering he's bad when under pressure. Getting pressed and losing control of games have been a long standing problem with us, even when we had Fabregas in the team. We don't have a team filled with players who are comfortable on the ball when under pressure. Then what's your thinking behind Tuchel not playing Jorginho today then? Atletico only mostly pressed well in the first 10 minutes or so but apart from that, they were mostly content to sit back and defend with the 6-3-1 shape. Kante came on after Giroud scored to help manage Atletico's attacks. Kante only just came back from injury during that Spurs game period and hence why he didn't start. Jorginho-Kovacic worked well in that game's first half because Spurs were just so passive and sat off us. But when they decided to press high up in the second half, we lost control of the game.

Different teams and all but watching us play the back 3 now feels so awkward compared to when we played the back 3 under Conte. We have such a mish-mash of a squad and Tuchel has gone with a system/formation that suits some players and doesn't suit others. Feels like it has benefitted Alonso, Rudiger, Christensen and Azpi more than anyone else.

United have more pace in their team...? Going forward, I don't even think Jorginho's absence made much of a difference considering we barely created much.

Yes, I noticed but given United's threat on the counter, it's bloody obvious why Kante started ahead of Jorginho, who is NOT reliable defensively.

You mentioned Chilwell taking people on but does Alonso do that? An example of having someone quicker is the ball that he ran onto to create the opportunity for Ziyech in the second half (he should have scored). How often do you see Alonso being able to just simply outpace someone and then play a ball or create a chance for someone? If Alonso is really Tuchel's first choice or he's as great as you're making him out to be, then why didn't he just start Alonso for this big game?

By the way, you come at me on the Alonso-Chilwell selection but thought Jorginho would do well today, especially against United's pressing in the first half. Would have likely ended up with more turnovers and less defensive protection!

Last 7 league results against United... L 1-2 D 2-2 D 1-1 L 0-4 L 0-2 D 0-0 D 0-0 No win since that Morata header in November 2017!

LET'S WIN THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE!

Tuchel said it was a tactical sub and because of the injury.

We can argue till the cows come home on this but I really don't see what Alonso does that is so WOW that he should be the undisputed starter. Let's not make as if I have anything against Alonso the person/player. If he had any pace, mobility, agility in him, I wouldn't be sitting here and arguing so much about this. We are the only top side around obsessed with such a slow FB/WB to begin with and would you have complained much at all had we sold Alonso in the summer or in January?

I don't know if anyone here even bothered to read/watch his full interview to get the context. He basically meant after all the ups and downs this season, if he can get to 10 league goals now, he would be happy with the return especially in his first season. Otherwise in a normal season and/or future seasons, I can't imagine he would be happy with it given he regularly got into double figures every at Leipzig, regardless of whether it's the Bundesliga or not.

But it doesn't make much sense to have Emerson AND Alonso on the bench?

I think he's not playing the back 4 because that midfield of ours can't be trusted defensively. I mean, we saw all the problems under Lampard's time here.

You want Alonso vs Salah and TAA? 🤣

Welp. A point is better than none I guess.

And it wasn't a corner for us! LMAO

Read the whole interview for context... https://www.skysports.com/football/news/12040/12230304/timo-werner-exclusive-goal-drought-period-at-Chelsea-was-worst-of-my-career-but-old-timo-is-coming-back