Jase

How does that feel cautious? For starters, it's not as if the wing backs just camp in our half and defend. They join the attack way more often than not. One problem is that we have Alonso on the left at the moment while James still doesn't have any sort of consistency like say TAA at Liverpool. On top of that, at least one of our midfielders have the license to join the attack - be it Kante, Kovacic or Loftus-Cheek. Again, it's not as if they just sit in midfield and defend. Also, we created so many chances for at least 3 halves of those two games you mentioned and the issue was we didn't put enough chances away. Had one extra chance was put away in each game and we won, we would be having a different conversation here. Your point about us being cautious there would be more valid if we struggled to create chances at all. Our main issue in almost every game is converting chances, rather than creating chances. Yes but did Tuchel have any plan to switch to a back 4 anyway? I thought for sure he would move to a back 4 based on his past but he has stuck with the back 3 and it has pretty much worked. Maybe if some of the defenders leave next summer, it will give Tuchel the chance to restructure the system or maybe not at all and he will stick with the back 3.

Think the reason or at least the reason that was reported is that Christensen has supposedly agreed and then changed his mind over the new contract a few times. This obviously has annoyed the board and in Tuchel's case, maybe question where Christensen's head is at. With Rudiger, the situation is at least much more clear cut - he wants X amount of wages but the club are only willing to offer X amount and both parties just can't agree on it - and Tuchel probably knows his mindset is still clear and he still can get the max out of Rudiger. Is it really entire fault of the club? As mentioned, in Christensen's case, the club thought they had agreed the deal with him but Christensen has changed his mind a few times over the new contract. With Rudiger, the club aren't willing to give what he wants (which you can debate whether it's worth it or not). Silva at least looks a certainty to sign and god knows what's gonna happen with Azpi.

I see what you're saying but will a change to the back 4 really solve the issue? We have had managers in the past that played a back 4 and we still always had issues breaking down defensive teams. Back then, we relied on one player mostly and now, we seemed to rely on set pieces and penalties. We seem to have a chronic issue of breaking such teams down regardless of the manager and the system. And that's before we even question whether the players are suited to the back 4 system.

I would too but then Guardiola has been playing him on the RW as well.

But isn't there a caveat to how that goal came about? I mean, Villa were pushing for the equalizer and were always gonna leave spaces for us to exploit. Unless we suddenly start to play on the counter, Lukaku isn't going to get that kind of room to operate (pretty much like what Conte made Inter do) in general situations. Otherwise, agree with the notion that we tend to be slow in releasing the ball quickly. Werner and our other speedy players would also have more joy if we do it more often.

Yeah, fair but you were still right.

Sure but even when he gets the ball, he doesn't do much with it. He doesn't try to dribble past players and I suppose just like everyone else, also makes wrong decisions in the final third.

About how people would react when Lukaku scores while disregarding the bigger concern.

@Tomo you were right.

I suppose a hamstring injury can happen at any time and even more so when that person is as old as Silva is but at the same time, hard not to wonder that Tuchel somewhat caused this to happen. Few weeks ago, he was suddenly playing Silva for like 3-4 consecutive games and dropping Christensen onto the bench over the contract situation. And now? Silva has a hamstring injury.

He did make the difference in the second half but he was also unconvincing and even completely made us worse in some previous games (e.g. second half at West Ham). On top of that, we spent almost 100 million on him and some people have even said he is a complete striker these days and all that. So please, don't feel surprised if not everyone is jumping up and down over him after one game. Do it consistently, do it in the big games, gel with the others, then we'll see.

But they don't have one, period. We have those 2 plus Havertz, who Tuchel considers as a #9.

Another team suddenly having COVID cases after playing us recently - Leeds, Everton, Wolves.

City - without a striker - scoring more goals than us - with strikers. 🙃

I mean, West Ham's last 2 wins came against us and Liverpool.

Score winners against Liverpool and City and we'll talk. 👀

Did enough to win in the end. At least there's still a decent gap over Arsenal and Spurs!

Chelsea 2-0 Tottenham PRE/POST-MATCH DISCUSSION, LIVE CHAT AND ANALYSIS 2021/22 Carabao Cup Semi-Final 1st Leg 5th January, Wednesday 2022 Stamford Bridge 19:45 Kick Off (UK time)

Chelsea 2-2 Liverpool PRE/POST-MATCH DISCUSSION, LIVE CHAT AND ANALYSIS 2021/22 Premier League Matchday 21 2nd January, Sunday 2022 Stamford Bridge 17:30 Kick Off (UK time)

Chelsea 1-1 Brighton PRE/POST-MATCH DISCUSSION, LIVE CHAT AND ANALYSIS 2021/22 Premier League Matchday 20 29th December, Wednesday 2021 Stamford Bridge 19:30 Kick Off (UK time)

We can always rely on the opposition to press the self destruct button and give us penalties.

Doesn't this just reiterates the point I'm making or @King Kante is making? People are overpraising Kepa now because he was a total disaster previously. It's good that he's making saves now but at the same time, he's also making saves that a decent keeper should be making. The 80% save percentage and 6.1 goals prevented are the kind of stats that a good keeper should have (although that 80% save rate may not be sustainable/may be higher than the average number), perhaps even more so with Kepa when you consider he's the most expensive keeper. Am sure the keepers at other big clubs would also have a similar goals prevented stat. And to touch on the point @Tomo made, Mendy has a save rate of 82% and approximately prevented 6.4 goals in all competitions this season and yet doesn't seem to get overly praised or praised much at all (why?) and you have people wanting him out after a bad game.

2 seasons or 2 1/2 seasons...who cares! The point I was making is Mata is one of the very few attackers that we bought within the last decade that actually shone at the club.

The point isn't whether he managed to show the same kind of form elsewhere or to compare him with Salah/Mane. The point is, he had a great impact for us in the attacking third, even if for only 2 1/2 seasons. Only Hazard and Costa could rival that over the last decade. The rest don't even produce that kind of numbers and/or are inconsistent.