Jase

But it's not like he completely skied it over, is it? It happens to everyone and on another day, that would have gone in. Moreover, the only reason this opportunity is even talked about is because of his goal drought. Every chance not converted gets magnified 10x more than usual and some times over-analyzed.

Not a surprise in the end, I guess but Arteta has gone with this XI against Man City tonight...

We have 4 days between yesterday's game and this game on Saturday. Given our record under Lampard, anyone wants to take a guess on what sudden injury might pop up before Saturday?

IF we lose to Arsenal, we might have our own AFTV in Mana.

Think Haaland might stay at Dortmund for another season, assuming they finish in the Top 4, and should not also forget that Haaland's agent is Mino Raiola. Don't think the club like dealing with him very much.

I wonder if 4-3-3 will still be the main formation like next season. It might be the best fit now but that could all change when we continue to revamp the squad.

TBH, Pulisic's pass for the first one was not the best and he did everything right for the second opportunity, the bar (and luck) just happened to be in the way.

Mourinho didn't really have one when his was (and still is) more about letting individuals do the attacking work. Sarri has one in theory but never really came off and we ended up relying on Hazard to do something in the final third. Considering Lampard has been here for 18 months and not 18 weeks, I don't think it's unfair to expect a little more cohesive than what we see at times, some tactical ingenuity from him. Does not mean we should not expect at all since Lampard is the manager of Chelsea FC after all. You see young managers elsewhere and you can identify their ideas, style etc. And this was always gonna be a problem when the club decided to hire Lampard. Normally, young managers would hone their skills, get the experience etc at smaller clubs first before getting the big job. But Lampard got the big job after only 1 year of experience as a manager and we basically became an "experimental ground" for Lampard. We want to be successful but at the same time, we also live and die by Lampard's own inexperience and some times naive mistakes. One best hope that his inexperience doesn't hold us back too much and too long from challenging and winning titles.

Think it'll be hard to find a Chelsea fan who will be pleased with the performance. We were fortunate to win, never mind fortunate to win it 3-0!

The number of goals scored would have been higher had Werner not missed all those chances but alas. 😭

Our record when Werner and Abraham have started together this season: 9 games 7 wins 2 draws 24 goals scored

Don't know about others but I've been saying from the very start, back in September, that Werner is being wasted out wide. Before anyone jumps the gun, am not making excuses for his misses and this has gotta do with how he is being used (TWO DIFFERENT THINGS!), Werner is having to spend an awful lot of energy in wide areas and not in areas where he can consistently hurt the opposition. We bought him for 50 million to be a striker, not to constantly track runners back on the flanks. If he doesn't score goals, then he doesn't contribute anything else from wide areas. Then that in turn just exposes him as a non-existent threat. I assume we might switch to a 4-2-3-1 if/when we get better midfielders in but don't think we have played that formation yet with Mendy and Silva in the side? Havertz was still tentative at best. He hasn't dominated a match or really imposed himself on the opposition. And if we've got to rely on one player to make us thick going forward again, then we've got problems. Said it before and I'll say it again, the club didn't spend all that money in the summer just to see us rely on one player to make us look good. Fine, I can still reluctantly accept going into the Everton game with 4-3-3 based on pre-game form but on the flip side, just like Werner, Havertz isn't a wide player. So, starting 4-3-3 then made little sense and it was further compounded by two things - (a) Havertz was disastrous and no one else turned up at Goodison and (b) as you pointed out, Lampard changed nothing at all then and in the Wolves game too. That is why I find it strange that Lampard went from changing too much to not even changing it all when required. We don't want to be in another situation where like Conte and Sarri before him, Lampard sticks with the same formation all the time even when it's not working. It's a good thing that he hasn't gone overboard with the changes this season but he also needs to learn that he should look to change things when it's not working. Needs to find that balance.

At this point, whatever. You are clearly seeing only from the perspective that Lampard is faultless and he can do no wrong. And also, you have gone somewhat undetected long enough.

Since Arsenal need any sort of win right now to boost confidence, wonder how strong will Arteta go with the lineup against Man City tonight, especially when they have 2 days of rest after the game on Saturday.

If Werner is not being used as a winger, then his heatmaps wouldn't have been so concentrated out wide, regardless of whether we see the ball often or not. And a lot of people can see that Werner is not being used properly, that's for sure. I kept using CHO as an example because he was available with Ziyech and Lampard still didn't want to use him. Sure, you can put it down to the lack of trust but doesn't this say something about Lampard? He would rather play a non winger in a winger's position than an actual winger. Before we forget, CHO is the same player Lampard and the club want to keep from Bayern but is reluctant to have trust in him. Also, Pulisic is injury prone. Can we really be confident that he will be fit for a stretch of games and be able to play alongside Ziyech? If Ziyech is available but Pulisic is out injured again, then what? Play Werner as a winger on the LW again? But don't think anyone said he should be sacked if we don't get 80 points regardless of where we finish. The reason why there's been a "hoopla" is because we saw the old bad habits resurfaced again in those 2 defeats - e.g. bad game management from Lampard - and it's similar to when you reacted after the Southampton, when the old bad habits resurfaced despite only 1 defeat in the opening 7 games of the season. There are many ways to skin a cat. For every Barcelona, who traditionally have the 4-3-3 embedded through the ranks at the club, there is another who dominate and win things their own way, without having a fixed system through the club etc.

For the record, I never said you were wrong. Just thought the sudden change of tact again was "strange", to put it kindly especially when you said he should be sacked if we don't get 80 points. The ironic thing is Lampard stumbled upon the 4-3-3 by accident, not that he suddenly came to know about the existence of the formation but the things that suddenly work. He certainly did not have a set system in place when the season started. I agree the chopping and changing from last season was ridiculous but I don't think there's anything ridiculous if we change the formation like once every 5 or 10 games if/when needed. Most managers do it anyway. We used to change between 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1 during Mourinho's second spell here for example. They have actually. Barcelona have been playing 4-2-3-1 at times under Koeman, for instance. They even played 4-4-2/4-4-1-1 against Bayern last season under Quique Setien.

cc @Tomo

Malouda was a strange one to say the least. He was only really good for 1.5 seasons after Hiddink replaced Scolari and in Ancelotti's first season. Otherwise, he was just underwhelming.

He made runs into central areas against Wolves, just like he does in every other game, but he still spent a big chunk of that game out wide, as seen in that heatmap. Moreover, if Werner is not playing like a traditional LW and he is playing centrally as you claimed, then explain this... Right now? Yes and I would have agreed with this except for the fact that Lampard had CHO and Ziyech available together at one point - Pulisic was out during that period - and Lampard still chose to play Werner out on the left instead of CHO. So, is there any guarantee that Lampard would not play Werner out wide even when we have all our wingers available? But as I mentioned in other posts, what does Werner do apart from getting at the end of chances when being used out wide? We practically have a non-existent threat from one of the flanks because we know he is not a winger and he is not going to beat players to create chances. It is just whether he can get at the end of the chances. I mean, we spent 50 million on him and this is how we are gonna use him? And as I also said above, Lampard had CHO and Ziyech available at the same time at one point but he still chose to shoehorn Werner out wide and leave CHO out in the cold. Hell YES and that's because I have been saying it since September, long before he had a good goalscoring run and is in this current goal drought, that he is being wasted out wide.

No one said it would have worked for sure but at least try to change it. Otherwise, never try, never know? We also had wingers available during the unbeaten run but no winger was available at Everton. You know what you said about Lampard back then. It wasn't just because of what happened against Southampton. The Southampton game was straw that broke the camel's back for you. And you even said Lampard should be sacked if we don't get at least 80 points this season, regardless of where we finish. And lastly... I praise him when it's due and criticize him when it's due. If everything was really going smoothly, I wouldn't be sitting here and questioning him at all. In fact, don't think anyone would but the fact that we are, suggests something is not quite right at the moment.

Easy for you to say that now because we wouldn't be able to find out what would have happened. And just because we have struggled at Everton in recent years, it doesn't mean we should just accept our fate, does it? What kind of mindset is that!? The ironic thing about is there were people who pointed out we should change formation for the Everton game. The 4-3-3 was working well before then because we had the players for it but that wasn't the case at Everton, was it? And I see you have gone from blindly supporting Lampard to doubting Lampard and now back to blindly supporting Lampard.

Really? Below are some examples of his recent heatmaps... Werner is still making some runs into central areas, like Pulisic from wide areas, but do those look like someone who is "playing quite centrally and infact the same channels"? Also have more where those came from. But at the same time, Werner also mentioned his role here is much different than what it was at RB Leipzig and even Lampard himself said it last week. Do people just not bothered to read posts anymore? Who the hell is blaming Lampard for Werner's poor finishing? Make no mistake, Werner's poor finishing is on him but people really need to differentiate the difference between the issue of Werner missing chances and the issue of how Werner is being used in the team right now. The latter is no excuse for the former but it is certainly an issue.