Jase

But as we have seen since the restart, Gilmour is not quite ready yet and given he will be out for months and won't be back until October, he is going to need time to get back into full rhythm. But Real Madrid are not an offensive or attack-minded side under Zidane, are they? At Man United, yes, Matic is there to protect the defence but I don't think he shies away from passing forward either. Same thing can't be said about Kante. What about City? What about Liverpool? Don't you think Fernandinho and Fabinho have better passing range than Kante? We can go even go back further and look at Guardiola's Barcelona and remember that he had Busquets as the one sitting in front of the back 4. He is not a pure midfield destroyer but capable of making those defensive plays and also helping to construct moves. This isn't the mid-2000s anymore. If we are gonna play a more defensive minded midfielder in front of the back 4, fine. But that person better also be sound technically, has good passing range and capable of constructing moves in some form at the very least. Otherwise, we would just become very predictable and easy to stop. And we still look defensively vulnerable, no? If we can't press for the entire game, that is fine but then learn from Man City by committing tactical fouls if needed or basically, just foul players if/when needed. We have been far too nice in allowing attacks to get ahead of steam because our players chicken out of committing fouls. Kante alone can't stop this all. And you think Kante can succeed as the DM because...? He may be better defensively than Jorginho but that doesn't mean he is suited to that lone role. As Tomo and some others have mentioned before, Kante is someone who proactively seeks out danger and "destroy". He is not someone who is disciplined and will sit in front of the back 4 and mop up whatever comes his way. Last thing we need is the lone DM to go move about and leave his space to be exploited! Moreover, Kante's success in his defensive role in the past has been when he played in a two-man defensive midfield. There was Drinkwater at Leicester and then Matic. Conte tried playing Kante in the lone DM role and it culminated in the 3-0 thrashing at Arsenal and the formation change.

So because we got nullified by teams, it's all Jorginho's fault? Nothing to do with say Willian or Barkley being braindead in the attacking third? Despite being supposedly nullified, we have had 215 shots on target in the Premier League this season, behind only Liverpool and Man City. So is that due to poor finishing or is it because of Jorginho's fault? Same team that also had Kante in it but when you lose 6-0, it's dumb to blame even one player only when the whole team was just shit that day. Isn't this contradicting? Yes, Kante is better defensively than Jorginho but if Jorginho is getting slammed for passing sideways or backwards, then why Kante isn't getting slammed for doing the same? No one is asking Kante to start playing Fabregas-esque forward passes but he rarely even makes a simple 5-yard forward pass, takes risk. And the problem with this whole passing sideways and backwards is it makes the team predictable and can be contained easily. Kante makes his busting runs and then what? Plays defence splitting passes? Turns into Messi and starts dribbling past people consistently? Since you said Kante is there for defensive purposes, to allow the two No.8s to do damage, then perhaps that is why teams don't bother pressing him because he doesn't do any useful offensively. Teams rather sit off him and focus on nullifying our attacking threats further forward. All in all, I could care less about Jorginho or Kante at this point but if we are going to ahead with this more defensive midfielder player in front of the back 4 in the long term, then we better also find one who is good with their passing - essentially a hybrid of the two. There is too much of a trade-off between our midfielders we have right now.

If we are gonna look at the goals conceded that way, then am sure one could look through the earlier ones with Jorginho and see not all the goals conceded were his fault. The City game is hard to judge because we set up defensively to play on the counter attack. Even Christensen and Rudiger looked great that night! Alternatively, it could have been a comfortable win at Palace had somebody stopped Zaha before he shot or Kepa saved it and Christensen not being Christensen for their second goal and those were before Jorginho even came on. If we had not make those mistakes, that last crazy 5 minutes wouldn't have happened. And Kante do not play between himself and the back 4? He doesn't pass sideways or backwards? We don't know for sure if Lampard wants someone in that role purely for defensive purposes only in the long term. Am sure it wouldn't have escaped his attention that teams did not even bother pressing Kante much when we have the ball because we all know he doesn't have the capability to do much with it offensively.

You are forgetting or missing another very important point here - Man City and Liverpool are also great at pressing the opposition, recovering the ball and/or making tactical fouls. Their defensive solidity - in Man City's case, at their peak - did not happen because of only one or two players. It is also a team effort. How many times, for instance, have we seen Man City stop counter attacks or attacks before they really got going by fouling the opposition? Our team aren't doing that and heck, our pressing is also all over the place. There is also the fact that 3/4 of the team are usually ahead of the ball whenever we lose it, causing us to be so vulnerable defensively. Moreover, players like Fernandinho also have a good passing ability on top of their defensive capabilities. You don't play for a top quality side if you're only good at doing the defensive side of things but hopeless in passing and/or constructing moves. Can Kante do both sides of that well? Not from what we have seen. He doesn't take any risks with his passing (e.g passing forward in any sense!), constantly passes backwards and sideways, doesn't offer himself as a passing option whenever our CBs have the ball and the fact that some teams have not even bothered pressing him when he's on the ball in the DM role says a lot. This is ironic considering only 3-4 months ago, we were praising Gilmour to the heavens for shining in the regista role.

That is not quite true. Yes, Kante missed a lot of games through injury earlier this season but when he did play, Jorginho was still starting games and playing in front of the back 4. Mount only played a few games in the LW. Pedro started a couple of games earlier this season and IIRC, CHO was already back fit in September. No, I am aware of other articles out there but if you don't know anything about football and you read that article, you would think Jorginho is the worst player on the planet judging by skewed that piece is. And has Kante playing there made us better? He doesn't have a good passing range and doesn't take any risks with his passing either, constantly passing backwards or sideways (sounds familiar) AND we are still conceding dumb goals or still looking defensively vulnerable even with him in the position.

A lot can change in 2 years...

Not saying we will sign Oblak but he may fancy a new challenge and it's not like Atletico Madrid often win trophies anyway.

What about August to October? If Jorginho is really shit as you keep on saying it, then why Lampard kept on playing him? How is biased opinion fine when that person only looks at a single point of view? Not even looking at the topic objectively and say compare the pros and cons etc. Moreover and as I keep pointing out, why do the article now? Why at this convenient time and not say, months ago? No one saying is Jorginho is the sole reason between us playing beautiful football and shit football but he was clearly an important cog in our fluid midfield with Kovacic and Mount earlier this season. Right, it's clearly all Jorginho's fault that we couldn't beat those teams. It's clearly his fault that our defenders and keeper can't keep goals out to save their lives. It's his fault that our attackers couldn't put away chances.

Ruben Loftus-Cheek: I did not consider myself a Chelsea player when we last won the FA Cup https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2020/07/17/ruben-loftus-cheek-did-not-consider-chelsea-player-last-won/

It's about the overall play. There was much more fluidity, movement in our attacks. It was certainly more eye catching and better than what we have produced of late. We have basically gone from looking like an all-rounded team to Pulisic FC. Fiasco? As I said above, no one is crazy to think Jorginho doesn't have his flaws but the timing of the article is all too convenient and is extremely biased toward a point of view.

If the logic is Jorginho will be sold because he hasn't played much since the restart, then I guess Barkley will not be sold - even if we get Havertz - because he has been playing a lot since the restart?

Watford's last 2 games don't look very kind at all - Man City (h) and Arsenal (a)...

A variety of finishes here...

Good luck to the police if Milwall v West Ham takes place next season, especially during this pandemic!

Yes, I was being dumb looking at the table.

OH LMAO! Completely missed that 2nd is a promotion spot as well even though I have been staring at the table with the indicators!

lol No one is crazy enough to think that Jorginho doesn't have his flaws. They have been mentioned here more times than one could remember but it's so clear that the author has an agenda (and not just saying this based on the article) and the article focuses only the negative aspects. And as I pointed out, where was this article when we were playing well earlier this season with Jorginho in the XI and Lampard was praising him almost every week?

Dumb question but how are Leeds guaranteed promotion when they are six points ahead of 3rd placed Brentford and have a worse GD with 2 games left?

Leeds v Man United Leeds v Liverpool Bielsa v Guardiola Bielsa v Lampard Bielsa v Klopp Bielsa v Mourinho So many interesting storylines for next season already...

1. It's hard to take the author seriously when he tends to ramble a lot and he seems to have an agenda on Jorginho. 2. Seems a tad convenient that the article came out now, focusing on Jorginho's recent struggles because he is not starting games. Where was this when we were playing well earlier this season with Jorginho in the XI? 3. Hard to take the author seriously when this sentence exists in the article: BARKLEY? SPECIAL PLAYER!?

Leeds about 15 minutes away from returning to the Premier League...