Jase

Bournemouth 2-2 Chelsea PRE/POST-MATCH DISCUSSION, LIVE CHAT AND ANALYSIS 2019/20 Premier League Match 28 29th February, Saturday, 2020 Vitality Stadium 15:00 Kick Off (UK time)

If you had gotten the facts right, I wouldn't have quoted you at all.

Not surprising to see, TBH. In the past, Mourinho used the back 3 only when it was time to throw the kitchen sink at the opponent to try and get back into games, and even then, it was basically putting some safe numbers behind the ball and letting the other 7 players attack with abandon, if you like. And considering Mourinho is not known for coaching attacking patterns, attacking plays etc, it's not strange to see that his teams struggle with the back 3 when he goes with it from the start. The back 3 generally requires some proper coaching to actually make it work.

Actually, Mount had 9 goals in the Championship, including 1 in the play-off. That assist for Pulisic at Burnley wasn't a short corner. Mount took the corner, one of the Burnley players cleared it straight to him, and he then crossed for Pulisic to score. Think that goes down as an assist from open play. Not disputing your overall point but in some ways, an attacking player's assist stat lives and dies by whether the other player can convert the chance or not and we don't exactly have a clinical goalscorer in the team.

He had 13 goals and 10 assists in 39 games at Vitesse. Being overplayed may be a reason why. Was arguably not wise of Lampard to overplay a 21 year old in his first season of playing at the highest level. Oscar did score more goals and get more assists but he didn't do it at a consistent rate. If you go through his record, you will see it's 1 goal here, 1 assist there across 40-50 games and it'll only look impressive when you total them up.

Inclined to agree on the Oscar comparison (I did mention that) for now but Mount did produce a good amount of goals and assists over at Vitesse and Derby and while his numbers this season haven't been great, I believe that he can be at least a 10-goal & 10-assist (maybe even at least 15) player once he develops his game and improves his consistency in the long run. Do think he's suffered a bit this season due to various reasons - (a) being overplayed, (b) being used in different roles [hard to get consistency when your position is being changed around, even if it's a minor one], (c) still adjusting to a higher level than he's played before, (d) coming into a team that don't have the "finished article" players in the attacking areas yet. Also, I know this is a cliche and I'm not saying Mount will achieve what he did but I don't think anyone thought Lampard would do things that he did in his career - being a goalscorer, capable of providing assists, being a creator (Lampard's creativity was severely underrated) etc. Mount isn't your average player as he has qualities in him and who knows, through hard work and time, he might just put them all together and become one of the best players around.

They aren't and it sure would be embarrassing to lose to a non-Heynckes/Guardiola Bayern...

Did you not see our performance against Ajax in the Champions League? We will outplay Bayern and beat them...

Neither are we the force of old either.

'must be ready to suffer'

In general, he isn't wrong but the Bundesliga has hardly been a cakewalk for Bayern this season.

Kovacic was in confident mood in the presser... And then, there was this...

At 10:08, Azpi went two-footed on Lampard. Lampard was asked about it in his presser.

Pulisic, CHO, Kante out. Pedro back in the squad, after missing the last game with an injury. Loftus-Cheek in the squad.

You're missing the point. I have no issues with you pointing out the good performances against the likes of Liverpool, Man City, Spurs etc but against Ajax (or Wolves or similar clubs), yeah, that I have issue with.

The raving over Gilmour's performance against Grimsby didn't go on for months (or even days) though. Yes, we are building a team for the future (it's still a team with more experienced players than young players) but even then, we should still be measuring ourselves against the best, not against the likes of Wolves, Ajax etc even if victories over them are nice.

Considering the number of times you have talked up that Ajax win, you sure seem to be implying that. That might actually carry more merit but that being said, the constant overselling the good B-tier teams from you is maddening to say the least. I know we are not near being the best right now but we used to measure ourselves against the very best sides but now, performances/results against the good B-tier sides are being talked up like a 1000 times, like some sort of grand achievement.

Muller on Chelsea... https://theathletic.com/1628348/ Let’s talk a little bit about Chelsea before I let you go. Does 2012, the defeat in the Champions League final in Munich, still play on your mind sometimes? The fact that we won the trophy in 2013 has lessened the pain. In a sporting sense, it was a gigantic tragedy. But Bayern managed to overcome their two biggest traumas in modern times [2012 and 1999] by winning the Champions League soon after. Other clubs who might have suffered a similar fate would probably have disappeared for 10 or 20 years because you can’t get over such a thing. But for us, it’s not that bad anymore. On the contrary — 2012 was a big reason we won it in 2013. You were the goalscorer in 2012. You thought you had won… It was the most electrifying moment of my life. It was unbelievable. There’s a difference between scoring a goal and scoring a decisive goal. That goal was salvation, a huge release. The whole stadium exploded. Everyone had waited for us get the ball into the net for the entire game. It wasn’t the most beautiful of goals but the moment itself was unforgettable. Does it matter that the goal proved ultimately futile? It wasn’t futile — it took us to extra-time! [laughs]. Chelsea’s captain that night was Frank Lampard. Any special memories? Not from that game but he was a super player. He played practical football. Technically very good, super shooting technique, super with long balls — a midfielder who could work and be dangerous in front of goal at the same time. He simply knew: these are the things you need to do to win football matches. He was a player I can really relate to. What are your thoughts going into the first leg? You’d think you would have seen all the great European stadiums after more than 100 Champions League games but I was never at Stamford Bridge and I’m really looking forward it. Chelsea have young, talented players and a quality team that can really hurt you. We need to be well-prepared for their particular strengths. But they’re not the best team in Europe right now and we don’t need to be afraid. I’m confident.

In their last 7 European home games, Ajax have won only once (vs Lille) and lost 4 of those games. While we did play well and were the better team that night in Amsterdam, I'm not sure why you keep on bigging up this Ajax side like they were the Ajax from 70s or 90s. This Ajax is good, but not that good as you keep making them out to be.

Lampard's presser at 6:30pm UK time...

Tomo has a knack of overselling opposing big teams/underselling our capabilities, IMO.

No thanks. The Hazard ship has sailed. It's time we move past Hazard and have younger, quality players to take us forward.