Jase

Undone all the good work at Spurs by the nonsensical starting formation today. And I'm starting to wonder whether do we even have a plan in actually breaking these lesser teams of late. Because against West Ham, Bournemouth, Southampton, things have always turned out the same. There is no composure, no quality in the final and it looks like we're just throwing players forward and hoping something pays off. I mean, just look how easy those teams were able to launch counter attacks against us. All those games have turned out to be like basketball games. There is just no control, calmness to our play whatsoever.

Yes, ankle problem apparently. Doubt Azpi would have played otherwise.

0 points and 0 goals at HOME against West Ham, Southampton and Bournemouth!

WHAT WAS THE POINT OF EVEN BEATING SPURS!?

Have we had any plan against West Ham, Bournemouth, Southampton? Because it feels like we're just throwing players forward and hoping something comes off. Some of the turnover situations we've away have been a joke and the pressing have been a joke as well!

What a waste of 45 minutes!

Bring Pulisic on as well while we're at it. CHO has been awful and no one is making any off the ball runs!

Kovacic is suspended!

Play 5 defenders and still concede a stupid goal. HO HO HO...

It worked against Spurs.... Clearly it's working well against Southampton...

With Conte, you could at least excuse it because it's his fixed way of playing and he made it work (for at least 3/4 of the 2 seasons) but what is Lampard's reason/excuse?

Lampard said he went with the back 3/5 against Spurs to specifically counter the way they play. So, I really want to know what is his thinking against Southampton, because this formation seems to suggest he's trying to cover up our defensive flaws, which in turn is rather hampering our attacking play.

Another drunk start at home...

Southampton play again in 48 hours, at home to Crystal Palace.

Back 3 again! lol

You are seriously tempting fate...

Lampard really wants Willian to stay... https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/dec/25/antonio-rudiger-frank-lampard-ready-play-chelsea-racial-abuse-southampton-boxing-day

Long story short, don't believe anything you read until you see credible sources reporting it, LOTS of credible sources reporting it in fact.

Want to say 'all the staff at TalkChelsea wish you...' but god knows who is left here these days. Anyway, Merry Christmas to everyone on here and an early Happy New Year. Hope you all have a great time!

The post-match celebration...

Likely 4-2-3-1 since Kovacic is suspended.

It is too simplistic to say that injuries played a big part in Mount and Tomori getting game time. With Mount, Lampard clearly had planned to integrate him into the XI from the start. He had him on loan at Derby last season and got him to stay this season, instead of opting to loan him out again. Plus, you can tell from the way Lampard speaks about Mount that he values him and the qualities he brings to the team. As for Tomori, he actually got into the XI in the 4th league game of the season, well before Christensen had his injury. Think the idea with Tomori was to slowly integrate him in but given the Christensen-Zouma partnership was a bit of a disaster early on and we were conceding goals left, right, center etc, he was perhaps fast-tracked in. And on a whole, Tomori has looked the part. Do we even need Isco? Our midfield is already stacked as it is - Jorginho, Kovacic, Kante, Mount and that's without mentioning Loftus-Cheek as well as Gallagher and Gilmour. I highly doubt the approach we have taken with the young/academy players would change. Not saying we will go full kids in the team but I believe we are definitely committed in developing these players (you only have to look at the reaction of everyone connected to Chelsea towards seeing these young, academy players contributing in the first team) and building a young team that will (hopefully) help us dominate for years to come. What makes you think Abraham, Mount etc will immediately lose their place just because we may buy Werner, Isco (I don't believe the Isco rumors BTW)? The new signings will have to prove their worth, just like every other existing players in the squad right now. They're not gonna come in and command a starting spot from the get-go, not when Lampard himself has talked about meritocracy. I get what you're saying but it's ironic you said we're not some development squad for young players but the players you mentioned there - Sancho, Werner, Chilwell - are all around the same age as Abraham, Mount, Tomori etc. Sancho is 19 years old while Chilwell and Werner are 23. Mount is 20, Abraham is 22. No doubt the likes of Werner, Sancho are quality players but they aren't exactly finished products, are they? Also, define development squad. Are you thinking something along the lines of what Dortmund do, for example? Because we may have young players in the squad but we do not develop them, only to sell them later like Dortmund do. We aren't a stepping stone for younger players to go on to better things, again like Dortmund. As mentioned before, I think the approach we have taken is a genuine attempt to rebuild the squad with younger players - complemented by having experienced players - and dominate in the coming years, a la to our 2004-2012 squad. EDIT: Lampard said this today, mind you.

Letting De Bruyne go was definitely a mistake, that we all agree. The situation was made worse by the fact that we didn't include a buy back clause (IIRC).

It's all ifs and buts, with the benefit of hindsight. De Bruyne was never played in midfield until Guardiola at Man City and even then, he is not a deep lying midfielder. He had primarily played on the wings or as the No.10 before then. When was this exactly?