Jase

You say this but just wait till the shortcomings become apparent in that position and people will complain why we don't have a decent LB/LWB.

Can't believe Hodgson is willing to get himself into the Watford circus at the age of 74.

But it would be a very Chelsea thing if we get Dembele and not a LWB backup in this window.

Who will buy who?

It's a very Chelsea thing to do. Shouldn't be surprised. Imagine having a squad last season that was harmonious and one with a strong camaraderie and then buying Lukaku and potentially Dembele.

Sarr has probably been the most unexpected performer of the season.

Some times, it feels like there are two different group of fans.

Which part?

This thread is about 100 pages away from equaling Torres' thread...

Same fella who didn't even win a single header against Laporte or Stones and then got bossed around by Dan Burn!

The stats don't really lie. His pressures per 90 is one of the lowest around, for example. Werner does this as well and he still got crucified anyway, especially when he didn't cost as much as Lukaku. Unless he starts scoring against the big teams, in the big games regularly, he's never going to win over the doubters. His record has always suggested him as a flat track bully and we didn't spend 100 million on him to just score here and there and/or against small teams. How are people so sure about this?

cc @Vesper

I agree that we don't always play to the strengths of our strikers, attackers etc but this system thing with Lukaku doesn't quite wash (especially when he has bragged about being one of the very best in the world). We never played to Werner's strengths, when he was leading the line last season for example, by releasing the ball quickly, play him into space etc and yet, he still found himself in lots of goalscoring positions - which he sadly missed more often than not - and positions where he created chances for others. With Lukaku? People keep saying Lukaku doesn't get this, doesn't get that. There's so much mental gymnastics going on with him. Plus, never mind scoring, Lukaku has yet to even provide a single assist this season and he has not provided an assist in his last 53 Premier League games.

It was one game, lads. It was ONE game. They both dropped a stinker at Brighton in midweek. On the other hand, doesn't this come back to the point that we have too many different players and Tuchel doesn't seem to have an idea what to do? If we play System A, it suits Player A and B but not C and D, for example. If we play System B, it suits Player C and D but not A and B.

Spurs do need new signings etc but it's funny to see that Conte moaned about the gap between them and us again yesterday when this is the same Spurs side that gave Liverpool a run for their money about a month ago and smaller teams than Spurs have caused us more problems (e.g. Brighton) than they did in all the games this season.

Should have just kept Abraham instead of getting Lukaku. 🙃

Do you still want Luis Enrique @NikkiCFC?

It's also the same Ziyech that did F all against Brighton while we played with a back 4. His better showings of late have all come against Spurs. Maybe he just hates them or maybe he has some sort of personal vendetta against them for that CL final loss with Ajax. The change to the back 4 only seemed to have helped Ziyech, at least yesterday. Our attacking plays haven't improved much and players are still being moved around like square pegs in round holes.

So you do recognize that as a potential issue? We are a possession based team but yet we don't seem to scare teams much as City do. I mean there are some clear patterns to how we play but at the same time, it's still hard to escape the fact that our attack has not clicked consistently after 1 year into Tuchel's time at the club. Yes but doing it with mid-table side like Mainz in the Bundesliga is one thing. Doing it with a big club in the Premier League is another. Okay, the other have had 5 years to build their own team but my original point still stands. They have a settled system, tactical setups and they don't change those as often as Tuchel has. IIRC, Guardiola did that a lot in his first at City and the results were not up to standards, to say the least. If Tuchel really did authorized Lukaku, especially, then you gotta worry about him getting his own signings in the future (not that the club's are perfect every time). Yes, Tuchel can best them tactically but over a game or two. Whether he can do that over 38 games remains to be seen. It's arguably much easier to get improvement out of defenders and midfielders. Getting the tune out of the attacking players and making them gel to make a great team is what separates the best from the rest. It's a reason why Mourinho got so much stick in the past. He was great at making teams great defensively but rubbish when it comes to forming a cohesive attacking unit. I don't think it's a straightforward thing to blame the players here when you yourself said above that the players perhaps suffer from a lack of continuity and you acknowledged the fact that Tuchel likes to tinker.

Would you then say we have a clear idea, pattern of play etc after 1 year into Tuchel's reign? As much as our attackers have been shit, inconsistent or whatever else you want to put in here, I don't think Tuchel has helped matters by constantly tweaking the tactical setups, rotating the attacking players. No one is gonna feel comfortable, confident etc if they are constantly rotated and/or being moved around into different positions from game to game. If you look at City and Liverpool, they have a settled system and tactical setups. Guardiola and Klopp might tweak things a little from time to time but they don't do it as much as Tuchel has done. Their players, I think, feel comfortable and confident because they know their position and they are put in position where they can be at their best. I mean, god knows how many times Tuchel has played Player A, B, C in various positions and then turned around to say "to be fair, Player A, B, C is best in this position but that isn't always available" or something along those lines. Their players are also similar while ours are different. They all bring different qualities. Moreover, we also don't seem to have a dominant style of play. When teams play City or Liverpool, they seem to fear them and have to adjust the way they play to cope with them because they have a clear, set style of play (even if everyone knows what they will try to do). City, Liverpool make teams fear them. Don't think we have that same fear factor and Tuchel always seems to be reacting by selecting players based on who the opposition is.

A marketing signing. 🙃

If we play Spurs every week, we would easily walk the league.

Came across this (it was done before today's game): Apparently, he had only 1 goal vs the Big 6 in 22 games with United (which was against us, ironically).

There's something called the 'honeymoon period' and Gary Neville said few weeks ago that Lukaku now looks like the Lukaku of United.

Define reserves.