Jase

Well, thank god the season is played over 38 games and not over the last 3 games! If we profited from others slipping up in recent games, then one could also argue that the other teams profited from us slipping up hopelessly under Lampard. We basically "gave" them a head start when Tuchel came in and they still couldn't take full advantage.

As someone else said above, no thanks. The ship has sailed. Who's going to pay big money for this current Hazard anyway (by the way, he got injured again last week) and in the midst of this pandemic? And that Edu Aguirre seems to be working for the Spanish media outlet that did that stupid dramatic reaction after he was seen laughing with Zouma.

On our striker search, according to the latest on The Athletic... https://theathletic.com/2607717/2021/05/24/Chelsea-secure-champions-league-top-four-without-prolific-striker-imagine-with-one/ - Any hopes of getting Haaland are now gone after Dortmund qualified for the Champions League. Dortmund weren't keen on selling him before, definitely have no intention of doing so now - Lukaku not pushing to leave Inter and he loves playing for Conte but that could change if Conte leaves the club - Man City favorites to sign Kane and Levy doesn't want to do business with us - Aguero going to Barcelona

An interesting piece on our chance creation problem, particularly from midfield... https://weaintgotnohistory.sbnation.com/features/2021/5/14/22435783/why-arent-Chelsea-scoring-more-goals-and-how-can-we-fix-that

Maybe so but on the flip side, Abraham missed 22 big chances in the league last season, second only to Jesus. He might have ended up with more goals then than Werner did this season but he had a nice purple patch at the start with 7 goals coming in the first 5 games and then scoring just 8 more in his other 29 appearances.

If your basis for wanting to start Pulisic in the Champions League final because of an assist yesterday and what he did in the semi-final, then did Tuchel not make the right decision to start Ziyech in the FA Cup final? Pulisic did nothing in the two games leading up to that final while Ziyech got the equalizer at City and got us to the final because of his winner against City in the semi-final.

Are you seriously making a big deal out of an assist in a defeat? It wouldn't have mattered if we lost 2-0 or 2-1 considering we still ended up losing. And it certainly wasn't a one man contribution in the team reaching the Champions League final. Others also contributed.

Mount has been described as an "attacking midfielder" in a lot of spaces and he himself as well as Tuchel have talked about wanting to provide more assists, to score more goals especially. So, is it not fair to judge him on the G + A output?

If we can keep it tight at the back, we may need only 1 goal.

Interesting that James was moved into the CM role for the first time with us when we were throwing the kitchen sink at Villa.

Funny thing is Werner wasn't the one who was missing chances today. In any case, we can debate till the cows come home about this but Giroud is not going to start the final, for the reasons already mentioned by me and others. Based on how Tuchel has been setting us up, especially in the big games, he'll start Mount and Werner. It comes down to Havertz/Pulisic/Ziyech for the final spot.

I know it's a forum but it's also kinda funny that some people come here and scream "bin this player, bin that player" when it's not going to happen.

But if Tuchel starts Giroud and it backfires, we would be screaming for his head. It's clear that Giroud is not suited to how Tuchel wants to play and it would be crazy to suddenly start him in a Champions League final, especially when he's played only about 134 minutes in all competitions since the end of February. It's a major cup final. It's not the time to start experimenting or throw nonsense curveballs. Play the strongest team and trust/pray/hope the XI selected turn up and perform.

Did I? lol A penalty won really don't count as an official assist, if you go with the official definition (e.g. by Opta). But then you have sites (e.g. Transfermarkt) that count it as an assist. So yeah, go figure. And that's why I said "if you count penalty as one...".

That was only like 2-3 games ago and if you count penalty as one, he helped won what turned out to be the match winning penalty in midweek.

You don't have to be a fan of Werner. It's a question of making tactical decisions that will cause City the most problems. City will absolutely love it if Giroud starts because of his lack of mobility and pace to run in behind.

If you understand Tuchel, you'll know he doesn't just look at the numbers. He'll also make decisions based on the tactics and how he wants us to play. Mount will start the final. Werner likely too. It comes down to whether it's Pulisic, Havertz or even Ziyech.

It's basically the end of the season and people are still wondering why Tuchel hasn't played Giroud more...really?

This. Last thing we would want is for uncertainty to start "floating" about and Tuchel gets asked every week about his future. Give him an additional year and if he wants more, make him earn it. Dangle that carrot in front of him.

Gonna be a prick here. That's the same fella who's suggesting we should start Giroud up top against Man City (MAN CITY OF ALL TEAMS!). That says a lot.

He created the goal but it got us nowhere in the end. He's part of a malfunctioned attack and even spurned a glorious chance to score.

Don't worry. We 10000000000% won't be getting Lewandowski.