robsblubot

Impressed. good game against hull good tight control and under pressure... body strength and good crosses on top of it.

Had a good game. still hard to think of him as starting material because if his fininishing. Still good player to have around.

Heh fair enough, but you are the one who specified "from above." consider that money and roaman personal preferences can exert influence on members of the staff who the manager relies on for information. in other words, the pressure can be far more subtle than pure briberies - same happens in politics: while bribing is against the law, more and more money flows into politics regardless (lobbying seems very effective).

Ok that's a difficult one to answer because it's down to perception. I believe there are very different kinds of pressure. Here's just some of them: The simplest one is availability: a manager, especially one arriving at the club, can only play whoever is available. Perhaps the club wanted to get rid of some of the deadwood, but there were no buyers (esp at their wages). Some of these same deadwood got more minutes last season than they've seen in quite some time, perhaps to attract a buyer. All speculation, but it is very difficult to sell players when the scouts don't see them perform (good or bad just talk about me). * I've heard a former Serie A club president in brazil, saying that no other than our beloved Scolari (way before Chelsea) was in love with this very grotesque (skilless) holding mid. Who would start in every fucking game. The president tried approaching Scolari directly and indirectly, until one day he (the former president) went to Scolari and told him that the player was gone, because he had received an offer the club could not refuse (the player went on a free transfer). Second, money! I don't pretend to know how these deals work behind the scenes, but I do acknowledge that money exerts influence in all areas, including sports. Does Cahill get a pass for being England international at times? Is it nationalism or simply just a subtle influence of money when a pundit spares him of criticism, so that he's a more valuable "asset" (to his employer, the media) when England plays? Information. This is a very unpopular thing to say and yet the most obvious (to me)... we simply don't have access to the same information they (club/coaches/managers/directors/scouts/agents) do. Perhaps the coaches knew that Sturridge was a time bomb, concerning fitness, and perhaps Liverpool knew that too - hence the lowish fee. Sometimes we ask for the manager to start a player who had a terrible week, for one reason or another, and would never get a start. Obviously the manager cannot let the opponent know what players are available, trained well, slept well, and therefore are more likely to start before every match - opponents would love to know that though. Take Iva for example. He's been a starter for so long, it's unfair to compare him to other players who had much lesser roles at the club. However, at this time he should, at most, be playing a much smaller rotation/backup role than he is now. And yet, there he is with every fucking manager that comes in. The last one is that Chelsea is not a democracy. It's really down to the owner and he is indeed entitled to his personal preferences. It's difficult to know for sure how much that happens, but like you said, there is evidence that it has happened before. At the very least it does happen when he sacks and hires managers.

not only that, but whether they were really mistakes or not isn't really certain. He has made a few questionable decisions, some of them we can assume have been forced by the club. Others are the wishful thinking of pundits and fans who say player Y would have done so much better than player X. Even though when such changes actually take place, the outcome isn't much different. So, even if Y would've been a bit better, would it have been enough for a different outcome? Our performance against Arsenal was so bad, that it's difficult to pin to specific players... as bad as cahill and iva were, Arsenal would have prob scored in different ways, by sheer pressure.

I certainly agree with that, and like I said before, Chalobah should be getting minutes. What if Conte has already tried Chalobah in practice along with Kante? What if Chalobah has been poor in training, or Matic wins every dispute with Chalobah in practice (just making stuff up as I don't know). Or what if Conte is worried about winning some aerial duels esp in set pieces in our area with a squad that is on the short side? I am sure he will make changes and try new players, esp the more ready one like Chalobah, but i don't expect this jump in performance some do. I think if you play Chalobah instead of Matic, for example, the differences would be subtle.

I wouldn't call Mata a youngster or a player I miss terribly unless as a rotation option for whenever hazard is skulking. I do miss all others you mentioned - perhaps Bats will prove to be at the same level or better than lukaku though (pretty young too).

After carefully listening to Conte, I have to say that he's both 100% correct and his strategy, by stating that publicly, is very risky and at most will work once, and only once. If he does reiterate that he will lose players, and with a squad as small as we have, he'd be in dire straights very quick. I don't share the belief that most youngsters can replace senior squad members without a drop, not necessarily in technique but in all other aspects of the game.

I'm not forgetting anything. I don't think Hazard is in the same league as Messi, nor do I think he's an average player who should leave. I call it the way I see it: currently I just don't see much difference between the much maligned players and hazard, because they all look alike when on the pitch. Well Eden is the one doing the least amount of running, that is. which one of them would perform better at Real isn't really something that interests me to be honest.

that's the problem with the grass is always greener... it's a causation that is simply not there. Same thing happened just this week with Fabregas... Honestly, there is an ageless saying in football that when a team has bad results, the best players are always the ones who did not play. Because in the mind of the supporters, this or that player "couldn't possibly done any worse than X." Did you not see how well Oscar did against Arsenal?! Note that "not done any worse" is also not good enough... we need players who would do VASTLY better than the ones currently playing... including Matic.

yes that is the blueprint to play arsenal and we did try following it. We played 10 players behind the ball, let arsenal have the football at all times and hit them in counters. That is the blueprint. One of the issues was that we conceded (gifted) very early which essentially ruined the strategy. We were also not aggressive enough and not incisive enough in counters. Arsenal attacked us with a lot of players because we simply weren't threatening enough in counters. Hazard and Willian were particularly poor helping out the middle - Diego being the only attacking player doing enough in both defense and attack. There are a few questionable tactical decisions and of starting XI to discuss (e.g. why kante sits and matic moves up), but the players selected should be good enough to start and play at a certain level.

players like Neymar, Suarez, lewa, and a lot others Are picked because they did play at a very high level while not surrounded by top class footballers. by stating that he needs more support, you are automatically saying that he's not that great. Bale scored tons of goals playing alongside mediocre players. there is simply no excuse for a performance like this (arsenal). He needs to do more! Not even saying better, but more. btw, barca and Bayern employ players with high work rate who are always involved n the play - not really what hazard is known for. Madrid? Yes he would prob do a lot better there, but then again, anyone would.

Shamelessly quoting myself.

Completely disagree. if Cahill needs that much time on the ball then he simply isn't good enough at this level. didnt his body language after the mistake tell you all you needed to know?! He did not complain or open his arms to Iva complaining about the back pass (it was fine) he just realized immediately it was on him.

I have to disagree. as bad as ivanovic was, and he was, goals change games and cahill's gift made a difficult game a hell lot more difficult. wasnt good enough in the second staying too far away form the player as sometimes he does. He seems to only tackle/show aggression inside the box.

And yet were the results any different?! Are we aiming for 10th place again by chance?! To your point, the players determine the characteristics of the how. You can't ask fabregas to be a dinamic kante the same way you can't ask Cahill to move up and join the middle. Players have their own characteristics and having a small squad drives the manager to a particular style of play. e.g. How do you move the defense line up with slow defenders?

Not my fav player, but he's been poor this season. Looks like he is lacking power and pace, getting easily outmuscled out of plays. what was infuriating to me was his slow walk to the sideline when subbed off. Should be fined for that big time. Disrespectful to the club and teammates.

Of course not. but this is hardly on the manager at this time... He's doing what every fucking manager does when starting a new job: play the established staring xi.. At least initially. however, the lack of aggression and ball watching STARTING from the frontline (except Costa) has little to do with the manager that's just players not pulling their weight. yes the midfield was also overrun because the tracking players did not do a good job harassing arsenals defense line. Arsenal attacked us with too many players... I never liked Cahill as a player, but at his moment we just can't play him because we start the games losing with him on the pitch. and yet conte does not have many options in the back line... Some of us have been warning about it during the very lackluster transfer window.

The one game where I think Oscar would have been important - his aggression and work rate - and we start dead beat fabregas because oh his performance midweek against Leicester reserves...

Completely agree jose, tampon, and now conte and nothing... Maybe just maybe the squad isn't good?!

Well that's because he's been shit

well it did not work before Kante... suspect it might with him in there, or Chalobah too. It's a long season and I suspect we will see several variations in the midfield trio. For me, as long as Chalobah stays ahead of Mikel I am happy, as he will get minutes for sure.

good points and yes, it is also undeniable that everything gets more difficult when under pressure. Fabregas IMO is more susceptible to pressure because he lacks athleticism/physique. I remember DL making pretty good runs when under pressure in midfield back then. He has already played in CDM and CM for very long stretches, so it's certainly not an experiment or unheard of. I do agree that at this time we have FAR more cover in midfield than defense, so it's natural DL will be far more needed in defense.

or does Mikel ever?! Agreed. His passing is excellent because it is - his technique is excellent. That's really undeniable. Personally I think his technique and movement allow him to play well in multiple positions, including midfield. He has proven already to be a competent midfielder - helped winning important tough away matches by himself (before matic arrived in jan) and then along with matic. At the moment we just don't have options in the CB area to even think about using DL anywhere else. Even when and if Zouma actually plays regularly this season, he will prob end up partnering DL more often than not.

Oh shit I guess kante ain't playing then?! seriously though, this was Leicester 'B' team, so comparing that to liverpools starting XI is naive. i personally don't care if Oscar or fabregas start tbh, very different players, but whether hazard and Willian (the fuck Moses will start:) turn up in a big game finally... I mean it's been a while.