robsblubot

That was excellent by sterling tbf nice pass by Jackson too

Sterling was offside

Poch deserves some credit here. This is a good team setup and an excellent strategy against a very tough opposition away from home. End of the day they are still better and are more likely to score, disrupt our game plan and win the match.

Enzo dropping back is causing them a lot of trouble. Wish he did more of this.

Too slow to control the football and apply the finish. Really not good enough by Jackson.

Sigh. If you think he’s one of the best mids in the world that’s hilarious indeed. Madrid is coming…. 😆 Once again I don’t give a shit about what Caicedo did at Brighton. Caicedo *NOW* is average at best for me. Future Caicedo, 2-3 years from now does not play -- this one does. Chelsea requires footballers with different characteristics than Brighton. Our scouting is done differently, or used to be. His amazing defending numbers at Brighton won’t translate here—thought that should be obvious by now. They are far more important to a team who defends and produces at lot of 50/50s than a team who keeps possession. going in circles here tho.

Why do you think the players coming in are automatically better vs players who actually won the biggest trophy at club level is beyond me. You used the word "automatically" implying that I'm the one assuming something, and in my mind it's the other way around: you are the one projecting and assuming relatively unknown players will become elite players for the elite club that Chelsea is. That's a lot of trust that I don't share esp considering the age of the players being scouted and signed. I just disagree with the player analysis. "Dynamic" for me only covers one aspect of a player. Since you don't want to consider accomplishments, that leaves eyeballs then. Enzo: IMO there is a good chance he won't stay here for long (what the club wants won't matter) Jackson: there is really nothing special about... I really don't see what you see Caicedo: there is really nothing special about... I really don't see what you see Nkuku: looks like a very good player who has a worrying history of injuries And once again, the one thing that recently changed in football is that we now have 5 subs. This means that the importance of the starting XI is much diminished. A couple of seasons back we had much better quality sitting on the bench IMO. If we go into Madueke, Mudryk, Ugo, then the drop in quality becomes really obvious, to me at least.

yeah I liked him at club level, but unfortunately he could not repro any of that for Brazil--an old tale really.

Yeah I saw the 28 in the first post and actually remember his goal tally then, which was the reason he was called up. Scoring a bunch of goals is never enough to get a call up for Brazil esp in Bundesliga. Unless the Brazil team happens to be shit, which was the case when Graffiti played. Gtafitti wasn't a very good player, but granted, he did well at club level.

I have some ideas, but I don't think that's very important. If you follow football long enough you will see good players not "clicking" many times over... esp after winning big. You keep going back to these two players, which is interesting. I will bite. First of all, they have accomplished more than all the players we've got with the exception of Sterling. Jackson can talk about Harvetz once he scores a CL final goal. Honestly I think Harvertz is the better footballer even if I don't think he's world class. Mount is injured, so it's like comparing any RB in the league to Reece atm. My main problem with your argument, aside from the accomplishment part which IMO cannot be ignored, is that you only talk about the starting XI. Fuck I miss Loftus-cheek right now. I look at the bench and there is little quality available going forward.

Need a replacement first. IMO this roster will not fight for top 4 ever. Does not matter manager and whatnot. Players aren't good enough.

And Auguero was often either nursing injuries, or coming back from a long period of inactivity. heh Grafitte was a pretty lousy player. Played like shit for Brazil, which wasn't his fault -- had no business being there.

Not changed much?! 🙂 How does that work? You listed 3 out of 11 (not counting bench which also changed and drastically! include both goalies!) who stayed. Out of the 3, one FB is perm-injured and the other was unfit for most of the season. Then you have Thiago, who is older and past his usefulness at an elite club. The rest is just personal preference and completely ignoring player characteristics and experience. For me, Mount and Harverts are way better than what we have... esp bench wise. Mudryk wouldn't sit on the bench for that team. Puli and Werner are starting for teams who are better than us. Jorgi is older and IMO is still WAY better than Caicedo (he can pass the ball for ex). Kova way better than any mid we have. All these players you listed play for teams who play better than we do and sit way above us in the standings. So, yes, for me the team does not even resemble the team that won the CL. Not only in quality, but also in characteristics. It's a very poor roster, and the results only demonstrate that.

It's really not... nobody likes a bully which is what City really is. Wanna sign *that* player? well he's going to City (or the other bully).

good take. Regarding the bolded part, that's not good enough at this level. WHU, Brighton, Villa, they all have a lot of good and expensive players. We pay for elite quality, and can be somewhat patient on younger players, but the standards haven't changed... if anything football in the PL has become more expensive, not less. The question really is, "could Poch do a lot better with the roster he's got?" we are pretty divided here, I think. For me, it's a resounding "no!" Others think we should be playing better. While a few, who are clearly delusional 🙂, believe we should be challenging for top 4.

np just did not understand the ref. 👍 Yeah whether we can improve on Conor in the future, tbh we prob could and should, that would still enable him to be perhaps a valuable rotation player. Conor is hardly the problem right now... so many holes in the roster and starting XI.

We deserve to get torn apart tho. That's the difference between the clubs right now. 11 players play + about 6 players who also play a big part in a long season. The "man" is a fan fad IMO. Yes, a manager can make a difference esp when all things are equal, but you put Pep in charge of Palace and they will remain the shit side they are. It might actually get worse as he will try to implement a system the players aren't capable of executing. I've seen Pep-like managers fail that way because they don't have the players who work in their system.

What are you talking about tho? I was referring to Madueke not Conor. I would never take a goal scorer out of a match (confidence high etc). Besides, I thought he was one of the better players in the first half.

That's why it was important to win this match -- spec with Palace missing a few players. I feel that City will find a way to beat us.

yeah there was none better inside the little box. Crazy and cold as fuck tho. He's a politician now if one would believe it. 😃

Yeah I'm afraid we signed 90min Sterling, but we will have to do with 30-45min Sterling for the second half. Just don't see him firing in all cylinders for the whole 90min like ever.

It's really debatable tho. Romario did not even smile after scoring goals at times. Coldest striker I've seen. In the end of the day, this is the elite and we need elite players. Jackson needs to do more in my book. Nkuku needs to remain fit and then we will see. My eyeballs like him on the ball though: he's always in full control of the football, he's very pacey, can pass and can finish.

TOP HALF BABY!!!!

😆 he wasn't great today. Thought he should've left at halftime with Madueke.

One of the oldest rules in football: it's a lot easier to win matches when you have your best players on the pitch. 🙂