robsblubot

While I agree with you that he's currently a good player, I'd suggest that his Brighton days no longer matter. He's nowhere near his Brighton days, which happens 99% of the time (Kante being the exception I can think of). Brighton isn't Chelsea, even if they play in the same league--the jump is a challenge for any player esp a 21yo. Both Kova, and esp Kante, played very direct. Kante in particular, was phenomenal in regaining possession and making forward runs running past players in the same play. Caicedo does not quite do that and I'm not sure it's characteristics, or just that he's adapting/developing. He does pass well, and not only sideway passes, but he does do a little too much of that for me. It's difficult to know how much is instruction from the manager, to keep possession, or just him. Too soon to have a full picture about Caicedo--early days and the team itself is fairly inconsistent atm.

Agreed. Most managers study the opposition before the games, and Poch likes to tweak the starting lineup accordingly. It's easy to say it was the wrong choice (not my pick either), and I'm not really impressed by Disasi tbh, but maybe we'd have conceded earlier with a header... who knows; hindsight makes us always right.

Very much so (inconsistency). I was impressed by Cucurella in a few matches last season esp when he played defensive fb/cb. Don't think Gusto is better than him at moment, but he's young and new, so folks love him already. Madueke, I just don't see it. He looks like a fine athlete, powerful kid, but there isn't much skill in his game. He can help out as a pacy dub, maybe, but atm I don't see much else there. The physical advantage he had at u21 will be gone now. So, we will find out his ceiling real soon. Fans do behave in a knee-jerk fashion--that's the most passion-like thing there is. Over time one learns to now fall into traps like "the one who did not play would've done this or that" , or teams is great but manager sucks, but only with time.

I agree with you, but reckon Essien wouldn't be what he was without the latter, the skill; he was one of the most skillful CM/DMs I've seen. While I agree that Caicedo is limited at this moment, I expect him to much surpass the likes of Mikel (likely Jorgi too). Mikel was one of the worst mids I've seen play the game: Wasn't very quick, so to defend at all he forced the team into a very low backline; he could not shoot to save his life, and had abysmal passing range, but stats would show he completed 1000 short sideway passes a game. 🤷‍♂️ On on hand I say that it's too soon to pass judgment on Caicedo. On the other, I don't really understand how someone expects him to move from Brighton to Chelsea at the age of 21 and dominate the midfield... makes no sense.

like @King Kante wrote above, none of this should be a surprise. There will be misfiring at home, young frail players getting muscled out of plays (ex second goal), and there will be good performances too. I know folks will focus on the couple of excellent chances we missed in the first half, but we just did not produce enough in the 90 min to win this match. The level of performance was nowhere near good enough. Brentford realized we were not good enough and played far more aggressively in the second, which worked because they were better. We've got one world class player who could not play today. Sterling (good first half tho) used to be in that ballpark once, but when we say Thiago had to play alongside Disasi today, Sterling was exchanging passes with Jackson, and Madueke too (w/ Conor behind him). I won't really discuss Madueke at this time, because he should be nowhere near the starting XI, but Jackson's performance was scary today. Possibly his worst game for us so far... held to the ball way too long, and did not make enough runs without it. Did not think Caicedo had a bad game, just a bit ponderous in passing at times. Did not like Conor though.. dunno why he's being praised today. Palmer was the one player playing well today, which shows how poor we were. I just hope that the leadership knows what they've done this season -- this is really going to be try out -- and don't start sacking managers. Because if they do, then things could get ugly.

Reckon it's both about building from the back and also defend by preventing the opposition from having the ball. Several teams are set up to press super high and aggressively (City and Arsenal to name 2). If you don't keep the ball and break their high press, that will limit the amount of attacking you will be doing. There are ways to counteract that, but they typically work in very specific situations. I'd suggest that the system Arsenal and City use is the better system for long championships without a doubt in my mind. They are just more effective long term esp against the weaker sides.

Share the exact same view, apparently. He simply does not have that tight ball control you see from world class players. It's frankly nowhere near that. He did do much better against Arsenal, which was surprising to me. We may get a good player out of him at some point, but yeah, his overall game still needs work. Compare him to Palmer for example, who comes from City and is super tidy on the ball.

realized I sounded like a Debbie Downer above, so just a small correction for posterity: It's not that I think the team is shit or anything like that, but that the type of signings the club did define the goal and ambition the club has, which evidently does not target this particular season. So, we will be watching which player responds well to adversities, which player improves during the season, who can remain healthy in a pretty tough league like the PL. I just think this squad is the first iteration of something they are building, which is not going to be the final product regardless of immediate results. Young players who start delivering the goods will eventually get targeted, tightly marked, and as result drop form, and may even get knocks too. Knocks come from good tackles too esp in very competitive leagues like the PL. It's going to be interesting what the club does in Jan, if anything.

results? nope. Brentford is a must win, and we should definitely go for the 3 points against Brighton esp at home. Newcastle away will be a tough one and it's likely they will find a way to beat us. City @ bridge will be similar to Arsenal, but harder. I don't expect a lot from this squad tbh.

Would put my money that performances will vary quite a bit until the end of the season. It's just a new squad with young players new to the league. History shows us that it takes more than a season to build a team. I get you point about raising the confidence (with a big win), and it might indeed have helped short term, but like I said, don't think it will matter much later. It's a long season and injuries, tiredness, form, will all vary. Other teams (and their managers) start adapting to what you do esp if it works.

I don't believe that tbh. I believe in a process, and the team playing better, and consistently, will bring results in the long run. Arsenal would have remained the better team regardless of the final score. We will likely lose there, like most other teams. This team will struggle in some away games esp due to inexperience. They will misfire in some home game, also due to players finding their game in the league. This will take place regardless of whether our goalie makes a mistake to let Arsenal back in the game or not. It's just part of the package of the squad the club has built. The performance, esp tactics, was very encouraging. It's good to have a manager who can come up with a working strategy to contain a better side, AND have players behind him to execute that. Still...yes, Sanchez is a concern... was a concern before, and is a concern now after we've seen him play for a bit.

Fair enough, but in my personal take of what news is, both Fox News and al Jazeera don't qualify. This does not necessarily have anything to do with the conflict, mind you. For example, less than an hour after the attack on the hospital in Gaza, the headline on Al Jazeera was that "Israel bombs..." Hey everybody has biases, even journalists, but making claims like that just doesn't work for me. It's like they are simply not doing their job. It's little more than opinions on social media. Everything you read or watch is very much a personal take on a pice of news, or a fake. It's often OK to say, "we don't know." when you don't know. "The New York Times walked back its initial coverage on the explosion that killed hundreds of Palestinians at a Gaza Strip hospital last week, saying in an editors’ note that the newspaper “relied too heavily on claims” made by the Hamas militant group." https://www.politico.com/news/2023/10/23/gaza-hospital-new-york-times-00122986 One of my main fears of the immediate future is the deterioration of the news media. "News for profit" with shareholders can become very vulnerable to the "smart moneys."

"You can certainly point the finger at Sanchez for Arsenal’s first goal, but blaming him for the second does seem a bit harsh." right below... 🤷‍♂️

Agreed. He was all over the place and nowhere in prior matches, even in the one he (intentionally) scored. Had his best game by far against Arsenal though. Quick short passes, nice first touches always looking for his teammates and not throwing himself into tackles, which could become a liability in a game like this. I just don't see the tight control of football all great players must have, but we may get a player out of him yet. 🤞

Second goal had nothing to do with Sanchez. The second goal is a nice play and a great run by Trossard (so quick), but if you want to blame someone it's quite obvious Gusto switched off then.

It's also difficult to know what the manager asks him to to; Poch may strongly encourage his goalie to try to play from the back, esp against a possession team like Arsenal and City (to prevent them from having the ball). If he does not have the skill for that, well that's something the manager and club have to deal with. Arsenal's goalie did not cover himself in glory in that fluke cross from Mudryk; can't imagine snake letting that one in.

Furthermore, the player did not force Chelsea to sign him. I'm sure he's doing his best. If turns out he's not good enough, then it's the club's fault.

Good game indeed, and against strong opposition. Evidently he's never going to be an enzo skill wise, but he does provide quite a bit in midfield.

Agreed, the hypocrisy of the "so called" liberals is mind boggling to me. I hope you were referring to the links, and points made in the article, not me, because I'd suggest sticking to discussing the points and ideas.

I see xG at 1.36 (1 big chance missed Plamer or Jackson?) for us and 1.06 for them. Of course, circumstances affect that (chasing a result + counter attacks). They had 7 corners vs the 2 we got. Interesting that they did not manage to have a lot of possession, only 57%, which is a big part of their game. Suppose the team did a good job disrupting their play esp in the first half.

Will check the stats, but I suspect the number of changes was about even. Curious about that.

You can say the first goal was gifted (it was a silly PK to give), and I think it was. The second was clearly a fluke, but you can only get lucky like that if you put yourself in that position, so good work by Mudryk on the overlap and dangerous cross. Their first was gifted as well. And their second was a bit down to Gusto's inexperience, imo. By that time we had lost control of the match tho. The PK discussion is silly. You can disagree with the rule, but the ref has no choice but to give it.

https://cbsaustin.com/news/nation-world/israeli-columnist-calls-out-lgbtq-activists-who-back-palestine-i-welcome-you-to-go-to-gaza-hillel-fuld-west-bank-lgbt-gay-lesbian-rights My bias isn't only regarding whom I've met. I know we will not change anyone's mind here, esp regarding multiple different issues, like treatment of women, LGBT rights, freedom of speech. American journalists claim that news reporting which come from Israel tend to be more trustworthy than coming from places which completely lack freedom of speech. https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-hamas-war-hospital-rocket-gaza-e0fa550faa4678f024797b72132452e3 Interesting that only Al Jazeera reported as "an Israeli attack." (Arabic Fox News I suppose) NYT reported that Palestine claimed it was an Israeli attack. Personally, I'm interested in the facts, not claims.

If someone is in need of an example of what "lack of experience" looks like, this would be it. This is just a single case though: how to see the game out. There will be others, I'm afraid. Today was Sanchez and Gusto; next time will be someone else. Regarding "deserving" or not, we scored two fluke goals, and they scored 1 fluke and one good goal, so I'm not sure I have much to complain about. Good performance against a better team, so not a great result evidently, but one we shouldn't too upset about.

Clever starting lineup by Poch! Arsenal are confused and struggling defensively. Quite a few good performers, but Palmer is really the best player for me. Sterling is having a strong game too. Palmer is a bit lucky though, that tackle on Jesus could've easily been a red. Enzo is doing Enzo things on the ball, but his shooting remains eh... This was the best half I've seen from Mudryk... much better than the half in which he scored. No, he did not produce anything fantastic, but he did all the little things right in a game like this. It was actually funny watching the announcers discuss the PK; the most clear cut handball I've seen all year. 😆