robsblubot

I'm sure we can find someone.... younger! He's already 18yo and way too old for 2028's Olympics.

Stats suggest Jackson wasn't that clinical in front of the goal--he wasn't... quite disappointing performance. Like I said earlier, it's far more important to me that he can intercept a pass into the box, than drop deep to make a nice runs--let others do that. Eyeballs suggest we did not create nearly enough against an opposition we should be beating comfortably. We managed to pin them in their own half a few times during the match, but never had the control of the match. Not good enough. Everything plays a part. Ignoring teamwork, 9+ other players, and focusing on whether 1 or 2 players can kick the ball just right is maddening to me. 😄 I'm not disregarding top quality in front of the goal, but only really a few clubs have that... and certainly not our opposition today. To be clear I've been saying we lack quality (in numbers) in attack for a while and that our subs for the wings and striker are either too young, not good enough, or both.

Sure, but it's literally up to the manager to decide whether there is anything better than Chilwell there. Madueke right now is also a terrible footballer and should be nowhere near our starting XI: head down dribbler w/ zero attacking output. Between Madueke and Chilwell, Chilwell for me.

Manager has just arrived. I'm old enough to have seen this over and over again in different leagues and countries. It's always the manager when the team is not good enough, and/or w too many changes from previous seasons. We are playing the PL with an Olympic football team (u23 + 3 senior players); let that sink in.

I don't disagree that Chilwell does not belong there. Where I disagree strongly is regarding whether Mudryk should be anywhere near our starting XI. Right now he's one of the worst footballers I've seen play at this level. I'm talking Bakayoko level. I do hope he improves, but why would I want to give minutes to a player w/ zero output in attack and defense? at least I know chilwell can defend.

At the end of the day a manager is an employee. He can be let go on a whim. One thing is a manager who's been at the club for many years, sometimes decades like Ferguson, but my point is that I don't think Poch would have a whole lot of say in how the club is run. Perhaps he would refuse the millions for not being happy with something, but that's not how it works; he will collect his millions and try to make it work, if it doesn't, well he will still have his millions... win/win for him. I don't think a big club like Chelsea is, or should be, really that dependent on the whims of any manger either.

83rd minute: Sterling makes a great run on the right and lays it back to Jackson who sends it well over the crossbar from close range. He seems to have the quality, but is currently lacking a bit of composure. What's the option to add "composure" Palmer? If we consider PL one the top leagues in the word, perhaps the very best, then we have to assume that composure can indeed play a part in all areas of the pitch.

I don't know: it's usually a bit more complicated than that IMO. I can hardly believe he wanted to face the PL with a U23 team. IMO Chilwell is better than Mudryk in every aspect of the game. I can't speak to whether Mudryk will become employable in time, but right now I can't blame the manager for selecting the far better player available.

Mudryk

I'm worried about all areas of the pitch same as last year. A good run/pass form the back can often be the difference in pulling a defender out of position which can help your attacking players to find space. We are slow and pedestrian in all areas of the pitch. While I wish we would drop the 3cb system at some point, this aint it. The team is not good enough both on paper and on the pitch... simple as. Manager does not have the players to compete at this level... he needs some players back from injury and a bit of luck to build a competitive team at this point. Caicedo is playing exactly as I expected him to play considering his age and where he came from. He will need quite some time to settle, and only then will we have a glimpse of what we will get from him, IMO. Jackson did not have a great game either.. It happens. That miss after Sterling assist was something else.

11 players on the pitch... talking about striker is an oversimplification of the game. Aside from the very rare few, we are talking about team effort and nothing else. Ferguson had a great game and it happens to good and decent players too. Thought a great goalie should've have stopped the second, but the fact is that Ferguson was all alone to pick the lower corner... Newcastle look pretty bad right now. Newcastle attack does not surprise me: Isaak is a pretty average striker and Almiron a good pacey winger. They lack attacking quality big time. Gordon had a terrible game missing a sitter when game was still 2x0.

yeah and that's usually the case for 20yo playing for a big in a tough physical league *especially* in D where mistakes are costly. That's the tough part about overly young players: even if they show a lot of promise, and I think Colwill does, he will likely leave the starting XI as soon as a more "ready" player becomes available. It's totally fine of course; he should have time to develop, but I see immediate virtues in him that I never saw in Chalobah for ex.

"finding a way to win a match" when you play like shit is down to individual quality; liverpool has it. Salah's "quiet" game today included a nice exchange for the first, and an assist for the second. Darwin and Jota did very coming off the bench esp Darwin obviously. Gakpo hasn't really settled.

heh a loan sounds about right to me. He looks like a great talent, but his numbers are nowhere near Neymar levels -- hate those comparisons tho. The level of opposition, physicality, and speed of the game makes the PL esp challenging for young Brazilian players. He will need time anyway and suppose, better to get some playing time than not. If we want players to stay and fight to be in the starting XI or the whereabout, then we need to be going for a different type of player. BTW, Santos is one of the worst teams in the Brasileirao this season. So is Vasco btw, where the other Santos came from... way to many Santos.

yup liverpool has so much quality up front right now and not enough CM/DMs. Talk about CBs, but I don't remember last time Alexander-Arnold was playing well; so many mistakes in his game, and not doing enough going forward. Newcastle is a very defense-minded team. They are "easier" to play at home because they aren't very good attacking esp when their very slow backline has to move up. Away from home, well it's a different story as they can play deeper, defend well, and explore counters. And yeah, they lack quality in attack big time... wouldn't bet on them going top4 again this season unless they add 1-2 quality attackers before the window shuts.

yup. As someone who don't think he's a dud like others here do, that is indeed the biggest issue with him: where the hell does he actually play? I look at his skillset and physicality, and I think striker is the only place he'd do well; then we know he can't head the ball to save his life, and we've tried him there before. As a CM like he's doing at Arsenal looks like crazy stuff. Kudos to Mikel if he manages to pull that off eh. He's a bit slow for the wing, so we the team would have to adapt to him playing like that... imilar to Bayern's Muller for ex. He's definitely quirky regarding his position and role.

Yup and the funny part is that we don't disagree as much as we think we do. 😆 If you go over the Jackson thread, you will see that I very much like the player. He did a few things in the first half that I wasn't a big fan of, and commented on them; these are in-game situations that happen for a number of reasons esp new team players getting to know their teammates. The 2 times he miscontrolled the football in the first half was factual, but also not a big deal.. it happens to the best of us. Interestingly, some of the things I did not like him doing in the first were gone in the second; no longer did he drop so deep to pick up the football; Jackson stayed closer to the opposition goal, and scored, which I thought was very important for him--a nice striker's goal at that. I think we saw a manager's hand for the first time in a long while settle a win for us at half time. We can complain about a selection here and there, but the fact is the second half was pretty dominant. Of course, all with a grain of salt because the opposition was OMG bad. There were actual hilarious moments when they were (trying to) attack esp on their right side of attack. Yeah we hope for the best for sure. I personally don't believe we will be competitive this season, for a number of reasons I've already stated, but I do hope we become competitive enough so that there is continuity for next season.

I agree with @OneMoSalah that he's not, and really never been a role model... esp in a very young squad. On the other hand, a simple talk with him, and poch + scouts can find out about his level of commitment for a one-year deal rotation role. It's not like he hasn't come back from vacation carrying an extra stone, so it all depends on his level of commitment. Realistically, he's likely not up the challenge, but a talk won't hurt no-one.

You may jest, but he's not a bad player. Don't think he's the player for us (esp at 31), but he'd definitely fit the bill. I'm not a fan of Joao Felix... don't think he'd get to start in any other top club in the PL, but right now he'd definitely start for us.

Jokes aside, it's really weird. I remember him from years ago; he's always been on the controversial side of things, but used to be sensible.

Ah I was not referring to HenriqueGPT... just the overall idea that having different opinions esp divergent ones is good for the forum.

yeah but ironically your comment sounded a bit down, at least to me. And that after a much needed win.

yeah man there was nothing going on the the left int he first half. Mudryk is injured tho, otherwise he'd have prob started today. Madueke is not employable atm IMO; Poch is watching him in practice, so he may see improvement before we do.

Why the need to attack others and not just give your opinion? Do we all need to sound like cheerleaders here? forum would be extremely boring if that was the case.

He's clearly been replaced by ChatGPT-Henrique