kellzfresh

I saw hazard make so many runs off the ball today, looking to be involved with play everywhere. I think he may have even run as much as costa today which would never happen normally. I hope he stays centrally like this, he might need to go back to basics of his lille days (playing more central) to rediscover the explosiveness he used to have.

Finally played a formation he knows best. I hope dropping ivanovic was for real, that would be fantastic. And most importantly, I hope he gives kante more freedom to go forward and play box to box like today and tells Matic to sit back and play the holding role, because that suited them perfectly. Small positive steps at least.

I think we were very cautious in the first half because Conte was sick of conceding 2 goals every first half. So after getting through that, we came out in the 2nd half with Kante pushing forward and dominated. If we had quality in our passing, we would have created far more chances than we did. I love hazard in this central role and kante in the box to box role two good players on the ball in tight spaces in the middle.

I thought I'll never see the day we have a left-footed leftback that can cross since Ashley Cole

Finally he contributes to our defense by making saves, it was looking every shot against him enters the net at some point.

But at least in the first half, he showed Willian how to dribble past a leftback. I thought it wasn't possible.

MOTM

Fantastic at the box to box role. Please Conte play him there instead of Matic. Matic can sit back instead of looking clumsy going forward for us

Two dribblers on the wings finally, two proper fullbacks on the pitch finally, Willian experimented in midfield (his natural position to me) Ivanovic out (one weed out at a time) I have a good feeling today.

I hope he at least drops ivanovic and plays Azpilicueta on the right. One weed out at a time.

PREMIER LEAGUE GOALKEEPERS PLAYER TEAM SAVE PERCENTAGE Claudio Bravo Manchester City 77.8 Hugo Lloris Tottenham Hotspur 77.8 Tom Heaton Burnley 76.5 Ben Foster West Bromwich Albion 75 Eldin Jakupovic Hull City 74.1 Kasper Schmeichel Leicester City 72.7 Jordan Pickford Sunderland 72.4 Petr Cech Arsenal 70.8 Maarten Stekelenburg Everton 69.2 Artur Boruc Bournemouth 67.9 Steve Mandanda Crystal Palace 66.7 Lukasz Fabianksi Swansea City 66.7 David de Gea Manchester United 65 Heurelho Gomes Watford 59.3 Adrian West Ham United 59 Simon Mignolet Liverpool 55.6 Shay Given Stoke City 54.8 Fraser Forster Southampton 53.9 Victor Valdes Middlesbrough 50 Thibaut Courtois Chelsea 47.1 Exactly what I said a few pages back. I have to think so hard to remember any match we won because Courtois pulled off saves to help us win. When cech was here, I wouldn't need to go back more than 7 games to find one where he's made 3-4 saves. Courtois problem is he is so slow to come off his line to make saves. And he doesn't tell his defenders when there's someone free in the box. Cech was far more vocal and the best keepers are really.

Conte has seen that our defense is our albatross, our burden that wants us to park the bus in the 18box before they put a good defensive performance. He was used to dogged defenders like Cheilini getting tight against attackers and fast enough to keep up with them in one on one situations, now he's met people who put their hands behind their backs, back off and let crosses in easily and others who moonwalk to our goal till the striker is too close to score. Hopefully we can carry this defence cross and still somehow make top 4.

Our problems listed down: . Little goal threat (Only Costa as a consistent goalscorer) .Little to no creativity (Fabregas is the only player who seems to be creative and decisive with his passing and he is inconsistent) . A midfield that can't keep hold of the ball under pressure . No width as both wingers and fullbacks are inverted (Both opposite foot) or old and past it . Defenders who can't handle sustained pressure from an offensive side and lack organisation . Half the team seemingly wanting to press up high and the other half wanting to sit deep We are a complete mismatch of players that don't fit together. Like a jigsaw for different puzzles just jumbled together. We need much more cohesion in our style and the players we want to sign in the future. We need creative, decisive offensive players. Too many guys like Hazard and Willian doing silly little tricks which don't laffect the game. We need midfielders that can hold onto the ball and bridge the gap between defence and attack. We need faster defenders who want to push up and close the gaps between defence and attack. And we also need fullbacks who will offer width and first time balls into the box. About 5/6 players there.

I admit we have a very poor technical base that makes keeping possession very difficult. But the defence is also a huge part of this possession and as you can see from ivanovic and cahill's blunders on the ball they cause panic when in possession and yet are all terrible in defending. I mean we all saw a long sprint from bellerin to catch pedro. Who in our defense can defend one on one like that??? Must we park the bus before we can defend?? The pressing has to do with Conte's system imo but even under Mourinho's pressing our defense still didn't cover themselves in glory.

Our defense is a curse to this club. When Conte first came, he intended to play with a very attacking 4-4-2/4-2-4 formation but the defence don't know what to do when defending one on one so Conte scrapped this for 4-3-3/4-5-1. Till now we're still conceding 2 goals per game and we're looking at the possibility of us moving into a very defensive 3-5-2 just to accommodate our defense. This defence is a huge burden to bear. 😔

Honestly I'm hoping Conte gives this formation a try. We have a lot of problems but the major one is conceding 2 goals a game. Conte doesn't press, so the formation we're using is useless since we won't be able to cover all the spaces when sitting back and soaking pressure. But 3-5-2 might provide the much needed security we desperately need at the back

But if he played on the counter, did he sit deep like we've been doing or did he press the opponent when they had the ball. I just want to know if Conte ever implemented a pressing system before. Because so far this season, pressing doesn't seem to be a part of Conte's tactics. This will work against the smaller teams because we'll keep the possession as he's been training us to do, but against big teams that can keep the ball better than us?? Surely we've got to be pressing them into mistakes because this team does not know the meaning of defend. Unless the soaking pressure style works with a 3-4-3

You watched Juventus a lot when Conte was there, if I remember correctly. Why doesn't Conte press the opponent ??? Why does he like us to soak pressure and build play slowly instead of pressing and attacking quickly with intensity?? This is what I've noticed against two teams that can keep the ball better than us. If that's what we're going to be doing against every big team, then we have even bigger problems than I thought.

I found this post on Facebook, which is sadly a true statement on things: "Ultimately, I think Chelsea is trying to play a slow-paced game in an increasingly fast-paced league, and it just isn't working anymore. We aren't trying to press our opponents and win the ball high up the midfield, but are content to sit back and invite pressure, which we obviously can't handle. When we do have the ball, we pass it back to our defenders way more than we should, which results in a lack of creative play and more on-the-ball errors that lead to goals for our opponents. The slow, possession-heavy game that we seem to want to play has lost its place in the Premier League - whether football supporters like it or not. Because of this, we need to change our attitude. Outrun the other teams. Put the pressure on. Do whatever you can to win every ball. Don't give anybody more than a few seconds in possession. This is how we have to think if we want to keep up with the likes of Manchester City, Liverpool, and yes - even Arsenal (as much as that hurts to say). I'm not a master tactician, and I don't pretend to have all the answers that will ensure a Chelsea finish in the top 4 this season, but I'm tired of seeing us get completely outworked by the teams that we play. We either need to be an incredible counter-attacking team (which we aren't), or we need to be the hardest working team in the league. Until one of those options becomes a reality, I don't see us challenging for the title."

Willian does his stepovers and when he normally can't beat his man, he passes back to ivanovic or he puts in a stupid low cross that doesn't get to costa. Good on paper, horrible on the pitch.

Solve our defense. Switch to 3-5-2 if it means we stop conceding 2 goals a game.

Offers nothing else once his dribbling isn't working. Nothing else

Gone quiet for a few weeks by his standards. Hopefully he turns up the dribbling against arsenal.

I would go as far as saying that he's been our best player this season so far. The runs he makes off the ball creates 50% of our chances already.

Exactly this line-up against arsenal. Even if we lose, keep playing it till we get some chemistry going.