Reddish-Blue

Without Reece, we look horrible We have zero defensive options available to rotate (No KK, Fofana or Reece) Cucurella has been useless for a few games now Sterling is useless right now, feels like selling Werner was actually a mistake Brighton exploited us perfectly, they've been building for a few games, showed they were in for a fight against City and they just continued their good form taking full advantage of a makeshift lineup by Potter

Almost like Tuchel wasn't in charge when this same team put up a rubbish performance against Zagreb in the UCL and then the same team went to Leeds and got humiliated for 90 minutes and to add the cherry on top we even lost to Southampton. This team needs serious changes if we want to stay in the top 4 in the coming seasons as United will definitely overtake us and Newcastle look to be on the verge of becoming a top 6 side. Even if Potter was sacked tomorrow, the next manager wouldn't stop us getting owned by a good counter-attack.

I don't expect to see drastic changes for that last UCL game, probably Mount, Kovacic, Jorginho and T.Silva get the night off but that's about it. Wonder if Potter and the club look at getting a RWB in the January window (considering Reece's injury and the fact that RLC will need a breather as well).

Sounds like young Mourinho coaching in the Portuguese leagues....

They're not failing, they just don't allow as much freedom to their attackers and in crucial situations, it comes back to bite them as they're often left chasing a 1-0 deficit with 20 minutes left in the second half of the game. I wouldn't be surprised to see Conte progress though, he still has two cheat codes up front (which tend to work in most games).

Probably because his name isn't on the registration list for UCL... This is what the UEFA webpage is showing for our squad: https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/clubs/52914--Chelsea/squad/

if he does leave, would be great for the rest of the top 6 😆

The Fofana deal was just pure desperation. Like if the club wanted him that badly, why bother flirting with Ake returning to Chelsea or trying to convince De Ligt or even chasing Kounde? Would Leicester really have rejected 50+ million for Fofana earlier in the window? As for Cucurella, I completely agree. You're telling me that there are no other LB/LWB's available that could have been brought in to compete with Chilwell for less than 55 million? TT was out of depth trying to deal with the transfer market and we paid the price as all of our top 4 rivals got stronger...and we still have the same issue in midfield. Arsenal got the 2 best City players available, Spurs added squad depth and United upgraded their midfield.

That's correct As long as we win one of the remaining 2 games, we get first place. Hopefully we can win matchday 5 and then have a rotated squad for the last matchday.

If we played either of those sides, I wouldn't be surprised to see a 4-1 scoreline in their favor. Both Chelsea & United are in the same place, fighting for 4th place in the league. The only difference is that they got their midfield sorted whilst our midfield is one injury away from serious problems (especially with Kante out for many months).

Agree with most of this and we need to fix the glaring issue in midfield. Get someone in there who can add a bit of physicality and get away with those 'professional' fouls like Rodri, Fabinho, Casemiro etc The fact that Potter doesn't want to use Zakaria at all...it seems like he'll be sent back to Juventus in January. As for Cucurella, we overpaid massively. City were smart, they offered very good value for Cucurella (30-35 million) and when Brighton asked for 50+ million, they cancelled the deal. For some reason we got desperate and ended up spending twice his actual value.

To be fair, they tend to turn up against us. Would not be surprised one bit if Rashford is the match winner for them. Just feels like that type of game without Reece on that flank.

At least with Ruben, he has adapted to the situation. Whether it's playing in midfield, playing further back than his preferred role or even playing as the RWB. The comment about big fish in a small pond, that's not true at all, if that was the case, he'd be struggling for Germany as well. Put Havertz in a team with attackers like Bayern Munich and he'll flourish as he'll have the time & space to impact the game around the likes of Sane, Musiala, Muller, Davies and co. I don't think we will ever see the very best of Havertz at Chelsea because the system doesn't suit him.

What does Havertz actually provide? After 60-ish appearances in the PL, does anyone know his best position or whether he's had 10 really good games in PL? I know people love to hate on Pulisic but he's got enough 'variety' in his play to be a solid option for Potter. I can see why Newcastle wanted him, him in Eddie Howe's system would have been nice to watch. If Potter can get some consistency out of Pulisic, that would save us a nice transfer fee and having to hit the market again for another attacker.

Kepa is also here on a long term contract and he's done well (so far) under Potter and his coaching team. Feel like Mendy making way would be like clearing a pathway for Slonina to eventually come back to Chelsea and try to fight for the #1 spot (similar to how Courtois did well with Atletico and then came back and challenged Cech for the #1 spot).

That's where I feel Loftus-Cheek or another mid with that dribbling ability would come in handy. Jorginho and Kovacic are fine for retaining possession and keeping hold of the ball and controlling but sometimes you need that spark or that bit of physicality to break through and make that run into the box to keep the opposition guessing and create a chance for Aubameyang or one of the other attackers. That's where I feel we'll get picked apart by United as they have Fernandes in that sort of role and then Rashford/Sancho/Antony will be a handful to deal with for whichever player is selected in the fullback roles. Reece really was a cheat code on that flank!

Probably more the fact that alot of the media dubbed him as the next Lampard and you know as soon as Lampard's name is put in any conversation, all people want to see is goals, goals and more goals. Pretty crazy to think that we actually had a midfielder who could score 20 goals a season for us, was almost like a cheat code, him in midfield, Terry, Cole & Cech at the back. Also, he didn't have the best part to the season, but again that could be said for every player in that horrid start we had under Tuchel...

Wonder if the referee is going to be Anthony Taylor! This game has loss written all over it, they have enough in attack to get past our defense and we look to be out of ideas in our attacking third without Reece bombing that flank. Watching that Brentford game was painful, what is Kai's actually role in the side? All I see is him trying to make runs or be in the right spot but I haven't seen him try to take on opposition players, dribble past opposition players or create opportunities for his team-mates.

Hutchinson may not even make the trip considering Zakaria can't even get minutes off the bench (even though our midfield has been overrun the last few games)...and Zakaria's strength from watching him in the Bundesliga was physicality and ability to cover ground from box to box.

So people are now pretending that Zouma didn't help the defense at all, especially when the opposition would break at pace against us on a counter and Zouma was often the only one trying to make a challenge as Cahill was absolutely cooked by any decent counter.

I agree but forcing a player to do something they are not good at just points to poor man management by the manager in charge. It's like a manager asking a wide player/winger to "track back" or play out of position as a wingback because the manager is too lazy to adapt his tactics to the players at his disposal.

I hope we also supplement the key first team players with some of the youth coming through (who are hungry for their chance). Gallagher, Broja, Colwill (if he lives up to the hype) would be quality squad players to have around the club moving around. I feel like we've always done better in the transfer market in finding players without the massive price tags. Whenever we try to go big, it tends to go badly for us (Morata, Lukaku, Havertz, Pulisic etc)

You must have something against Zouma, he was a solid defender on his day. For a relatively low profile signing at the time (think it was around 12 million + add ons), he worked out perfectly for the club. Comparing him to a potential Declan Rice transfer is quite harsh as Zouma didn't arrive with an inflated price tag and a massive ego to go with it, we brought here on potential.

Then Sterling is also the same, he's been used as a LWB, LW, LM, RM, RW, ST....throughout his Liverpool, City and now Chelsea career (so far).

Not really, his technical play is far superior to both Timo and Havertz on the wings & would give him alot of opportunities to get involved in our attack from the wing. Timo was limited because he needed space to thrive (hence why he's scoring goals again in the Bundesliga), his previous manager at Leipzig even mentioned that Timo is a great player in certain situations but against teams with a low block, he won't offer many solutions in our attack (think that was before a matchup between Leipzig and Atletico Madrid who were one of the harder defenses to break down in the UCL). The problem with Havertz is that he doesn't really fit any role in our tactical system. At Leverkusen, he was basically the #1 option playing off another striker/playing between the lines. Not sure how Havertz has been utilized by Potter but he was effectively used either on the wing or upfront by previous managers.....and it all came with mixed results.