The Conte Thread

[Hybrid Angel 2,130]

6 hours ago, Barbara said:

As if we had had any opponent today. I've watched United 2nd half too and was exactly the same. Burnley and Hull didn't play football today. Conte could have played himself and we would still have won.

Now, people who only see results will say it was a perfect lineup. I'm not talking about results. If we had the right players we would have scored eight (although we did could have scored a few more if Costa was sharper).

This is called opinion, I'm not sure some of you are familiar with the concept... I don't agree with the lineup, simple as that.

But we were playing Burnley at home for God's sake, not City in Manchester.

Burnley was even worse than I predicted them to be. Still Matic and Oscar played some very stupid balls a few times.

When the opposition is crappy is hard to say how much you did well and how much they did wrong.

Fact is, except for Kanté - which is a huge addition - we are exactly the same as last year in terms of team and approach (few differences). When the match started it just become even clearer we didn't need both Matic or Oscar - choose whoever you want, only one.

But I agree with whoever said they weren't as bad as they have been as of late.

Agenda is for teenagers, I'm way to old to have agendas. I have opinions based on simple logic. Whether my logic is the same as yours, Conte's, or whoever is a different story. Whether someone's logic is right or wrong, doesn't matter, it's their way to view things. I know reasonable debate is beyond many people's reach, but I will stand by my stance.

When did you guys become so reluctant (or lazy) to have an opinion and not just the old, tiring and useless common sense?

So I see, we win, everything is perfect, then when we don't many of you come complaining of exactly the same choices and players.

the same I posted during the match thread. Burnley didn't show up today. If anyone can't say they were awful in all things (defending, retaining the ball, attacking, counter-attacking) then I'm done here.

 

My point continues to be the same. Mourinho and others before him were heavily criticized for choices like this. This is criticism to his tactical choices today, had we had a decent opponent we would have scrapped a win (if as much) like we did the other two matches. He will stick to Matic, Oscar and Kanté for a long time it seems and when it starts to pay the obvious dividends it will pay (to the opponents) people will complain about it. Some matches will ask for a more cautious approach, today wasn't one of those.

A team that challenged Matic slightly had made him look clueless and useless just the other week. Oscar is unpredictable. Between poor and average he can be anything, with the odd good day every now and then. Go back a few months ago and this was consensus, but people will only see the results. To each their own.

Now I even had to read in the match thread that all we needed was Batman and Kanté and that reinforcements to our defense is just an extra. This is beyond sad - not the lineup, the lack of critical sense and thinking

"If we had the right players we would have scored 8 goals."

The score could have entered double digits if it wasn't for lack of incisiveness and Heaton playing out of his mind. It was clear we stepped off the gas pedal once we scored the second goal. It wasn't the case of not choosing the right individuals.

Your statement regarding us having the same approach and way more importantly team couldn't be any more ridiculous. We are ever so different from Mourinho's team. This team can actually hold on to the ball for more than a minute(as seen against West Ham and today). Our press resistance is getting stronger day by day. Under Mourinho a throw in could be enough for us to lose possession. Our pressing itself can finally be called 'pressing' since we're actually pressing as a unit and we're doing it well.

The biggest improvement is the ability to create goal scoring chances in different ways. Last season under Mourinho I can barely recall any goals that weren't from set pieces, individual pieces of brilliance or major opponent mistakes. Conte actually trains his team to play attacking football. His understanding of movements in the opposition half is top notch. He made aveage players like Eder and Pelle look good because of this. Sure, Hazard is a major key to our attack but it's not like we can't score without him. There are significant improvements in regards to our attacking play. 

People are not 'seeing just results.' There are clear improvements which you seem to fail to see in the team in many different aspects which I have outlined above. At the same time, I think our supporters are not being blinded by results. I'm fairly certain everyone knows that there are certain gaping holes specifically at the back but to disregard the major improvements we have made due to the board not addressing the CB and LB issue is simply wrong. 

[Barbara 15,149]

2 hours ago, Hybrid Angel said:

"If we had the right players we would have scored 8 goals."

The score could have entered double digits if it wasn't for lack of incisiveness and Heaton playing out of his mind. It was clear we stepped off the gas pedal once we scored the second goal. It wasn't the case of not choosing the right individuals.

Your statement regarding us having the same approach and way more importantly team couldn't be any more ridiculous. We are ever so different from Mourinho's team. This team can actually hold on to the ball for more than a minute(as seen against West Ham and today). Our press resistance is getting stronger day by day. Under Mourinho a throw in could be enough for us to lose possession. Our pressing itself can finally be called 'pressing' since we're actually pressing as a unit and we're doing it well.

The biggest improvement is the ability to create goal scoring chances in different ways. Last season under Mourinho I can barely recall any goals that weren't from set pieces, individual pieces of brilliance or major opponent mistakes. Conte actually trains his team to play attacking football. His understanding of movements in the opposition half is top noth. He made aveage players like Eder and Pelle look good because of this. Sure, Hazard is a major key to our attack but it's not like we can't score without him. There are significant improvements in regards to our attacking play. 

People are not 'seeing just results.' There are clear improvements which you seem to fail to see in the team in many different aspects which I have outlined above. At the same time, I think our supporters are not being blinded by results. I'm fairly certain everyone knows that there are certain gaping holes specifically at the back but to disregard the major improvements we have made due to the board not addressing the CB and LB issue is simply wrong. 

All more than valid points, maybe when I said a few differences I got carried away.

I think our players are better drilled now, I have no doubts, but we have the same too cautious approach. The pressing is better and we have patterns when attacking now. As I said on his thread, I think Eden partially improved for simply being rid of Mourinho's presence, but mainly by Conte. 

But, pray and tell, why did we need Kanté, Matic and Oscar in that midfield yesterday? Burnley was never going to attack us, they would counter-attack and try to count on any defensive mistake to capitalize... but they were too poor even to force us any sort of mistakes.

Was Matic playing higher in the pitch than he did under Mourinho? I think definitely, but what was the point of having him in the first place? When I see the 4-14-1 formation I think of Burnley, Hull, WBA, then even Sunderland and Bournemouth - despite the black cats being a pain in the arse in recent years. I feel the need of only one holding MD, which for us is Kanté with the support of a more defensive player from the other four. I don't see the need for two. As the match went on, Oscar was staying more in the final third, but many times he was behind Matic. If we are going to rely on Matic to support our attack why not Fabregas or even RLC?

I'm not saying Matic and Oscar should never play for us (well, in theory if we want to be really big again we definitely need players much better than them, but that's beyond the point).  There was just no point. They didn't play any important defensive role there because - as predictable as it was - Burnley didn't demand it from us. Kanté - as he's been getting used to - handled their midfield and attackers quite well and needed - as anyone would - some support, but it was not that much exactly because opposition was poor. Now if you have a more creative or even technical player (the latter is rare in Cobhan nowadays), why not play them? To use the word everybody here loves (sarcasm), there was no need for balance. We could and should have done full throttle on them knowing the risks they were posing were too small. We may be in a bad moment compared to recent years and we may have finished 10th last season, but we aren't Liverpool yet (and hopefully never will be).

I must admit I get carried away easily when I'm making a point, overlooking other points. As you said, we've already changed some things (but the matches against the Hammers and especially Watford was a lot closer to some displays from last season than people want to admit). I do believe Conte is trading more cautiously right now because he's new to the league and all that jazz, but I still felt like when we actually had an opponent that played football, he had to fix his own mistakes and we barely scrapped wins against WHam and Watford. But this is all too new, I'm just frustrated of seeing us playing with certain players in certain matches.

[Blue Armour 4,300]

Have to agree with Barb here...am happy with the result and from the sound of it, the performance. But I hope Fabregas can work his way back into the starting eleven sooner rather than later. Without him, IMO we will be too reliant on Hazards explosiveness to unlock defences. Unless Oscar finally becomes the consistent performer we hoped he would become 2 yrs ago, it's a risk losing your only playmaker in Fabregas, by not giving him even a couple of mins and even bringing Pedro in to the team ahead of him.  Anyway I hope his insistence with keeping Fabregas on the bench is purely for tactical reasons ...to compensate for the weakness in our back 4. Hopefully with a new defender we will start seeing more exciting midfield lineups.

[Hybrid Angel 2,130]

4 hours ago, Barbara said:

All more than valid points, maybe when I said a few differences I got carried away.

I think our players are better drilled now, I have no doubts, but we have the same too cautious approach. The pressing is better and we have patterns when attacking now. As I said on his thread, I think Eden partially improved for simply being rid of Mourinho's presence, but mainly by Conte. 

But, pray and tell, why did we need Kanté, Matic and Oscar in that midfield yesterday? Burnley was never going to attack us, they would counter-attack and try to count on any defensive mistake to capitalize... but they were too poor even to force us any sort of mistakes.

Was Matic playing higher in the pitch than he did under Mourinho? I think definitely, but what was the point of having him in the first place? When I see the 4-14-1 formation I think of Burnley, Hull, WBA, then even Sunderland and Bournemouth - despite the black cats being a pain in the arse in recent years. I feel the need of only one holding MD, which for us is Kanté with the support of a more defensive player from the other four. I don't see the need for two. As the match went on, Oscar was staying more in the final third, but many times he was behind Matic. If we are going to rely on Matic to support our attack why not Fabregas or even RLC?

I'm not saying Matic and Oscar should never play for us (well, in theory if we want to be really big again we definitely need players much better than them, but that's beyond the point).  There was just no point. They didn't play any important defensive role there because - as predictable as it was - Burnley didn't demand it from us. Kanté - as he's been getting used to - handled their midfield and attackers quite well and needed - as anyone would - some support, but it was not that much exactly because opposition was poor. Now if you have a more creative or even technical player (the latter is rare in Cobhan nowadays), why not play them? To use the word everybody here loves (sarcasm), there was no need for balance. We could and should have done full throttle on them knowing the risks they were posing were too small. We may be in a bad moment compared to recent years and we may have finished 10th last season, but we aren't Liverpool yet (and hopefully never will be).

I must admit I get carried away easily when I'm making a point, overlooking other points. As you said, we've already changed some things (but the matches against the Hammers and especially Watford was a lot closer to some displays from last season than people want to admit). I do believe Conte is trading more cautiously right now because he's new to the league and all that jazz, but I still felt like when we actually had an opponent that played football, he had to fix his own mistakes and we barely scrapped wins against WHam and Watford. But this is all too new, I'm just frustrated of seeing us playing with certain players in certain matches.

 I sort of agree, imo the reason Matic keeps starting is that he is the only one who can help out Kante defensively. If we had someone like Nainggolan who offers plenty both defensively and offensively nobody would be talking about being over-defensive in the middle of the park. About the decision to play Matic specifically against Burnley, to be fair I think Conte saw Burnley's performance against Liverpool and predicted we would have the same amount of possession Liverpool had, and the way Burnley countered against Liverpool with the two very decent strikers they have up top who could cause havoc if they went head to head with Cahill and Terry. I think Conte was trying to protect the back 4 rather than try to create a balance in midfield against a shambolic Burnley side. Tbf to Matic and Kante, they stopped a lot of attacks and recovered a lot of loose balls, but maybe that was because Burnley couldn't pass to save their lives. 

Overall I'm with you in a sense that I think we should do much better than the current midfield however I'm not fully confident with going into a match with a midfield of Kante-Oscar-Fabregas, no matter who the opponent is.

I agree about players starting that should'n't start. If it were up to me, I would pay whatever it takes to get Nainggolan. He is magnificent. A midfield with Kante-Nainggolan-Oscar/Fabregas would be elite imo. The thing I'm most pissed off about is how Ivanovic is still starting for this club. I swear if someone at the end of last season told me he would be a starter come the next season I would shoot myself. The LB and CB issues have been evident for ages, especially CB which has been a glaring hole in this club for ages. When was the last time we had a top CB? I still believe we're expecting Conte to perform a miracle with his current squad if we're expecting a title challenge.

[Polo7 3,496]

Cant believe people are complaining after a convincing victory. These where the teams we were struggling against last season.

 

[killer1257 3,282]

1 hour ago, Polo7 said:

Cant believe people are complaining after a convincing victory. These where the teams we were struggling against last season.

 

There is a reason why people are complaining.Yesterday,we had a good game,but let´s be honest with ourselves,we only did perform that good due to Hazard´s tremendous performance.If Hazard didn´t play well yesterday,we would have really struggled to create some chances.Our whole game depends on Hazard´s form and that is not good enough against bigger teams,who are much more capable to cause Hazard some trouble.

Matic technique is not good enough and Oscar is just not creative enough,so just bench Oscar for Cesc and replace Mikel for Matic.Mikel is not the best at going forward,but he does his job at defending and he offers good fast passes,while Matic struggles with that,so we need to fix our problems.If Mikel does not deliver,Chalobah played really well in his pre season games,so why not give him a fair chance?

[The Skipper 20,593]

Well, it's clear to me that if we give Conte a proper team we'll be big title contenders. We still need more players to improve the defence and get someone in that'll reduce the pressure on Hazard. 

[Fernando 6,479]

51 minutes ago, The Skipper said:

Well, it's clear to me that if we give Conte a proper team we'll be big title contenders. We still need more players to improve the defence and get someone in that'll reduce the pressure on Hazard. 

I don't think we will get players that are Conte priority this late in the transfer window. We will just get left over. 

 

[Antonio8 736]

impossible to play with terry cahill ivanovic and win with clean sheet  cit.

you don't know who conte is..

[blu35_army 551]

i know it's to early for wake up,,but the boy can dream

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

15 hours ago, Barbara said:

As if we had had any opponent today. I've watched United 2nd half too and was exactly the same. Burnley and Hull didn't play football today. Conte could have played himself and we would still have won.

Now, people who only see results will say it was a perfect lineup. I'm not talking about results. If we had the right players we would have scored eight (although we did could have scored a few more if Costa was sharper).

This is called opinion, I'm not sure some of you are familiar with the concept... I don't agree with the lineup, simple as that.

But we were playing Burnley at home for God's sake, not City in Manchester.

Burnley was even worse than I predicted them to be. Still Matic and Oscar played some very stupid balls a few times.

When the opposition is crappy is hard to say how much you did well and how much they did wrong.

Fact is, except for Kanté - which is a huge addition - we are exactly the same as last year in terms of team and approach (few differences). When the match started it just become even clearer we didn't need both Matic or Oscar - choose whoever you want, only one.

But I agree with whoever said they weren't as bad as they have been as of late.

Agenda is for teenagers, I'm way to old to have agendas. I have opinions based on simple logic. Whether my logic is the same as yours, Conte's, or whoever is a different story. Whether someone's logic is right or wrong, doesn't matter, it's their way to view things. I know reasonable debate is beyond many people's reach, but I will stand by my stance.

When did you guys become so reluctant (or lazy) to have an opinion and not just the old, tiring and useless common sense?

So I see, we win, everything is perfect, then when we don't many of you come complaining of exactly the same choices and players.

the same I posted during the match thread. Burnley didn't show up today. If anyone can't say they were awful in all things (defending, retaining the ball, attacking, counter-attacking) then I'm done here.

 

My point continues to be the same. Mourinho and others before him were heavily criticized for choices like this. This is criticism to his tactical choices today, had we had a decent opponent we would have scrapped a win (if as much) like we did the other two matches. He will stick to Matic, Oscar and Kanté for a long time it seems and when it starts to pay the obvious dividends it will pay (to the opponents) people will complain about it. Some matches will ask for a more cautious approach, today wasn't one of those.

A team that challenged Matic slightly had made him look clueless and useless just the other week. Oscar is unpredictable. Between poor and average he can be anything, with the odd good day every now and then. Go back a few months ago and this was consensus, but people will only see the results. To each their own.

Now I even had to read in the match thread that all we needed was Batman and Kanté and that reinforcements to our defense is just an extra. This is beyond sad - not the lineup, the lack of critical sense and thinking

Barbara, no offense, but your opinion is making you look like you don't know a thing about football and we all know that not to be true. It also reeks with personal agenda based on the strong stance you've taken on certain players and philosophies being employed.

Oscar has looked very good under Conte, the Watford game was an exception and I would think the conditions made it harder to play the football we wanted(well that and the fact the Watford were playing in their home opener and were up for it) Matic is adjusting to a new role(like most) it will take time for him to get it right. What he does possess is the awareness to sense danger and some ability to snuff it out now and again. If he can get back to his 2015 form we're laughing with him and Kante.

To my amateur eyes what Conte has done is made the midfield more solid and given the team a stronger foundation to build from. Oscar may not be the creative dynamo Cesc is but, in virtually every other category you judge a midfielder on he is pretty much head and shoulders above him. 

The midfield three looks a lot more fluid this year. There have been times when Kante has gotten forward and initiated attacks, Oscar has dropped back to compensate for gaps and Matic has done the same. All of this would be difficult to pull off with Fabregas marauding forward and when in defense, a walking sieve. Imagine him in the holding role and getting played around only to have Terry, Cahill and Ivanovic left to break up the attack.... Oh wait you don't have to imagine, that exact same scenario played out 100's of times last year.

Bottom line is we need to build a solid base first, one where the XI understand what Conte is trying the implement. Only after they get that understanding is when it is ok to start tweaking it with the likes of Cesc and Michy getting more game time. I think the no.1 reason we are playing the formation we have been has more to do with our back 4 then it does our front 5. We will score goals but with Cesc in the side we will definitely be porous in the middle and ship a ton too.

[Barbara 15,149]

5 hours ago, Hybrid Angel said:

 I sort of agree, imo the reason Matic keeps starting is that he is the only one who can help out Kante defensively. If we had someone like Nainggolan who offers plenty both defensively and offensively nobody would be talking about being over-defensive in the middle of the park. About the decision to play Matic specifically against Burnley, to be fair I think Conte saw Burnley's performance against Liverpool and predicted we would have the same amount of possession Liverpool had, and the way Burnley countered against Liverpool with the two very decent strikers they have up top who could cause havoc if they went head to head with Cahill and Terry. I think Conte was trying to protect the back 4 rather than try to create a balance in midfield against a shambolic Burnley side. Tbf to Matic and Kante, they stopped a lot of attacks and recovered a lot of loose balls, but maybe that was because Burnley couldn't pass to save their lives. 

Overall I'm with you in a sense that I think we should do much better than the current midfield however I'm not fully confident with going into a match with a midfield of Kante-Oscar-Fabregas, no matter who the opponent is.

I agree about players starting that should'n't start. If it were up to me, I would pay whatever it takes to get Nainggolan. He is magnificent. A midfield with Kante-Nainggolan-Oscar/Fabregas would be elite imo. The thing I'm most pissed off about is how Ivanovic is still starting for this club. I swear if someone at the end of last season told me he would be a starter come the next season I would shoot myself. The LB and CB issues have been evident for ages, especially CB which has been a glaring hole in this club for ages. When was the last time we had a top CB? I still believe we're expecting Conte to perform a miracle with his current squad if we're expecting a title challenge.

Then drop Oscar instead of Matic, As I said, it doesn't matter who... it just felt three mainly defensive players were too much. Oscar can do the B2B thing almost decently, I think if Conte instructs him, he would support Kanté as his main role.

I agree a midfield of Kanté, Oscar and Cesc looks too soft (on Oscar and Cesc behalf), but against certain teams we don't need more than that. Also Matic is sooooooo slow, count on him to help the DM to protect the defense demands him to stay lower in the pitch because he can't sprint for his life.

I made the (healthy) decision of ignoring Iva exists. I'm in denial. It's proved to be much healthier than the frustration I was getting from seeing his name. That will work until he makes a mistake that leads to a goal - because that's pretty hard to ignore so I hope for my health it doesn't happen

3 hours ago, The Skipper said:

Well, it's clear to me that if we give Conte a proper team we'll be big title contenders. We still need more players to improve the defence and get someone in that'll reduce the pressure on Hazard. 

 

2 hours ago, Fernando said:

I don't think we will get players that are Conte priority this late in the transfer window. We will just get left over. 

 

unfortunately it feels like that

And tbh we'll sign a defender, I'm positive, and he might even be better than Iva, Terry and Cahill, but as it won't be the guy we really need, Conte won't drop any of the three (until Zouma is fit) and we'll continue with the same defense. Which means, we're bringing backup that might even be better than any of those three, but will unlikely play. That's a depressing thought

[Barbara 15,149]

37 minutes ago, Chelsea Legend 11 said:

Barbara, no offense, but your opinion is making you look like you don't know a thing about football and we all know that not to be true. It also reeks with personal agenda based on the strong stance you've taken on certain players and philosophies being employed.

Oscar has looked very good under Conte, the Watford game was an exception and I would think the conditions made it harder to play the football we wanted(well that and the fact the Watford were playing in their home opener and were up for it) Matic is adjusting to a new role(like most) it will take time for him to get it right. What he does possess is the awareness to sense danger and some ability to snuff it out now and again. If he can get back to his 2015 form we're laughing with him and Kante.

To my amateur eyes what Conte has done is made the midfield more solid and given the team a stronger foundation to build from. Oscar may not be the creative dynamo Cesc is but, in virtually every other category you judge a midfielder on he is pretty much head and shoulders above him. 

The midfield three looks a lot more fluid this year. There have been times when Kante has gotten forward and initiated attacks, Oscar has dropped back to compensate for gaps and Matic has done the same. All of this would be difficult to pull off with Fabregas marauding forward and when in defense, a walking sieve. Imagine him in the holding role and getting played around only to have Terry, Cahill and Ivanovic left to break up the attack.... Oh wait you don't have to imagine, that exact same scenario played out 100's of times last year.

Bottom line is we need to build a solid base first, one where the XI understand what Conte is trying the implement. Only after they get that understanding is when it is ok to start tweaking it with the likes of Cesc and Michy getting more game time. I think the no.1 reason we are playing the formation we have been has more to do with our back 4 then it does our front 5. We will score goals but with Cesc in the side we will definitely be porous in the middle and ship a ton too.

Well, maybe I don't  I'll still talk about it

I think any assessment about Oscar is premature. He oscillates too much and then he enters those dark periods of football, so after only 4 games - one of which he was really bad - I think we should just wait before we write him in.

I agree Matic in form is out of this world, problem is he hasn't been in form for at least 18 months now.

Talking about the past, two years ago, we had a very fluid midfield with Oscar, Cesc and Matic. Now we have Kanté which is much better than any of them as a MD. Some matches we'll need more solidness in the midfield, for others more creativity. Everybody here is forgetting Burnley can be a wall defensively, giving the ball to the opponent and closing all space, populating the opponent's  final third with two solid walls of players. If they had executed that part of the plan well (they were miserable defending yesterday, from positioning to tackling, they did very few things right, and were saved from a huge scoreline because of their goalie and our lack of sharpness), Matic + Oscar + Kanté would have done nothing to break them down.

Bottom line is I'm not saying it didn't work - it obviously did, my post was before the match and if Burnley had showed the defensive solidness they did against Liverpool we would have struggled to create anything with a midfield like that. I think Eden's early goal - which was 100% on him, it wasn't about approach, tactics, nothing, just the magic Conte worked on him and his own magic that has been dormant for a year, that helped us more than anything because then Burnley didn't know what to do (continue to be ultra defensive or try to bite something) and as a consequence, they did nothing well. There will be matches were we'll face those solid defenses , those three aren't the answer for that kind of game and that was my only point before the match. When the other team is as poor as they were, you just capitalize because GD can be really important at the end of the day. I prefer 8x1 rather than 3x0, but I understand who thinks the clean sheet at this stage is overly important.

I complained BEFORE the match, I didn't complain AFTER the match, after the match I simply answered posts justifying what I claimed before and then commentated on how bad Burnley was. I was happy with the display, of course I was, even if I dreamed of something else.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

1 hour ago, Barbara said:

Bottom line is I'm not saying it didn't work - it obviously did, my post was before the match and if Burnley had showed the defensive solidness they did against Liverpool we would have struggled to create anything with a midfield like that. I think Eden's early goal - which was 100% on him, it wasn't about approach, tactics, nothing, just the magic Conte worked on him and his own magic that has been dormant for a year, that helped us more than anything because then Burnley didn't know what to do (continue to be ultra defensive or try to bite something) and as a consequence, they did nothing well. There will be matches were we'll face those solid defenses , those three aren't the answer for that kind of game and that was my only point before the match. When the other team is as poor as they were, you just capitalize because GD can be really important at the end of the day. I prefer 8x1 rather than 3x0, but I understand who thinks the clean sheet at this stage is overly important.

I agree with you to be honest. The issue about Kante-Matic-Oscar is not one of whether it 'works', since we have to analyse and infer what Conte's aim even is. So yeah if it's an approach that's designed to shut out the opposing teams so we keep a rigid shape in front of the back 4 then you can say it 'works'.

But as you've pointed out quite clearly, it's not going to help break down stubborn teams who keep 10 men behind the ball. An example of this is Hull City yesterday, they kept a good defensive shape and simply didn't allow United to get into the 6-yard box but allowed them all the possession. Sure United struck late through a massive bite of luck but how on earth are we going to break down these defences when we only keep Costa, Willian and Hazard as our only attacking outlets? Sure we can bring on Pedro, Cesc and Batshuayi. But what if we could replace Oscar and get someone who brings in his work rate but is simply more able in the attacking sense of the game?!

[xPetrCechx 13,563]

We were conceding over 6-7 shots on target a game last season. This season we have conceded just 5 in 3 Premier League games.

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

13 minutes ago, xPetrCechx said:

We were conceding over 6-7 shots on target a game last season. This season we have conceded just 5 in 3 Premier League games.

Kante.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

24 minutes ago, xPetrCechx said:

We were conceding over 6-7 shots on target a game last season. This season we have conceded just 5 in 3 Premier League games.

 

LOL, we're 4 games in & just kept our first clean sheet in a long time on Saturday. Useless comparison.

[Polo7 3,496]

5 minutes ago, LDN Blue said:

LOL, we're 4 games in & just kept our first clean sheet in a long time on Saturday. Useless comparison.

This time last year we won 1 out of 4 games. Set a trend for the rest of our season.