closed Chelsea 3-3 Southampton

[Jase 43,478]

4 minutes ago, Azul said:

If he plays against Sevilla will he be fit enough for the Man UTD game? According to you he's 36 and can't play every match so I'm wondering what's more important for you PL games or CL games?

We got the easiest group apart from Sevilla so I see no reason why we have to rest players for CL games. I would rather have Silva start now, then rest for the Sevilla game, and afterwards start against Man UTD. 

We have 4 days between Sevilla and Man United and the only travelling involved is between London and Manchester...

As for the Champions League group, I am pleased with the group we got but since we haven't proven that we are able to put away the lesser sides consistently yet, am not taking Krasnodar and Rennes for granted (the trip to Russia is gonna be tough). Moreover, if we want to qualify AND finish top of the group, we likely have to beat Sevilla.

[Azul 1,613]

Just now, Jason said:

We have 4 days between Sevilla and Man United and the only travelling involved is between London and Manchester...

As for the Champions League group, I am pleased with the group we got but since we haven't proven that we are able to put away the lesser sides yet, am not taking Krasnodar and Rennes for granted (the trip to Russia is gonna be tough). Moreover, if we want to qualify AND finish top of the group, we likely have to beat Sevilla.

Finishing first or second doesn't mean anything because we eventually will be facing the best sides of Europe if we qualify for the knockout stages. Whether it's the first game of the knockout stage or last game.

With PL on the other hand we're known to drop a lot of points with Christensen playing at CB. It's vital for us to get the three points this weekend when all the big teams are playing against eachother.

[Jase 43,478]

1 minute ago, Azul said:

Finishing first or second doesn't mean anything because we eventually will be facing the best sides of Europe if we qualify for the knockout stages. Whether it's the first game of the knockout stage or last game.

Yes but if we could avoid getting a big team in the Round of 16 and get past the round, then that would be nice for a change!

3 minutes ago, Azul said:

With PL on the other hand we're known to drop a lot of points with Christensen playing at CB. It's vital for us to get the three points this weekend when all the big teams are playing against eachother.

There's no guarantee Christensen will play...

And there's more room for error at this point in the Premier League compared to the Champions League group stage.

[ZAPHOD2319 2,779]

50 minutes ago, MoroccanBlue said:

Has to be this. Lampard needs to absolutely run it through CHO's head to take players on. We should still be winning this bar the two blatant liabilities at the back. 

Kepa

Dave---Christensen---Zouma---Chilwell

Kante---Jorginho

CHO-----Havertz----Pulisic

Werner

Mount for CHO I bet. Especially after all the praise Mount got for England international games.

[milka 3,129]

 Ouch ..... Kepa  again    

[Vesper 25,621]

LAMPARD: ZIYECH IS IN THE SQUAD BUT DUO MISS OUT

https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/2020/10/16/lampard-delivers-an-injury-update-ahead-of-southampton-visit?cardIndex=0-1

Frank Lampard issued a lengthy injury update at his pre-Southampton press conference, with the head coach confirming that Hakim Ziyech will be in the squad for the first time.

The Moroccan has recovered from a knee injury and will be in the matchday squad, with Ben Chilwell and Christian Pulisic also fine to feature.

Edouard Mendy and Thiago Silva will miss out, however, with the goalkeeper injured and the Brazilian not involved following a long-haul trip for his national side this week.

‘Mendy won’t be fit for this game but we hope he won’t be out for too long,’ said Lampard at his pre-match press conference.

MENDY WILL BE RULED OUT OF THE WEEKEND'S HOME FIXTURE

‘Thiago Silva after his trip [with the Brazil national team], is not in the squad. He’s not unfit but he’s not ready to play in the weekend’s game due to the travelling he’s done.

‘Ben Chilwell is in the squad. He’s got over some of the feelings with the injury he has had for a while that took him out of England squad, so he’s available for tomorrow.

‘Christian Pulisic is in the squad, he’s fit and ready, and Hakim Ziyech is also in the squad. He’s not fit to start but is fit enough to participate in some way, we hope.'

FRANK LAMPARD: "ZIYECH, PULISIC & CHILWELL ARE IN THE SQUAD, MENDY & THIAGO SILVA ARE OUT"

The boss was asked whether Kepa Arrizabalaga or Willy Caballero would replace the injured Mendy between the sticks against the Saints, but our head coach insists that is a decision he still has to make.

‘I’ll make that decision out of the goalkeepers tomorrow, so we will see with that one,’ Frank added.

Our head coach did go into more detail about the potential inclusion of Hakim Ziyech, who could make his long-awaited Chelsea debut this weekend, with Lampard excited to add the Moroccan into his side.

‘I’m excited to see Hakim play,’ said Lampard. ‘It feels like a long time since we brought him here, and he hasn’t played since the Dutch league finished before lockdown.

‘He's worked hard to get fit, he looks really good in training and he’s been fantastic with his professionalism in working hard to get back fit. It's just game minutes that we need for him now.

‘I have a good relationship with Hakim, we’ve had plenty of honest conversations and yes, I’m very excited to see him play and hopefully we can see him at his best, like he was for Ajax.’

 

video at the top link

[Vesper 25,621]

PRE-MATCH BRIEFING: CHELSEA VS SOUTHAMPTON

https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/2020/10/16/pre-match-briefing--chelsea-vs-southampton

[Hutcho 8,443]

Pretty standard. Lampard knows the condition of players 1 million times better than anyone else does so I'll trust his judgement.

 

Everyone going on about our injuries and then wanting us to play the best team available every game.

 

Silva had a 17 hour flight 2 days ago so obvious he ain't gonna be fully ready. Jet lag is a real thing so why play him when we have 2 games coming up shortly after.

 

Ziyech getting minutes is good, no need to chuck him in from the start as he'll get eased back in which is ideal. Pulisic probably starts though which will be great to see. And should mean werner up front.

 

 

[Tomo 21,400]

3 hours ago, Azul said:

Why can't Silva play? Lampard is making the same mistake smh. He rested Zouma for the Spurs game and look how that worked out. Now he's resting Silva for the Sevilla game. We'll see what happens but I 100% disagree with his decision-making this time.

He literally can't keep the same squad for 2 games, things always have to be changed.

Difference with Silva is we knew this was the case with him from day dot, asking him to play three games in a week at 36 after two games on the other side of the world is a huge ask so we have to prioritize. There's not one outfield player in the modern era playing three games a week at that age, certainly not at our level. 

We will have to make decisions like this with him throughout the season. I do agree we need atleast one constant though, hopefully Zouma with AC/Tomori filling in whenever we need to rest Thiago.

3 hours ago, Azul said:

I knew you were going to come up with that argument. Silva being 36, doesn't justify the choice of not starting him because he travelled from South America to the UK 2 days ago.

Lampard is too cautious when it comes to selecting players, we've seen a lot of that last season as well. Are you telling me that Mourinho would bench his best defender just because he travelled to South America? What a joke.

Mourinho's not really someone to use as an example on this score.You're right he doesn't rotate as much but he often aggravates issues by making players play when they're not 100%, Terry in his first spell here was rushed back and then put out for ages, second spell he refused to rest his core players and made Hazard play through injury and that ended up with us fighting the drop and our star man not scoring till April.

[OneMoSalah 8,111]

19 minutes ago, Tomo said:

Difference with Silva is we knew this was the case with him from day dot, asking him to play three games in a week at 36 after two games on the other side of the world is a huge ask so we have to prioritize. There's not one outfield player in the modern era playing three games a week at that age, certainly not at our level. 

We will have to make decisions like this with him throughout the season. I do agree we need atleast one constant though, hopefully Zouma with AC/Tomori filling in whenever we need to rest Thiago.

Mourinho's not really someone to use as an example on this score.You're right he doesn't rotate as much but he often aggravates issues by making players play when they're not 100%, Terry in his first spell here was rushed back and then put out for ages, second spell he refused to rest his core players and made Hazard play through injury and that ended up with us fighting the drop and our star man not scoring till April.

Totally agree regarding Silva. 

Even Terry at 34 (think he was 34 the season he won the league with Jose in his second spell?) under Mourinho needed to be rotated every now and then and while we played a low block you seen the effects that playing too much had on JT the next season when we were horrendous (although we did play a higher line and the less said about that season the better). He had been overplayed IMO the previous season and while he had a summer break you need to rotate and watch players at this sort of age as injuries, injury recovery and match fitness is harder to maintain over time. Even more difficult when he plays international games every break as well.  

At 36, realistically Silva only has a specific amount of games at such a high intensity and high level left in him. Maybe another season on top of this one IMO. 

Even Jose with Maka here in the first spell, his last season here before he left/sacked/whatever he started phasing him out and using him in bigger games due to his age and needing to play less minutes to maintain his fitness. We have to try incorporate that approach with Silva at times, we cant play him 90 minutes in 3 games in the space of 7,8 or 9 days. No matter how fit he claims to be. Or people think he should be. At 36 most top level CBs are usually finished anyway. 

Also regarding your second point, yes and no, its hard to tell your top players who are say 65-70% fit not to play and recuperate. I mean Diego Costa played through minor injuries with Jose, Hiddink and Conte here also and while he wasn’t brilliant, I think it depends on one if the medical staff think hes able to play through it without seriously aggravating the injury (as well as the usual painkillers/injections prior to a game etc. you always hear about) and two if the player has the desire to make themselves available for selection. Manager obviously has a say also but I mean your not going to say to a player of that quality who’s maybe at 70% no. Its a weird one because you can see these things having longer consequences but players like Hazard and Costa are guys who I think don't work as hard to maintain their fitness/find it as easy to maintain their fitness, probably don’t help either. Doesnt mean their bad trainers but we seen with Hazard at Real last season he was overweight when he arrived and that season we were horrible he wasnt in great shape either (not solely his fault probably playing at 70% didnt help him) but it does have an effect.

[ZAPHOD2319 2,779]

Just read the Saints forum. They don't think Walcott will play. They have a couple starters still injured (Armstrong and Salisu) and even if their injuries were better, their manager is slow to put them back on the pitch without being match fit. I wish it made me feel better, I'm still a little shy to feel confident after last year and that 3-3 against a team not strong enough to be in the EPL. I can only hope. They are confident that Werner will score his first goal against them.

[DanP2311 65]

I suspect Frank won’t get around to playing his best front 4 together until he absolutely has to until Mount gets injured. 

[bigbluewillie 1,686]

14 hours ago, Hutcho said:

Pretty standard. Lampard knows the condition of players 1 million times better than anyone else does so I'll trust his judgement.

 

Everyone going on about our injuries and then wanting us to play the best team available every game.

 

Silva had a 17 hour flight 2 days ago so obvious he ain't gonna be fully ready. Jet lag is a real thing so why play him when we have 2 games coming up shortly after.

 

Ziyech getting minutes is good, no need to chuck him in from the start as he'll get eased back in which is ideal. Pulisic probably starts though which will be great to see. And should mean werner up front.

 

 

Hutcho..at last someone talking sense.

[Valdo 583]

The Int. break is finally over, let's hope we can get a win today.

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[petre.ispirescu 4,928]

Agree, no need to rush them all at one time, better have a fully fit squad in a couple of weeks that glides past by the coming months and the Boxing Day period with ease, rather than have players picking up injuries every week because of bad management. Going to be a totally different season from the ones before and the intl breaks don't help either, I suspect lots of players will fall like flies by late January and the month of February. Coaches must be clever and manage the squad very well in terms of minutes this season.

Saints are a well drilled team with a quality manager and this comes after an intl break - can't be easy. Still I hope we get the three points in a tricky fixture.

[Jase 43,478]

1 hour ago, Valdo said:

The Int. break is finally over, let's hope we can get a win today.

Verstuurd vanaf mijn F5121 met Tapatalk
 

And the next one is about 3 weeks away...

[Special Juan 26,546]

Kepa

Reece Christensen Zouma Chilwell

Kante Jorginho

CHO.      Havertz     Pulisic

Werner

[Valdo 583]

And the next one is about 3 weeks away...

Don't remind me...

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[NikkiCFC 6,930]

I have been the first one saying Silva should not play this but if we lose points I will also say that Firmino, Richarlison, Mina, James and Fabinho all had games in South America and all started today in early kickoff.

[Jase 43,478]

11 minutes ago, NikkiCFC said:

I have been the first one saying Silva should not play this but if we lose points I will also say that Firmino, Richarlison, Mina, James and Fabinho all had games in South America and all started today in early kickoff.

Are you really comparing a 36-year-old to a bunch of players in their 20s?

If we don't win today, it won't be because of Silva's absence...