closed Krasnodar 0-4 Chelsea

[Johnnyeye 7,440]

Great win in the end, 3 points and a clean sheet, something unthinkable a few weeks back, the starting 11 when all fit should be

GK: Mendy,

Defense: Chilwell, Zouma, Silva, James

Midfield: Mount, Kante, Havertz

Attack: Werner, Ziyech, Pulisic

Goodnight guys and forgive my cuntish rants, take it with a grain of salt, i blame the time fuse 🤣

KTBFFH 🙏❤️

[Jase 43,479]

Our xG below 1 again (excluding the penalties).  

[Azul 1,615]

Attack is the best defense. You press the opponents which means you don't give them any opportunity to attack. 

Instead of them pressing us and us giving the opponents space to attack, the opposite happened after the subs which was very positive to see.

[OneMoSalah 8,776]

30 minutes ago, Hutcho said:

 

 

We're not talking about 49 percent. We're talking about 12 percent which would put him in line with the other managers. 12 goals that kepa let in would have effected that. We only conceded the 3rd most shots in the league last season. No Eden would have obviously effected that.

As I've said all along. Judge lamps at the end of the season. This is now his team and whilst they will still take time to gel these are his players.

You can't just pick out the "worst" players under particular managerial regimes and then say but we won with them.
 

 

Perhaps but still, you going to say that the win percentage couldn't be more if set plays such as corners or FKs were defended better? (Yes the GK can come into that but I wouldn't say he is purely to blame for all the set pieces we've from conceded either - zonal marking big feature the last 13 or 14 months) If at times the in game management wasn't better and we weren't bombing wingbacks up the field in the 92nd minute v West Ham when its 2-2 or sitting off Southampton at 3-1 up or whatever? Or is it purely a lets say make out that individual mistakes are the only reason this Chelsea team and Frank's managerial record is at the percentage it is? To give the impression that despite the fact its low, it should be much better? Because that's what I feel your trying to do. I get the feeling people will allude to Kepa, Zouma and Jorginho etc but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that this team has other issues than a few guys making mistakes individually. Look at how many times this mob had got through out midfield this game alone when it was 4231? Or is this purely on the players again? Or how predictable some of the attack was until we switched to 433 and they ran out of gas? Or again is 200m worth of players at fault? If things like this and mistakes are happening as often as they have with Frank in his spell here, that screams out to me there is much more wrong than just one or two players having bad games, it has to be. You cannot have individual mistakes for 13 or 14 months. People make mistakes but when they become clear and obvious every game or every few games, something is wrong.  

Yes I have said about giving him the time, I reckon 18 months is a fair point to judge him at. I think its roughly enough time for a manager to get some sort of identity and shape his squad. I get the transfer ban etc, its a bit of a shit one but still, as you've said now this is his team and they need to gel but they didn't have a good structure to go into these new players or a team with a clear identity either IMO which won't help them adapt. And some people might say that's too long, there are guys who can put their identity on a team in as little as 2 months or even sooner. Just look at Poch when he went to Southampton or Klopp at Liverpool, the first few games it was hugely evident what their ideas of football were. Even if the quality wasn't there. Still struggling to see what sort of team we are going to be. Are we a high pressing team without the ball? Are we a more reactive team without the ball? Are we an out and out attacking team? Are we a counter attacking team? Its very much all up in the air, it seems to change each week. Variation is good but not to the point where you watch a game each week unsure which style or approach is going to be used. And people complained we had no identity under Sarri when we had a much more clearer one too..... 

The worst players who unfortunately had some of the most key roles in that system? Why can't I? Your not going to tell me that as well that if Cahill and Luiz also didn't play fantastic that season that they wouldn't deserve praise as they were notoriously towards the bottom of everyone's list of good players at Chelsea. Or are we now at the point where we are going to just purely say that Eden and Diego won us the league alone that season? Despite the huge amount of clean sheets? Despite Kante and Matic's amount of recoveries and tackles in MF? Or not the fact that great coaching and a clear identity made a huge difference? Which is what I am alluding to with this team, if we had that, it would compensate for some of these guys deficits because we have good players, even last season. And its not Jorginho's fault, Kepa's fault, Zouma's fault we don't have a clear identity, unfortunately. 

[King Kante 1,474]

4 minutes ago, Jason said:

My one concern is that Werner could get isolated upfront in that system but if we can get support around him and make it work, then why not? 

Play him on the left. 4231 is a really bad fit for us as we do not have the CM's to play the pivot properly. Even in a 4231 he is getting isolated and lets face it, with all the long balls that get hit, we would need to play Giroud and have him as a left sided AM anyway. 

On to the game and great to see Mendy get another clean sheet. The difference between him and Kepa is massive. As for my MotM it goes to Ziyech. 

[Azul 1,615]

Without Jorginho playing, you see the difference in our approach in terms of passing. Instead of passing the ball the whole time, we were positive and kept bringing the ball forward. 

I pray that Lampard doesn't fear Burnley and plays the midfield of Mount-Kante-Havertz. 

[Jase 43,479]

3 minutes ago, King Kante said:

Play him on the left. 4231 is a really bad fit for us as we do not have the CM's to play the pivot properly. Even in a 4231 he is getting isolated and lets face it, with all the long balls that get hit, we would need to play Giroud and have him as a left sided AM anyway. 

If we are gonna play him on the left in a 4-3-3, then we might as well not play him at all. Am not a fan of Lampard using him like a winger out wide. And not to mention, we have Pulisic back and Hudson-Odoi available. No stupid reason to be using Werner out wide. 

[King Kante 1,474]

6 minutes ago, Jason said:

If we are gonna play him on the left in a 4-3-3, then we might as well not play him at all. Am not a fan of Lampard using him like a winger out wide. And not to mention, we have Pulisic back and Hudson-Odoi available. No stupid reason to be using Werner out wide. 

My point is, 4231 is a formation that does not works for us. Either he has to play CF in a 433 or out wide in a 433. 4231 is not an answer for us atm and if that means Werner has to adapt/be played out of position then that is better than us persisting with 4231.

[Vesper 28,767]

21 minutes ago, Tomo said:

Is our drastic improvement with 4-3-3 (two 8's) going to be a defining moment where we find our formation?

Cue a 3-5-2 against Burnley.

if we go back 3 versus Burnley its out the window time

 

[Jase 43,479]

 

[hiterto 35]

40 minutes ago, Special Juan said:

Mendy just very assured and commanding.

So nice to see good gaol keeping. Please keep Kepa out!

[YorkshireBlue 3,122]

11 minutes ago, Jason said:

 

Let's be honest he missed it happens, that should really be the end of it. Lampard himself missed 7 

[Jase 43,479]

Just now, BluesMadLad said:

Let's be honest he missed it happens, that should really be the end of it

Lampard wasn't wrong with what he said but I think the problem here is the penalty taking style. Jorginho's will look great if it comes off but it will look very stupid if it doesn't and Jorginho has suddenly missed 2 from 3 this season (excluding shootout). Given Lampard's own penalty taking style during his career, he should know a thing or two about just picking the target and smashing it in rather than trying to be clever with it.

[OneMoSalah 8,776]

2 minutes ago, BluesMadLad said:

Let's be honest he missed it happens, that should really be the end of it

If it was anyone else bar Jorginho they wouldn't be asking..... 

[YorkshireBlue 3,122]

1 minute ago, Jason said:

Lampard wasn't wrong with what he said but I think the problem here is the penalty taking style. Jorginho's will look great if it comes off but it will look very stupid if it doesn't and Jorginho has suddenly missed 2 from 3 this season (excluding shootout). Given Lampard's own penalty taking style during his career, he should know a thing or two about just picking the target and smashing it in rather than trying to be clever with it.

Lampard missed 7 pens, its just one of those things.

[Jase 43,479]

Just now, BluesMadLad said:

Lampard missed 7 pens, its just one of those things.

You're missing the point.

[Jase 43,479]

2 minutes ago, OneMoSalah said:

If it was anyone else bar Jorginho they wouldn't be asking..... 

Let's face it, Jorginho's penalty style is always gonna be contentious when it doesn't come off...

[Azul 1,615]

Jorginho shouldn't even start, why are we talking about him potentially taking penalties?