closed Chelsea 3-1 Leeds

[communicate 2,703]

13 minutes ago, Strike said:

I am curious how Giroud will do in this 4-3-3 with the first choice attackers running around him. Perfect game to start him I think.

Really good that this year (of all years) there are three genuinely good forwards in the squad managing minutes between them. If Oli gets a few starts in this December period, I think he will stay on at least till the end of the season.

I don't think it will impact Giroud much tbh. But leeds with very high line kinda suit tammy or Werner much more. 

[Tomo 21,681]

1 hour ago, Strike said:

I am curious how Giroud will do in this 4-3-3 with the first choice attackers running around him. Perfect game to start him I think.

Really good that this year (of all years) there are three genuinely good forwards in the squad managing minutes between them. If Oli gets a few starts in this December period, I think he will stay on at least till the end of the season.

If we're in a title race new year combined with a favorable RO16 draw in the CL i think that alone will be enough to sway him even with erratic minutes. 

He's played in England for nearly 9 years but hasn't had a proper crack at the big two yet.

[Azul 1,615]

To be fair it was Sevilla B. They made 8 changes from their weekend team too

Sergi Gomez, Diego Carlos,Gudelj and Rakitic are still better than the likes of Koch, Cooper, Phillips, Klich etc.

[Jase 43,479]

18 minutes ago, Azul said:

7 hours ago, Strike said:

To be fair it was Sevilla B. They made 8 changes from their weekend team too

 

Sergi Gomez, Diego Carlos,Gudelj and Rakitic are still better than the likes of Koch, Cooper, Phillips, Klich etc.

Sevilla may have better individuals than Leeds but it's not like we have not seen how a cohesive system can make players play better than they actually are.

[Azul 1,615]

Sevilla may have better individuals than Leeds but it's not like we have not seen how a cohesive system can make players play better than they actually are.

Are people actually arguing with me for saying that the Sevilla team we played is better than Leeds? The same Leeds that lost 4-1 to Crystal Palace and Leicester?  

 

I know we shouldn't underestimate them but my point is that Giroud faced a Sevilla team that are better than Leeds. They have a similar style of play, high press with a high line as well. Giroud's hold-up play would complement Werner's runs and Ziyech's passes would be put away by Giroud. He's perfect for this game in my opinion.

[Jase 43,479]

2 hours ago, Azul said:

Are people actually arguing with me for saying that the Sevilla team we played is better than Leeds? The same Leeds that lost 4-1 to Crystal Palace and Leicester?

Also the same Leeds side that gave Liverpool a run for their money, drew with Man City and battered Arsenal and Everton in the last two games.

Bielsa's teams operate on the extreme at both ends. This season, Leeds are in the top 2 for shots, shots on target and xG but they are also in the top 5 for most xG conceded, goals conceded, shots conceded inside the box etc.

2 hours ago, Azul said:

I know we shouldn't underestimate them but my point is that Giroud faced a Sevilla team that are better than Leeds. They have a similar style of play, high press with a high line as well. Giroud's hold-up play would complement Werner's runs and Ziyech's passes would be put away by Giroud. He's perfect for this game in my opinion.

Sevilla did not press as intensely and as high as you think they did. 

On paper, what you described there about Giroud's play with Werner and Ziyech make sense but in reality, that may not work because we're not always gonna be able to do that. Is Giroud gonna be able to outpace Leeds' defenders if a ball is played over the top by say Ziyech? Out of the 3 players there, only Werner is gonna be able to do that and the one who will make the runs in behind the defence. Is that gonna be enough? 

And by the way, those Leeds' 4-1 defeats to Palace and Leicester...those 2 teams played with mobile, pacey attackers to exploit Leeds' open-ness at the back. 

I can see why people say Giroud should start because he scored 4 goals at Sevilla but if we had looked at this game tactically from a week or two ago, am sure many wouldn't have put Giroud in their starting XI against Leeds, given how they play. 

[Atomiswave 6,072]

We gotta hunt these bastards down.

[Azul 1,615]

The only reason we're having this conversation is because we beat Sevilla 4-0, no way would people say that Leeds are better even when Sevilla made a couple of changes.

Sevilla did press insanely high in the beginning, they started to fall back a bit once we've exposed them using Pulisic, Giroud and CHO. Don't discredit our win just because we've battered them.

Crystal Palace scored goals against Leeds that had nothing to do with Leeds openness at the back or Palace's mobile attackers. They scored a freekick, corner, a deflection and a regular goal when Leeds's backline was already in their own half for a while. Leicester did expose Leeds's highline however that's what Jamie Vardy does against every team. He's an expert at running in behind and finishing teams on the counter. We are not a counter attacking team, we play possession based football and to change our whole playing style just to suit this game is wrong in my opinion.

Other teams that don't rely on the counter but have fast mobile attackers tried to expose Leeds backline by running in behind and they failed. Aston Villa have Grealish, Watkins, Trezeguet and Barkley that are fast and mobile but they've scored 0 goals against Leeds and the same goes for Everton, Man City and Arsenal. This whole perception of Leeds backline being easily exposed because they play such a highline is false in my opinion. We should just play our own game and use Giroud who is very capable of bullying their weak defenders.

[Jase 43,479]

13 minutes ago, Azul said:

The only reason we're having this conversation is because we beat Sevilla 4-0, no way would people say that Leeds are better even when Sevilla made a couple of changes.

It's ironic you said that because if Giroud hadn't scored 4 goals against Sevilla, none of us would be having any discussion about him starting this one.

And as I said above, if we had looked at this game tactically from a week or two ago, how many would really go "yeah, I will definitely play Giroud in this one against Leeds, with their high line etc"?

[Jase 43,479]

Chilwell with the final result tomorrow...

[Azul 1,615]

It's ironic you said that because if Giroud hadn't scored 4 goals against Sevilla, none of us would be having any discussion about him starting this one. And as I said above, if we had looked at this game tactically from a week or two ago, how many would really go "yeah, I will definitely play Giroud in this one against Leeds, with their high line etc"?     

 

I gave you arguments that has tactical elements of why I'd choose Giroud in this game and you ignored it.

I can't speak for everyone else, but I wanted Giroud to be in our starting line-up for weeks now. Why? Because Pulisic hasn't been fit for a while, Abraham is not performing to our standards and CHO is not there yet. So that leaves us with Giroud, Werner and Ziyech.

Make no mistake, I want Werner to be our starting striker once Pulisic is matchfit. Pulisic didn't look good against Sevilla, that's why I'd rather play him against Krasnodar. For now Giroud is a better option than CHO or Tammy.

[Jase 43,479]

1 minute ago, Azul said:

I gave you arguments that has tactical elements of why I'd choose Giroud in this game and you ignored it.  

Am not ignoring it. I just don't agree with it.  Hence, the counter argument about Giroud not suited to this particular game.

From a tactical point of view, am sure Lampard did not pencil Giroud to start this game because of the way Leeds play under Bielsa but if he is gonna suddenly deviate from that and throw Giroud in because he scored 4 in midweek, then he better make it work and win. Otherwise, questions will be asked.

8 minutes ago, Azul said:

Abraham is not performing to our standards

TBF, he was doing fine up until last week. He has been among the goals this season.

[Azul 1,615]

TBF, he was doing fine up until last week. He has been among the goals this season.

Abraham was playing very good to his standards. Is that enough to be the regular starter for Chelsea though?

 

I've always pointed out his flaws, which he showed every single match. However the way in which we dominated teams papered over the cracks.

 

Tammy's holdup play killed our attack so many times, for such a tall player he seems physically weak. He was bullied by a lot of defenders this season. Not only that but his positioning inside the box is also not good enough. Don't get me started on his heading ability and ball control. Whenever he makes runs inside the box it always seems like he ends up in situations where he is about to score or he is an inch away from putting the ball behind the net. That's because his positioning is not high level, I'm sure Werner would've scored more goals from crosses even though he is the shorter man. Positioning is key for a striker. The fact that Reece James only has 1 assist this season is such a shame, his crosses are one of the best in the league.

 

Tammy has improved and I hope he improves even more, but for a team that has the ambition to challenge for league titles and champions leagues, he is simply not good enough to be the first choice striker. That's why everyone wants Werner to be our striker once Pulisic returns to his best.

[Jase 43,479]

Everyone is fit and available for the game, according to Lampard.

[Supermonkey92 1,428]

For all my screaming for Giroud? Id go for pulisic werner ziyech up front. Suits us better for Leeds

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[ZAPHOD2319 3,870]

18 minutes ago, Supermonkey92 said:

For all my screaming for Giroud? Id go for pulisic werner ziyech up front. Suits us better for Leeds

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I love Giroud, but I feel the same way. I think Pulisic will disrupt their defence more and Werner is more effective in center.

[MoroccanBlue 5,194]

Could essentially rotate all three ST's for the next three games. 

Leeds - Werner

Krasnador - Tammy

West Ham - Giroud 

[Strike 6,958]

2 hours ago, Jason said:

Chilwell with the final result tomorrow...

He's pointing to a six like in cricket