closed Chelsea 0-1 Arsenal

[BlueGuy 10]

this defeat is all on TT.
1) we can't move the ball enough fast and to ahead.
2) Pulisic, CHO, Mount can't create nothing... so why take off havertz? take off pulisic and keep in 2  players into the area.
3) disappointed from several players, also james, chilwell, pulisic...

[Magic Lamps 11,655]

On a different note we should have had 3 pens and the corrupted refs did not even make an effort of pretending to consider them. havertz was clearly fouled twice and holding cleared a goal-bound shot with his hand which should have been a red card as well.

[chippy 342]

6 minutes ago, Jas said:

CHO was awful after he came on. Complete contrast to his sub appearance at the weekend. Little wonder why Tuchel hasn't been playing him.

I just don't understand why Tuchel seems to be flip-flopping over his changes. It was still a strong XI but the standards weren't there. None of the players turned up and apart from a few of them, don't think anyone staked a claim to start on Saturday.

There was one moment near the end when CHO had  3 or  defenders tightly packed in front of him inside a packed penalty area and he ran straight at them and lost the ball. Just completely braindead football.

[Superblue 6,370]

3 minutes ago, chippy said:

Fair points.

But can we attract the level of player we need to challenge for the title without CL next season?

Yes I think it's possible. We beat other teams to Kante when we didn't have European football (and he was in the Champions League with Leicester).

I think the question mark is who our targets are. For me the stand out striker options are Haaland and Kane and neither may be attainable with Champions League football anyway.

A lot of players I think can look past one season outside the Champions League if the project is attractive. We've got a young squad brimming with talent but not polished, and a top coach. Getting to the Champions League final is hard proof that we're there or thereabouts. A couple of additions to this squad and the younger players being a year older and more experienced, and I genuinely believe we've a serious title challenge in us. 

[Jase 43,479]

Just now, chippy said:

There was one moment near the end when CHO had  3 or  defenders tightly packed in front of him inside a packed penalty area and he ran straight at them and lost the ball. Just completely braindead football.

Said it earlier, I don't even know why we bother to play wingers if they aren't going to take players on and get to the byline. There were so many opportunities to do that and almost every time, CHO/Pulisic, would just slow things down or pass backward or pass to the congested midfield area. It was so infuriating!

[Jase 43,479]

With the way Arteta set Arsenal up tonight, you can imagine Brendan Rodgers will try to do something very similar this weekend. This game is like a test and a preview to the pain at the weekend!

[Jase 43,479]

Tuchel even admitted that he may have given signals to the players that he was having one eye on Saturday...

[Superblue 6,370]

1 minute ago, Jas said:

With the way Arteta set Arsenal up tonight, you can imagine Brendan Rodgers will try to do something very similar this weekend. This game is like a test and a preview to the pain at the weekend!

Can Rodgers set his team up like that?

Arteta is a naturally negative manager. You only have to see how bad they were against Villareal when they needed to go for the win. He's also picked up some pretty decent results against the likes of Chelsea, United and City during his tenure.

Whilst Leicester carry a threat against a high line that we'll have to worry about, Rodgers will usually set his team up to play and try to take the initiative in a game. I don't think they will be able to play in such an organised way against us for 90 minutes. 

[DH1988 1,273]

Fair interview, owned up to his mistakes with selection, though I thought before the match it was a good time to rotate, so more fool me. Tuchel also mentioned that he saw signs yesterday in training that players weren’t up for it and sadly it was proved right.

[DH1988 1,273]

Laughable tweet by Henry Winter, typical hyperbole after a game that Arsenal were awful in and he mentions how they need to build around Smith Rowe.. Comical, bang average player who comes from their academy, yet ours are overlooked so often.

[Jase 43,479]

1 minute ago, DH1988 said:

Fair interview, owned up to his mistakes with selection, though I thought before the match it was a good time to rotate, so more fool me. Tuchel also mentioned that he saw signs yesterday in training that players weren’t up for it and sadly it was proved right.

Funny thing is if we had won today, we would be praising him for his rotation, just like on Saturday.

In any case, Tuchel needs to give the players (and maybe himself too) a kick up the arse. Every remaining game matters and considering the fuck-up tonight, they better go win on Saturday! 

[DH1988 1,273]

Also the handball that VAR did not check as well.

[Jase 43,479]

5 minutes ago, Superblue_1986 said:

Can Rodgers set his team up like that?

Arteta is a naturally negative manager. You only have to see how bad they were against Villareal when they needed to go for the win. He's also picked up some pretty decent results against the likes of Chelsea, United and City during his tenure.

Whilst Leicester carry a threat against a high line that we'll have to worry about, Rodgers will usually set his team up to play and try to take the initiative in a game. I don't think they will be able to play in such an organised way against us for 90 minutes. 

Maybe Leicester won't sit back as much but they could still do something similar. Rodgers has a pretty decent record against the big sides this season.

[Superblue 6,370]

1 minute ago, Jas said:

Maybe Leicester won't sit back as much but they could still do something similar. Rodgers has a pretty decent record against the big sides this season.

They do but it's not by playing the way Arsenal did.

I don't even think Arsenal provided a blueprint of how to beat us. Let's be honest tonight was a freak result in the context of the game. Arsenal created nothing and without the mistake the game probably would have played out similar, i.e. forcing Arsenal further back as the game wore on and they would have tried holding on for the draw.

And even playing that deep and organised, we still had a couple of gilt-edged chances missed and hit the woodwork twice, despite most on here going crazy with how bad we played tonight.

[Jase 43,479]

3 minutes ago, Superblue_1986 said:

They do but it's not by playing the way Arsenal did.

I don't even think Arsenal provided a blueprint of how to beat us. Let's be honest tonight was a freak result in the context of the game. Arsenal created nothing and without the mistake the game probably would have played out similar, i.e. forcing Arsenal further back as the game wore on and they would have tried holding on for the draw.

And even playing that deep and organised, we still had a couple of gilt-edged chances missed and hit the woodwork twice, despite most on here going crazy with how bad we played tonight.

Well, the idea was certainly there. Press the midfield like West Brom, Fulham, Arsenal (for that goal) did, and you can easily make inroads to our goal. 

[DH1988 1,273]

I miss the days where we’d take a few shots outside of the box, we tried to walk it in so often tonight.

[Magic Lamps 11,655]

2 minutes ago, DH1988 said:

I miss the days where we’d take a few shots outside of the box, we tried to walk it in so often tonight.

we tried shots but we don't have the players for that. ideally our midfielders would be threatening from range but they just can't shoot.

[Jase 43,479]

1 minute ago, Magic Lamps said:

we tried shots but we don't have the players for that. ideally our midfielders would be threatening from range but they just can't shoot.

I don't think it's that they can't shoot. They just don't even have a smell for goal.

Kovacic and Kante only score once every 100 years while Jorginho only gets his goals from the penalty spot. We are literally just relying on our front 3 to get the goals. The wing backs may contribute a few if we're lucky. But if the front 3 can't score, like against Real Madrid and Arsenal today, then we have a BIG problem!