closed Chelsea 3-2 Leeds

[King Kante 1,300]

Just catching up with this thread as was busy at the weekend. Got to say that I think some people are being pretty unreasonable with what they're expecting. Here is my take from being at the game. 

1) Alonso is clearly not 100% and is being targeted relentlessly. Not sure if it was noted by those watching but 10+ times during the game he was trying to stretch out his back when the ball went out of play and/or the ball was down the other end. Obviously the pen wasn't great, but let's not forget that Chilwell gave a silly one away against Soton. All in all I felt he did well considering that he is clearly not fit. 

Additionally, from the MHL, no one booed him. Towards the end of the first half and in the second half he got a quite a few chants of 'runs down the wing'. As ever, gets a lot of love from those in the MHL. 

2) I don't think people here appreciate quite how much of a hole Kova and Kante have left. Chilwell is a big miss but the biggest problem at the moment is balls through the middle and RLC and Jorgi not being able to do the hard yards and close down quickly enough. That is a far bigger problem at the moment as it is exposing the defence too much. 

3) This time of year is always hard, apart from the Dippers in 2020 and City in 2019 I don't really recall many teams playing champagne football at this time of year. It is a real grind and it is all about results. I am not saying there are not problems but with the grind and injuries, we need to be less concerned about performances and just hope we get the results. 

4) Leeds aren't great but they played as if it was their cup final and the ref allowed the game to flow. Obviously, they aren't a great team but their boys' gave 110% whilst we had just come back from Russia. Think that should be considered a bit.

[NikkiCFC 7,587]

1 hour ago, King Kante said:

Just catching up with this thread as was busy at the weekend. Got to say that I think some people are being pretty unreasonable with what they're expecting.

I was very optimistic before the season and during the season about our title chances. But I lost that last couple of weeks. Realistically speaking can't see how we will challenge City and Liverpool. And that's 5 years in a row this is happening. Sometimes in November, sometimes in December. Longest run without even just fighting for title under Roman. It's just depressing. We finished 6th and 4th in the league when we won CL where you can win the trophy much easier with good draw, luck, system of the competition... I mean Spurs almost won it... PL is best measure of quality and we have not been good enough since Conte miracle. 

Edited December 14, 2021 by NikkiCFC

[King Kante 1,300]

17 minutes ago, NikkiCFC said:

I was very optimistic before the season and during the season about our title chances. But I lost that last couple of weeks. Realistically speaking can't see how we will challenge City and Liverpool. And that's 5 years in a row this is happening. Sometimes in November, sometimes in December. Longest run without even just fighting for title under Roman. It's just depressing. We finished 6th and 4th in the league when we won CL where you can win the trophy much easier with good draw, luck, system of the competition... I mean Spurs almost won it... PL is best measure of quality and we have not been good enough since Conte miracle. 

I do understand but I feel this is a little different to the previous four years. In the other years' I would say that the following happened: 

2017/18 - Conte by this point was in full blown warfare with the board and was dissatisfied with the squad composition. Additionally, the buys that year were horrific. 

2018/19 - Sarriball got figured out and Sarri took a while to tweak it. This was understandable as he was new to the league and a bit of a one trick pony. 

2019/20 - No Summer window to refresh, a number of youngster's who got thrown in at the deep end and SFL was already showing signs of not being able to adjust tactically. 

2020/21 - Big summer with a lot of new faces playing in their first PL season. SFL failing completely to adjust tactics or set up properly. 

This current form feels more like it is directly impacted by injuries. Having Kova and Kante out and only a semi-fit Jorgi would gut any team. There is an argument that the depth isn't as great as we/the media made out but when you get so many injuries at the same time this isn't easy to just throw people in. Personally, I really believe once we get Kova and Kante back (although this will take a while) we'll start to improve again. 

Additionally, let's not forget that City are a very experienced/seasoned title winning side now who are battle hardened to handle the schedule, while the Dipper's were helped by VAR/the Ref to avoid a draw with Villa at home. 

Personally, I found the Juve and City losses more concerning as they were clear tactical failures by thinking Lukaku was a good idea against top CB's, which meant we allowed them both to play out of the back. 

As I said, at the moment what we need to do is not concern ourselves with performances at this point, it is all about points and trying to get the boys' who are out fit ahain, as with how all the injuries have bitten at the same time, we cannot expect top performances every game. For me, if we can stay within 6 points of City and the Dippers by the end of Dec and get Kante and Kova up and running, I don't think there is a major cause for concern. 

[bigbluewillie 1,807]

I was hopeful at the start of the season that we were going to be a force, sadly atm we are not, I was never confident when we were top that we could stay there, yes! I know we are now 5 points behind City with a game in hand, they proved to me after last night's thrashing of Leeds 7-0 showed our limitations against them [Leeds] in a struggling 3-2 win.

I hope we will eventually be good to seal 3rd place, though qualification for the ECL doesn't really matter 4th will do, it's just the prize money is less for 1 2 3 4.

Edited December 15, 2021 by bigbluewillie