Brentford 0 - 0 Chelsea

[Special Juan 27,429]

If that isn't the biggest example we should never start Havertz again then I don't know what is- once again and time after time I say this he is absolute shite.

Worst player on the field again

[Special Juan 27,429]

Pulisic doing more in five minutes than Havertz in the last 5 games.

[Strike 7,217]

Two poor performances vs Villa and Brentford. Potter had no choice but to rotate - taking Mount off may have been a sports science decision since he's started every game. But need to pick up the intensity once again for the United game this weekend. 

[MoroccanBlue 5,302]

8 hours ago, bigbluewillie said:

Yeah! this is the Potter that has come in for the last 7 games and not lost 1 of them 5 wins 2 draws, not conceded a goal in the last 5 games, for 12 against 2.

Yeah terrible aint he.

 

A period of winnable fixtures and fortunate circumstances (injury stricken Wolves and Milan, Tomori sending off and Kepa saving our arse twice). 

Saturday is the real test. 

[Superblue 6,370]

1 minute ago, MoroccanBlue said:

A period of winnable fixtures and fortunate circumstances (injury stricken Wolves and Milan, Tomori sending off and Kepa saving our arse twice). 

Saturday is the real test. 

Too simplistic to look at it like that in my opinion.

Before Potter came in, we'd already been thrashed by Leeds, lost to Southampton (both of which have barely won since beating us) and lost to a poor Dinamo Zagreb side. Besides the Spurs game, our start to the season was extremely soft on paper and we'd really struggled through it.

I'll always hold a soft spot for Tuchel but it was clear that we were churning our wheels for months under him and a new season and fresh start had made little difference.

From what I've seen so far under Potter, the matches are a lot more watchable and there looks a lot more attacking intent in our game. It's by no means perfect, far from it currently, but so far you can't ask a whole lot more than 5 wins and 2 draws from the first 7 games, with 5 clean sheets. 

For me the key is to qualify from the Champions League group and be in and around the top 4 places (preferably in) when the season pauses for the World Cup. If he can manage that, then in my opinion he's built up a strong base from which we can hopefully kick on after the World Cup.

[MoroccanBlue 5,302]

1 minute ago, Superblue said:

Too simplistic to look at it like that in my opinion.

Before Potter came in, we'd already been thrashed by Leeds, lost to Southampton (both of which have barely won since beating us) and lost to a poor Dinamo Zagreb side. Besides the Spurs game, our start to the season was extremely soft on paper and we'd really struggled through it.

I'll always hold a soft spot for Tuchel but it was clear that we were churning our wheels for months under him and a new season and fresh start had made little difference.

From what I've seen so far under Potter, the matches are a lot more watchable and there looks a lot more attacking intent in our game. It's by no means perfect, far from it currently, but so far you can't ask a whole lot more than 5 wins and 2 draws from the first 7 games, with 5 clean sheets. 

For me the key is to qualify from the Champions League group and be in and around the top 4 places (preferably in) when the season pauses for the World Cup. If he can manage that, then in my opinion he's built up a strong base from which we can hopefully kick on after the World Cup.

I don't see anything drastically different personally, other than hoofing it when needed. Nothing more than an improvement in performances given the new manager bounce. I still see the same lethargic intensity in matches, needless possession and zero ideas up front. It's a calamity how much we suffer when James is out of the squad, and given our investment and the quality we do have it is essentially why I am demanding improvement from Potter. 

We cannot be this one dimensional. 

 

 

[Bren 41]

2 hours ago, Reddish-Blue said:

That's where I feel Loftus-Cheek or another mid with that dribbling ability would come in handy.   Jorginho and Kovacic are fine for retaining possession and keeping hold of the ball and controlling but sometimes you need that spark or that bit of physicality to break through and make that run into the box to keep the opposition guessing and create a chance for Aubameyang or one of the other attackers. 

That's where I feel we'll get picked apart by United as they have Fernandes in that sort of role and then Rashford/Sancho/Antony will be a handful to deal with for whichever player is selected in the fullback roles.  

Reece really was a cheat code on that flank!

Agreed on the need for that sort of player. RLC certainly has the physical tools. He's strong and he can control the ball most of the time. I've hoped for a long time that he would develop his decision making ability; it's never seemed to happen though unfortunately. 

The other need is for a Fabregas-type player(s) who can play fast forward balls to the attack in a consistent manner. That way we'll create so much that profligacy of the current attack might not be as big of an issue. 

[bigbluewillie 1,859]

2 hours ago, MoroccanBlue said:

A period of winnable fixtures and fortunate circumstances (injury stricken Wolves and Milan, Tomori sending off and Kepa saving our arse twice). 

Saturday is the real test. 

Arrrrrg give me a break pal

[MoroccanBlue 5,302]

49 minutes ago, bigbluewillie said:

Arrrrrg give me a break pal

I mean if we lose and get out performed on Saturday, proof was in the pudding. We had winnable fixtures and rode some luck in a few of them. 

Let's see what kind of performance Potter and the boys display. 

 

[laura90 556]

18 hours ago, Tomo said:

We hear this every time we have a poor performance and/or drop points since the Sarri season and everytime we make it.

If we don't make it then Potters job should be under review.

I'm sorry but it's not 2019 any more. Back then we had better team than Arsenal or Spurs. Times have changed. Our opponents all improved, some new popped up and only we didn't improve, on the contrary we regressed. Signings have been meh, luckily we have some talented academy products to bail us out, but as a team we rely too much on couple of world class players that are always injured. Without Reece and Kante, can you honestly say we have better squads than Man Utd, Arsenal, Liverpool, City? We don't. And there are Spurs who have great defensive coach and deadly finishers. Newcastle united? 

I'm not in Arsenal bandwagon. They will collapse, like we  last season, but will likely accumulate enough points to remain in the top. United has decent manager it's hard not to see them in the top. And City. And Liverpool. 

Yes we have managed to get that place lately, but right now our team is just not good enough.  We can't replace our best injured players and that is  our demise.  And coaches as well. 

[Tomo 21,733]

2 hours ago, laura90 said:

I'm sorry but it's not 2019 any more. Back then we had better team than Arsenal or Spurs. Times have changed. Our opponents all improved, some new popped up and only we didn't improve, on the contrary we regressed. Signings have been meh, luckily we have some talented academy products to bail us out, but as a team we rely too much on couple of world class players that are always injured. Without Reece and Kante, can you honestly say we have better squads than Man Utd, Arsenal, Liverpool, City? We don't. And there are Spurs who have great defensive coach and deadly finishers. Newcastle united? 

I'm not in Arsenal bandwagon. They will collapse, like we  last season, but will likely accumulate enough points to remain in the top. United has decent manager it's hard not to see them in the top. And City. And Liverpool. 

Yes we have managed to get that place lately, but right now our team is just not good enough.  We can't replace our best injured players and that is  our demise.  And coaches as well. 

That's easy to say in hindsight but if we go back to the summer of 2019 we were being laughed at for getting a transfer ban while losing Hazard and as a result given little chance of top 6 let alone top 4.

Potter won't have close to the obstacles Tuchel did last season. He won't have to juggle 5 tournaments while the two teams chasing us have just the league, he won't have to deal with one of the most unprecedented events in sporting history which would turn him into a defacto politician, he won't have Lukaku here causing chaos (atleast not this season) and he (hopefully) won't have a similar injury crisis to what we did in the winter or have to play on during multiple covid cases in the squad (when one of our rivals for the top 4 positions got a prosponment for as little as one case).

We have an improved squad to last season depth wise. K2 is a downgrade on Rudiger but everywhere else is upgraded. Forfana is on Christensen, Gallagher is on Barkley, Cucurella is on Alonso (well in the first 2/3rds), Sterling is on Werner and both Auba and Broja are on Lukaku, whoever is going to be emergency 6th CB will surely be an upgrade on Sarr, not to mention wildcard players like Chukwuemeka (who came within a millimetre of winning it for us last night) on the rooster aswell. Add that to the absence of those obstacles above and there's no excuse for us to end up worse off than last season in my opinion. The only mitigation would be if there's a crazy consistent season where it requires 80s points tally to achieve it but that is highly unlikely.

Yes we can't replace James and Kante like for like but that would be the case regardless, some players just can't be replaced, even back in the prime of old guard we couldn't replace players of that calibre.

Our squad maybe (barring a 10/11 or 15/16 esque best of the bad bunch type) season too flawed in terms of competiting for the title right now (hopefully in time that changes with Carney, Casadei, Colwill, Slonina, Hutchinson eventually coming in alongside Mount, James etc hitting their prime) but there's more than enough for top 4 and if they don't achieve it there should be an enquiry for me.

Edited October 20, 2022 by Tomo

[Superblue 6,370]

11 hours ago, MoroccanBlue said:

I don't see anything drastically different personally, other than hoofing it when needed. Nothing more than an improvement in performances given the new manager bounce. I still see the same lethargic intensity in matches, needless possession and zero ideas up front. It's a calamity how much we suffer when James is out of the squad, and given our investment and the quality we do have it is essentially why I am demanding improvement from Potter. 

We cannot be this one dimensional. 

As mentioned previously, this isn't going to be an overnight fix/change but when I've watched us, I do feel we're moving the ball quicker and looking to play the ball through central areas of the pitch in comparison to the style of play under Tuchel. This is at times and very much a work in progress as I do still think at times those levels can drop back down in stages during the game to a much slower, possession across the backline and midfield style.

I do worry a little that in the last two games, Villa and Brentford have found joy in particular in the first half down the sides of our back 3. We seem to have managed to stem those issues into the second half of both games but ultimately, we can't rely on Kepa pulling off world class saves to prevent good chances from the opposition in every game. Potter needs to find that balance in the team from a defensive perspective, and having James, Fofana and Kante all out currently doesn't help with that to be fair.

But overall, I've been reasonably pleased so far. Despite really wanting things to work with Tuchel, I can't deny how boring and directionless we felt at the end of last season and the start of this one and I don't see that in our play now. We're definitely, in my opinion, currently more pleasing on the eye and enjoyable to watch.