Chelsea 0-1 Arsenal

[Laylabelle 9,535]

29 minutes ago, YorkshireBlue said:

I'm pretty sure that isn't what the manager wants either, I look at managers like driving instructors, they can give u all the tools to do what they need u to do, but once your out there on your own and you smack your car into a wall is that the instructors fault? 

Fairly sure they showed Tuchel a few times going barmy when they did that. Also seeing how shakey Mendy can be backwards passing isn't the way forwards! It's cost us a few times.

[Reddish-Blue 2,505]

8 hours ago, Seymop said:

Every time I post I make the point that we have taken possession football to a whole new level .

As “SuperBlue” said earlier going backwards with 5 minutes left and a goal down is criminal. Nobody is prepared to take the opposition on,they just take the easy option and pass backwards or at best sideways !! Jorginho will never drive us forward,Loftus Cheek is just not good enough ,Cucerella must be the worst buy ever,Sterling has gone totally off the boil and Havertz has many games where he becomes non existent.

We are where we belong in the league . Where is the heart ? Where is the passion ? Where are the goals ? All in all it’s a mess

 

We've had this issue since Hazard left the club and that was a few seasons ago.   The fact that none of our attackers know how to take on the opposition defender/fullback (other than Pulisic, when he feels like it) is a massive concern for the club. 

The only other player we had who showed signs (pre-injury) of wanting to take on the opposition defender was Hudson Odoi but then he was asked to learn how to play wingback and now he's out on loan in the Bundesliga.  

[Special Juan 28,141]

We are a mid table outfit, just have to face it.

We are looking up at Arsenal, Newcastle, Brighton and United.....wow

[YorkshireBlue 3,277]

24 minutes ago, Special Juan said:

We are a mid table outfit, just have to face it.

We are looking up at Arsenal, Newcastle, Brighton and United.....wow

Long time comming, the instant success approach was always going to catch up to us.

[Reddish-Blue 2,505]

2 hours ago, YorkshireBlue said:

Long time comming, the instant success approach was always going to catch up to us.

All started with not investing into the side after Conte won the league and we sold Matic for peanuts. 

Sarri started this transition to 'possession' football with Jorginho as the teachers pet and now we're stuck in no mans land.  Feels like any progress we made in those UCL games against AC Milan have been well and truly wiped out with both Reece & Fofana going down to bad injuries. 

If only July 1 was around the corner, we could look forward to a good transfer window and sell of the players that don't need/want to be here.   

Don't be surprised if we're in 10th place later on in the season, the only thing that can save us now (from real pain) is a magical potion which gets Reece & Kante fit for the 2nd half of the season.

 

[Special Juan 28,141]

Team selection is a huge problem and it points at Potter- The wing back mess with CP and RS was laughable.

As for selecting Havertz every game is another head scratcher, bloke hasn't even got a set position. 

[Seymop 90]

Also, not sure if anybody else has mentioned it but why didn’t we put Zakaria on at all ? I think he had a decent game and at least he scored a goal and he also took at least a few steps in a forward direction !! Surely he would have been an alternative to Jorginho or RLC ?

I agree in part with the manager/driving instructor comparison — but if someone on the pitch consistently doesn’t carry out instructions surely you take him off ? Jorginho in particular drives me to distraction,he now plays most of the game with his back to the opposition goal,no wonder we never go forwards.

 

[Seymop 90]

And I also agree to the Laylabelle point re Mendy. He scares the sh.t out of me on a regular basis with his distribution .He frequently rolls the ball to a defender who has two attackers bearing down on him and suddenly “panic stations”. I can’t believe he is told to do that, so it seems to his total lack of awareness 

[Special Juan 28,141]

12 minutes ago, Seymop said:

And I also agree to the Laylabelle point re Mendy. He scares the sh.t out of me on a regular basis with his distribution .He frequently rolls the ball to a defender who has two attackers bearing down on him and suddenly “panic stations”. I can’t believe he is told to do that, so it seems to his total lack of awareness 

Middle of the road keeper that's why- Problem with Mendy comes when he has to think

[Tomo 21,751]

4 hours ago, Reddish-Blue said:

All started with not investing into the side after Conte won the league and we sold Matic for peanuts. 

Sarri started this transition to 'possession' football with Jorginho as the teachers pet and now we're stuck in no mans land.  Feels like any progress we made in those UCL games against AC Milan have been well and truly wiped out with both Reece & Fofana going down to bad injuries. 

If only July 1 was around the corner, we could look forward to a good transfer window and sell of the players that don't need/want to be here.   

Don't be surprised if we're in 10th place later on in the season, the only thing that can save us now (from real pain) is a magical potion which gets Reece & Kante fit for the 2nd half of the season.

 

Sorry but there's no excuses for this squad to be that far down.

It may be too flawed to challenge the title but top four should be minimum requirement.

[YorkshireBlue 3,277]

3 hours ago, Seymop said:

I agree in part with the manager/driving instructor comparison — but if someone on the pitch consistently doesn’t carry out instructions surely you take him off ? Jorginho in particular drives me to distraction,he now plays most of the game with his back to the opposition goal,no wonder we never go forwards.

I do agree, but as bad as jorgi is half the time he's not on the pitch we look worse than when he is, jorgi for me isn't the problem, the problem is there is no one for jorgi to release our midfield is so stale and flat. The movement yesterday was non existent, unfortunately the only pass available was backwards. To me this points more to the fact potter has had no time to proper impose his style, because so far it's just game after game after game, feels like it's more prepping for the opposition than actual style of play training.

[YorkshireBlue 3,277]

6 minutes ago, Tomo said:

Sorry but there's no excuses for this squad to be that far down.

It may be too flawed to challenge the title but top four should be minimum requirement.

Why? RLC mid table azi now mid table, Mendy mid table, puli ziyech broja jorgi mid table, auba past it, what aspect of our current squad shouts out top 4? 

Edited November 7, 2022 by YorkshireBlue

[ZAPHOD2319 4,818]

8 minutes ago, YorkshireBlue said:

Why? RLC mid table azi now mid table, Mendy mid table, puli ziyech broja jorgi mid table, auba past it, what aspect of our current squad shouts out top 4? 

We went through this the last time we lost Chilwell and Reece. If Newcastle and Spurs keep getting results, we will not finish top 4. The only reason we made it the last time was the other teams feel apart. 

[Tomo 21,751]

20 minutes ago, YorkshireBlue said:

Why? RLC mid table azi now mid table, Mendy mid table, puli ziyech broja jorgi mid table, auba past it, what aspect of our current squad shouts out top 4? 

Because Tuchel achieved it with this squad minus Gallagher, Broja, Forfana etc (all be it with Rudi) despite juggling 5 competitions, an injury/Covid crisis and one of the most unprecedented events to hit a football club, if not the.

Lampard achieved it despite losing Hazard alongside a transfer ban.

Sarri achieved it when we had next to no depth outside the first Xl and were on the first season of overhauling our playing style.

Even Conte while half arsing the job only narrowly missed out.

[YorkshireBlue 3,277]

11 minutes ago, Tomo said:

Because Tuchel achieved it with this squad minus Gallagher, Broja, Forfana etc (all be it with Rudi) despite juggling 5 competitions, an injury/Covid crisis and one of the most unprecedented events to hit a football club, if not the.

Lampard achieved it despite losing Hazard alongside a transfer ban.

Sarri achieved it when we had next to no depth outside the first Xl and were on the first season of overhauling our playing style.

Even Conte while half arsing the job only narrowly missed out.

That's all well and good but look at how the other teams around us have changed, far more factors come into play rather than because X Y X did it. Just think we are still to this day rocking the same midfield as when Conte was here.

Edited November 7, 2022 by YorkshireBlue

[Seymop 90]

Not seen any other comments on Zakaria? Surely he did enough in the one game he played to come on as a sub against Arsenal, when the midfield we did play were just getting overrun ? 

[MoroccanBlue 5,382]

16 minutes ago, Seymop said:

Not seen any other comments on Zakaria? Surely he did enough in the one game he played to come on as a sub against Arsenal, when the midfield we did play were just getting overrun ? 

The fact he wasn't even a used sub is also worrying. 

Jorginho was practically on his own considering Ruben and our attack felt like running away from the ball vs making themselves as options. Horrid display of management and execution. 

[lucio 5,418]

1 hour ago, YorkshireBlue said:

Why? RLC mid table azi now mid table, Mendy mid table, puli ziyech broja jorgi mid table, auba past it, what aspect of our current squad shouts out top 4? 

Potter is mid table. These guys won the champions league , Mendy and jorg and puli were insane on that run 

[Seymop 90]

   2 hours ago, YorkshireBlue said:Why? RLC mid table azi now mid table, Mendy mid table, puli ziyech broja jorgi mid table, auba past it, what aspect of our current squad shouts out top 4? 
 

Wouldn’t disagree. I would only put Thiago/ Mason/ Reece,Ben and Ngolo ( all injured) and perhaps Chalobah as a sub in my Top 4 team

[YorkshireBlue 3,277]

1 hour ago, lucio said:

Potter is mid table. These guys won the champions league , Mendy and jorg and puli were insane on that run 

Lewis Hamilton is 7 time world champion but he ain't winning another any time soon shit changes players change teams change. 2 seasons ago nearly this team won the champions League, that shit needs to stop these players ain't good enough REGARDLESS of the manager, they didn't play for TT this season and not playing great for potter, yet potter is the bad guy and TT isn't get a grip and stop been blind to facts.