Chelsea 0-1 Arsenal

[YorkshireBlue 3,122]

3 minutes ago, Vesper said:

owning something in an umbrella group does not equal making all of the products of the firm you purchased

It was a joke, fiat used to own Ferrari lol wasn't a statement of fact 😂

[Laylabelle 9,359]

Weird how good Arsenal have been this season...scored in every game..most clean sheets..and only dropped 4 points so far. Obs long way to go but they'll be there till the end carrying on like this.. 

And we'll be somewhere 

[Vesper 28,856]

1 hour ago, YorkshireBlue said:

It was a joke, fiat used to own Ferrari lol wasn't a statement of fact 😂

fair enough

 

[Reddish-Blue 2,347]

1 hour ago, Blue Armour said:

I'm only learning more of the match now.

What a ridiculous decision to not start with Kovacic when you're struggling with defensive cover.

What does RLC offer that Kovacic can't.

He has to stop this Ranieri like tinkering and play a strong 11 that can be more settled.

Rotation is fine for dealing with insane fixture congestion, but what's the point of resting key players in key fixtures.

He'll probably start rotating half the 11 for the City game again., although to be fair he shouldn't start anyone of note in that game.

This team can't handle a cup completion and a fight for top 4 simultaneously.

 

Makes you wonder just how fit Kovacic actually is...considering the fact that he's putting off surgery to play for Croatia in the World Cup. 

It's a shame but most managers would struggle with two dynamic midfielders out (Kante for who knows how long and Kovacic is probably 60% of what he was in previous seasons) and then we also have no cheat code on the right flank!

[Reddish-Blue 2,347]

23 minutes ago, Laylabelle said:

Weird how good Arsenal have been this season...scored in every game..most clean sheets..and only dropped 4 points so far. Obs long way to go but they'll be there till the end carrying on like this.. 

And we'll be somewhere 

It's also because they've maintained a clean bill of health for the most part.  They haven't had to really tinker with their first choice XI and that's showing in their results as they look confident, most of their players are in form and they have consistency.   

Sort of reminds me of our first season under Mourinho, things just start to click into place, players start stepping up to the occasion and taking control of the game.  If City falter for some reason post world cup, hate to say it but Arsenal will be in the mix...

[milka 3,347]

[cosmicway 1,326]

5 minutes ago, milka said:

Hazard was the second world's top player while at Chelsea.
Rather optimistically I used to say that the short one was about to give up the ghost and Eden is the first.
Today we struggle to manage a decent cross.

[YorkshireBlue 3,122]

40 minutes ago, Laylabelle said:

Weird how good Arsenal have been this season...scored in every game..most clean sheets..and only dropped 4 points so far. Obs long way to go but they'll be there till the end carrying on like this.. 

And we'll be somewhere 

This is a direct result of keeping manger and letting him build a team properly and have patience, something the Chelsea board and fans have lacked for a number of years, fan ain't entirely to blame, because rom run a instant success ship, which worked to a degree, but would constantly leave us with players new managers didn't fancy or want. Potter is at fault for some stuff but I highly doubt a 33 year old striker and a 38 year old CB where the top of his wish list, along with a slow spinless midfield. He needs players with high energy and aggression who are also talented on the ball. Kai I imagine will leave auba aswell azi has been a loyal servant but time to move on, jorgi will end up back in Italy. Just depends how much TB and Clarke group are willing to buy down in the summer. January will show what sorts direction this club is going. 

[Laylabelle 9,359]

45 minutes ago, Reddish-Blue said:

It's also because they've maintained a clean bill of health for the most part.  They haven't had to really tinker with their first choice XI and that's showing in their results as they look confident, most of their players are in form and they have consistency.   

Sort of reminds me of our first season under Mourinho, things just start to click into place, players start stepping up to the occasion and taking control of the game.  If City falter for some reason post world cup, hate to say it but Arsenal will be in the mix...

Thats the thing City haven't been consistent. If they hadn't got a penalty yesterday they'd been 4 behind...

[Seymop 90]

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

 

[Laylabelle 9,359]

7 minutes 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

 

That's what annoys me. Not so much the performance itself but there wasn't any urgency. Arsenal would get the ball and then we look like 'and what'

Go backwards drives me mad the best of times..why?! Go forwards ffs. Not going to score going backwards and chances are they will instead!

[YorkshireBlue 3,122]

15 minutes ago, Laylabelle said:

That's what annoys me. Not so much the performance itself but there wasn't any urgency. Arsenal would get the ball and then we look like 'and what'

Go backwards drives me mad the best of times..why?! Go forwards ffs. Not going to score going backwards and chances are they will instead!

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? 

[Laylabelle 9,359]

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 2,347]

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 27,429]

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

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

[YorkshireBlue 3,122]

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 2,347]

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 27,429]

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.