Chelsea 0-1 Man City

[Laylabelle 9,453]

  On 05/01/2023 at 22:16, Magic Lamps said:

When you watch us play we look exactly like the position we are in, like a bottom 8 team. No clear gameplan, little movement, no precision, no belief. With a bit of conviction we could have easily at least grabbed a goal today. Maybe City would have the upped the tempo and scored a few but we look scared to score.

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Yeah definitely not like we've played well and lose or draw...so we are where we should be really. Hopefully not where we'll end up! 9th be okay..ish..maybe

[Vesper 29,450]

  On 05/01/2023 at 22:01, bluesman2610 said:

Big fucking facts.. this is an absolute must

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it's madness!

this has been going on for years!

Azpi has been shit at RB for ages

Edited January 5, 2023 by Vesper

[Fulham Broadway 17,092]

JFH just said he reckons Cucurella is the weakest link

[Laylabelle 9,453]

People have had to travel through train strikes for that! 

[Vegetable 830]

So, who's got Diego Costa's number? Apparently he is the last, bar Hazard, Chelsea fella who knew how to find a way to back of the net, so maybe we could ask him to reveal this ancient dwarf secret to younger generations.

[cosmicway 1,333]

Kepa and Cucu fell asleep.
If teams could score goals like that all the matches would and 6-6.

[laura90 556]

  On 05/01/2023 at 22:15, NikkiCFC said:

All games for the rest of the season are just to implement for next season and to try youths. Except CL of course. Other games I will watch very relaxing just like I did tonight. 

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You wont see youth much in those games because we are not safe. Maybe after 35. round.

Edited January 5, 2023 by laura90

[Laylabelle 9,453]

  On 05/01/2023 at 22:37, laura90 said:

You wont see youth much in those games because we are not safe. Maybe after 35 round.

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Seems silly not to. We're not getting 4th so don't have to worry about that. Might as well try something else

[Laylabelle 9,453]

  On 05/01/2023 at 22:08, Vytis33 said:

6pts from our last 8 games. 

 

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And only one win from our last 8...

[Vegetable 830]

  On 05/01/2023 at 22:38, Laylabelle said:

Seems silly not to. We're not getting 4th so don't have to worry about that. Might as well try something else

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If we will finish below 6, TB will be questioned by fans hard. If we go below 10, there's a riot and no amount of PR bs about Potter's "vision and ambition" helps this. 

[Vesper 29,450]

  On 05/01/2023 at 22:09, robsblubot said:

I think this is the one big disagreement I have with you. I think Azpi is a tremendous backup esp because he can cover CB in a 3-at-the-back. He'd go back up to another big club for sure if he were to leave, imo.

The problem is that currently he's a de facto starter given James' injury proneness of late (ever?). That makes it difficult and then we may need a second starter as oppose to a backup, which again I think Azpi is great for. I guess maybe I agree with you that Azpi may not be a proper option on the right, but perhaps more because of circumstances.

It's hard to convince a top RB to come be a backup for James when he's fit.

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indeed we do disagree

Reece is not a 'play every minute in every game' type

and Azpi is a black hole, attack-wise at RB, has been for ages

Dumfries is the only one who would have game time issues of all the ones I have tossed out

Mæhle can play both fullback positions and would so come here

Atalanta have FOUR right backs

Joakim Mæhle
Hans Hateboer   
Brandon Soppy  
Davide Zappacosta  

 

Jeremie Frimpong can also play winger and wide MFer, and has crazy pace

Vanderson has a big upside

Malo Gusto 19yo, 20 in May, has a large upside

 

[whats happening 1,563]

  On 05/01/2023 at 22:09, Vegetable said:

I think we should focus on quickly finding viable method of freezing Thiago and only unfreezing him for the games, otherwise we may be toasted on many levels.

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i was thinking the same. play him as little as possible if we want him to perform next season too...

[Laylabelle 9,453]

  On 05/01/2023 at 22:41, Vegetable said:

If we will finish below 6, TB will be questioned by fans hard. If we go below 10, there's a riot and no amount of PR bs about Potter's "vision and ambition" helps this. 

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Just helps atm Liverpool are patchy because we could be far below 6th. Can see more 7th/8th. Not 10th that be too much esp if end up 10th and nothing else 

[TheHulk 2,046]

This guy received only bashing while he was here, but he was creating chances one after another with his movement.  It's no wonder we went from 4th with 73 big chances to 14th with 20 chances, absolute joke.

[Magic Lamps 11,677]

  On 05/01/2023 at 22:41, Vesper said:

indeed we do disagree

Reece is not a 'play every minute in every game' type

and Azpi is a black hole, attack-wise at RB, has been for ages

Dumfries is the only one who would have game time issues of all the ones I have tossed out

Mæhle can play both fullback positions and would so come here

Atalanta have FOUR right backs

Joakim Mæhle
Hans Hateboer   
Brandon Soppy  
Davide Zappacosta  

 

Jeremie Frimpong can also play winger and wide MFer, and has crazy pace

Vanderson has a big upside

Malo Gusto 19yo, 20 in May, has a large upside

 

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Frimpong would fit us nicely, as would Maehle and Dumfries.

Also a new right back would not come as RJ back up. With how injury prone RJ is, the new guy would probably be our starter most games and worst case share minutes equally.

Btw Malo Gusto - bad taste? what a crazy name 😄

[Superblue 6,372]

Surprised at the reaction on here tonight, although on reflection maybe I'm not. This forum, social media, etc is so negative at present it becomes a grind just to bother trying to interact and have constructive discussions about the club.

We've lost 2 attackers to injury in the first 15 minutes today, to now bring it to an even 10 players out. It's not just a couple of squad players out, we've got 6 or 7 players injured who'd be locks to start in our strongest set up, and it's getting stretched every passing week. When Liverpool had injury problems 2 years ago they were in a similar position to us now and just about built momentum when players returned late in the season to save a top 4 spot. When City struggled to keep key players fit they finished about 20 points off Liverpool the one season. I think a bit of context is needed when considering just how depleted we are across the pitch at the moment.

Could have easily folded tonight but I thought we played well up to the penalty area. Kovacic and Zakaria both were excellent not just individually but looked like they complemented each other very well and it made a difference having their legs together in the middle compared to Jorginho. But thought the football was pretty pleasing on the eye in phases, being brave from the back and midfield to play out of City's press and it opened them up at times. We just lack a cutting edge - it doesn't help when we have a few attacking options out injured and our two full backs, but it does probably run deeper than that and longer term we need a couple of additions in those areas to create and finish chances in the final third. To be honest watching us tonight, we looked a lot more like Potter's Brighton - trying to gain control of the game and playing comfortably on the ball but lacking a killer instinct in attack.

I personally though come out of tonight's game more pleased with the performance despite the loss, than I do the draw against Forest for example where we were awful. 

City was always going to be a struggle and will be again at the weekend, the key will be can we play a bit more positive like this against Fulham and Palace because we'll find it easier to open teams like that up and hopefully offer a greater goal threat than we did tonight.

[Vesper 29,450]

  On 05/01/2023 at 22:51, Magic Lamps said:

Frimpong would fit us nicely, as would Maehle and Dumfries.

Also a new right back would not come as RJ back up. With how injury prone RJ is, the new guy would probably be our starter most games and worst case share minutes equally.

Btw Malo Gusto - bad taste? what a crazy name 😄

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[robsblubot 3,595]

  On 05/01/2023 at 22:41, Vesper said:

indeed we do disagree

Reece is not a 'play every minute in every game' type

and Azpi is a black hole, attack-wise at RB, has been for ages

Dumfries is the only one who would have game time issues of all the ones I have tossed out

Mæhle can play both fullback positions and would so come here

Atalanta have FOUR right backs

Joakim Mæhle
Hans Hateboer   
Brandon Soppy  
Davide Zappacosta  

 

Jeremie Frimpong can also play winger and wide MFer, and has crazy pace

Vanderson has a big upside

Malo Gusto 19yo, 20 in May, has a large upside

 

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Fair enough I just said it's not easy to convince top players (at this level nothing less works) to come and be a potential sub.

I agree Azpi is poor going forward, but that's more about team setup than anything else. In a 3 at the back, he can fill in CB.

Some teams who have strong wingers, like Brazil in the WC, play with defensive RBs (wish they had stayed in defense 😅). So, that's also more about team setup. To your point, it's hard to have Azpi as a back for James given that they are so different in characteristics.