Barkley shouldn’t make the bench. Give me a 16 year old who hasn’t hit puberty yet on the bench over him. Fuck Ross Barkley.
This fucking sucks. Was the perfect opportunity to put some distance above 5th with United and Spur shaving tricky fixtures. Just bizarre to completely boss the game for 75+ minutes and then completely capitulate in those other 15.
Only positive I can see is Willian seems to have played himself out of a contract and Barkley off the squad next season.
It’s so frustrating that it feels like we’re a solid squad for 70 minutes a game and have 20 minutes of Lou Gehrig’s disease defense that negates it all.
how solid are we for those 70 though? Not many individual moments i can point to and say I would have expected a goal. Without pulsic, CHO and Abraham, our entire offensive strategy seems to be “get the ball to Reece James and let him cross.” Besides giroud though our 4 other central players (Pedro, mount, kova, jorginho) can’t head the ball. There is a player issue but also a strategy issue.
Next game I would like to see one of these lineups 3-4-2-1 Zouma Christensen Rudiger Reece Jorginho Kovacic Azpi Mount Alonso Giroud 4-4-2 Tomori Zouma Christensen Rudiger or Azpi Reece Kovacic Jorginho Emerson/mount Alonso Giroud We have options. They might not be great ones but It’s about time frank gets creative. Jorginho is suspended for the next 2 so gilmour or RLC (if fit) can take this spot.
were not great in those 70, but if we played like those 70 in the other 20 we’d be in much better shape
Jorginho out for the CL tie too. Would love to see a Gilmore/RLC pivot or at least 2/3 of the middle 3 in a 4-3-3. A slight contrast in physical specimens...
agreed. With Jorginho out its a perfect opportunity for gilmour or RLC to get a shot and see a different looking pivot
He’s suited for the former system. Quick passes that do not rely on speed or pace to get open or the need to dribble out of trouble. He’s never been great in the air and is not great in the open field due to his aforementioned lack of pace. He like a lot of our guys have just seemed to fall off.
This is one of the guys we need this summer. I think he has a release clause around £35m Which should leave plenty of money for a winger, striker, holding midfielder, center back and keeper.
Not sure if you guys are watching United v Everton but I can’t imagine anyone in our midfield/attacking midfield/winger group even attempting that shot that Fernandes just did let alone scoring it.
Yeah. I think Alonso could hit it, but it would have had to have been delivered. I just don’t think we have a midfield that would be considered anything other than low to mid table. Our backups are rumored for the MLS. That’s when you know it’s pretty meh.
Cheers to continuing to fail our way into top 4! (Even with the absurd VAR call to give Man U a point)
Willian’s contribution when he had to put in the defensive shift that Hazard wouldn’t was fine but he’s incredibly poor on his own. Good lord do we need people to get healthy.
Agree. When he was paired with phenomenal offensive only talent, his work rate made up for his lacking traits. Alone they become even more magnified, especially around equal or lesser talent. He can carry a Championship side, but that’s about it.
I don’t think willian could carry a championship side. He can’t shoot on target or make a pass to someone from 5 yards away if the pass is in the box. He would have a hell of a YouTube highlight tape embarrassing players off the dribble though.
I hope we are taking a look at Myron boadu. 19 year old striker at AZ Alkmaar. 15 goals already. I know fifa has put some restrictions on loaning but maybe he’s good enough now. Obviously we should go after guys like timo Werner or dembele but if we miss on the 1st few targets, taking a flyer on a guy like him along with a veteran 3rd striker and Tammy might be worth looking at.
He does a job for Brazil but he’s long since past it and not giving him an extension is as good a sign yet that the club has its head out of its ass.
I mean we offered a 2 year extension so I wouldn’t credit the club for him greedily trying to squeeze us for a 3rd year. Regardless it’s good he won’t be back.
RLC playing with the u-23s on the app. Looks lively and in relatively decent shape. Obviously not playing tomorrow but possibly in line for Sunday?
Gilmour time! Kinda weird to not play Jorginho before his suspension but whatever. Alonso at LB is also terrifying.
I think he knows you can’t play gilmour and Jorginho because Jorginho needs protection and he is trying out gilmour/kovacic to see if they can play together in the upcoming games that Jorginho will be out.
Kepa!!!!!! there he is! Hopefully the old kepa is back cause the old kepa is much better than willy or whatever kepa has been doing this year.
Everyone except Barkley has been decent so far. Barkley his usual shitty self. I hope we get to see anjorin for Barkley early in the second half. actually rudiger has been pretty awful also. I think he’s earned his way into the bench moving forward for a bit.
Rudiger has been pretty awful for a while now, agree on Barkley. Remember when an entire match could occur without an injury to one of our best players? Hope Kovacic not serious. Good performance though. Billy is the real deal.
Chelsea current injuries Tammy Pulisic Hudson-odoi Willian Kovacic Kante Not fully fit RLC suspended next 3 games jorginho should see some interesting lineups the next few games.
had to laugh that the Willian goal was a complete gift by the keeper... on a shot he had all day to setup and still hit directly at Adrian
Our training staff is clearly doing something wrong. An Achilles for kovacic would be likely mean death to our top 4 chances. Been our player of the year so far.