Defense in the second half was outstanding (zouma error at the end notwithstanding). Thought the Silva signing was a bit silly but he’s been incredible. A bit concerning we haven’t been able to score against the better teams we’ve played and that we can’t seem to get Werner going from the left side. Get starts for Oli, Cal, and Puli this week.
I wouldn’t mind pulisic on the left, giroud at striker and CHO on the right. I definitely want to see some rotation but we will see azpi for Reece could work but if chilwell can’t play, I’d like to see azpi on the left and Reece on the right.
The one thing we couldn't do today was lose. With all of Liverpool's injuries i feel like we are the best two teams in the division at this moment in time. An away draw was a solid result for us.
frank seems determined to play him into the ground like he did for mount last season. I completely agree. With pulisic back, go with pulisic-Tammy-CHO and play Werner/ziyech if needed off the bench. They could both use the breather. Mount has shown he CAN play every 3 days like timo can but they are more effective playing 3 out of 4 if you’re going to play every 3 days.
I’m glad frank did speak with him. It was the right decision but definitely harsh with him playing better recently. I hope he gets the start tomorrow. He does deserve a chance to build on his last champions league performance. I really hope we get pulisic-Tammy-CHO front 3 and I hope that even if he doesn’t start, Kai gets good minutes off the bench.
I know he has played pretty well this season but I couldn't help notice how awkward Tammy looked when trying to get on the end of a cross this weekend. He is so lanky it looks like it is hard for him to manipulate his body in time to react to a lot of balls that had looked right on the money.
yeah I think most people are of the opinion that he should have scored a winner on one of those he can be sort of like a baby giraffe whereas Oli is legit ballet-like with his body control. I want Tammy to get the minutes and develop but rotating as little as we have with the depth we have seems beyond stupid to me.
Lineup thoughts? Kepa (maybe we can trick him onto Sevilla’s bus post match) James - Fik - Rudiger - Dave Kova- Jorginho (Gilmore sub) - Havertz CHO - Oli - Pulisic
oli is gone in January. For real this time. Havertz can play as a striker also. We will have the cover. Play Tammy so we can go with Werner down the middle against Leeds with ziyech on the right and whoever is firing better between pulisic and CHO. BleedinGreen GTFO with kepa. C’mon my man. I know I disagree with Iron Mickey on just how important 1st vs 2nd is but we may as well forfeit the game and keep our players fresh for Leeds if we are thinking about playing kepa.
If not in a (relatively) meaningless game against a team from his native country, then when? Maybe he plays OK enough for someone to bite on a loan to soak up some of his awful contract.
his inclusion was a bit tongue in cheek but seriously are we just gonna Drinkwater him for the next FIVE seasons? he’s gotta go and that’s not happening until his current valuation changes.
Can't really risk putting him in the window to lure buyers. If other clubs are interested, they can find him in that back hallway of the grocery store, where they put the half off bakery goods that are set to expire the next day.
you think if he makes one good save in a game today that changes a teams mind on a loan? He will have to take a paycut and/or we subsidize wages. He will get a loan in January or next summer. Up to him to play well or take a paycut to play more. We can’t sell him for at least 2 more seasons. The amortization hit would be too high. He will get a chance on loan. In 2-3 years we will sell him for 10 million to someone. Or maybe we just loan him out until his contract ends if he continues to play this poorly. Chelsea are done losing games to try and pretend that kepa isn’t fucking awful. that said, if we win today we will be 3 up on Sevilla with at least a +6 G/D in the group. I would trust kepa at home against krasnador with a 6 G/D cushion.......barely.
There's going to have to be subsidization regardless. There won't even BE a loan opportunity if he can't demonstrate that he has the ability to be an average keeper (generally his level in Spain) even with a wage subsidy (see Drinkwater). If you can't do it in (relatively) meaningless games, I don't know when you can (I'm open to arguments that 1st place is extremely important in the group but I think this season's weirdness mitigates that). Also, G/D isn't the tiebreaker in CL, a win today guarantees us 1st in the group due to h2h. EDIT: Moot anyhow.
Mendy is in great form and you don’t do anything to fuck with that. He plays every game that has a hint of importance.
It really stinks. I have a bad feeling we ship Rudiger out this January and loan Fik and then something happens to Zouma or Thiago. I guess we'll always have Dave for cover but this seems to be the one place that Frank isn't integrating youth well enough IMO.
I'm locked out of CBS everywhere. Glad I paid for their shitty service for the purpose of using it a total of 4 hours a month and can't access it for that purpose.
Why can’t we wear on blue kits? We have had good 3rd kits in the past and never wore them but these shitty ones keep getting worn.
If fik is behind rudiger and Christensen still it’s safe to say frank doesn’t think he’s good enough. He didn’t move to west ham on deadline day because Moyes told him he will be a backup and not play a lot. He played solidly early last year but let’s not act like tomori is even close to the levels of the youth players that are playing. We aren’t going to let 2 CBs leave. My guess is that tomori leaves in January and rudiger and/or Christensen leaves next summer. Only way 2 leave is if someone makes an offer for rudiger that we can’t refuse.