really nice at the end of a great performance to just totally destroy the confidence of our striker some more
Alonso can't hit crosses worth a shit when Giroud and Tammy are in but hits a great cross to Kante, go figure
We had no less than three guys off the U23 squad on the bench so bring on the criticism for benching first level players imo
I actually remember exactly where I was, we would skip last period weight training and have our coach get us the TV in his classroom and watch Champions League before practice.
Dave has been incredible and loyal to this team for nearly a decade and while he’s lost a step, his leadership cannot be replaced. It’s crazy he came here while Di Matteo was skipper. then Rafa, Jose, Holland, Hiddink, Conte, Sarri, Frank, and now Tuchel. 9 in 9
If we can best Leeds on Saturday we can sit back and enjoy the rest of the top teams sans city play on Sunday. man united v west ham Arsenal v Tottenham Leicester v Sheffield United Wolves v Liverpool man united v west ham is a big one. I keep waiting for west ham to fade but they just keep finding ways to win. Leicester end the year with Manchester United, chelsea and Tottenham. Brutal final 3 games.
I didn’t give much thought to West Ham but until yesterday, they gave City the toughest fight we’ve had in a while. Im skeptical Lingard can keep it up (he’s scoring at nearly double the rate he ever has) but he’s been amazing and Souček has an argument for the best mid in the league (if not more) through 2 months of 2021
soucek and rice is just a really tough duo to go against. Antonio is a good fit for a striker for a team like that. Depth is the issue. They didn’t look great when Antonio got hurt. If they stay healthy I think they can stick in the Europa league spots. Maybe champions league if Leicester crumbles again. Those last 3 games for them are brutal. West ham just needs to stay healthy.
One impressive and definitely overlooked aspect of tuchels postgame was that he went out of his way to mention Emerson. Said he’s someone suffering because of tuchels choices but he has a great attitude, shows well in training and is a great guy to have in the squad. That’s what Frank never seemed to be able to do. Bring the fringe players in. You need everyone at training bought in. I think PSG is the type of job that you learn some of these things that can be very helpful at chelsea. That’s another player power/board power club. His tinkering also gives almost all of the players the belief that they can play the next game. That’s a strong incentive for people who may be considered fringe guys.
Didn’t impact the game a whole lot but seeing this stat did make me realize that Reece was a lot more positive going forward and at least willing to dribble. Evertons limp, occasional press attempts help but Reece can dribble and he’s powerful. Need to see more of that from him if he wants to keep that RWB spot in games against lower blocks also.
That is also much more similar to what he was allowed to do at Leverkusen, probably why he looked way more comfortable and was finding space.
I watched a decent amount of bundesliga and Leverkusen after the start because they started first and he definitely had a lot of freedom in the team. He was at his best though in the box. His touches and finishes are elite. He was a true false 9 for a lot of last night but he played more as a traditional 9 for a stretch at Leverkusen and did it well. if you’re going to try and find a way to play havertz, Werner and haaland together, 3421 with Werner and havertz playing off of haaland or Werner and haaland playing off the false 9 havertz both make sense. The false 9 3421 looks an awful lot like 3412 at times with the 2 “10s” having higher positions than the “9” does. It’s why I think mount can play so well as a true false 9 while havertz can play as a 9, false 9 and what I believe tuchel called a 9.5 last night. it’s also why I think chelsea can let giroud and Tammy go if they signed haaland. If you don’t sign haaland, you keep one of them for sure but build an attack around havertz and Werner being your main options up front. Whether we get haaland or not, I’m glad that havertz is being used more how I think he should be used.
was curious on how many goals we had conceded in the last 11 matches under Lampard before Tuchel came in: Tuchel: 2 goals (1OG) Lampard: 14 goals We did go against City/Arsenal/West Ham (0 goals) during that last 11 stretch for Lampard, but also played Morecambe/Krasnodar/Luton Town so think it evens out. Not sure if this really means anything substantive, just makes the turnaround even more amazing for me. We struggled defensively during Lampard's entire tenure and then Tuchel steps in and somehow immediately transforms our identity
I can't believe we had Kepa in goal and Lampard managing the squad, and somehow finished top 4 last year.
He deserves credit for sure. Without Lamps closing lasr season strong we aren’t playing Atleti and getting a lot of confidence and momentum from that away win. To me that feels like the springboard for our current success.
do agree he deserves a ton of credit for somehow getting us top 4 last year.. but did we really close strong? I felt like we just failed less than every other team going for that final spot (could be revisionist history)