Do they start the "You'll be sacked in the morning" chants? Part of me would love it, part of me would hate it.
I would love like a go pro cam on that little fucker for the whole game to watch, just doesn't stop. Moses is finding a perfect fit as wing back I think. Our playmaker are back to being creative I love conte
What a fantastic game. Matic was incredible, possibly the best game he's had in years. Glad to see Jose get a cheer at the end but disappointed in his (predictable) antics w/ Conte.
First game I rewatched in it's entirely since 6-0 arsenal in wengers 1000th game. After rewatch here are a few observations. 1) haven't seen this Pedro since his first appearance against west brom early last year. The goal was well taken but I am more focused on effort. Against Leicester I think they credited him with an assist but he was garbage. His goal was great but to me the play around the 30th minute where he chased down blind out of nowhere, won the ball back and created a chance out of nothing was far more telling. He finally looks like he believes in what he is doing and the effort is there. If he keeps up this effort we could actually have an offensive alternative to Willian to switch things up. 2) that said about Pedro I think the centralized location of hazard/Willian/Pedro would allow Oscar to play in that role. Most assumed he would be jettisoned with the formation switch. He still might be but he is still a Chelsea player and we don't exactly have elite depth. Could see him playing that position at some point. 3) Conte seems to prefer the move to a 3-5-2 with chalobah coming in for Pedro (or I assume Willian if he gets his position back) with hazard pushing up and chalobah into a 3 man midfield but I wonder if chalobah is the man he calls on if matic or kante get a suspension or an injury. His game and talents seem to blend into what conte wants in that role but I wonder if he is ready for that. 4) Oscar could find it rough in this formation but it seems to really spell the end for Cesc and Ivanovic. Conte showed bravery in dropping both and has been proven correct. Chelsea do have the defense juve do to deploy a pirlo type player and I think cesc will need to move to serie A if he wants to be a key player for another good team. Ivanovic is done. He needs to decide if he wants to payday in China/US or he wants to try another league. He will get another chance on name alone but I expect it to go more like Ashley cole at Roma and be a disaster than evra at juve and get rejuvenated. 5) Matic is back. Is he 2 players like he was when he covered cesc and we won the title? No but that isn't his role. Playing alongside kante allows him to get forward more knowing he has someone as smart as kante who won't be out of position and a third CB in Luiz down the middle to do the same. Matic and kante are incredibly overlooked as passers and the new system is outlining those strengths hidden during mourinho's rain in matic'a case and during the early days of this year in the 4-1-4-1 playing the makelele role in kante case. 6) azpi/Cahill/Luiz is an odd back 3 and it can be argued it's born out of luck (terry injury) but it works. Luiz is probably the most interesting CB in the world. Great size, great on the ball, elite free kick taker, capable of world class passes and busting runs up the field with solid tactical awareness and defensive ability. Only issue being the 1-2 moments a game of madness. By playing slightly higher as the middle CB we get all his advantages while having that 3rd CB to help cover that one lapse and hopefully not have it jut us. Cahill has done an amazing job adapting and reading Alonso and knowing when to close down a winger and when to stay central. You can tell his confidence has gone 0-100 and i think only a change in tactic can do that for a player who was so low on it a month ago. Azpi has always been an interesting player. Never really got to show attacking ability playing on the left as a right footed player who had to cover for hazard when he never wanted to track back. Mourinho loved him though because he is fantastic defensively for a fullback. His 1 on 1 defending is great, his speed allows him to flow to the corner if Moses is caught upfield in a counter and his defending is on par with most solid center backs anyway. Of all the criticism for mourinho (mostly deserved) the one good thing he did was try and get zlatan and fellaini in the air on crosses on azpi. Zlatan should have done better with that one attempt. Now no one has zlatan but i expect other teams to try it. 7) Alonso has done well but he's played wingback and switched between LB and LM at times. Moses' move from LW/RW back to wingback has been incredible. He had another incredible game and has done a great job balances the offensive and defensive responsibility in a system I bet he was incredibly unfamiliar with having spent his entire footballing career in England where 3 at the back is rare. 8) the one thing I will be curious of is how the team looks when rotation happens. Lack of Europe means less rotation but injuries and cup ties still exist. Terry is apparently going to play versus west ham and it will be interesting to see who he turns to and where they play when we get to that point.
I like it. Solanke also on the bench. Surprised that RLC is not even on the bench. I think he needs a loan to the championship. Only a player with hazards ability will player under conte without a great work rate. I know conte liked him as a striker but I still think he can do what matic is doing for us if he is given consistent playing time and the effort is there. Love to see chalobah starting and love to see aina being given a chance at that RWB. As great as Moses has been he has struggled to stay healthy so I think it is important to make sure we have another option at that position and I think aina can do well in it
Strange lineup but whatever...it's the league cup. Don't care unless they're in the semi-final. Like that he played the big guns at the end to get the win. Really need reinforcements on the outside tho. Also appears to be kicking off btw the supporters exiting the stadium.
I didn't get to watch so feel free to correct me but from what I have read Terry was not good, Cahill didn't look as good as he had next to the slower terry, azpi is clearly more CB than RWB in this new formation, aina flashed some moving forward but probably needed to play on the right side to be judged as a WB, chalobah had some positives and some negatives, Willian looked a bit rusty, Oscar was dropping too deep and doesn't seem to quite fit in the attacking 2 behind the striker or a midfield 2, batshauyi just didn't have a good game. One thing with Michy is that he has looked good playing next to costa so hopefully he improves and shows over time that he can lead the line. Only a matter of time until a costa yellow gives Michy the chance in a premier league game.
Think yesterday shows we dont have the depth to consistently play what Conte wants to play if injuries start to creep up. Hope the board took notice
Outside of a few headers we didn't really seem troubled today. The flicks and the combination play between our attackers are pretty amazing to watch.
Great win yesterday. Quick goal and then good defending for the entire match and then a beaut by Costa. Tough run of fixtures over the next 4 but if they're still top 4 after that, should be able to go on a great run through the end of the year. Could really position themselves well for a title run or a better grip on CL spot.
Good part about being on Sunday is MOTD 2 only has 2-3 matches so even though it is an hour versus 2 you usually get extended highlights and commentary
Yep. I watched some English commentary (I think Sky1) last night that was pretty spot on. I think Conte is brilliant and this formation is really the only one we can play successfully with the players we currently have. We just happen to have superb players for the 3-5-2 which is what makes it work. Eden looks loose and is playing really free. I have a man crush on Moses.
Playing a 3-4-3 really but he has tilted it a bit. I think I posted 1-2 articles detailing it over the last 2 weeks. Worth reading. He real key to the formation is putting tactically diverse players in positions to succeed. The conversion of Moses to wingback was brave and genius but even conte would admit he didn't think he would be this good this quick. Alonso has played as a wingback, a leftback and a LM in Italy so his comfort in the system helps. Kante and Matic are a great partnership in the middle of the park. Kante is just an amazing player. Matic is an interesting player. He's very good but I think he's a bit weak mentally. If his manager believes in him and he's good on form he's great but he is a bit fragile and needs to be managed with that in mind. It's why mourinho's criticism last year backfired on him. In defense I think mourinho's conversion of azpi into a defensive minded LB to cover for hazard has helped his transition to CB in a back 3. He's a very good 1 v 1 defender and has the athleticism to play it in a 3 man back. Luiz seems better off with two guys next to him because he isn't worried as much. That center role also showcases his passing and vision which I still think make him a good holding mid. Cahill has played well as of late but I still don't think he fits in as a CB in a back 3 long term. I think zouma or Christensen take that spot long term. Doesn't have the athleticism to play it. Our attack is helped by the move because hazard is our best player and it allows him to do what he wants to do and what he is best at. He wants to be a #10. We don't use a #10 but Alonso providing width allows hazard to cut in and keep a general position closer to costa than he has in the past. This allows him to get into shooting positions more frequently but also link better with costa who looked isolated early in the year and last year. Pedro and/or Willian are better defensively and track better so they can allow Moses to make more advanced run that Alonso on the other side. When that happens our team looks a lot like a 4-3-3. We have seen a Pedro for chalobah sub and I could see us moving closer to a 3-5-2 with the lead. Allows costa and hazard to play on the break but adds chalobah to 2 stud CMs and allows us to lock down the midfield. If we stick with this formation long term I would expect conte to make a run at bonucci (Luiz has been good but he is no bonucci), bring back Christensen, bring back baba as Alonso backup or sell him and sign a new backup, either allow aina to backup Moses or sign a backup, bring in another CM and sell cesc and Oscar.
Agreed, it really has seemed like we always have someone moving into a large amount of space and very open, whereas last year we were forcing balls forward into 20/80 situations. It is a joy to watch, especially when we are playing with a lead.
Could play as either of the side centerbacks but I don't see him unseating Cahill or azpi anytime soon. I don't think we see the zouma from last season until the last 10 or so games of next year.
Yeah I see him contesting for Cahill's spot, but not any time soon. No way Azpi gets benched, unless Conte benches Moses and sends Azpi to RWB. Moses has been so impressive lately, don't really see that happening. Alonso------------------------------------ Dave ----------Cahill/Terry---Luiz------Zouma Would be interesting to see in the future.
This is going to be an increasing issue going forward: Bertrand Traore: "I felt, and feel, I'm ready for #Chelsea. I did not see the loan at all. Why did I play so much in pre-season?“ [Standard] Bertrand Traore: "Why was I allowed to participate so often under Hiddink? Why do young players get no real chance at #Chelsea?“ [Standard] Bertrand Traore: "It’s good for the composition of the squad if it is also home to a couple of talented youngsters.“ [Standard]
Well at least Conte has already shown a willingness to play youth, think he's going to go a long way to changing this perception
Look at how much batshuayi has played. Without European football less squad rotation is needed. 3rd striker in a 1 striker system would have meant under 5 games for traore. I think he played more in preseason because conte was experimenting with a 2 striker system. Traore is not just young he's raw because he grew up in birkina faso. Amazing potential but he needed the games. The ability to play for the old vitesse coach who he had a great season under but do it at Ajax was a good opportunity given the limited options he would have had at Chelsea
I'm not saying Traore is correct in his comments, I think the loan was good. It's just going to be a challenge in the future to sign youth players because the perception is that they don't get a chance at Chelsea. Hopefully jkun is correct but this is a concern IMO.
Evertons strategy seems to be to injure Chelsea players and dare the ref to send them off which judging by the first 15 minutes an actual kick to the face probably wouldn't be a red.