The Official Chelsea FC Thread

[Blue Muton]

56 minutes ago, keithsimmonds said:

I think we will destroy Villa tomorrow....so many options for Frank too choose from,and with 5 subs allowed i can see him using all of them. Quite happy that the only player missing tomorrow is Jorginho...great football brain imo but too slow and cant tackle to save his life....so another chance for Billy to cement his place. Back 4 is a guessing game for me, Reece is a natural so should start, cant really see Frank dropping Dave for Emerson,Tomori is better than Christensen imho and i cant split Zouma and Rudiger. With Rubens Cho and Pulisic all fully fit,i see plenty of ammo will come Tammy,s way.  coyb

Oh and please none of that kneeling bow-larks. All Lives Matter.

With Brighton doing the double over the Gooners, results have been going very well for us with all of the teams around us dropping points so a great opportunity for us. I'm not as confident as you but still think we've got enough at our disposal to see them off.

 

As for taking the knee - I'll be proud to see them showing solidarity with desperate people who've been oppressed, abused and murdered for far too long. I'm sure our many black players and supporters past and present will be too.

[Blue Muton]

And here's the team:

 

Chelsea

1   Arrizabalaga

28 Azpilicueta

2   Rüdiger

4   Christensen

3   Alonso

12  Loftus-Cheek

7   Kanté

17  Kovacic

10  Willian

18  Giroud

19  Mount

 

Substitutes

8   Barkley

9   Abraham

11  Pedro

13  Caballero

15  Zouma

22  Pulisic

24  James

33  Emerson

47Gilmour

 

 

 

[mrbojangles]

Half time and I must say, that was the biggest smash and grab I've seen in a long time. How on earth are you 1-0 down!!

[Blue Muton]

I'll take that, only Wolves from the pack around us managed a win in their first game back. We now have the luxury of a five point cushion going into Thursday's game so anything from that could be seen as a bonus. Looking upwards just the three points and a big GD behind Leicester now. Roll on Thursday.

[oldgit]

We made it doubly hard for ourselves because it was the usual story throughout. Excellent build up play, get in position, then the final ball isn't good enough. Azpilicueta had umpteen chances to deliver the ideal cross but was woeful in that regard, his cross to Pulisic the exception. Alonso just gets into great offensive positions but elects to pass back instead of driving into the penalty area. Kante was the man of the match for me. Loftus -Cheek was quiet. He looked like he was looking after himself in this game, It will be a totally different game against City next. I reckon Tammy will start instead of Giroud because he'll have oceans of space to run into, behind their centre backs.

[CraigInBangkok]

Nice to come back with a win, at half time I was thinking... here we go again. I thought Kante was excellent yesterday, I much prefer him in that position to Jorginho. I see why we play Jorginho there but he is so lightweight defensively compared to Kante and our defense has'nt filled me with confidence for while. I dont know what Christensen was doing for their goal, i've always thought he is far too soft for a centre back anyway. Happy with the new signings so far and really hoping we don't buy Chilwell. We don't need another left back thats pretty good going forward but can't defend and 75 mil is just taking the p!ss anyway.

[oldgit]

3 hours ago, CraigInBangkok said:

Nice to come back with a win, at half time I was thinking... here we go again. I thought Kante was excellent yesterday, I much prefer him in that position to Jorginho. I see why we play Jorginho there but he is so lightweight defensively compared to Kante and our defense has'nt filled me with confidence for while. I dont know what Christensen was doing for their goal, i've always thought he is far too soft for a centre back anyway. Happy with the new signings so far and really hoping we don't buy Chilwell. We don't need another left back thats pretty good going forward but can't defend and 75 mil is just taking the p!ss anyway.

Couldn't agree more about Chilwell. A vastly overrated player who is diabolical on the turn and gets outpaced too easily for my liking. He's another Luke Shaw and I wouldn't want him. I can't understand why nobody has come in for Ruben Vinagre. Jorginho is a nice, neat player but he's desperately slow

[keithsimmonds]

Good 3 points much needed. Yep Lotus was quiet, too be expected, Mason worked hard as usual,Alonso rinse and repeat, bring it under control then pass backwards. Rudiger got more and more annoyed as the game went on,he did not want as much of the ball as he got,but no one really apart from Kante was prepared to come deep and pick it up. Nice to see Pulisic back and be at the right place at the right time. Lots to look forward too.

[Blue Muton]

Hard to predict tonight's game, it's pretty much a dead rubber for City, neither Leicester nor ourselves will catch them and they won't catch that other lot. This could go either way for us, whilst we need it more we still have to go out and show that we want it more. City have already come back with a bang and are not playing as if they're under any pressure so there's no reason to expect that to change tonight. Will they have half an eye on the cup? I suspect that many of their fans would not be too upset if we were to turn them over.

 

The behind closed doors thing is a bit of an uknown too, the closest I can remember is when the Shed was closed for the first six games in 88-89 (or was it 89-90?), from what I can remember our results were pretty poor then although of course we went on to take that old second division by storm - and who were our closest challengers? The very same albeit quite different Manchester City.

 

I haven't got a clue where this one's going so with my rear firmly glued to the fence, over to you experts.......

[mrbojangles]

51 minutes ago, Blue Muton said:

City have already come back with a bang and are not playing as if they're under any pressure so there's no reason to expect that to change tonight. Will they have half an eye on the cup? I suspect that many of their fans would not be too upset if we were to turn them over.

 

Yeah hard one to predict this Blue Muton. It's always nice to win games but I reckon Pep may have an eye on the FA Cup Quarters on Sunday. These games are pretty thick and fast and we have already lost Aguero. Liverpool have won e league so do I really want us to win tonight leaving the possibility of Liverpool winning it at our gaff !! ????

[Blue Muton]

39 minutes ago, mrbojangles said:

 

Yeah hard one to predict this Blue Muton. It's always nice to win games but I reckon Pep may have an eye on the FA Cup Quarters on Sunday. These games are pretty thick and fast and we have already lost Aguero. Liverpool have won e league so do I really want us to win tonight leaving the possibility of Liverpool winning it at our gaff !! ????

.....not to mention opening the CL door for your neighbours?

[keithsimmonds]

Another good performance by Pulisic,could so easily have scored 2. Very painful to watch that suicidal playing out from the back <deleted> against a team that presses for fun. 3 very good points in the end and now a Cup tie to look forward too where hopefully at least 6 players will come in.....could be a last chance saloon for Emerson.

[oldgit]

2 hours ago, keithsimmonds said:

Another good performance by Pulisic,could so easily have scored 2. Very painful to watch that suicidal playing out from the back <deleted> against a team that presses for fun. 3 very good points in the end and now a Cup tie to look forward too where hopefully at least 6 players will come in.....could be a last chance saloon for Emerson.

Yes Keith, the best performance by Pulisic in a Chelsea shirt. His running with the ball and off the ball was terrific. A good, organised and gutsy performance by the team particularly Christenson, who excelled at the back. Kante is in his element as the holding midfielder.

[keithsimmonds]

On 6/26/2020 at 10:59 AM, oldgit said:

Yes Keith, the best performance by Pulisic in a Chelsea shirt. His running with the ball and off the ball was terrific. A good, organised and gutsy performance by the team particularly Christenson, who excelled at the back. Kante is in his element as the holding midfielder.

I see Jorghinho has amassed 20 yellow cards in less than 2 seasons....who disagrees with the fact the bloke cant tackle??? With his brain and Barkley,s body he could have been some player....

[keithsimmonds]

More than happy with the line up...maybe a bit surprised Mason starts his 3rd game in 8 days. Big game 4 Emerson. Coyb

[wilai]

18 minutes ago, keithsimmonds said:

More than happy with the line up...maybe a bit surprised Mason starts his 3rd game in 8 days. Big game 4 Emerson. Coyb

Beginning to look like Abraham has lost his place in the Premier 1st XI?

[mrbojangles]

9 minutes ago, wilai said:

Beginning to look like Abraham has lost his place in the Premier 1st XI?

 

Difficult to tell with this restart. Especially with the 5 subs. There's been a lot of surprising starting 11's throughout all the teams

[keithsimmonds]

10 hours ago, wilai said:

Beginning to look like Abraham has lost his place in the Premier 1st XI?

This was Tammy,s 1st start since February injury + covid lockdown.I expect him to start against West ham...

[keithsimmonds]

Great subs from Frank changed the game for us,all 3 made an  instant impact. Pulisic Kante Willian were very good imo and Tammy worked really hard all game with so lttle ball. Willy,s kicking to Tammy was also spot on.

Barkley...what can you say...great goal then 3 brainfart moments poor decision making poor passing,that 45 minutes summed up for me his whole career so far...he is capable of anything literally anything and will always walk on to the pitch with the phrases of ...."time to deliver" "point to prove" ringing round the commentary boxes.????????????

[jellydog]

8 minutes ago, keithsimmonds said:

Great subs from Frank changed the game for us,all 3 made an  instant impact. Pulisic Kante Willian were very good imo and Tammy worked really hard all game with so lttle ball. Willy,s kicking to Tammy was also spot on.

Barkley...what can you say...great goal then 3 brainfart moments poor decision making poor passing,that 45 minutes summed up for me his whole career so far...he is capable of anything literally anything and will always walk on to the pitch with the phrases of ...."time to deliver" "point to prove" ringing round the commentary boxes.????????????

Exactly my thoughts about Barkley. When he's leading the break on a counter you know he's going to make a bad decision. Never fails.

[oldgit]

2 hours ago, jellydog said:

Exactly my thoughts about Barkley. When he's leading the break on a counter you know he's going to make a bad decision. Never fails.

Instinctively good but, given time....whooah!

 

[Blue Muton]

2 hours ago, keithsimmonds said:

Great subs from Frank changed the game for us,all 3 made an  instant impact. Pulisic Kante Willian were very good imo and Tammy worked really hard all game with so lttle ball. Willy,s kicking to Tammy was also spot on.

Barkley...what can you say...great goal then 3 brainfart moments poor decision making poor passing,that 45 minutes summed up for me his whole career so far...he is capable of anything literally anything and will always walk on to the pitch with the phrases of ...."time to deliver" "point to prove" ringing round the commentary boxes.????????????

Keith are you in Thailand at the moment & if so how did you catch the game?

[keithsimmonds]

Pattaya has a cable company called Sophon and as with the other 3 cup games it was shown live via Astro supersport 4...it was also available on Kodi and Bein. 

[oldgit]

On 6/29/2020 at 8:39 AM, keithsimmonds said:

Great subs from Frank changed the game for us,all 3 made an  instant impact. Pulisic Kante Willian were very good imo and Tammy worked really hard all game with so lttle ball. Willy,s kicking to Tammy was also spot on.

Barkley...what can you say...great goal then 3 brainfart moments poor decision making poor passing,that 45 minutes summed up for me his whole career so far...he is capable of anything literally anything and will always walk on to the pitch with the phrases of ...."time to deliver" "point to prove" ringing round the commentary boxes.????????????

We were very fortunate to go in level at half time. Tactically, we were all over the place, the main area of concern being the central midfield trio who all decided to bomb forward at the same time, leaving our central defence wide open to the counter. Rudiger was going ballistic due to the lack of protection. As the senior in the midfield, Kante should have had a word with Gilmour and Mount but, unfortunately he's not a talker and tries to lead by example. Reece and Emerson were no less guilty of getting caught upfield and not getting back to cover. It was a good job that Rudiger and Zouma were concentrating and aware of the situation and that the Leicester attack was wasteful. As Frank said, he could have hauled off seven at half time it was that bad.

[keithsimmonds]

6 hours ago, oldgit said:

We were very fortunate to go in level at half time. Tactically, we were all over the place, the main area of concern being the central midfield trio who all decided to bomb forward at the same time, leaving our central defence wide open to the counter. Rudiger was going ballistic due to the lack of protection. As the senior in the midfield, Kante should have had a word with Gilmour and Mount but, unfortunately he's not a talker and tries to lead by example. Reece and Emerson were no less guilty of getting caught upfield and not getting back to cover. It was a good job that Rudiger and Zouma were concentrating and aware of the situation and that the Leicester attack was wasteful. As Frank said, he could have hauled off seven at half time it was that bad.

Rudiger easily gets agitated (drama queen). There are no leaders in this new era of football imho...none...well maybe Henderson at a push but that,s it. Our football is a stressful watch most times...not good for the ticker. Think we should do a straight swap Batshuyai for Van Aanholt,cos Emerson didn,t really impress.

I have Jorginho barkley alonso emerson pedro willian batshuyai kepa all heading for the departure lounge....but i,ll let Frank and Jody have the final say.

Got to ???? them⚒️  2morrow/Thursday.

[keithsimmonds]

Add Rudiger and Christensen to the departure lounge...buy Soyuncu from Leic not chilwell and one of Mee or Tarkowski.....and put a sack of potatoes in goal.......job done.

[deej]

On 12/8/2019 at 7:53 AM, deej said:

 ..Diabolical defending from the back 4 against the toffees who were fired up particularly by that early goal

as i posted yday and at least 6 weeks ago is Csea.s poor defence is their achilles heel.

Lamps will never pair Zouma and Christenen in central defence again 

or perhaps both not to start ever again .Rudi (if fit)and Timori (why Lamps chose Christenen over him is a mystery to me) would be be my picks to unravel this  slow thinking defence out and a decent C/B bought in the next TF window.

 

No leader on the pitch is also a big worry  is my call too

Our pathetic loss to the Irons yday, prompted me to  dig up my  above post last August 2019.

All season our back 4,(who ever chosen ,)plus our goal keeper Kepa ,have been defending like nervous kittens ,particular from set peices and corners.

Lamps has to adress this  massive problem immediately after yday,s display.

Willian,s  good form continued yday(,certainly hope he signs a  new contract ) and with Capt Amercia, were the only players who can hold their 

Heads high.

Well done Irons.

Over to the Love Birds????????

[keithsimmonds]

While you have your shovel out....dig up that post of yours about us resigning Ake...you know Ake ever present in a Bournemouth side that has conceded over 180 goals and counting in nearly 3 Epl seasons alone....yep a must have.

[deej]

Yes, i do recall mentioning

Nathan Ake as  T/F target.

But obviously Lamps and Company thought otherwise????

As for your hypothetical post,  the T/F never came through,so no one knows,

If Ake could cut the mustard or not.

Keep on digging, Chirpy Chirpy????

 

 

Edited July 2, 2020 by deej

[oldgit]

On 7/2/2020 at 7:28 AM, deej said:

Our pathetic loss to the Irons yday, prompted me to  dig up my  above post last August 2019.

All season our back 4,(who ever chosen ,)plus our goal keeper Kepa ,have been defending like nervous kittens ,particular from set peices and corners.

Lamps has to adress this  massive problem immediately after yday,s display.

Willian,s  good form continued yday(,certainly hope he signs a  new contract ) and with Capt Amercia, were the only players who can hold their 

Heads high.

Well done Irons.

Over to the Love Birds????????

Well well, Skippy the marsupial hops into view post lockdown, with that familiar 'thud - thud' of him patting himself on the back and digging up an 11 month old post to prove a point. At least he's dogged, I'll give him that. I would have had a modicum of respect if he had posted this after the Man. City win, which featured the same back four, saying that even though Christensen and Rudiger were outstanding in this game, he still thought they were <deleted> overall but, no, he wanted to be on safer ground with one of our worst defensive displays of the season. Because they both came up against the most physical centre forward in the Premier League doesn't make them rubbish overnight. What it tells me is that, when they are confronted by a quick, beast of a central striker, they are found wanting.  On that form though, Antonio was unplayable no matter who he was up against.

I don't have to go trawling through the archives, to remind him what I thought of Kepa from fairly early on in his Chelsea career, and nothing he's done since has altered my perception that he is an imposter in a keeper's jersey

I notice that the spotlight was on our insipid defending at set pieces. No doubt about it, we are toilet in that regard so, why don't we put a defender on each post? It was nauseating to see Kepa going down on his back side at the earliest opportunity and Tammy frantically trying to clear the ball like a demented octopus. Another thing we mustn't lose sight of was the deliveries from the corner flag in the goal that never was, and Soucek's header to chalk up their first goal, both of them bang on the money. If only we had someone to do that. On second thoughts we have, get back to form pronto Reece.

Whoever came up with the notion of playing in our new strip, away from home and against West Ham need their head examined. Was the pre match statement that "this strip is designed in the manner of Saville Row and reflects the style of the trendiest side in London" supposed to frighten the 'Ammers into rolling over and submitting like a puppy dog? F****ng idiots. By the way, I thought 'Capt. Amercia" was born in Pennsylvania not Middle England.