Roman Abramovich even used to attend Chelsea youth team matches before his visa problems. You can't say that about many of these billionaires who have bought football clubs in England.
Just rewatched all of Azpilicueta's Chelsea assists.
His crosses from inside right positions (right half-space) have assisted goals for these strikers:
Torres
Costa
Morata
Lukaku
Nigeria will do nothing in this World Cup with Mikel as a pure ten and the brilliant Iheanacho on the bench. Put Mikel deeper, Iwobi 10, Kelechi 9. So obvious.
Al Ahly coach Pitso Mosimane: “Mason Mount’s jersey is not for me. It was for my daughter, who loves the game and always says ‘Mason Mount, Mason Mount’, so I spoke to him and he gave me the jersey."
Squawka are as useless as ever.
Chilwell completed 59 of his 67 passes.
16 unsuccessful crosses is where this 30 number comes from.
Completely misleading rubbish since 2011.
Ben Chilwell lost possession 30 times for Chelsea against Wolves in their 2-1 defeat.
The most by a Chelsea player in the Premier League this season. 😬
This is Cucurella in a back three against Chelsea. Absolutely outstanding performance. Realistically, it'll also be a few months until Chilwell is vaguely up to speed I suspect.
I don't see Chelsea signing Marc Cucurella. But, many of his best games last season came as a LCB in a back three (including at Stamford Bridge). So he could co-exist with Chilwell.
Surely City just match whatever Chelsea offer and get him? That's how this ends.
Lampard: “Some senior players would turn away, but Oli and Tammy have a great relationship. Because of the lack of crowds, I can hear the substitutes & Oli is constantly praising Tammy when he holds the ball up or does some good forward play. That’s special."
(The Athletic)
The year is 2030. New Chelsea manager Cesc Fabregas has selected Cesar Azpilicueta for his first match in charge citing the defender's knowledge of the club.
It's barely received a mention but Loftus-Cheek was outstanding last night. Even in the first half where a few seemed disappointed by him. Looked after the ball so well, took up clever positions in a very demanding hybrid role between RWB, right diamond/right 10. What a comeback.
Before today, Chalobah has started just twice in the last 10 matches. He's now played two cup finals against Liverpool, going 225 minutes without conceding in direct confrontation with a brilliant, relentless winger in Luis Diaz.
That's the definition of being 'good enough'.
Now that I've calmed down: Barkley on penalties story makes sense/checks out. Scored two in pre-season with Jorginho on pitch both times. Barkley not on pitch when Jorginho scored in Super Cup. Very, very good penalty taker usually. Just a miss. Crappy first ever CL appearance.
Not sure Fabinho is all that relevant in that disallowed goal. It's whether Konate deliberately plays the ball - he does - and from there, there's no last touch by a Madrid player before Benzema.
The squad is in such a weird place. Ziyech getting minutes when he was so close to leaving. Pulisic in awful form and should've been loaned out. Gallagher starting three PL matches already. Kovacic totally unfit, new signings galore, back three being changed mid-game most weeks.
Chelsea have won away at Lille, Ajax, Wolves, Southampton, Burnley, Watford, Spurs and Arsenal this season with Tomori starting at centre back. Without him, the side leaked heavily at Man Utd, West Ham, Sheffield United and Liverpool. He's far from perfect but so much ability.
Tammy Abraham and Timo Werner starts together this season:
West Brom 3-3 Chelsea
Chelsea 4-0 Crystal Palace
Burnley 0-3 Chelsea
Chelsea 3-0 Rennes
Chelsea 4-1 Sheff Utd
17 goals scored in five matches.
As said at the time, Lampard was appointed not because Derby proved anything but because it didn't disprove anything. He was appointed based on his character and therefore potential. If you've judged him as the finished article then you missed the point (board & owner included).
Loftus-Cheek was great as the lone 6. He's been very good in almost all outings in that role. Gets a bit flat when defending in a double pivot and somewhat squeezed to his side of the duo.
At 6, it's all in-front of him with options/help both sides when on the ball or off it.
100% you get Colwill and Chilwell off at half-time. The former is a yellow from missing the final and the latter has been bombing around like he has reliable hamstrings.
Massive fan of Tuchel's Ruben Loftus-Tweak. His last 12 months have been brilliant and he has a massive role to play this season in midfield and in this hybrid role.
If Hazard played in the 2004-2012 team and was getting kicked around like tonight, several teammates would have been accosting the Arsenal players. We are so nice, Hazard included - friends with all the Arsenal players and PSG players in the past. It irks me so much.
#CFC
What a bizarre group. Chelsea completely outclassing Atletico in both games, getting outclassed in both games against Roma and destroying Qarabag twice - who Roma and Atletico struggled to beat!
#CFC
Abraham is rubbish. Static in the box waiting for tap-ins. No movement, no pressing, no hold up play, can't work the channels, doesn't suit Tuchel's 22-goals-in-17-PL matches attacking system. That's why he is the only club top scorer in world football sitting in the stands.
I find Man City unwatchable. They're fine to study for positioning innovations or to watch highlights of, but their full matches are worse than watching paint dry.
Obviously, they're brilliant at what they do, I just find what they do to be incredibly mind-numbing.
Chelsea's stats from the last two home matches combined is pretty mad. 49 shots, 4.82 xG, 100 touches in the opposition box. Burnley and Man Utd had a combined 8 shots and 17 box touches.
Werner has failed to score in 44 of his 69 matches since the beginning of last season. If you exclude penalties, it's 49 blanks in his last 69 matches.
I'd love some comparative data on this vs "similar" forwards eg. Salah. As many braces and hattricks and pens?
Abraham doesn't make the 20 today. Three extra subs in the CL final but Kante, Caballero, Emerson & Anjorin could all get in ahead of him. Pathetic treatment considering sympathy starts handed to Kepa, & Emerson runouts in big CL matches. Thankfully mentally strong guy is Tammy.
You literally couldn't waste a player's strengths and highlight their weaknesses like Tuchel has done with Gallagher this season.
He's a box-crashing, pressing machine.
"Chelsea spent 200m and should be doing better halfway through the season"
- 10 players in 2 wk quarantine in preseason
- Havertz deal delayed, trained 4 days before Brighton
- Thiago missed first 2 matches
- Mendy debut late Sept (5th match)
- Havertz missed a month with Covid
Lewis Hall is a really good footballer (no shit, Sherlock). A midfielder whose first two Chelsea starts have been at LCB and LWB. Should be getting real involvement in the Premier League, certainly whilst Chilwell is out.
I genuinely expected Lampard to be a ruthless manager with meritocracy in his decisions. Pick those who perform in matches and stop picking those who don't. Couldn't be further from the reality.
Mount has both scored & assisted in six different PL matches this season, the most any CFC player has done in a single campaign. Only two English players have ever scored & assisted in seven different matches within a PL season: Shearer in 1994/95 and Kane in 2020/21.
James is a special player. All clubs have injuries and 95% aren't just "back luck" but to lose him and Chilwell at the same time completely changed CFC's PL season.
Team vs Norwich? My first thought is that Rudiger needs a breather after 300 minutes in seven days.
Havertz immense. Best game since arriving. Massive handful and a proper focal point. Finally pulled finger physically with his counterpressing and protecting the ball in duels.
Glorious
@didierdrogba
creativity. The very definition of a focal point. As well as averaging 21 goals per season from 2003-04 to 2011-12, he also averaged more than 10 assists per season in that time (including seasons with 16, 16 and 19 assists).
One thing I'll say about Disasi. He is one durable guy. Has played almost every match, CB or RB, with every other defender getting injured at some point around him. Absolutely outstanding today.
Hudson-Odoi's minutes in last 17 Chelsea matches:
0, 0, 23, 0, 0, 0, 0, 14, 45, 14, 0, 0, 0, 82, 0, 0, 0.
178 mins out of 1560 available, 11.4% of the mins played.
Chelsea didn't keep an away clean sheet between December 2019 away to Spurs until Man Utd last weekend. Now two in a row. Four in a row overall.
Nine games unbeaten in regulation time. Only defeat this season? With ten men to the champions.
#LampardOut
Chelsea went 3-0 up and then allowed Luton 2.04 xG. Appealing game management from the players and the bench. Needed a back five earlier to allow Gusto to engage Doughty without exposing Disasi to Chong's underlaps/seam runs.
Chelsea will be fine for Madrid as long as we see Kovacic back in favour after barely playing of late bizarrely. Need Kante fit. At least James can start. 100% have to go with a back three.
Two defeats in 27 matches now. A fifth defeat in the 50th match of this season.
Fixed: Tuchel also very complimentary about Jorginho. Calls him “a very strategic guy” with “high game understanding”, but adds that his physical level might need improvement for regular PL football.
Tuchel's use of Pulisic is something to watch. Hasn't started a match yet. Three substitute appearances: one as a RWB and two as a split striker (mostly right sided of the two FWs). Not seen as an option at 10 and seemingly TT prefers him on the right, not the left.
For me, zero minutes for the deadwood vs Luton. I'm not playing Kepa, Christensen, Emerson, Kovacic (don't tweet me about his fan-voted POTS award), Jorginho etc. Start building something and move on from them.
Probably the happiest I've been with a Ziyech performance at Chelsea. Was hit and miss on the ball (mostly miss) but outstanding off it. That's the standard. No more strolling around.
I remember a story where Dave Kitson fouled a Chelsea player and Ballack spent the rest of the game getting revenge on him physically and verbally. What I'd give for even one player willing to fall out with teammates and opponents tonight. Total apathy amongst the squad.
Chelsea, as it stands: Conte in charge, 3 weeks preseason before Community Shield, only 3 friendlies before then, a 17-hour flight to Perth for a single game, Courtois, Hazard, Willian and Morata seemingly wanting out, no Technical Director for 8 months.
#CFC
Huth on Havertz: “I don’t like his body language, he looks lightweight. He looks like he’s not bothered. He loses the ball and doesn’t work back. He needs someone to tell him what it takes to play in the Premier League. The whole changing room is a little bit too nice.”
Chelsea start the season in two weeks. There are only two more friendlies to play. And we have Emerson playing in the middle of a back four and Batshuayi starting up front.
Hall has stopped getting any minutes despite a dozen injuries. NUFC clearly trying to avoid triggering the buy clause. Livramento doing so well at left back means Hall is third choice there (at best).
Just bring him back in January.
🚨 Eddie Howe can’t confirm if Chelsea loanee Lewis Hall will be a Newcastle player next season. Says the decision isn’t his as certain criteria have to be met (£28m obligation to buy existed at time of deal)
#nufc
Last six starts with Zouma and Rudiger together in a back four:
2-0 Liverpool - clean sheet
4-0 Everton - clean sheet
1-0 Leicester - clean sheet
1-0 Norwich - clean sheet
4-0 Krasnodar - clean sheet
2-0 Newcastle - clean sheet
#CFC
Petr Bosz: "I cannot yet see the exact idea Lampard has for him [Havertz]."
Also Bosz: "He can play in any position across the front three and he has played on the right countless times before he played for Chelsea."
Same guy who played Sokratis in a high line at Dortmund.
Since Thomas Tuchel’s first game in charge in January, Chelsea have lost fewer Premier League games than any other side (5), while only Man City (92) have won more points than the Blues in this period (79).
I'd like to dedicate that win to Petr Cech. After his heroics in Munich, he missed all the celebrations as he spent hours after the match doing a doping test. Had a huge hand in signing Mendy. What a story.
This guy was horrific under Lampard before and Chelsea became pretty damn solid in Lampard's second season with Mendy in goal (see image). Why the fuck is he selecting him? This whole interim spell has been pandering to big names and egos. I'd make eight changes at Bournemouth.
Tammy Abraham with his 17th goal (15 PL, 2 CL) of the season against Liverpool and his second as a substitute (Palace, his 16th goal was his first from the bench). 2855 minutes played, 168 minutes per goal.
Unbelievable performance. Spurs aside from 0-4' and 60-75' were humiliated tactically, technically, physically. Probably the eight best players on the pitch were in Blue.
Small margins... leave your tall, aerially strong forward on the pitch to defend set-plays next time!
Players best/only suited to Tuchel's preferred shape(s): Rudiger, Christensen, Jorginho, Kovacic, Alonso, Werner.
Players best/only suited to 4231/433: James, Zouma, Chilwell, Pulisic, Ziyech.
The rest look suited to both.
Which group would you say is best to maximise?
"Poor scouting"
"Just the 1,626 days left of Lukaku’s contract"
Use him better. Select the number tens who show some level of chemistry with him and other teammates.
Chelsea with a back three and both James and Chilwell starting (since August 2020):
Games: 21
Wins: 15 (L4, D2)
Win percentage: 71%
Goals scored: 38 (1.80 per match)
Goals conceded: 8 (0.38 per match)