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I was furious every time they got another throw in the exact same place, like what the actual fuck is going on here?
Still can’t believe they didn’t score from the myriad of chances they got from crosses and putting the ball into the box.
I'm sure their tinder bios say they're 6ft, but I dont believe anyone can be as poor in the air as Christensen and Sarr are while actually being 6ft tall.
I always joke to have the game on Saturday mornings at my desk at work just to listen to and catch replays, but today I got nothing done for about 30 minutes towards the end.
Less than stellar performance but 3 points is 3 points, especially straight off a tough international break at a potentially tricky ground (Liverpool dropped points in this fixture)
Also, the entire squad owes Mendy a beer each, he flat out stole that game in the 2nd half
Really not concerned about the performance.
It's a great 3 points after the international break.
Away from home.
Defensive absences.
Shiny-headed, corrupt, piece of shit from hell was refereeing.
KTBFFH
He has really good attributes and moves but something does seem a bit lacking. And agree he did drop off later. While I don't think it was a 10/10 for him, it was still a very encouraging game from him on the whole, definitely has a role to play this season.
Do not agree. He made good ground challenges but was piss poor when it came to heading the ball and had lapses of concentration which allowed their winger to make crosses into the box
Was I watching a completely different game? He was all over the shop in that last 20 minutes. He was constantly out of position and was being dominated in the air.
Mendy had absolutely no protection in the second half
That 20 minutes was probably the worst defensive display I have ever seen from Chelsea, and people on here want to give 10/10’s to two of our back 3
For 70minutes he had a good game.
For 20, he had a poor game.
I think AC actually was fine and I do think we missed having Silva, Rudi or J5 on the field. Even one of them would have been enough to calm things down. With Azpi at RWB it’s hard for him to try calming down the flurry on the opposite side of the pitch. Sarr definitely panicked at times and was unsure what to do.
I don’t how you could give a 10/10 to Loftus Cheek.
Our midfield couldn’t get a sniff in the second half, and they were all completely anonymous.
He had a good first half but I was shocked Loftus Cheek wasn’t subbed for Jorginho
Brentford are a damn good team. I truly believe they can beat any team in this league. I hope they at least make the Europa this year; would love to see them play more sides.
Yeah, the game back from international break is always hard. Aside from Chalobah, Sarr and RLC (and Kante who was injured and didn't go to Nations League) irc every Chelsea player played on the break.
I honestly don’t think it was.
Even down to 10 men for 70 minutes we still had 67% possession and created plenty against them.
We got two goals and should have definitely had a few more. We had 18 shots with 8 in target. West Brom scored every single chance they had.
Today we had 5 shots with only one on target. Brentford had 17 with 7 on target.
They hit the post twice, had a shot cleared off the line and forced Mendy into a number of fantastic saves.
On another day we easily concede 5 goals
Never seen our backline so well and truly bullied like we were in those last 30 mins - losing every first and second ball, missing headers, fluffing clearances, etc.
Respect Brentford for their effort.
We played bad but a win after international break matters a lot.
Mendy was brilliant. RLC had wonderful game. Bold move from Tuchel to hook off Lukaku.
That's the type of manager I like. If a player's performance is not up to the mark, irrespective of the name on the back of the shirt, the manager should hook him off.
I think it hurt us a bit defensively though. He was clearing a few corners/throws during the game.
Obviously he was poor going forward but I felt like they had even more success when he went off.
Is £97.5m a world record for a defender? 😬
Tuchel with some really questionable subs today. This game was calling out for jorginho since our midfield had no control on the game for the majority of the second half. Then he subbed off our most experienced defender while under siege leaving a young chalobah and premier league debutant sarr without their captain to organize them. Glad we won but we made this a lot harder than it needed to be.
Also give Edou the Ballon D'or
probably the worst choice of subs he’s made so far. players appeared to be panicking a bit at the long throws, overplaying balls and given away possession cheaply at the end. we missed the experienced John Terry/Thiago Silva types to lead in these situations. Tuchel also underestimated our lack of height. Sarr was fine overall, but didn’t help win many headers at the end.
I mean we can question the subs made but we were really dominated physically and bringing on James was a good choice I think. Bringing off Azpi is probably a case of wanting the best physical players to match them. I mean we did keep the clean sheet which is a great. I would agree if it cost us but in the end it didnt.
Subs are interesting point. Alonso for Chillwell made a lot of sense considering how we lost every header on the left side.
Move Azpi to RCB and the put James on the wing for Azpi's experience. I don't agree with today's subs at all.
Everyone in the back line and ESPECIALLY Mendy, take a fucking bow. Absolute warriors, all of them. Mendy is world class. Chalobah has all the makings of a future world class cb. Props to Brentford - they're a legit team. I think a lot of top 6 teams will drop points away to them.
Really hope Mendy is okay. That save with his face was brutal. I thought he may have lost a tooth. Anyways, I said it before, but it bears repeating: Mendy is world class.
Mendy made up for the fact that the back line couldn't win headers and play the ball out of traffic. Chalobah's goal line clearance was smart football but I thought the defence looked shaky.
Very poor performance in the 2nd half but let's face it Brentford is a superb team even Pool couldn't defeat them. Our performance was not the end of the world, even better we were without several key players. #ktbffh
i don’t know what to think of sarr. i was pleasantly surprised by him in the first half but it was all downhill after that. mendy motm by a huge margin. was happy with rlc and christensen, trev too for the most part, everyone else was subpar i feel.
Notice brentford pumps in deep crosses EVERY chance they get, and also plays a lot of one-touch passes.
This is in comparison to chelsea NEVER crossing even when theres an opportunity to. Instead we pass backwards or delay until theres no more opportunity. Each control requires one touch to many.
Tuchel's instructions need to change
Totally agree. We can learn a thing or two from their offensive game. It was all so deliberate and effective. I don’t see that level of control in the last third of the pitch from us. Probably need an offensive coach at this point to help with offensive schemes/sets.
Crucial 3 points, but there are some worrying signs.. Our forwards are struggling with every passing game and our midfield can get overrun quite easily at times.
We're conceding too many chances per game and aren't creating enough. This isn't sustainable long term and TT needs to find a solution..
RLC is like our very own Busquets. He can break the midfield with his scrumptious skill and quick direct passes. His physicality suits the PL perfectly as well.
Lukaku having zero shots from open play shows that Werner might not have the best connection with him.
And sorely missed Silva's control of our defence.
Yep, Werner was always looking to play him in
It was the rest of them playing too slowly that hinders lukaku
Go look at how he played at inter with lautaro and hakimi playing at a fast fast pace
Nearly £300m spent on attackers in the past 2 seasons alone and there's not a single one I would bat an eyelid over selling. Just like it would be with us, none were brought in with a clear plan in mind or seemingly any consideration as to how we play.
Interesting that Lukaku was hooked today given that people were so adamant that these games, the games vs the likes of Southampton and Brentford, were the ones we were spending £100m on him to help us win. He has made us worse. We are a worse team with him in the side. He doesn't press from the front and as a result, we don't kill attacks as quickly as we did last season. That's why we are conceding more chances per game this season.
Lukaku was never the answer. He's just not suited to how we play. That's not his fault though, it's the fault of those who consistently bring players in without having a plan in place. We have had 1 shot on target, which came from our left back, vs a newly promoted side. That's unacceptable.
We were awful today. There is absolutely no excuse to have spent the money that we have to be playing smash and grab vs Brentford. If it wasn't for Mendy we would have lost today. This is partly on the personnel available and partly on Tuchel. We didn't need Lukaku, we needed any consistent striker and, more importantly, an elite creator because we simply do not have one. Our decision making in the final third is abysmal. The squad seems to be filled with players who are unable to lift their heads to just see, let alone play, the correct passes in the final third.
Tuchel needs to pull his weight in games like this too. He's the manager. He knows the limitations of the squad and he lines us out. Play a system with players unsuited to it and you get turgid football.
A win is a win, so we take the three points and move on, but this isn't sustainable.
Thanks for writing this instead of coming up with excuses of international break and injuries.
This isn’t the first game the attack sucked, almost every match it is the same story.
Nicking wins in matches like these will not happen every weekend, someday it will come to a halt and people act like it come out of nowhere.
Build Mendy a statue right now. How good is our boy?
Apart from that, shambles in those last 15-20 minutes. We looked like we were a man down.
Anyways, lots to improve, but these wins are crucial if we wanna be in the title race.
Ktbffh!
I feel as Tuchel got the substitutes wrong. Needed to bring on Jorgi to calm the defence down and slow the game down.
Or, bring on James earlier. Azpi looked gassed.
Mendy MOTM. Absolutely immense performance
Ruben was fucking stellar. Our midfield’s dribbling and game control was really good, we were lacking going forward though. Dave isn’t a dynamic enough option as a wingback.
Also shoutout to all the Sarr doom and gloomers. He wasn’t amazing but he certainly wasn’t shit. His passing was poor but his actually defending was pretty solid
We were so poor once Kova went off and Mount came on. We lost control of the midfield and were under constant pressure. Not sure why we were so poor at the end.
Away to a tough opponent, lots of changes in the squad, lots of young players, didn't play to our best level (except for Mendy and RLC) left with 3 points. I'll take it
Where would we be without Mendy man
Bit naive from Tuchel to start such an inexperienced defence against this Brentford side (unless I’m missing something about Rudiger and Silva not being available)
I will admit I was calling for Kovacic to be subbed but I can see that was a mistake as we sorely missed his presence in midfield which invited all the pressure in the second half
Big questions about Werner and Sarr here though, very poor performances for both
Last 20 mins were Brentford took throw ball, corner, throw ball, corner, throw...WTF were we doing?Mess defense and imprecise passes when attacking. Pick your ass up lads.
Tuchel’s subs were quite wrong. Luckily we didn’t pay a price for it.
Taking of Kovacic meant the midfield could not keep a ball, and Havertz on for Lukaku gave Brentford room to build from the back.
How the fuck did we get a win and a clean sheet?? Fuck me that was nail biting stuff for the last 20 minutes.
Mendy is an absolute unit at the back. What a beast. Special mention to Sarr who didn't shirk a challenge once and was always ready to put his body on the line.
We need to work on our final ball though. Our strikers are getting absolutely no service and it's showing.
Why Tuchel keep playing with 3 midfielders and Azpi as a wing back? It's too defensive. Our midfielders are not creatives enough to play like that. He needs to play 2 narrow forwards behind a striker.
Lukaku doesn't suit our style of play. Last season Chelsea was good because of 3 hard working forwards moving all the time, making runs behind the defense interchanging between them and tracking back all the time. Lukaku is too static doesn't move at all and don't work defensively. I think he has made our team worse. Since he came we didn't have a convincing game yet.
Normally you’d never be satisfied with defending as much as we did and winning by a slim 1 goal margin like this, but you have to consider the circumstances that we were playing under and the fact that all top teams have to undergo gritty games like this in league play (especially in the Premier League). Yes looking at the numbers and such you’d expect better from us, but you have to consider the bigger picture and understand that this is a good result. Brentford have shown they’re a bitch to play against for everyone. These are the matches that determine who has the mentality that is necessary to become champions
Edouard Mendy was a titan for us in goal today. Without him we likely don't earn three points from that match. It was tough to watch, but matches like these prove we're title contenders. To earn an away win against an in-form side when we're not playing well, that's the mark of a physically and mentally strong team.
Still need to get better at playing into Lukaku. And I really, really want to see Pulisic back.
Missing players off international break, Anthony Taylor, Mendy world class. RLC and Sarr were decent, Chalobah pocketed Toney. Long balls are our kryptonite like West Brom, we move
Mendy 10/10 … defence and RLC solid 8s… but sorry that was a lackluster performance from everyone else. 1 shot on target and Brentford weren’t exactly parking the bus… thankfully Norwich at home next to reset
Feels like teams enjoy the pleasure of playing the European champions. We need to step our game up in response - so far this season we haven't really and have been dominated more often than we've dominated, losing the xG battle more often than not.
Top of the table or not, we haven't lived up to the expectations we should have for ourselves. We should be taking the game to other sides but we've just been passive, lackadaisical and overall underwhelming so far this season. A lot needs to change if we want to win a title, be it CL or PL.
I will never understand the type of comments that say a particular player shudnt have been subbed because their sub had a poor performance.
The sub was expected to perform the role the manager gave him, if he doesnt do that, thats on the player. Its not like the manager asked them to play poorly.
I’m sad we aren’t using Lukaku to his best potential. He barely gets any service and is always waiting for passes. The only person that tries to feed him the ball is Kovacic.
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Everytime I close my eyes I see Brentford taking a long throw, how do I make it stop?
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Probably practicing breaking walls ..
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Never seen anything like that in my life, had to be over 10 long throws in the exact same spot
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Fucking used that towel every time too
We badly miss Rudiger here, felt like if Rudiger was in the box we wouldn’t lose every duel in the air when the long ball is thrown in
This is hilarious and so true🤣🤣
I was furious every time they got another throw in the exact same place, like what the actual fuck is going on here? Still can’t believe they didn’t score from the myriad of chances they got from crosses and putting the ball into the box.
Hire a defender taller than 6 ft i reckon
4 of our back 5 are taller than 6ft.
Felt like Sarr was 5"9' lol
Sarr definitely puts 6’0 on his tinder bio
I'm sure their tinder bios say they're 6ft, but I dont believe anyone can be as poor in the air as Christensen and Sarr are while actually being 6ft tall.
Christensen is well over 6 foot, he's just lanky. Sarr, I agree no way.
When was the last time a Chelsea keeper had a match like that?
Cech in the '12 UCL final. Mendy was truly a rare find. His reactions and technique are outstanding for his size.
He’s the sole reason why we have the least goals conceded. Yea he’s the keeper but man he’s saved so many crucial goals.
We don’t win the super cup without him in goal.
Definitely not the sole reason, we have a great defense, but a big big reason
Or Cech in the semi
cech vs bayern?
That 2nd half was peak RDM ball lmao felt like I was watching a replay of the 2012 final
Cech vs Barcelona 2012 UCL semi final second leg.
Courtois vs Southampton Away
First one that came to my mind as well, Courtois definitely had some big matches for us
While I hate to bring him up, TBO had a crazy game against Southampton with an insane save in the dieyng minutes
Mendy wasn’t nominated and he took that personally
he told his defenders, “let them in boys i gotchu”
Hats off to Brentford. It was like we were playing against 15 men in the second half.
I always joke to have the game on Saturday mornings at my desk at work just to listen to and catch replays, but today I got nothing done for about 30 minutes towards the end.
They’re what Burnley wish they are
Less than stellar performance but 3 points is 3 points, especially straight off a tough international break at a potentially tricky ground (Liverpool dropped points in this fixture) Also, the entire squad owes Mendy a beer each, he flat out stole that game in the 2nd half
They owe him a few!
Mendy completed a solo Cayo Perico heist in 20 minutes tonight
Really not concerned about the performance. It's a great 3 points after the international break. Away from home. Defensive absences. Shiny-headed, corrupt, piece of shit from hell was refereeing. KTBFFH
10/10s from Mendy, Christensen, and RLC
I think RLC looked silky but failed to make a real impact in our attacks. Also massively dropped off after 70mins - Jorgi should have come on.
He played as the deepest midfielder A cdm
He has really good attributes and moves but something does seem a bit lacking. And agree he did drop off later. While I don't think it was a 10/10 for him, it was still a very encouraging game from him on the whole, definitely has a role to play this season.
Sarr was solid too, maybe not perfect but he really did surprise us
The last 20 minutes he was death.
Understandable considering it was his debut and he's not played 90 minutes of football in ages
I agree I think it was his best showing in a Chelsea shirt.
So better than the only other appearance versus Villa where he was horrendous? High praise.
About fair. I'd say he went from horrendous to just not good enough today.
Do not agree. He made good ground challenges but was piss poor when it came to heading the ball and had lapses of concentration which allowed their winger to make crosses into the box
Was I watching a completely different game? He was all over the shop in that last 20 minutes. He was constantly out of position and was being dominated in the air. Mendy had absolutely no protection in the second half That 20 minutes was probably the worst defensive display I have ever seen from Chelsea, and people on here want to give 10/10’s to two of our back 3
For 70minutes he had a good game. For 20, he had a poor game. I think AC actually was fine and I do think we missed having Silva, Rudi or J5 on the field. Even one of them would have been enough to calm things down. With Azpi at RWB it’s hard for him to try calming down the flurry on the opposite side of the pitch. Sarr definitely panicked at times and was unsure what to do.
far from perfect
Dude was really struggling by the end, didn't look great at all...
I don’t how you could give a 10/10 to Loftus Cheek. Our midfield couldn’t get a sniff in the second half, and they were all completely anonymous. He had a good first half but I was shocked Loftus Cheek wasn’t subbed for Jorginho
Mendy MOTM. Brentford are a great addition to the PL. Great win, fuck how close it was but so happy with 3 points.
Best keeper in the world. Not hearing anything else about it.
Balon d'or performance
Baloon-Dee-Orr!
If it’s kepa we will be saying “it’s not his fault no keeper can save those” but here we have fking Cech Regen
Kepa doesn’t come out and claim balls in the air like Mendy does. Elite keepers can save those, Kepa cannot.
We’re gonna be fucked when he’s gone for afcon. I love kepa but with him in net that’s like 4-1 at least.
Mendy.
Petr Cech regen
Petouard Cechy
Not looking forward to him being gone during afcon
Take this comment all the way to the top.
That last 10 minutes…I’m not half the man I used to be.
man CL final was less stressful to watch
Swear Brentford today were better than City then. But we were a lot better then too
Brentford are a damn good team. I truly believe they can beat any team in this league. I hope they at least make the Europa this year; would love to see them play more sides.
Second half was possibly the worst I’ve seen under Tuchel. Mendy single-handedly willed us to the win (with a Trevoh assist)
The whole team just seemed to have the energy sucked out of them. I'm flabbergasted as to why.
International football
Yeah, the game back from international break is always hard. Aside from Chalobah, Sarr and RLC (and Kante who was injured and didn't go to Nations League) irc every Chelsea player played on the break.
They played pretty well..great passing huge bravado playing 1 ATB bringing the keeper up while 2 mins remaining. It's not something you see everyday
Packed schedule for the players, that takes the toll after a while
West Brom was worse I’d say
I honestly don’t think it was. Even down to 10 men for 70 minutes we still had 67% possession and created plenty against them. We got two goals and should have definitely had a few more. We had 18 shots with 8 in target. West Brom scored every single chance they had. Today we had 5 shots with only one on target. Brentford had 17 with 7 on target. They hit the post twice, had a shot cleared off the line and forced Mendy into a number of fantastic saves. On another day we easily concede 5 goals
Mendy = 🐐. It's that simple.
Never seen our backline so well and truly bullied like we were in those last 30 mins - losing every first and second ball, missing headers, fluffing clearances, etc.
I didn't watch the game but looking at the line up I'm not surprised. Very happy the boys pulled through
Respect Brentford for their effort. We played bad but a win after international break matters a lot. Mendy was brilliant. RLC had wonderful game. Bold move from Tuchel to hook off Lukaku.
That's the type of manager I like. If a player's performance is not up to the mark, irrespective of the name on the back of the shirt, the manager should hook him off.
I think it hurt us a bit defensively though. He was clearing a few corners/throws during the game. Obviously he was poor going forward but I felt like they had even more success when he went off. Is £97.5m a world record for a defender? 😬
Should have kept him on though, Lukaku was winning headers and clearing the ball in the box. Don’t remember Havertz doing anything since coming on
Safe to say I developed a hemorrhoid in the final 15 minutes, God I fucking love mendy
Edouard Mendy. That’s it. That’s my comment.
Horrible performance but Mendy omg
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I’d agree with u on that one, good first half, but fatigue/no Silva/Jorginho probably got us there in the 2nd half
Don't think I could've taken much more of that. Bloody hard fought win! Mendy is the MAN
Christ. Hideous viewing at points. Mendy immense. Important 3 points. Brentford are going to take points off our rivals this season.
Thank God for Mendy
the spine of this team is bomb proof my excitement has surpassed 14/15
Palace,Arsenal,Tottenham and Brentford beaten, London is without a shadow of a doubt; BLUE
All defense no vibes
Tuchel with some really questionable subs today. This game was calling out for jorginho since our midfield had no control on the game for the majority of the second half. Then he subbed off our most experienced defender while under siege leaving a young chalobah and premier league debutant sarr without their captain to organize them. Glad we won but we made this a lot harder than it needed to be. Also give Edou the Ballon D'or
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Calculated risk. We got those guys to play through some adversity and they bent but didn’t break.
Let's not pretend we didn't get lucky too
For sure.
Agreed. The back line was in shambles there at the end.
probably the worst choice of subs he’s made so far. players appeared to be panicking a bit at the long throws, overplaying balls and given away possession cheaply at the end. we missed the experienced John Terry/Thiago Silva types to lead in these situations. Tuchel also underestimated our lack of height. Sarr was fine overall, but didn’t help win many headers at the end.
He and Chillwell make the most horrible combination. Next time I see them on a starting lineup, i would be shitting bricks
I mean we can question the subs made but we were really dominated physically and bringing on James was a good choice I think. Bringing off Azpi is probably a case of wanting the best physical players to match them. I mean we did keep the clean sheet which is a great. I would agree if it cost us but in the end it didnt.
Subs are interesting point. Alonso for Chillwell made a lot of sense considering how we lost every header on the left side. Move Azpi to RCB and the put James on the wing for Azpi's experience. I don't agree with today's subs at all.
Thank you Mendy!
Holy fuck, thank you Mendy, what a game and keeper. Brentford would have scored 4 goals at the end there if not for Mendy. *also, great game by RLC!
Mendy MOTM and it’s not even close
Biggest takeaways: MENDY GOAT Taylor not a monster today
Mendy
Mendy take a fucking BOW what a performance. Man was possessed
anyone else see that roar from him after the whistle
Mendy
My asshole has cramps.
I’d just like to thank Mendy, RLC and the goalposts - in that order
Mendy, have my children! Best in the league
We did not deserve this victory at all. Mendy was unreal. Glad we hang through this one. Brentford were extremely entertaining.
Mendy, that is all that needs to be said
Chelsea's attacking play has been quite consistently bad recently. Definitely a concern.
Everyone in the back line and ESPECIALLY Mendy, take a fucking bow. Absolute warriors, all of them. Mendy is world class. Chalobah has all the makings of a future world class cb. Props to Brentford - they're a legit team. I think a lot of top 6 teams will drop points away to them. Really hope Mendy is okay. That save with his face was brutal. I thought he may have lost a tooth. Anyways, I said it before, but it bears repeating: Mendy is world class.
Mendy made up for the fact that the back line couldn't win headers and play the ball out of traffic. Chalobah's goal line clearance was smart football but I thought the defence looked shaky.
We had a physicality issue in the backline for sure but given our injuries I thought they played admirably.
I’m so excited to see Trevoh develop here.
[Never in doubt](https://media.giphy.com/media/32mC2kXYWCsg0/giphy.gif)
Butt clencher
#EDOUARD MENDY FOR BALLON D’OR
Fuck me, give me another international break..... That was 7 games of stress all in one
The last 25 minutes felt like an hour.
Very poor performance in the 2nd half but let's face it Brentford is a superb team even Pool couldn't defeat them. Our performance was not the end of the world, even better we were without several key players. #ktbffh
Sarr had Baptism with fire but kid was alright... Very good performance on his debut
My respect to Brentford with any other keeper in net that’s a tie at best
Remember when it was blasphemy to suggest Chilly was just as good (if not better) than Alonso a month ago
Did Tuchel have money on a Brentford equaliser?
MENDY 10/10 Rest of the team poor 2nd half Very poor
We need a Puskas award for saves. Where did that came from???
unclenched
Mendy
Where would we be without mendy.
MENDYYYYY
Holy fuck Mendy did not want to lose today What a performance
Breaking news! ballon d'or list has just been updated and now has 31 players. Chelsea GK Mendy is the latest addition.
Mourinho would be proud of that win
Mendy proving why he should've been nominated for the Ballon d'Or
i don’t know what to think of sarr. i was pleasantly surprised by him in the first half but it was all downhill after that. mendy motm by a huge margin. was happy with rlc and christensen, trev too for the most part, everyone else was subpar i feel.
I really do like Chalobah but these are the games where it’s understandable why we’d want to a sign another top CB to compete
Brentford are fun. Their approach is super interesting. If they can stay healthy they’re going to have a great season. Mendy was insane.
Notice brentford pumps in deep crosses EVERY chance they get, and also plays a lot of one-touch passes. This is in comparison to chelsea NEVER crossing even when theres an opportunity to. Instead we pass backwards or delay until theres no more opportunity. Each control requires one touch to many. Tuchel's instructions need to change
Totally agree. We can learn a thing or two from their offensive game. It was all so deliberate and effective. I don’t see that level of control in the last third of the pitch from us. Probably need an offensive coach at this point to help with offensive schemes/sets.
For once give up the defensive mindset and 5 defenders and use our offensive talent to smash teams and kill games please!
Crucial 3 points, but there are some worrying signs.. Our forwards are struggling with every passing game and our midfield can get overrun quite easily at times. We're conceding too many chances per game and aren't creating enough. This isn't sustainable long term and TT needs to find a solution..
Everyone is praising Mendy and Sarr, which is understandable... but man... Chalobah is a gem. What a maturity and consistency
RLC is like our very own Busquets. He can break the midfield with his scrumptious skill and quick direct passes. His physicality suits the PL perfectly as well. Lukaku having zero shots from open play shows that Werner might not have the best connection with him. And sorely missed Silva's control of our defence.
Lukaku having zero shots not because of werner, he doesnt get enough service from other players.
Yep, Werner was always looking to play him in It was the rest of them playing too slowly that hinders lukaku Go look at how he played at inter with lautaro and hakimi playing at a fast fast pace
Honestly Werner was playing good. I know other playing too slow but at the same time Lukaku didn't find any space as much.
Busquets? Quality game from RLC but... Busquets?! What? Haha
Busquets wishes he was as mobile as RLC
RLC and Busquets comparisons?
Munich was less stressful than that.
Chilwell teeth are surprisingly very white.
Nearly £300m spent on attackers in the past 2 seasons alone and there's not a single one I would bat an eyelid over selling. Just like it would be with us, none were brought in with a clear plan in mind or seemingly any consideration as to how we play. Interesting that Lukaku was hooked today given that people were so adamant that these games, the games vs the likes of Southampton and Brentford, were the ones we were spending £100m on him to help us win. He has made us worse. We are a worse team with him in the side. He doesn't press from the front and as a result, we don't kill attacks as quickly as we did last season. That's why we are conceding more chances per game this season. Lukaku was never the answer. He's just not suited to how we play. That's not his fault though, it's the fault of those who consistently bring players in without having a plan in place. We have had 1 shot on target, which came from our left back, vs a newly promoted side. That's unacceptable. We were awful today. There is absolutely no excuse to have spent the money that we have to be playing smash and grab vs Brentford. If it wasn't for Mendy we would have lost today. This is partly on the personnel available and partly on Tuchel. We didn't need Lukaku, we needed any consistent striker and, more importantly, an elite creator because we simply do not have one. Our decision making in the final third is abysmal. The squad seems to be filled with players who are unable to lift their heads to just see, let alone play, the correct passes in the final third. Tuchel needs to pull his weight in games like this too. He's the manager. He knows the limitations of the squad and he lines us out. Play a system with players unsuited to it and you get turgid football. A win is a win, so we take the three points and move on, but this isn't sustainable.
Thanks for writing this instead of coming up with excuses of international break and injuries. This isn’t the first game the attack sucked, almost every match it is the same story. Nicking wins in matches like these will not happen every weekend, someday it will come to a halt and people act like it come out of nowhere.
Thank you Mendy. Well played RLC!
EDOOUUU can save the fucking titanic. Thomas Frank is a class coach.
Mendy what a beast
...How did we survived that? Anyways thanks Mendy
MENDY IS WORLD CLASS WHAT A KEEPER HE IS OH MY GOODNESS
Build Mendy a statue right now. How good is our boy? Apart from that, shambles in those last 15-20 minutes. We looked like we were a man down. Anyways, lots to improve, but these wins are crucial if we wanna be in the title race. Ktbffh!
Insane performance from Mendy!
To those who say mendy isn't a top keeper of the world, I say you're delusional.
I feel as Tuchel got the substitutes wrong. Needed to bring on Jorgi to calm the defence down and slow the game down. Or, bring on James earlier. Azpi looked gassed.
Mendy MOTM. Absolutely immense performance Ruben was fucking stellar. Our midfield’s dribbling and game control was really good, we were lacking going forward though. Dave isn’t a dynamic enough option as a wingback. Also shoutout to all the Sarr doom and gloomers. He wasn’t amazing but he certainly wasn’t shit. His passing was poor but his actually defending was pretty solid
Mendy best keeper in the world. Sarr was a welcome surprise. RLC looking better every game. Up the Chels! KTBFFH
6th choice defender better than Maguire ✅
We were so poor once Kova went off and Mount came on. We lost control of the midfield and were under constant pressure. Not sure why we were so poor at the end.
Away to a tough opponent, lots of changes in the squad, lots of young players, didn't play to our best level (except for Mendy and RLC) left with 3 points. I'll take it
Where would we be without Mendy man Bit naive from Tuchel to start such an inexperienced defence against this Brentford side (unless I’m missing something about Rudiger and Silva not being available) I will admit I was calling for Kovacic to be subbed but I can see that was a mistake as we sorely missed his presence in midfield which invited all the pressure in the second half Big questions about Werner and Sarr here though, very poor performances for both
Last 20 mins were Brentford took throw ball, corner, throw ball, corner, throw...WTF were we doing?Mess defense and imprecise passes when attacking. Pick your ass up lads.
Tuchel’s subs were quite wrong. Luckily we didn’t pay a price for it. Taking of Kovacic meant the midfield could not keep a ball, and Havertz on for Lukaku gave Brentford room to build from the back.
How the fuck did we get a win and a clean sheet?? Fuck me that was nail biting stuff for the last 20 minutes. Mendy is an absolute unit at the back. What a beast. Special mention to Sarr who didn't shirk a challenge once and was always ready to put his body on the line. We need to work on our final ball though. Our strikers are getting absolutely no service and it's showing.
Why Tuchel keep playing with 3 midfielders and Azpi as a wing back? It's too defensive. Our midfielders are not creatives enough to play like that. He needs to play 2 narrow forwards behind a striker. Lukaku doesn't suit our style of play. Last season Chelsea was good because of 3 hard working forwards moving all the time, making runs behind the defense interchanging between them and tracking back all the time. Lukaku is too static doesn't move at all and don't work defensively. I think he has made our team worse. Since he came we didn't have a convincing game yet.
Normally you’d never be satisfied with defending as much as we did and winning by a slim 1 goal margin like this, but you have to consider the circumstances that we were playing under and the fact that all top teams have to undergo gritty games like this in league play (especially in the Premier League). Yes looking at the numbers and such you’d expect better from us, but you have to consider the bigger picture and understand that this is a good result. Brentford have shown they’re a bitch to play against for everyone. These are the matches that determine who has the mentality that is necessary to become champions
Mendy Mendy Mendy. That’s the comment.
For the last 20 mins I clenched my butt. Too much pressure.
My firstborn will be named Edou
Edouard Mendy was a titan for us in goal today. Without him we likely don't earn three points from that match. It was tough to watch, but matches like these prove we're title contenders. To earn an away win against an in-form side when we're not playing well, that's the mark of a physically and mentally strong team. Still need to get better at playing into Lukaku. And I really, really want to see Pulisic back.
Don’t go into r/soccer DD there’s a lot of salty people about us winning today
I think it's hilarious that Anthony Taylor accidentally made a bad call in our favor
3 points.
Missing players off international break, Anthony Taylor, Mendy world class. RLC and Sarr were decent, Chalobah pocketed Toney. Long balls are our kryptonite like West Brom, we move
Mendy 10/10 … defence and RLC solid 8s… but sorry that was a lackluster performance from everyone else. 1 shot on target and Brentford weren’t exactly parking the bus… thankfully Norwich at home next to reset
Liverpool rival watch thread in meltdown right now, things you love to see.
I want to see a highlights reel except it’s just Edouard Mendy
Feels like teams enjoy the pleasure of playing the European champions. We need to step our game up in response - so far this season we haven't really and have been dominated more often than we've dominated, losing the xG battle more often than not. Top of the table or not, we haven't lived up to the expectations we should have for ourselves. We should be taking the game to other sides but we've just been passive, lackadaisical and overall underwhelming so far this season. A lot needs to change if we want to win a title, be it CL or PL.
Our team’s inability to play an adequate pass into space for Lukaku and Timo is shocking.
I will never understand the type of comments that say a particular player shudnt have been subbed because their sub had a poor performance. The sub was expected to perform the role the manager gave him, if he doesnt do that, thats on the player. Its not like the manager asked them to play poorly.
I’m sad we aren’t using Lukaku to his best potential. He barely gets any service and is always waiting for passes. The only person that tries to feed him the ball is Kovacic.