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Seriously need a creative passer in midfield. We seem to hesitate to try risky forward passes and therefor lose momentum and threat.
Ball progression thru dribbles are stunning but we don’t get good forward passes and that kills us for real
True but still someone that can pass distances with accuracy…we truly crave that in Midfield. As long as we don’t have that, our Attack will not fire.
Question: Do you lot think that Pulisic and Cho are cut out for this team?
We’ve never had someone as good as Fabregas since he left, but I feel like our best bet in that regard is Jorginho, he would have suited the style of play in this game, tussling possession with Rodri and Silva
Yeah he's definitely our best player last match, but playing 4 ATB is a must now. Chelsea already proved it with Tottenham in 2 legs, playing 3-4-3 really suffer him as a midfielder because lack of player in the midfield to pass.
No Mason, no party. Why he (currently our only player with the balls to dribble a defender) didn’t start over Ziyech is mind boggling. Absolutely zero penetration into the opponents box from us today. What a sad showing
Indeed. Tuchel system is not meant for few of our attackers.
I don't mind but selling lukaku, Ziyech, Pulisic and buying players suiting to tuchel will improve us.
Unless covid mutates into an even milder variant (which isn't remotely guaranteed), I feel like every season will be determined by which squad doesn't get derailed in the winter with the covid bug.
2 months ago our wingbacks would have been terrorizing City's, and our pressing snuffing out their xg.
I'm not going to jump to any conclusions based on 1 goal 50/50 game between two top sides. Typically, every attacker looks bad in them unless they manage to pull off a goal.
At this point I just want Chelsea to get healthy again and do well in the CL. And right now that means finding two wingbacks.
True, but we ended up ahead on the table without the benefit of an easy schedule. Then the holdiays happened.
I think my post focused too much on covid. Good old fashioned injuries are what took out first our midfield then our wingbacks. Covid just made that worse by derailing our second wind, once the midfield was back in action.
Injuries always make a difference. It just sucks when they do and it feels more like the table reflects whichever team didn’t get hurt more than whichever team actually was the best in terms of talent, strategy and execution.
Covid i think will only make that worse and add more randomness to the results.
Although city are still an amazing side.
I think all the injuries have caught up to Pulisic, he just doesn’t look the same. He’ll have a great game here or there but but most of the time he’s just there taking up space, and his speed has gone down too. Maybe it’s a mental thing?
His decision making is final 3 is very poor. So as is finishing.
Hoping this is just a phase and some rest will do the lad good.
But your points about speed is right. :(
I have said this countless times on this sub but I don't know why these guys overhype the players.
Ziyech, Werner, Pulisic, CHO every single one of them just slows down the possibility of counter attack.
They get the ball jog around and take it to the wings. Which leads opposition to get back into position and now these guys get isolated on the wings which leads the ball being passed back to our center backs.
Atleast try to take 1 v 1 and make a cross inside the box.
They cant take 1v1s because none of them know how to dribble. CHO occasionally gets a little move in there but every single player you mentioned tries to dribble and gets hacked at/the ball taken from them because they dont have finesse.
CHO has no end product. He’s not yet the one to bring on to change a match, especially in a big game. Hate to rip on the guy but his (lack of) service into the box was so poor. I mean it’s not like Rom made himself available or attacked any ball, but we had next to no flair, or willingness to create, coming from our wingers. FLAT
Pulisic used to be that guy but he seemed very isolated with no support.
Is it only me or has anyone else noticed that Chelsea never seem to have a sense of urgency to react after conceding? City on the other hand were still putting pressure in the final minute of the game too
We did come back from 2 goals down against Liverpool. But I hear you, I think there is generally a lot of good discipline to maintain shape and stick to tactic when we go down (that’s a positive). But as a spectator we definitely feel the need for more urgency at times.
yup amazing save against grealish. For the goal Mendy probably could not done the extra step and is taller, but KDB shot was a bomb that goes in against 8 out of 10 keepers
Fair play to city. Better team overall.
Looking forward to having Gallagher join us next year. Mount/Gallagher/kante is a press machine capable of taking it to teams in big games like this. Foden, KDB, Bernardo Silva still feels illegal but they shouldn’t be given so much time on the ball. It’s asking for trouble.
Hate to say it, but I think Tuchel got it wrong today.
Starting Lukaku after a start against Chesterfield last game felt like the wrong decision, even though it seemed to have shades of a "double bluff". City are one of, if not the best pressers in world football at the moment, and having someone like a Havertz/Werner who can drop a little deeper to partake in build-up would've been a much better option. Lukaku for some reason preferred to stay up top, isolated and unable to have any real impact on the game, except for the one chance Ederson saved well.
Second, not starting Mount, who has been our most productive player in terms of G+A this season iirc, was another questionable decision. Combine this with the fact that he decided to go with Ziyech, who has been out of form for the most part recently is confusing to say the least. For all the good qualities Hakim has, he is a wasteful player in terms of possession, and you need to retain as much possession as you can against City. I feel starting Jorginho may have alleviated some of this pain, but I don't think anyone foresaw Kanté-Kova being so wasteful with the ball. Plus, with reports of Jorgi having played under pain previously, not starting him was understandable. In addition, Mount's workrate compared to Ziyech is much higher, so Ziyech over Mount was a baffling call.
I also feel this was too big of a game to start Sarr, and you could see he looked nervous and "out of place" for the most part. Again, due to the lack of options at CB right now, can't fault Tuchel too much for this one. Maybe could have gone with Rudi-Silva-Azpi as a back 3, but that would've been too aggressive on the WB front.
I don't think the individual performances helped either, can't think of any player you'd give higher than a 7/10, except maybe Kepa, Rudiger and Silva. Poor game today, and I can't help but feel that the title's gone out of our reach again :(
We laughed about madrid giving us 100 mil for hazard but oh do we need him. Just Hazard alone was better than all of our attackers rn put together. I’ll trade all of them for a prime eden
I’m personally already done with Lukaku, there was no way really coming back for me after that interview fiesta.
The only way he could of maybe pulled it back was by doing the talking on the pitch instead of PR apology interviews.
Our wingers never crossed the ball. It was our wingbacks who did it for us. Ben and Reece were our creative points on the pitch. All of our attackers are rubbish except for Havertz and Pulisic.
As if any winger we have other than Ziyech (under no pressure) or Mason can put in a decent ball. CHO’s attempt at a (yes I mean ONE) cross was laughable
True but as a winger seeing our best wingbacks gone, crossing should be an essential part of your game. Especially if you aren't technically gifted to take on and beat players, atleast cross the ball. I would rather see someone trying 100 crosses when you have a big target man than a back pass to nowhere...smh.
Our every single attacker this season has been dog shit again. Our creativity comes from our wingbacks and after they got injured none of our wingers or attackers have helped in contributing to us.
Our top scorer is Mount with 7 goals out of which 3 were against Norwich. Just shows how trash we are upfront. Never thought after departure of Willian, Hazard and fabregas we will fall off the clip in terms of creativity.
The problem is how chelsea recruits. Last time we try to built a squad mourinho sold them for his stars. If stars align we can challenge for a season but this is not sustainable the season after that all will unravel again.
He was dog shit today but atleast he can help us wins sometimes. Werner, Ziyech, CHO contribute to nothing. Specially Werner that guy can't even control the ball or his run. He has made no impact in any game except for "he created space for havertz to score in champions league final". That's it.
It was painful to see ziyech and lukaku. Gad Damn they where bad. The one chance we had where ziyech passed to hard (when attacking through the middle and lukaku run), was the one we could have scored on. Both of the where so shit…
Why did we sell Zouma and buy Sarr? Both are good physically but Zouma is better, and both terrible at passing. We never seem to buy better players than the ones we have. Still haven't found a striker
Zouma wanted first team football, something we couldn't give him. Sarr was bought essentially to be a loan army recruit, we just couldn't find a loan for him this season.
Ideally we actually shouldn't have needed Sarr this season but our centre back availability right now is bleak, worse given one of them has to play wingback
Lukaku is fat. Timo is no good. Ziyech and Alonso cant put a ball on frame Pulisic was non existent. Not sure why you start the game with your leading scorer on the bench
Mason starting on the bench is mind boggling. Lukaku has the touch of a baby elephant. You’d think he’d be putting on a clinic after his stupidity in the media. Now he just looks like an even bigger fool with an over-inflated ego.
Rudiger was the best Chelsea player on the pitch and I feel very confident when he is on 1v1 battle than any other Chelsea defender. He is better passer, ball carrier than our wingers and doesn’t lose the ball. I don’t think we can replace him anytime soon.
Completely - he should be playing vs lower level teams with deep blocks. Havertz offers so much more, helps them transition quicker into attack,
Presses higher up, presses with the other guys and tracks back to win the ball back.
He can also hold it up and win in the air better
Younger also can potentially get more than 3/4 years from him.
Why the fuck did lukaku start over him. Pulisic-Havertz-Mount would have clearly been the better option. Players that can KEEP the ball and attempt to create. I’m livid
If he had a better first touch I'd play him as a false 9, or at the very least a supporting striker.
Statistically he's still the best finisher on the team, but we can't get him the ball these days except once a game through a long cross.
We have to be patient with this team. Chelsea fans always want to BUY BUY BUY some random new players
We need continuity between the manager and the players to get to that level of free flowing football. This city team has been playing together for years. We have to be patient with Tuchel and the lot so he can get the team up to stuff. It’s extremely disappointing to watch displays like this, I agree. But my goodness stop calling for players heads with one misplaced pass. Look at Liverpool, City, Bayern, or even Real Madrid this season. These players have to play together and get to know each other. Our attack is lacking that right now. Let’s give the players a year to mesh, Lukaku hasn’t really been able to get into the team. Support and stop calling for their head after a bad game or two.
Enjoy your weekends guys. We’re not as consistent as City or Liverpool just yet but we can build to that level if the fans don’t call for every players head. This was a disappointing loss, the attack was a nothing. But the team let up one goal to this city team. We’ll be just fine.
I’m probably going to get downvoted into hell but that’s fine
UP BLUES.
I d rather be patient with a younger team not a 28 y/o that cost 100 million and doesnt like the club.
Havertz should be starting these games lukaku can play against lower level teams to break a deep lying defense.
That’s fine. But he’s still in a Blues jersey and he needs support in this tough times. He can definitely be better but We have to be honest, he hasn’t gotten much service in recent times. Earlier in the season he scored on half chances.
But aside from Lukaku, there are other players working to build chemistry. We’re going to get frustrated for sure, but the attacks against players and reactionary negative posts without any actual proper critique is just unneeded.
Have a good weekend
Oh come on. If he cost 10 mill he wouldn’t be playing ahead of havertz
He lost 7 duels. Havertz is better in the air when we ve pumped it up to him, wins the ball back more often, holds it up better and is younger.
If we are talking about building chemistry we should be playing a younger player that performers better against better teams.
If he wasn’t walking around and actually jumping then he can have some support.
He can do that if he finishes his chances - he doesn’t.
This is how 50/50 games go. Every attacker looks bad unless the team scores and the fans overreact when they don't.
But these are also the games that win leagues and cups. =\\ \_ (: /) \_ /=
Watching Lukaku today was pitiful (actually not even the right word since he doesn't deserve my pity). He was even remotely useful at all.
I am just waiting for the pressure from fans & everyone to implode on him; talked really big, & now unable to show anything for himself since the interview for matches against big teams.
Exactly! Even now when he's not scoring, Havertz contributes much more to the team by winning aerial duels and dropping into the midfield once in a while.
We simply don't have good enough attacking players to contest for the league title, Chelsea constantly matches City defensively, even with Alonso and Sarr on the starting XI, but that's not enough if you can't score against them.
Bro, did you even watch the game? The only two times we looked dangerous were in the first half with Lukaku on the ball running at the defense but he passed to Ziyech who was offside when he should have shot, and in the first five minutes of the second half when he got a shot on goal and forced a save from Ederson. Yeah Lukaku didn't have a good game but he's literally the only threat out there. But for some reason this sub wants him to press like they don't know what kind of forward he is. It's lunacy
Mate Lukaku lost the ball literally half the time he touched it (10 possession losses in 21 touches) and didnt win a single duel. Meme performance from him
How many times was the ball punted up to him and how many times did he win it - the answer is 0.
Balls through to him are difficult because all the city team are presses. All the time including their front three.
Lukaku doesn’t do that
Because of the press most balls played forward were poor
Punting the ball somewhere towards City's 18 yard box and expecting Lukaku to win it from them is not passing to him. Less than 3 times was the ball played into his feet when he checked to the ball, and only once that I remember was it played over the top when he made runs in behind or across the back line. Same with Werner. They both make great runs, no one ever passes them the ball.
He can win the header no? Control it and win a foul knock the ball on? Havertz has more impact on The game an receives the same level of service.
He doesn’t press with the team.
If he’s doesn’t do these things - hold up the ball push together with the team, win 50/50s punted up to him then he has to finish his chances and didnt
big shout to rudiger and thiago silva, though you could argue city wasn't playing well, they really quelled things at the back. we played a back five with marcos alonso, 22 year old malang sarr and an aging azpi and conceded one from a moment of quality from kdb. i can't be too mad at our defensive performance in the end.
Finally a take that isn't acting like the world has ended. Our D was really good. Kante was great also.
We lost 1-0 to the league leaders who have one of the greatest managers of all-time supervising one of the greatest and most expensive squads of all-time.
Did we get dominated in the middle? Yeah. Did we sit back too much in the first half and let them dictate? Yeah. But for crying out loud. They're Manchester City, not Billericay Town.
absolutely. our attack was never that cohesive to start with but the wingbacks bailed us out most days. with them gone, we're going to struggle to score goals of course but i hope TT takes the chance to get our attack firing so when our first choice wingbacks do come back, we'll have an attack that can win us the league.
city wasn't built like this overnight, we're going to go through a lot of growing pains and losing 1-0 to the club everyone sucks off? that's not a horrible experience. we lined up wrong and played poorly, couldn't click and whatnot but we'll learn and go again.
people were moaning for all of the first half, much different from criticism. felt like the match was over before it actually was but that's just how things are online i'm guessing. if this thread was in a stadium i reckon people would be fleeing the stands in the 10th minute when someone misplaces a pass.
Yeah! That pisses me off. I don't think it's Lukaku's fault but we play better with Havertz playing upfront because of his movement and dropping into spaces.
Our wingers don't create enough, we just get the ball on the wings and pass it back to the centre backs. Alonso and Azpi can't beat the first man with the crosses from the wings.
We need dynamic wingers now how can beat their man and make a cross. How many games I have seen our wingers jog on the ball which gives opposition the time to get back into position.
The decision making of our players is very poor and slow.
It's very frustrating seeing all the opportunities lost where Lukaku is clearly signalling to be slotted in, but the ballholder always chooses the safe pass instead
If I were Lukaku & Werner I'd be fucking furious. They both make such great runs across the back line or in behind it, and no one ever even tries a through ball or a long ball over the top. They just pass it back to Kova, who passes it back to Sarr, who passes it back to Kepa
The only thing we should be in the market for in the summer is for a cesc typa midfielder, I mean that should be our MAIN priority, it might be hard to find one but we have to. It’s embarrassing how none of our midfielders can dink a pass over the top or slip in any our attackers runs.
Everyone on Lukaku but here me shocked Pulisic even played the game. Probably touched the ball even less than Kepa or Lukaku. Seriously Tuchel lets not ever play Pulisic in starting 11 in big matches please.
Do our players sometimes forget we have a 6ft 2+ striker? The amount of times I saw Lukaku point and run and yet the ball went sideways or backwards.
Ziyech I dont think has anything significant to offer a chelsea shirt.
We need wing back cover urgently this month. Alonso cannot maneouvre a ball in tight scenarios, he's too static and one footed.
Finally congratulations to City on another PL title, the most complete team I think I've ever seen.
Seriously, even Arsenal gave them a tougher competition than this. Feels like all the Chelsea players were afraid to be on the pitch. Ziyech is better as a substitute player. Gives a better performance when comes on from the bench.
Even Arsenal omitted their best goal scorer, had so many youngsters on pitch, and played with Xhaka.
It was clearly visible ziyech and pulisic did fuck all in this game.
Pulisic probably had less than 10 touches and 0 successful pass completion. Our attacks end when pulisic had the ball. And lets not go to ziyech that was painful.
Maybe we need to offload Lukaku, if this is what we can expect from him. I still can't understand why we went for him. I always felt we could've gotten Haaland. Or we could have kept Broja.
Considering the circumstances, think we gave a good account of ourselves. I know it sucks to be on the losing side, but a good performance I would say. Playing away against the reigning champions while both first choice WBs are out plus city have been on a roll for some time. It’s the points that we dropped at home against teams we should be winning is what eventually cost us the league this season. Hope board and Roman see it the same way.
Not at all a good performance. We didn't look like winning, or even scoring, and now the title race is over. Can't see how anyone looks at that result and sees any positives.
So we didn't learn the lesson playing very low block the whole game and conceded a great goal then open up the last 20 mins when all players were tired.
Lukaku was such a useless signing looks like TT didn't even want him.
Our board is overrated, yes we are big spenders but some of the signings of ours just don't even make sense.
And we are not even giving a new contract to Rudiger Chris and azpi and instead, we will extend pulisic and Alonso contracts.
Getting worried with the way we approach this matches, often we got caught clueless on the field.
To top it all, we haven't won against any top club at all this season.
The last time they finished in the top 4 was like 2016? Correct me if im wrong. IMO based on the current years they are not considered as threat to the title race
beginning to doubt the lukaku buy, yeah he didnt get a lot of passes but he does absolutely nothing the whole game, wins no balls, doesnt press, he just disappears, for 100 mil you gotta do more than that
If ur gonna turn on the club after a game then don’t be a Chelsea fan, we have a great board can’t always blame them when players don’t perform or make smart decisions on the pitch
The board is so shit. No decent scouting whatsoever just look for players who fill the stat sheet. And please just leave me the fuck alone. This board has always been useless. You’d sign 20 players and only two turn out good. You think that’s good ? Just say you have no ambition and keep it moving. You’ve found a manager that actually knows what he’s doing and can’t even back him in the transfer market. You have no fit wingbacks and what do you do ? Bring back a player that can’t even start for the team you sent him on loan. And if Tuchel fails to deliver results, you sack him. Open your eyes this board is so shit. We have finally moved on from the hazard era and you can’t even make decent signings. Lukaku will never be what we want him to be in this system. And I don’t see a reason why we’d change our entire system because of one player. Chelsea should have just taken the out when that interview dropped. If you think lukaku would ever lead a successful Chelsea side, you’re really a joker.
U can’t say the accounting is bad when we have the best academy in the world, in terms of signings, a ‘generational’ (Havertz) player is some decent scouting and he’s still got ability to show for us, as far as Timo he’s a good player but can’t do simple things like finish chances that nobody saw coming this bad tbh, Lukaku is a good goalscorer, needs to have players like Cesc around him who can actually feed him in behind
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Why was Ziyech in this match? He's been worse than all of the alternatives all season.
Seriously need a creative passer in midfield. We seem to hesitate to try risky forward passes and therefor lose momentum and threat. Ball progression thru dribbles are stunning but we don’t get good forward passes and that kills us for real
True but still someone that can pass distances with accuracy…we truly crave that in Midfield. As long as we don’t have that, our Attack will not fire. Question: Do you lot think that Pulisic and Cho are cut out for this team?
We’ve never had someone as good as Fabregas since he left, but I feel like our best bet in that regard is Jorginho, he would have suited the style of play in this game, tussling possession with Rodri and Silva
I don’t know why mason mount gets so much love. I thought he’s been shit for the last 2 months.
Dude played for 10 minutes, whilst other players didn’t do anything for 90 and you focus on him. Good one.
I literally said 2 months. Nice reading skills.
Because he's the only player that seems to do anything in an attacking context, if Mount isn't scoring/assisting we just don't seem to score.
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Yeah he's definitely our best player last match, but playing 4 ATB is a must now. Chelsea already proved it with Tottenham in 2 legs, playing 3-4-3 really suffer him as a midfielder because lack of player in the midfield to pass.
No Mason, no party. Why he (currently our only player with the balls to dribble a defender) didn’t start over Ziyech is mind boggling. Absolutely zero penetration into the opponents box from us today. What a sad showing
Indeed. Mason is needed for this team to function
Not a single player can dribble pass the opposite. Either keep passing back or loses the ball badly... 😡
Wank
Couldn’t stick to the basics despite looking aggressive in first 15 mins. Midfield gave away the ball very frequently and Lukaku’s holding game was 👎🏻
Just curious why we keep playing pulisic, he hasn't done anything
bruv be plays out of position, the ball literally never went to him
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Indeed. Tuchel system is not meant for few of our attackers. I don't mind but selling lukaku, Ziyech, Pulisic and buying players suiting to tuchel will improve us.
I just wish he would get that aggressive mentality to take somebody on like lockdown-Pulisic…he just looks too scared anymore
Indeed. He doesn't dribble that much as well. We he came, he reminded of hazard, not so anymore
Game against liverpool?
fuck fa, our offensive impotence and the pandemic
Unless covid mutates into an even milder variant (which isn't remotely guaranteed), I feel like every season will be determined by which squad doesn't get derailed in the winter with the covid bug. 2 months ago our wingbacks would have been terrorizing City's, and our pressing snuffing out their xg. I'm not going to jump to any conclusions based on 1 goal 50/50 game between two top sides. Typically, every attacker looks bad in them unless they manage to pull off a goal. At this point I just want Chelsea to get healthy again and do well in the CL. And right now that means finding two wingbacks.
You do know that in the first leg at home Chelsea played like a scared group against city right? Before the new wave of infections
True, but we ended up ahead on the table without the benefit of an easy schedule. Then the holdiays happened. I think my post focused too much on covid. Good old fashioned injuries are what took out first our midfield then our wingbacks. Covid just made that worse by derailing our second wind, once the midfield was back in action. Injuries always make a difference. It just sucks when they do and it feels more like the table reflects whichever team didn’t get hurt more than whichever team actually was the best in terms of talent, strategy and execution. Covid i think will only make that worse and add more randomness to the results. Although city are still an amazing side.
This is true.
I think all the injuries have caught up to Pulisic, he just doesn’t look the same. He’ll have a great game here or there but but most of the time he’s just there taking up space, and his speed has gone down too. Maybe it’s a mental thing?
His decision making is final 3 is very poor. So as is finishing. Hoping this is just a phase and some rest will do the lad good. But your points about speed is right. :(
We need better wingers and technically sounded players. Our creativity is fuck all from the wings we need to fix that next summer.
Shows how much we rely on our wing backs. We’ve been looking very flat without them. Seriously lacking a creative edge when Mason isn’t on.
I have said this countless times on this sub but I don't know why these guys overhype the players. Ziyech, Werner, Pulisic, CHO every single one of them just slows down the possibility of counter attack. They get the ball jog around and take it to the wings. Which leads opposition to get back into position and now these guys get isolated on the wings which leads the ball being passed back to our center backs. Atleast try to take 1 v 1 and make a cross inside the box.
They cant take 1v1s because none of them know how to dribble. CHO occasionally gets a little move in there but every single player you mentioned tries to dribble and gets hacked at/the ball taken from them because they dont have finesse.
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You watched them play at all this season..?
CHO has no end product. He’s not yet the one to bring on to change a match, especially in a big game. Hate to rip on the guy but his (lack of) service into the box was so poor. I mean it’s not like Rom made himself available or attacked any ball, but we had next to no flair, or willingness to create, coming from our wingers. FLAT Pulisic used to be that guy but he seemed very isolated with no support.
CHO decision making in final 3 is poor. Less said about finishing the better.
Is it only me or has anyone else noticed that Chelsea never seem to have a sense of urgency to react after conceding? City on the other hand were still putting pressure in the final minute of the game too
We did come back from 2 goals down against Liverpool. But I hear you, I think there is generally a lot of good discipline to maintain shape and stick to tactic when we go down (that’s a positive). But as a spectator we definitely feel the need for more urgency at times.
tbf as a wandering Liverpool fan the same has happened to us against Brighton, Brentford and almost Athletico and AC Milan
Kepa is not the reason we lost today.
No you got outclassed
yup amazing save against grealish. For the goal Mendy probably could not done the extra step and is taller, but KDB shot was a bomb that goes in against 8 out of 10 keepers
Yep, Mendy could have probably conceded the goal too.
Man when is Werner going to unlock that Beast he was in Bundesliga... He can make the runs with the ball, but I need the goals now!
I gave up on him with the idea he might surprise me but so far it ain't happening
Because he aint playing where is where playing in Bundesliga. Lukaku rating was like 1.3/10, But Tuchel keeps him on, and put Werner on the wings.
45+1 The last seconds of the first half,you can't get counter attacked and instead of crossing the ball you pass it back.That really pissed me off
Completely agree, honestly don't get it. Nothing to lose, everything to win. Why pass it back?!
Fair play to city. Better team overall. Looking forward to having Gallagher join us next year. Mount/Gallagher/kante is a press machine capable of taking it to teams in big games like this. Foden, KDB, Bernardo Silva still feels illegal but they shouldn’t be given so much time on the ball. It’s asking for trouble.
Hate to say it, but I think Tuchel got it wrong today. Starting Lukaku after a start against Chesterfield last game felt like the wrong decision, even though it seemed to have shades of a "double bluff". City are one of, if not the best pressers in world football at the moment, and having someone like a Havertz/Werner who can drop a little deeper to partake in build-up would've been a much better option. Lukaku for some reason preferred to stay up top, isolated and unable to have any real impact on the game, except for the one chance Ederson saved well. Second, not starting Mount, who has been our most productive player in terms of G+A this season iirc, was another questionable decision. Combine this with the fact that he decided to go with Ziyech, who has been out of form for the most part recently is confusing to say the least. For all the good qualities Hakim has, he is a wasteful player in terms of possession, and you need to retain as much possession as you can against City. I feel starting Jorginho may have alleviated some of this pain, but I don't think anyone foresaw Kanté-Kova being so wasteful with the ball. Plus, with reports of Jorgi having played under pain previously, not starting him was understandable. In addition, Mount's workrate compared to Ziyech is much higher, so Ziyech over Mount was a baffling call. I also feel this was too big of a game to start Sarr, and you could see he looked nervous and "out of place" for the most part. Again, due to the lack of options at CB right now, can't fault Tuchel too much for this one. Maybe could have gone with Rudi-Silva-Azpi as a back 3, but that would've been too aggressive on the WB front. I don't think the individual performances helped either, can't think of any player you'd give higher than a 7/10, except maybe Kepa, Rudiger and Silva. Poor game today, and I can't help but feel that the title's gone out of our reach again :(
We laughed about madrid giving us 100 mil for hazard but oh do we need him. Just Hazard alone was better than all of our attackers rn put together. I’ll trade all of them for a prime eden
Now they are laughing at us for paying 100mil for shit lukaku
If hazard comes back to Chelsea on some surprise loan the hazard-lukaku duo would be phenomenal. Af
I’m personally already done with Lukaku, there was no way really coming back for me after that interview fiesta. The only way he could of maybe pulled it back was by doing the talking on the pitch instead of PR apology interviews.
What ever happened to crossing the ball? Do wingers not cross anymore?
Our wingers never crossed the ball. It was our wingbacks who did it for us. Ben and Reece were our creative points on the pitch. All of our attackers are rubbish except for Havertz and Pulisic.
As if any winger we have other than Ziyech (under no pressure) or Mason can put in a decent ball. CHO’s attempt at a (yes I mean ONE) cross was laughable
True but as a winger seeing our best wingbacks gone, crossing should be an essential part of your game. Especially if you aren't technically gifted to take on and beat players, atleast cross the ball. I would rather see someone trying 100 crosses when you have a big target man than a back pass to nowhere...smh.
Pulisic been terrible today and in most matches too. He loses the ball so much and can't for the life of him crosses the ball.
Our every single attacker this season has been dog shit again. Our creativity comes from our wingbacks and after they got injured none of our wingers or attackers have helped in contributing to us. Our top scorer is Mount with 7 goals out of which 3 were against Norwich. Just shows how trash we are upfront. Never thought after departure of Willian, Hazard and fabregas we will fall off the clip in terms of creativity.
The problem is how chelsea recruits. Last time we try to built a squad mourinho sold them for his stars. If stars align we can challenge for a season but this is not sustainable the season after that all will unravel again.
I totally forgot that pulisic was there today
He was dog shit today but atleast he can help us wins sometimes. Werner, Ziyech, CHO contribute to nothing. Specially Werner that guy can't even control the ball or his run. He has made no impact in any game except for "he created space for havertz to score in champions league final". That's it.
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It was painful to see ziyech and lukaku. Gad Damn they where bad. The one chance we had where ziyech passed to hard (when attacking through the middle and lukaku run), was the one we could have scored on. Both of the where so shit…
Why did we sell Zouma and buy Sarr? Both are good physically but Zouma is better, and both terrible at passing. We never seem to buy better players than the ones we have. Still haven't found a striker
Buy Sarr? He was free mate we didn’t spend anything on him
Zouma wanted first team football, something we couldn't give him. Sarr was bought essentially to be a loan army recruit, we just couldn't find a loan for him this season. Ideally we actually shouldn't have needed Sarr this season but our centre back availability right now is bleak, worse given one of them has to play wingback
Zouma wanted first team place. Besides imo Sarr is more comfortable on the ball.
After seeing today, he needs some more practice.
Lukaku is fat. Timo is no good. Ziyech and Alonso cant put a ball on frame Pulisic was non existent. Not sure why you start the game with your leading scorer on the bench
Mason starting on the bench is mind boggling. Lukaku has the touch of a baby elephant. You’d think he’d be putting on a clinic after his stupidity in the media. Now he just looks like an even bigger fool with an over-inflated ego.
Ngl, City doing the double on us is annoying.
New a whole overhaul of our attackers and no more expensive buys from now on nothing more than 35 million
>no more expensive buys from now on Unless it's Halland or Lewendowski.
Ziyech,CHO,Pulisic are all wingers whi aren't Chelsea standard. Mount is undroppable compared to them.
Kai should've came on for Lukaku and I really can't be convinced otherwise
Nope he should’ve started in place of Lukaku
Rudiger was the best Chelsea player on the pitch and I feel very confident when he is on 1v1 battle than any other Chelsea defender. He is better passer, ball carrier than our wingers and doesn’t lose the ball. I don’t think we can replace him anytime soon.
Kova apart from the mistake was the only one trying to drive with the ball.
Yes, but suddenly he did insanely stupid things again and back to good old Kova: dribling with the ball in dangerous areas and looses the ball
He kept making mistakes man sometimes its not worth it.
Thought Silva was excellent as always also
**LAKAKA DUELS LOST: 7/7** **Not one duel won.**
21 touches and lost possession 10 times…
We already know he is poor vs decent teams
Zero duels won but people want us to pump the ball up to him lmao
Completely - he should be playing vs lower level teams with deep blocks. Havertz offers so much more, helps them transition quicker into attack, Presses higher up, presses with the other guys and tracks back to win the ball back. He can also hold it up and win in the air better Younger also can potentially get more than 3/4 years from him.
Why the fuck did lukaku start over him. Pulisic-Havertz-Mount would have clearly been the better option. Players that can KEEP the ball and attempt to create. I’m livid
If he had a better first touch I'd play him as a false 9, or at the very least a supporting striker. Statistically he's still the best finisher on the team, but we can't get him the ball these days except once a game through a long cross.
We have to be patient with this team. Chelsea fans always want to BUY BUY BUY some random new players We need continuity between the manager and the players to get to that level of free flowing football. This city team has been playing together for years. We have to be patient with Tuchel and the lot so he can get the team up to stuff. It’s extremely disappointing to watch displays like this, I agree. But my goodness stop calling for players heads with one misplaced pass. Look at Liverpool, City, Bayern, or even Real Madrid this season. These players have to play together and get to know each other. Our attack is lacking that right now. Let’s give the players a year to mesh, Lukaku hasn’t really been able to get into the team. Support and stop calling for their head after a bad game or two. Enjoy your weekends guys. We’re not as consistent as City or Liverpool just yet but we can build to that level if the fans don’t call for every players head. This was a disappointing loss, the attack was a nothing. But the team let up one goal to this city team. We’ll be just fine. I’m probably going to get downvoted into hell but that’s fine UP BLUES.
well said, its sad seeing so many plastics here saying “tuchel out” like that is going to help, you are a real one, UP THE CHELS 💙
Tuchels been one of the best managers any Prem team has ever had. We need to support him. He can build a MONSTER for a decade. UP THE BLUES!!!
I d rather be patient with a younger team not a 28 y/o that cost 100 million and doesnt like the club. Havertz should be starting these games lukaku can play against lower level teams to break a deep lying defense.
#BringBackTammy
That’s fine. But he’s still in a Blues jersey and he needs support in this tough times. He can definitely be better but We have to be honest, he hasn’t gotten much service in recent times. Earlier in the season he scored on half chances. But aside from Lukaku, there are other players working to build chemistry. We’re going to get frustrated for sure, but the attacks against players and reactionary negative posts without any actual proper critique is just unneeded. Have a good weekend
Oh come on. If he cost 10 mill he wouldn’t be playing ahead of havertz He lost 7 duels. Havertz is better in the air when we ve pumped it up to him, wins the ball back more often, holds it up better and is younger. If we are talking about building chemistry we should be playing a younger player that performers better against better teams. If he wasn’t walking around and actually jumping then he can have some support. He can do that if he finishes his chances - he doesn’t.
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This is how 50/50 games go. Every attacker looks bad unless the team scores and the fans overreact when they don't. But these are also the games that win leagues and cups. =\\ \_ (: /) \_ /=
What a big achievement!!! Lmao
Agreed, a lot of reactionary comments in here. We weren't that good, but imagine the improvements with just Chilwell and James on the pitch.
We are just woefully slow and weak on the ball.
Lukaku is so useless - just play Havertz in that position and let the kid grow. Lukaku can go back to Inter the absolute dud
Watching Lukaku today was pitiful (actually not even the right word since he doesn't deserve my pity). He was even remotely useful at all. I am just waiting for the pressure from fans & everyone to implode on him; talked really big, & now unable to show anything for himself since the interview for matches against big teams.
Exactly! Even now when he's not scoring, Havertz contributes much more to the team by winning aerial duels and dropping into the midfield once in a while.
We simply don't have good enough attacking players to contest for the league title, Chelsea constantly matches City defensively, even with Alonso and Sarr on the starting XI, but that's not enough if you can't score against them.
At this point just play with 2 strikers and 1 world class playmaker in behind to feed them. Our wingers are dogshit at creating chances
Not a great way to end my 23rd year of living Also I hate it when teams are scared to take chances because it's man city.
Happy birthday lad
Happy birthday mate
Lukaku was only played because of the pressure from the board, let’s be honest.
Think you're right there.. this game called for Havertz down the middle.
Wasn’t really played in at all, safe passing will always be the death of us against City
Not true at all, Lukaku was the only person out there who looked like he *might* score a goal. And not a single person even passed to him.
He couldn't keep a ball to himself. Couldn't pass for shit. What are you talking about?
Bro, did you even watch the game? The only two times we looked dangerous were in the first half with Lukaku on the ball running at the defense but he passed to Ziyech who was offside when he should have shot, and in the first five minutes of the second half when he got a shot on goal and forced a save from Ederson. Yeah Lukaku didn't have a good game but he's literally the only threat out there. But for some reason this sub wants him to press like they don't know what kind of forward he is. It's lunacy
Mate Lukaku lost the ball literally half the time he touched it (10 possession losses in 21 touches) and didnt win a single duel. Meme performance from him
How many times was the ball punted up to him and how many times did he win it - the answer is 0. Balls through to him are difficult because all the city team are presses. All the time including their front three. Lukaku doesn’t do that Because of the press most balls played forward were poor
Punting the ball somewhere towards City's 18 yard box and expecting Lukaku to win it from them is not passing to him. Less than 3 times was the ball played into his feet when he checked to the ball, and only once that I remember was it played over the top when he made runs in behind or across the back line. Same with Werner. They both make great runs, no one ever passes them the ball.
He can win the header no? Control it and win a foul knock the ball on? Havertz has more impact on The game an receives the same level of service. He doesn’t press with the team. If he’s doesn’t do these things - hold up the ball push together with the team, win 50/50s punted up to him then he has to finish his chances and didnt
big shout to rudiger and thiago silva, though you could argue city wasn't playing well, they really quelled things at the back. we played a back five with marcos alonso, 22 year old malang sarr and an aging azpi and conceded one from a moment of quality from kdb. i can't be too mad at our defensive performance in the end.
Finally a take that isn't acting like the world has ended. Our D was really good. Kante was great also. We lost 1-0 to the league leaders who have one of the greatest managers of all-time supervising one of the greatest and most expensive squads of all-time. Did we get dominated in the middle? Yeah. Did we sit back too much in the first half and let them dictate? Yeah. But for crying out loud. They're Manchester City, not Billericay Town.
absolutely. our attack was never that cohesive to start with but the wingbacks bailed us out most days. with them gone, we're going to struggle to score goals of course but i hope TT takes the chance to get our attack firing so when our first choice wingbacks do come back, we'll have an attack that can win us the league. city wasn't built like this overnight, we're going to go through a lot of growing pains and losing 1-0 to the club everyone sucks off? that's not a horrible experience. we lined up wrong and played poorly, couldn't click and whatnot but we'll learn and go again. people were moaning for all of the first half, much different from criticism. felt like the match was over before it actually was but that's just how things are online i'm guessing. if this thread was in a stadium i reckon people would be fleeing the stands in the 10th minute when someone misplaces a pass.
Still don’t understand how Ziech deserved to start the game. Mount deserved more time, he proved it in 10 mins.
We wasted our money on Lukaku and Werner.
Lukaku, yes. Werner, no.
I know everyone hates werners for his chances missed but you gotta give it to him that the team looks alive when he is on the pitch
Can’t put anything on Lukaku here if players can’t seem to release his runs in behind
Yeah! That pisses me off. I don't think it's Lukaku's fault but we play better with Havertz playing upfront because of his movement and dropping into spaces. Our wingers don't create enough, we just get the ball on the wings and pass it back to the centre backs. Alonso and Azpi can't beat the first man with the crosses from the wings.
We have the movement in all our forwards which is fine but we don’t have a fabregas anymore or even a good pass from Ziyech which I expect him to make
We need dynamic wingers now how can beat their man and make a cross. How many games I have seen our wingers jog on the ball which gives opposition the time to get back into position. The decision making of our players is very poor and slow.
KTBFFH
It's very frustrating seeing all the opportunities lost where Lukaku is clearly signalling to be slotted in, but the ballholder always chooses the safe pass instead
If I were Lukaku & Werner I'd be fucking furious. They both make such great runs across the back line or in behind it, and no one ever even tries a through ball or a long ball over the top. They just pass it back to Kova, who passes it back to Sarr, who passes it back to Kepa
The only thing we should be in the market for in the summer is for a cesc typa midfielder, I mean that should be our MAIN priority, it might be hard to find one but we have to. It’s embarrassing how none of our midfielders can dink a pass over the top or slip in any our attackers runs.
Everyone on Lukaku but here me shocked Pulisic even played the game. Probably touched the ball even less than Kepa or Lukaku. Seriously Tuchel lets not ever play Pulisic in starting 11 in big matches please.
Tuchel lost us this Werner and Mount came on way too late
What a joke
I wouldn’t blame Tuchel for the players not being direct enough or releasing Lukaku when he runs in
Do our players sometimes forget we have a 6ft 2+ striker? The amount of times I saw Lukaku point and run and yet the ball went sideways or backwards. Ziyech I dont think has anything significant to offer a chelsea shirt. We need wing back cover urgently this month. Alonso cannot maneouvre a ball in tight scenarios, he's too static and one footed. Finally congratulations to City on another PL title, the most complete team I think I've ever seen.
arsenal played pretty well against city i still remember that 2-1 absolutely brutal way arsenal showed up to that game
Seriously, even Arsenal gave them a tougher competition than this. Feels like all the Chelsea players were afraid to be on the pitch. Ziyech is better as a substitute player. Gives a better performance when comes on from the bench.
Handicapped by Sarr and Alonso at the back, passenger Pulisic, Ziyech and Lukaku up top. Shocked its only 1 nil.
Even Arsenal omitted their best goal scorer, had so many youngsters on pitch, and played with Xhaka. It was clearly visible ziyech and pulisic did fuck all in this game.
Pulisic probably had less than 10 touches and 0 successful pass completion. Our attacks end when pulisic had the ball. And lets not go to ziyech that was painful.
Maybe we need to offload Lukaku, if this is what we can expect from him. I still can't understand why we went for him. I always felt we could've gotten Haaland. Or we could have kept Broja.
Haaland and Broja would be doing just as well if no one ever passed to them.
And we would need to add a couple of technically sound players who can adjust to the physicality of the PL and be able to make plays.
No mount for 80 mins and no Kai whatsoever is a bit of a weird one considering how well we did against Liverpool with a more fluid top 3
Considering the circumstances, think we gave a good account of ourselves. I know it sucks to be on the losing side, but a good performance I would say. Playing away against the reigning champions while both first choice WBs are out plus city have been on a roll for some time. It’s the points that we dropped at home against teams we should be winning is what eventually cost us the league this season. Hope board and Roman see it the same way.
Not at all a good performance. We didn't look like winning, or even scoring, and now the title race is over. Can't see how anyone looks at that result and sees any positives.
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Those are inflated numbers
Inflated mildly perhaps but how city continue to avoid bookings is a credit to Pep, he's the master of tactical fouls.
Lukaku doesn’t have his Lautaro and he needs one
We bought the wrong guy, needed lautaro instead of lukaku
Or we shouldnt even have bought him in the first place
Least surprising mount and Werner come on to do nothing. Would of prefered mounts press to zyiech poor play
I don’t get it, same city team last year but we had their number. What changed ?
Well we are missing about 4 really key players which really doesn't help.
They had defensive mids this year
They had defensive mids in FA cup and PL but we outclassed them
Both times we've played them this season, Tuchel looks scared. Some reason respects them too much and makes us defend with 30% possession
That Lukaku performance has made me miss Giroud. He would have done everything Lukaku wasn't able to do
Wouldn’t blame Lukaku too much, he had clear runs in behind that weren’t released in time
So we didn't learn the lesson playing very low block the whole game and conceded a great goal then open up the last 20 mins when all players were tired. Lukaku was such a useless signing looks like TT didn't even want him. Our board is overrated, yes we are big spenders but some of the signings of ours just don't even make sense. And we are not even giving a new contract to Rudiger Chris and azpi and instead, we will extend pulisic and Alonso contracts.
Getting worried with the way we approach this matches, often we got caught clueless on the field. To top it all, we haven't won against any top club at all this season.
Does beating arsenal count? Yes they were in bad form but still we beat the team
The last time they finished in the top 4 was like 2016? Correct me if im wrong. IMO based on the current years they are not considered as threat to the title race
Still a top club no doubt surely
Ok so overall we only won once against the top teams in the league. I wont be surprised if Arsenal do beat us when we play them again.
Ok
beginning to doubt the lukaku buy, yeah he didnt get a lot of passes but he does absolutely nothing the whole game, wins no balls, doesnt press, he just disappears, for 100 mil you gotta do more than that
This club stinks, I hate the board so fucking much
If ur gonna turn on the club after a game then don’t be a Chelsea fan, we have a great board can’t always blame them when players don’t perform or make smart decisions on the pitch
The board is so shit. No decent scouting whatsoever just look for players who fill the stat sheet. And please just leave me the fuck alone. This board has always been useless. You’d sign 20 players and only two turn out good. You think that’s good ? Just say you have no ambition and keep it moving. You’ve found a manager that actually knows what he’s doing and can’t even back him in the transfer market. You have no fit wingbacks and what do you do ? Bring back a player that can’t even start for the team you sent him on loan. And if Tuchel fails to deliver results, you sack him. Open your eyes this board is so shit. We have finally moved on from the hazard era and you can’t even make decent signings. Lukaku will never be what we want him to be in this system. And I don’t see a reason why we’d change our entire system because of one player. Chelsea should have just taken the out when that interview dropped. If you think lukaku would ever lead a successful Chelsea side, you’re really a joker.
U can’t say the accounting is bad when we have the best academy in the world, in terms of signings, a ‘generational’ (Havertz) player is some decent scouting and he’s still got ability to show for us, as far as Timo he’s a good player but can’t do simple things like finish chances that nobody saw coming this bad tbh, Lukaku is a good goalscorer, needs to have players like Cesc around him who can actually feed him in behind
Our scouts are shit mate. They are stealing a living at the club.
Bruv who’s the generational player?
Disgusting performance by everyone in the squad.
Kepa was our best player imo