v Southampton ko 3pm live on BT Box Office.

This topic contains 39 replies, has 12 voices, and was last updated by  nine nine nine 3 years, 5 months ago.

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  • #1884278

    nine nine nine
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    • :

    Some selection dilemmas for Frank this weekend with some key players returning to fitness and some missing due to injury.

    From Frank’s pre match press conference 16/10

    “Mendy won’t be fit for the match tomorrow. We hope the injury is not too long,” said Blues boss Frank Lampard.

    “Thiago Silva after his trip and back is not unfit but he’s not ready to play in the game, so he won’t be in the squad.

    “Ben Chilwell is in the squad. He’s got over some of the pain he had. We took him out of the England squad around the injury that’s had for a while now.

    “Christian Pulisic is in the squad and fit to play. Hakim Ziyech is in the squad and is not fit to start but we hope will get some minutes.”

    #1884375

    young_blue
    Participant
    • :

    I often hate Chelsea to play earlier kick-off after the international break, it’s never easy to play as most of our player on international duty. and our record of playing the Saturday after the international break is not good or at least as much as I can remember. players are always not in good condition.

    If I was Frank, I would play the following line up:
    Kepa, Azpi, Rudiger, Zouma, Chilwell, Mount, Kante, Havertz, Hodson Odoi, Werner, Pulisic. and if Hodson Odoi is struggling, we have the chance to unleash Ziyech. I don’t think it a good idea to play Werner on the wing. he struggled against Westbrom and Palace. return him to the centre.

    With Wener, Havertz and Mount scoring during the international break, they will be full of confidence to break Southampton.

    #1884392
    aindro
    aindro
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    I am not optimist with our defense as Mendy is out (and Silva is out), while Chilwell seems to be doubtful to me. I would not force Chilwell to start as he is not 100% fit.
    I do hate Lampard saying small injury with Mendy. Like Pulisic before, small injury, how long did it take Pulisic, it was long. So I tend to believe that we will lose Mendy for probably 3-4 matches.

    On the attack, cannot wait to see Pulisic returning. Hopefully he and Ziyech will stay healthy. I would really be happy with a tight win here, we play at home, so no matter how not optimist I am, I still think we have to win this.

    My team: Caballero – James,Christensen,Zouma,Azpi – Kante,Kovacic – Werner,Havertz,Hudson-Odoi – Abraham

    Pulisic or Ziyech would come from the bench if we cannot break the deadlock until 55-60 min or if Southampton take the lead.

    #1884423
    Blueowner
    Blueowner
    Participant
    • :

    I don’t feel Werner and Abraham should be on at the same time, it’s either one or the other as the striker. Mount also deserves to start. Didn’t know Silva was out, don’t feel confident with Christiansen and Zouma as a pair.

    #1884428
    aindro
    aindro
    Participant
    • :

    Blueowner, quoting the post from 999 above: “Thiago Silva after his trip and back is not unfit but he’s not ready to play in the game, so he won’t be in the squad.” So if Chilwell is not fit, we’ll have exactly our old backline as the new players aren’t fit for selection.

    #1884447

    nine nine nine
    Moderator
    • :

    Given Kepa’s clean sheet for Spain and that he’s been on the bench ahead of Willie when Mendy has played I think he might get the nod?

    Chilwell was training normally with Chelsea if there’s no reaction I expect him to play, Azpi could play at CB alongside Zouma after James had two very good games for England, Rudiger wasn’t great for Germany in the 3-3 draw with Switzerland and then there’s Christansen???

    Jorginho was excellent v Palace be suprised if he doesn’t hold his place I expect Mount to start on the right with Ziyech on the bench Mount had a good game for England and combined very well down the right hand side with James.

    If Pulasic is fit to start then Werner is likely to move centrally with Tammy dropping to the bench.

    As players return from injury it’s going to get very competitive for places at Chelsea.

    #1884484
    NIBlue
    NIBlue
    Participant
    • :

    Very hard decision for Frank. Given the news about Silva snd Chilwell more than anything.

    We know the likelihood of the defence we are left with conceding is extremely high, especially if we play Jorghino in the defensive mid.

    I feel for Kepa if he is selected.

    Danny Inggs is on fire at the minute and Southampton are one of those unknown quantities, but last season were much stronger on the road.

    Frank will be keen to get Pulisic and Ziyec involved, but that means more tinkering up front which is another risk.

    Where we played well in the second half against Palace they set up to defend and went to pieces in the second half. Personally I thought the scoreline flattered us.

    Southampton are more likely to attack so I feel we need to get an early lead in this game to wreck their gameplan.

    #1884584
    Stuilse
    Stuilse
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    • :

    Thank heavens Chilwell is fit. Any reason why James is on the bench? He was immense against the Danes in midweek. Happy enough with the starting 11. Attacking 4 of Pulisic, Mount, Havertz and Werner is mouthwatering. Decent options on the bench. I’m hoping for a goal fest.

    #1884616
    Luckydestiny
    Luckydestiny
    Participant
    • :

    Timo! Two great goals

    #1884626
    MightyM
    MightyM
    Participant
    • :

    Bad marking again by our centre halves again let’s them back into the game. Why oh why.

    #1884655
    Luckydestiny
    Luckydestiny
    Participant
    • :

    It was terrible from zouma moos, why that ball isn’t smashed in to stands I don’t know.

    Such a shame, we were great in first half hour but we just don’t have good enough players at back, simple as that.

    We do need better balance to allow us to play with 4 offensive players. Kante is not as good as he has been and worried that he is on decline. Jorginho played great assist today but jorgi and the kante we saw today are not the players to balance this team in middle

    Kepa and centre backs we all know are problems and didn’t need this game to know that.

    Timo’s goals though, superb

    #1884656
    aindro
    aindro
    Participant
    • :

    Disappointed. We scored 3 goals yet did not win. Our defense was an absolute shamble. Kepa has to be dropped. No control on any situation. We got robbed 72m by Bilbao. Christensen, so bad. Zouma was bad too. I don’t think Chilwell was fit either. He did not really run the last 15 min.

    Just bad. Last 15 min, Southampton were the better team. No idea why Pulisic was still on the pitch. He was not 100% fit. Werner scored 2. That’s really the only positive from this match

    #1884661
    MightyM
    MightyM
    Participant
    • :

    What a clown of a keeper

    #1884689
    aindro
    aindro
    Participant
    • :

    Copied from TT: Werner: “In Germany we always say defence wins titles. If we concede so many it is hard to win games and win titles.”

    Kepa had a golden chance to prove himself as Mendy is injured. And he clearly did not take it. None of the goals was directly his fault, but his body language, his gestures: it did not inspire confidence at all. I understood though we went all the way to buy Havertz instead of strengthening our defense. It was an opportunity that may not come often, a young player with that quality available. Apart his mistake resulted to their first goal, I think he was superb and I think he will become one of our finest players. But next summer, if we don’t fix our defense, we won’t stand a chance to win titles anytime soon in the future.

    #1884691

    nine nine nine
    Moderator
    • :

    So disappointing to play like we did for 40 minutes of the first half and then gift Southampton 2 goals.

    If in doubt kick it out Zouma especially with a Keeper who is so lacking in confidence.

    Hopefully Frank bends Harvertz ear about playing the fancy stuff so near your own area which led to the first goal.

    We missed Mendy and Silva today. Tuesday night v Sevilla is a worry.

    #1884723
    NIBlue
    NIBlue
    Participant
    • :

    I am a Chelsea FC supporter first and foremost, not individuals with the club.

    Where it pains me to say it I feel that Frank is now treading on extremely thin ice.

    Yes you cannot make allowances for individual errors, but how long can we hide behind that excuse. We had 30 mins of good play today apart from that at times we looked shapeless and clueless.

    The Palace result flattered us! Week in week out we are guilty of the same mistakes by playing a style of football that does not suit the personnel that we have.

    Removing my blue tinted Lampard spectacles I feel a more experienced coach with a better backroom staff would have this squad pushing all the way, not scrapping results to save a point. Sorry Frank hate to say it but you are beginning to look out of your depth.

    And before any of you start to disagree take a while to think …. if this was anyone else rather than Frank Lampard …..

    #1884731

    nine nine nine
    Moderator
    • :

    I can’t remember the last time we saw football from a Chelsea team like we saw in the first 30/40 minutes today sadly self inflicted mistakes cost us and conceding the first goal just before half time was the very worst time to concede.

    Both Pulasic and Ziyech were a bit off the pace which is not unusual after such a long lay off and the return of Mendy and Silva to the defence will add some stability.

    You can’t gift any team two goals in the PL we have to iron those mistakes out of our game.

    On the positive side putting aside the glorious football we played in the first 30 odd minutes how good did Werner look playing through the middle once he settles into that role he will score lots of goals.

    Winning 2 nil we have to put the game out of reach and a goal in front in the final minutes we have to manage the game out but we are far from the finished article we’re a team in transition but we will get much better as the season progresses.

    #1884798
    aindro
    aindro
    Participant
    • :

    NIBlue, Klopp did not win titles until he got the final piece of the puzzle: Allison. (VVD too). FL reminded me of Klopp. So passionate, wants his football to be understood by the team. The attack looks good but the defense is unfortunately extremely poor. Thiago Silva is a stop gap, he is 36. But while the jury us still out: Mendy and Chilwell look promising. Clearly with Christensen, Jorginho, Kepa & probably Zouma: we won’t win the title. We need at least a world class CB.

    The result today ruins my Saturday honestly. 3 point seemingly in our hand: slipped away. Poor defending, individual mistakes … as long as these aren’t addressed, we won’t be near top 2 or top 3

    #1884803
    Stuilse
    Stuilse
    Participant
    • :

    Same old…seems we need a 3 or 4 goal lead to ensure we can get over the line for 3 pts.
    A player I feel we should have gone all out to sign….Thomas Partey. He will be IMMENSE for the Goons.

    Oh, wtf did Reece James not start? Offers more pace, more physicality, more dynamism and way better crossing ability than Dave…..

    #1884827
    Wise-fan
    Wise-fan
    Participant
    • :

    The problem we have is not a serious lack of talent, we have a serious lack of coaching. while the level of our players is high, the level of our coaching team is very low. I’m certain a talented coach would get the best out of that group, let one make excuse after excuse. all of these players can’t be that bad overnight. Kante is struggling even in a deeper role, our defence is struggling to get the organization that they need, and they are not getting that from our coaching team at the minute.

    I mean who in their right minds would have Morris as their assistant when their coach seriously lacks experience. equally important was to go out and get a good assistant to complement our current coach. because he seriously lacks many aspects and hides behind players being not good enough. we can’t have two 3-3 draws in 3 games with teams that we should be beating with second-string players. our coach needs to answer more questions than blaming the players.

    If I was Roman, I would be contacting Pochettino starting from Monday, and I would plan for the future from thereon. because what I see is not looking good for a team who wants to close the gap on the top two. instead we look to be losing ground to other top six teams.

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