If the refs get the yellows out early, it tends to be an easy match, but if someone like Kevin Friend or Madley is reffing, then it might be tough.
Chelsea 2017/18 thread - FA Cup Champs, League chumps
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) was joined by comedian Ali Woods to look back at the best and worst moments of a rollercoaster season with the annual United Hour Awards.
Has Ten Hag been sacked yet? We're not sure and we hope not, but it's looking more likely as the days pass.
Who should replace him and why is it taking so long to make a decision?
Our players had a good day yesterday on international duty - Morata getting 2 goals and an assist (should've had his hat trick but he hit the bar), Willian scoring a great goal for Brazil & Zappacosta apparently being Italy's best player despite coming on as a sub (MOTM) . Roll on the weekend!
On a side note , I think I would rather see Hazard not start and come on as a sub this weekend.
On a side note , I think I would rather see Hazard not start and come on as a sub this weekend.
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Batshuayi is great fun. 
https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/fo...ham-own-goal-is-not-awardworthy-a3628921.html
https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/fo...ham-own-goal-is-not-awardworthy-a3628921.html
I wish he was just a little bit better a footballer! He does seem a great character.Batshuayi is great fun.
https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/fo...ham-own-goal-is-not-awardworthy-a3628921.html
I didnt realize the Drinkwater deal went through. Just saw that.
I remember watching him play for our reserves along with James, Norwood, Hewson.
Cant believe Chelsea signed him for 35m. He has done well for himself.
I remember watching him play for our reserves along with James, Norwood, Hewson.
Cant believe Chelsea signed him for 35m. He has done well for himself.
Hasn't that changed in the recent seasons though? Thought the thuggish aspect of their game had reduced considerably under Hughes. Would say West Brom are worse as they just defend and try and nick a goal on set pieces.
Baba has been added to our prem squad so I guess him alonso and kennedy as LWB options.
He needs to bulk up, badly. He was getting torn through like Kleenex tissues last time around
Strange, I always thought he was the most talented of the Belgian striker group ( Benteke, Lukaku, Origi) I remember when Origi had that excellent second half of the season in our Europa win and thinking what incredible depth they had with those two coming through on top of the other established two. His numbers were excellent especially his underlying ones. Might just be the wrong club for him, he needs regular game time.
I genuinely don't think I've mixed him up with anyone either, there's no other strikers to mix him up with
He's not a bad player, I just don't think he's at all suited to play upfront for us in our current system.Strange, I always thought he was the most talented of the Belgian striker group ( Benteke, Lukaku, Origi) I remember when Origi had that excellent second half of the season in our Europa win and thinking what incredible depth they had with those two coming through on top of the other established two. His numbers were excellent especially his underlying ones. Might just be the wrong club for him, he needs regular game time.
I genuinely don't think I've mixed him up with anyone either, there's no other strikers to mix him up with
He can't hold up the ball at all. Probably prefers attacking space and running channels like a typical number 9
I see Origi as a downgrade to Chicharito. Certainly plays like him, but cant score like him.
Hello there Sevilla fan.Strange, I always thought he was the most talented of the Belgian striker group ( Benteke, Lukaku, Origi) I remember when Origi had that excellent second half of the season in our Europa win and thinking what incredible depth they had with those two coming through on top of the other established two. His numbers were excellent especially his underlying ones. Might just be the wrong club for him, he needs regular game time.
I genuinely don't think I've mixed him up with anyone either, there's no other strikers to mix him up with
Yeah agreed. But there was a lot of players who have gone on to improve and become better from the team under jose.
I think baba under conte could be one.
Hello there Sevilla fan.
I guess I blanked it out, just like every other final we've been involved in, in recent times. That second half horror show.If he ever scored a goal with a finish like the last once in this clip, I'd be a happy man!Strange, I always thought he was the most talented of the Belgian striker group ( Benteke, Lukaku, Origi) I remember when Origi had that excellent second half of the season in our Europa win and thinking what incredible depth they had with those two coming through on top of the other established two. His numbers were excellent especially his underlying ones. Might just be the wrong club for him, he needs regular game time.
I genuinely don't think I've mixed him up with anyone either, there's no other strikers to mix him up with
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bakayoko was solid yesterday, so much more to come from him! Him kante and fab has the potential to be such a dominant midfield trio.
Don't believe it will take him a while to adapt just due to him physically being a beast.
Don't believe it will take him a while to adapt just due to him physically being a beast.
Yeah, the whole team looked decent. Not great but okay.
Fabregas is still a hell of an asset to have in the team. With added protection in midfield and Morata instead of Costa, he's looking like the player that arrived in 2014, hungry to prove a point after leaving Barcelona.
Bakayoko at his average game is going to be a much better option than Matic being played out of position (even Drinkwater for that matter), at his best he is good enough to give the likes of Verratti and Kroos a run for their money. The United posters on here are very fickle in judging this business by Chelsea and declaring it a blunder.
Matic might win them the title this season but wont last much longer while Baka looks like he will reach Real/Barca level player over the next several seasons.
On an other note, while not as good as Costa overall Morata seems far better header of the ball than Costa. Would work really well with the some of the best crossers in the league in Azpi, Luiz, Alonso. Helps paper over other weaknesses in Morata's game.
Just interested what parts of moratas game do you feel makes him inferior to Costa overall? Just because to me I think morata is a much more complete player with a very high ceiling.
Yeah I know don't understand the criticism really very strange. There's a reason a lot of big teams were in for him, Kante has started the season really strong and I can see him and kante being a very solid partnership
Also for what it's worth I think matic is just having a purple patch in a new team can see him reverting back to his form more at chelsea as the season goes on.Also don't see united winning the league think it will be us or city.
Interested to see what our line-up will be mid week, we seem to have a lot of options at the moment and a few formations we can go too. Would be interesting now we have baka to see if 4-2-4 is actually a possibility.
For one Costa seemed to be a lot better at getting out of tight situations with 2-3 defenders. Maybe his decision making was better than Morata or his dribbling (I doubt). Morata on the other hand seems to fall flat on his arse looking for a foul in those situations. Also, Costa was a lot better suited for the lone striker role as his holdup play was exceptional. Also think his shot accuracy was better than Morata. I know early days but still.
That last one is magic. Irratic first touch on a heavy pass but the way he sorts his feet out to smash it with his left foot is impressive.
Fair enough I kind of see your point, I think his intelligence and technical ability is leagues above costa though tbf. The only part where I tend to agree is about him going down looking for a foul, which coming from La Liga isn't too surprising. I think its something he will improve on. Morata was unlucky at the weekend, Morgan blocked a certain goal from him and he really should have had a penalty for the handball.
Costa was one of the best strikers in the world when on form (e.g. the first half of last season). Morata has yet to prove that he belongs to that elite level.
FA are going to investigate Morata chant. Anyone know what was the chant?
Something like "he comes from Real Madrid, he hates the fecking yids" if I recall.
That's fecking awful. Chelski fans...
I'd never seen him play before he came to us, but there were a few flashes of brilliance yesterday that really stood out. Hugely excited now to see how he develops over the season.
Pedro was disappointing on Saturday though unfortunately, haven't seen him look that flat and out of it for a long time. Hopefully just a bad day at the office, because he's been really important to us for a while now. Then again Fab looked a bit out of sorts too, so perhaps it was the horrendous rain that was messing with both their games.
As for Morata, we really couldn't have asked for a better start. He's played 3 and a half games so far and already got 3 goals and 2 assists. That's incredible.
To be honest I had to google the word 'Yid' as I had never even heard of it. Strange chant for a player though.
Now you're going to the other extreme. Let's just call him a good signing.
I thought Chelsea's play was good and yes Morata should have scored more. I heard one commentator say Chelsea limped over the line but that really doesn't represent the quality of play the team churned out. I thought they dominated the match and forced Leicester to play a defensive game without letting them have too many quality chances. Bakayoko is starting to fit in nicely and Kante is just quality. For me Fabregas tires a bit too early in the game and I wouldn't expect him to play in the more challenging champions league games. I know he opens teams up but Bakayoko and Kante's fitness along with the pace of Pedro,Willian and Hazard will give us a real threat from deep.
Overall I think the new players are doing really well considering they haven't played in the premier league before. We have a bit more depth than last year and have achieved some good results without some of better players even being on the pitch. A real statement will have been made, if having already beaten Spurs away, we beat Arsenal next.
The Times is making a lot out of the fact that Morata has scored a few with his head and not his feet. I believe this will change when Hazard starts. The relationships between Hazard and Costa last season was crucial and Morata needs to interlink with Hazard this season. Hazard will play him in from a more narrow position and to his feet. They could be a real potent strike force with more variation than current set up.
Overall I think the new players are doing really well considering they haven't played in the premier league before. We have a bit more depth than last year and have achieved some good results without some of better players even being on the pitch. A real statement will have been made, if having already beaten Spurs away, we beat Arsenal next.
The Times is making a lot out of the fact that Morata has scored a few with his head and not his feet. I believe this will change when Hazard starts. The relationships between Hazard and Costa last season was crucial and Morata needs to interlink with Hazard this season. Hazard will play him in from a more narrow position and to his feet. They could be a real potent strike force with more variation than current set up.
Yeah I feel our 4 midfield options all offer us something different regardless of what others will say about drinkwater, I do think he will be useful. As for Bakayoko I think we will see him grow as he adjusts to the prem but really see him and Kante in a 2 bossing just about any CM combo in the prem. Just a sidenote Kante has been sensational for us so far this season! So consistent every game even by his standards imo.
As for pedro yeah I agree maybe just getting back into form after coming back from Injury, I want to see Musonda/Willian and Hazard play either side of Morata tomorrow night.
I'm not defending the people doing it because they should certainly know better, but I'd guess a fair number of them don't understand they're doing something racist either. The Spurs fans using their Yid Army chant doesn't help either. It confuses an issue that should be straightforward as a 'no-one should be doing this shit' thing.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...White-Hart-Lane-says-Metropolitan-Police.html
It's silly really that I didn't even mention Kante, when he was absolutely enormous that game. He's just that good that I think I've started taking it for granted. Fast becoming one of my favourite players at the Bridge, I hope he stays for a very, very long time.
This is a good point and the Police's position does open the door to confusion. The vast majority of Chelsea fans do not take part in chants like this and I believe the chant will not be heard again. Morata did exactly the right thing in disassociating himself from the remarks.
I also think its great how Conte recognised and constantly mentioned when Kante joined that his strength is off the ball and he needed to improve his work with it, and I genuinely feel he is constantly getting better in his decision making and his passing and I think I've seen him improve that a lot since he's joined. Playing with fab having that affect haha!
With all due respect, that is rubbish.
Perhaps those fans do not know know exactly what they're chanting, it's a real possibility. I'd tend to give Chelsea (and West ham) fans less of the benefit of the doubt than I would a Stoke fan for example , considering those two fanbases are the only two that still occasionally send anti semitic abuse our way (and by anti semitic abuse, I don't just mean singing yid out of context either).
It is of course also disingenuous to equate this with Tottenham fans singing yid and strikes me as (a much milder) form of the same argument about why it's OK for African Americans to say nigger if they get offended by white people saying it.
It goes without saying there is a historical reason (whether you agree with the use of the term now or not) for Spurs fans to associate with the term yid. To cut a long story short, it was historically a word used pejoratively by fans of other clubs based on the assumption that our fanbase was more heavily Jewish than others. To remove the sting from this insult, the fanbase turned it around and took on the term as a source of pride, removing a lot of the viciousness of the term. Bit by bit, other fan bases have stopped using the term, excluding one or two. That is partly down to the changing of football culture in the country as a whole anyway but also partly down to the claiming of that term to be a source of pride.
Having talked to quite a few Jewish spurs fans (and randomly a couple of non spurs Israelis), not a single one of them found the term in this context offensive. On the contrary, they had a sense of pride that the club and its fans had long associated with the local Jewish community. Though I acknowledge that I cannot possibly articulate the general opinion of London or the world's Jewish community.
I'd assume it's also rather clear that the underlying meaning and intent when used by Spurs fan is altogether different compared to when used by Chelsea fans.
Anyway, back on topic. Chelsea looking good since the opening day debacle (where I reckon they probably would have walked away with 3 points anyway had it not been for Fabregas' stupidity) and Morata seems to have settled in very quickly too.
@africanspur maybe Spurs just shouldn't say it?
You're right, that's definitely the problem. If only Spurs fans had never said it, Chelsea and West Ham fans would never have done anything anti semitic in their interactions with Spurs.
And were Spurs fans to stop tomorrow, the Chelsea fans would immediately stop. Nothing to do with the historical context I've provided above.