Chelsea 2022/2023 | THIS IS LAST YEARS THREAD YOU NUMPTIES
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That was a very worrying performance.
It was man United levels when it came to the off the ball work and effort levels.
I’m not even sure Leeds were particularly good. They basically won that game because they ran around lots and the whole thing was a massive inconvenience to chelsea players. To be getting beat so soundly like that is very very United esque. I’d be concerned as a chelsea fan to see that level of effort.
Also Tuchel has got a habit of doing some strange things.
I don’t quite get the reasoning behind putting one of the best wing backs in the league at centre back to play a central midfielder at right wing back and then an attacking midfielder at centre midfield.
Again this is man United levels of stupidity.
It was man United levels when it came to the off the ball work and effort levels.
I’m not even sure Leeds were particularly good. They basically won that game because they ran around lots and the whole thing was a massive inconvenience to chelsea players. To be getting beat so soundly like that is very very United esque. I’d be concerned as a chelsea fan to see that level of effort.
Also Tuchel has got a habit of doing some strange things.
I don’t quite get the reasoning behind putting one of the best wing backs in the league at centre back to play a central midfielder at right wing back and then an attacking midfielder at centre midfield.
Again this is man United levels of stupidity.
In the De Jong thread, about a week ago, I wrote the reasoning why we could need Frenkie that there were midfield pairings you could NEVER do. One of them was Gallagher/Jorgihno. I then wrote the only thing that could compound that issue would be to have someone like James in the RCB role drifting up field, leaving a 37 year old Silva isolated as a sweeper. RLC as the right wing back made that even WORSE.
Tuchel says we don’t need mids. Kova and Kante are just injured, they’ll be back. Well, they were injured a good part of last year as well. At a certain point they can’t be counted on. Jorgihno struggles with the pace and physicality of the prem without Kante to do that work for him.
We need Fofana. Just … need. We should have played Trevoh today. We need both, badly.
I can see the Gordon thing now because he can help in attack some and we have zero cover for James at RWB.
And we need to fix the Jorgihno plus injuries issue in mid.
I think those three would help things more than aubamayang personally.
We will see
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They do have some foundational issues. Tuchel is a good manager but he has a couple big issues he needs to sort out, I think we'll have to see what the squad looks like at the end of the window. They played very well against Spurs (though I can't recall anyone claiming Tottenham as champions elect), but it also highlighted some of the problems they have.
Having said that, I think they still get top 4.
Not sold on Chelsea. Koulibaly was mugged off multiple times and got sent off for it, both yellows were him getting turned and his reaction speed was like that of an oil tanker. I can see the Koulibaly signing going the way of Kepa. As for Haavertz, he reminds of me Lacazette. A player who is supposed to be good but the goals aren't there, nor is the expectation he will score. Surely that CL final goodwill has run its course? Chelsea will be lucky to get 8 league goals from him. I also think Sterling wont have the impact at City, given Chelsea dont move the ball as well as City and Sterling wont get put in these advanced positions. At City he was running onto the ball and and benefitting form the quality of others, but yesterday he tried to lead the attack and whilst he is clearly the most lively Chelsea forward, he isnt a natural dribbler of the ball.
So much about this Chelsea team screams a rebuild is needed. Problem for them Tuchel is coach not a manager and doesn't get involved in transfers, leaving git all Todd.
So much about this Chelsea team screams a rebuild is needed. Problem for them Tuchel is coach not a manager and doesn't get involved in transfers, leaving git all Todd.
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Yeah agree with RLC. Talk about making a problem out of nothing. Especially when they had Colwill, who everyone was raving about, but sent him away on loan, and have Chalobah, who played well last season, but want to send him out on loan. Makes no sense.
I also find it odd how the media won’t make more of the fact the team just downed tools yesterday.
Carbon copy of what happened to United at Brentford, even down to the goalkeeping error, yet we had to endure Jamie Redknapp blabbering on things he knew nothing about and demanding to be looked in the eyes. The fact Chelsea ran 10k+ less than Leeds seems to get no mention. Strange Tuchel said he was delighted with the performance too.
Yeah, reckon you might see your efforts to bring in a midfielder accelerated after that. Gallagher kinda blew his audition but he shouldn’t have been played there to begin with.
Chalobah is a weird one, very rarely ever seen him put a foot wrong last year.
The problem you have if you don’t sign Aubemeyang is you basically have no finishers at the club. That’s hugely risky going into the autumn/winter.
Yup, I was waiting for the criticism but it never came. Waiting for the clips of players walking around and non sensical team selection etc. Guess that isn’t the narrative for other teams. Maybe Keane needed to be in the studio.
Is Mendy same as De Gear poor with ball playing skills ?
So many people on here have overrated them the past few seasons.
Hard to judge Chelsea just yet since they're clearly still in the market for new players, but I'd say they definitely need reinforcements. Up front is where they look most weak to me. With Ziyech seemingly on the way out too, their senior options are Sterling, Havertz, Hudson-Odoi and Pulisic. That is a long way from potent. Sterling is good player, but even at City he was somewhere between a 1-in-2 and a 1-in-3 kind of player. The other 3 only managed 15 league goals between them last season. I don't think that's a reliable front line for a team that's supposed to be in the running for the title.
They need someone like Osimhen up front in my opinion.
It does seem like he has a habit of panicking under high pressure from opponents every once in a while which has lead to some brain farts like we saw last night. There were a few high profile mistakes last season too.
However I think because of those few lapses in concentration Mendy's distribution is even a bit underrated. Most of the time his long balls go where he wants them to and 99% times even under pressure he can deliver ground passes to the defenders who then play it out from the back and defuse the press of the opponent. It's not like he just lumps it up high and the team loses the ball every time.
Still an excellent shot stopper and usually a calming presence in the box when dealing with crosses so overall I'd say he's been good for us but obviously those mistakes are a bad look on him and he really needs to learn from them.
Sounds like Auba is pretty much done at €22.5 + add ons.
£18m is acceptable to me.
I'd say on this site, Chelsea are either wildly overrated or wildly underrated, and usually people will go to the extreme in one direction as a reaction to someone saying something extreme in the other direction and round and round we go. I don't know how else to explain it but that's how it is.
They're inconsistent. Beat Madrid away last season, lose to Brighton at home. Fancy Spurs and Arsenal to finish above them as they seem to have found the knack of getting results week in week out.
As a Chelsea fan I do not need to overrate our team. We severely lack in attack, but a major issue we have is in our heart of midfield. We do not have a CM who can break down defenses with their passing or be able to start attacks in the way Fabregas did for us and KDB does for city. We are lacking in proper attackers and also a strong CB.
However, this is where most of my Chelsea supporters will start to not agree with me. The main problem we have right now when it comes to breaking down teams is Tuchel. He can set a team tactically to compete with anyone in defense and midfield, however he is not able to coach a good attack. I have listened to the man carefully; over and over he repeats the same thing about the attack and how he likes them to play. He wants them to play freely and express themselves. You CANT do this with the team we have. You do not have MBAPPE and NEYMAR like he did at PSG. Chelsea do not have mercurial forwards like Eden Hazard anymore. When you do not have these generational talents in attack, you have to coach your forwards how to attack effectively. Average forwards, playing freely, will mean your attack is average. You can’t complain about the attack when you are not putting a platform for them to succeed. They cant win you games playing freely, they are not good enough. Its the managers job to make sure they are structured and know what they need to do in the system.
The second problem with Tuchel. Playing players out of position and also not dropping players when they deserve to be dropped. Havertz and Mount have been anonymous all season. Drop, drop, drop. Make a statement that no-one is undroppable. Stop taking our best attacking player (which is sadly Reece James) playing him as a RCB. He is self sabotaging himself with these selections. Azpilicuetta in CB and Reece James in wingback is how you start that backline. Move RLC to Center of Midfield alongside Jorginho, and then move Gallagher into his natural position as a CAM. Drop Mount, he has offered nothing this season. You cant play Gallagher out of position in his debut start for Chelsea, alongside Jorginho who lacks pace and intensity.
Mendy, why is he still starting? Make a statement, play Kepa instead regardless of his past here with us. Light a fire under Mendy and show him if he does not concentrate he will be dropped. Mendy is looking for a better contract? Show him he is closer to being dropped. We got kicked out of the Champions League by Real Madrid due to this same type of mistake by Mendy. Drop him, he is not undroppable. Keep your players on their toes.
However, this is where most of my Chelsea supporters will start to not agree with me. The main problem we have right now when it comes to breaking down teams is Tuchel. He can set a team tactically to compete with anyone in defense and midfield, however he is not able to coach a good attack. I have listened to the man carefully; over and over he repeats the same thing about the attack and how he likes them to play. He wants them to play freely and express themselves. You CANT do this with the team we have. You do not have MBAPPE and NEYMAR like he did at PSG. Chelsea do not have mercurial forwards like Eden Hazard anymore. When you do not have these generational talents in attack, you have to coach your forwards how to attack effectively. Average forwards, playing freely, will mean your attack is average. You can’t complain about the attack when you are not putting a platform for them to succeed. They cant win you games playing freely, they are not good enough. Its the managers job to make sure they are structured and know what they need to do in the system.
The second problem with Tuchel. Playing players out of position and also not dropping players when they deserve to be dropped. Havertz and Mount have been anonymous all season. Drop, drop, drop. Make a statement that no-one is undroppable. Stop taking our best attacking player (which is sadly Reece James) playing him as a RCB. He is self sabotaging himself with these selections. Azpilicuetta in CB and Reece James in wingback is how you start that backline. Move RLC to Center of Midfield alongside Jorginho, and then move Gallagher into his natural position as a CAM. Drop Mount, he has offered nothing this season. You cant play Gallagher out of position in his debut start for Chelsea, alongside Jorginho who lacks pace and intensity.
Mendy, why is he still starting? Make a statement, play Kepa instead regardless of his past here with us. Light a fire under Mendy and show him if he does not concentrate he will be dropped. Mendy is looking for a better contract? Show him he is closer to being dropped. We got kicked out of the Champions League by Real Madrid due to this same type of mistake by Mendy. Drop him, he is not undroppable. Keep your players on their toes.
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Emerson to West Ham for £15 mil.
"Week in, week out", for 3 weeks?
You know you want slabhead duffs. You want, you want.
You'll never sell us your record breaking captain so I dare not dream.
if it is a 3 year contract then 6m a season for his service is very good value. He was excellent for Arsenal in 18/19, and 19/20, and scored a lot for Barcelona for his stay there too.
Would prefer to not give him a 3 year deal. Seems needlessly long for a 33 year old. It is what it is though.
ideally would be a 1 year +1 contract to keep him motivated, but no way he will accept that given his existing contract with Barcelona.
Was just about to quote the same. Both Arsenal and Spurs have started the season well and both were overall quite decent in the latter half of 21/22 too but I'd wait a little bit longer before making those sort of statements on either of them. Both have more than shown a capability of folding when things get tough so I wouldn't get carried away with their 'consistence' just yet.
We'll also need to see how both deal with the return of European football to their fixture calendars because last year Arsenal had no European footy whatsoever and Spurs were in the newly-established UECL which they never even took seriously and didn't make it past the group stages so both were able to focus solely on the Premier League. Arsenal especially don't have great squad depth so could easily end up suffering from the increased match load. Spurs did address some of their depth concerns over the summer though.
One thing worth noting is that both of those have done well in the transfer window to get their targets in early so there aren't any unnecessary distractions now that the season's started. We on the other hand still have lots to do regarding both new signings and departures so the circumstances in these early games haven't been as ideal as we might have hoped. Of course there can be no excuses when the team lose 3-0 to fecking Leeds but I also wouldn't rule us out based on just that one game. It's a long season and I would definitely expect us to get better.
Sort of mixed on Aubameyang. If he can convert the (usual) midfield control into productivity in the attack he could be very beneficial, but he’s nowhere near as explosive as he once was and offers little outside of goals. He has worked under Tuchel before though and is accustomed to the league. Hard one to call for me
I dunno what the consensus was on here, but they’re a good team. The squad has ended up sort of unbalanced, but Tuchel is a good manager and they have plenty of good players. Bad result against Leeds but I don’t think it’s a crisis, they’re just trying to integrate the new players within a fairly rigid system so it l’ll take a bit of time. There are a couple of big problems in the squad makeup though, so it’s gonna be interesting to see what he does.
When we do the "predict the league" threads before the season starts, Chelsea are most peoples picks for 3rd or 4th and have been for a few years now.
You always get the odd person who says how overrated we are, despite hardly anyone really ever thinking we're better than the top 2.
A 2+1 contract would be fine. My expectations aren't high here though. If we get one decently acceptable season out of him, I would call it a success.
This is where I'm at with it. If creativity isn't a problem then Auba is still a very good finisher when motivated. However, if the idea is that you need your forward to drop in, link play up & help with the creativity, then that's when his issues appear.
Arsenal needed the latter for the attack to function, they tended to perform better when Laca led the line, but he just didn't have the dynamism needed. That's why Jesus is perfect for them.
How do Chelsea fans see their attack, does it function well enough & is creative enough so Auba finishes chances off?
We have enough creativity if our wing backs are on their game. We need defense to sort out first and foremost. If we get fofana before window close then we can concentrate on attack. Midfield without Kante and kova exposed too much. Gallagher is new and need support.We will be okay once window closes. We will expect minimum two new players may be we end up with 3.
Two for attack one for defense. Will expect three or four outgoings as well.
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Ive lurked on Redcafe before finally signing up, and my observations have led me to be sure he is a Chelsea fan in disguise. At the absolute very least he has a soft spot for us but hates himself for it, but I am certain he adores Chelsea and even is a fan. I fully expect him to come in here, take shots at me and argue about why he is not or some attempt at how I am deluded, or an reaction of these sorts. That will only make my belief stronger. He knows things about our club that most Chelsea fans wouldnt even keep track of, let alone an oppo.Has he got the word Religion in his name?
Heck, @duffer called him out on being more informed about Chelsea then he was in a post awhile back ago in this very thread. Why he would hide being a Chelsea fan? Who knows, all sorts of people out there! Maybe he supports both Chelsea and Manchester United but cant admit it on an open forum!
Seeing Malacia tonight really underlines how crazy the Cucurella and Chilwell fees were, IMO. No doubt they’re both decent players but you pay those kinds of fees for someone like Cancelo, you shouldn’t be paying much more for a decent fullback than someone like Malacia.
I mean Malacia was decent but not that impressive. Obviously Cucurella was an overpay, there’s no doubt about that, but I’m still happy we have him rather than settling for a different LB that was 3rd or 4th on Tuchel’s wish list.
If we indeed sign Auba, Fofana and Leao I‘m pretty excited - no excuses for Tuchel anymore though once they‘ve settled. Could do without Gordon I guess but don‘t know him either so no judgment.
Liverpool right now is weak sauce (relatively speaking) so I wouldn’t read too much into it. Cucurella seems a great fit so far, that’s the important part. Interesting to see who goes out and how Tuchel manages game times…plenty of potential starters could end on the bench more often than not. Although that would be a major improvement on our midfield right now.
Liverpool right now is weak sauce (relatively speaking) so I wouldn’t read too much into it. Cucurella seems a great fit so far, that’s the important part. Interesting to see who goes out and how Tuchel manages game times…plenty of potential starters could end on the bench more often than not. Although that would be a major improvement on our midfield right now.
Laeo was always the prime target, like Nkunku. If he has stalled on signing an extension and there is a an opening there, you take it.
I really don’t care if people say he’s an overpay, Cucurella is class. Who determines that anyway? He is a much better player all around than Havertz, and he was a very expensive “bargain”.
If you invest money in a position and you get a great return, that’s all that matters.
I really don’t care if people say he’s an overpay, Cucurella is class. Who determines that anyway? He is a much better player all around than Havertz, and he was a very expensive “bargain”.
If you invest money in a position and you get a great return, that’s all that matters.
I’d say he played at the level you’d expect from a decent fullback, which is about the level Cucurella’s consistently played at before and after Chelsea paid 3x as much. I just think if you’re not going for an elite fullback you really don’t need to break the bank.
Just to remind the Chelsea fans that Harry is available and is great when played with 3 CB just ask anyone watching England. Just give Southgate a call and he will verify his class. Also you could've gotten Shaw for only half the price of sideshow Bob v2.0.
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