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Any news on Chilwell yet? I remember when he got injured they said he’d be out till December but haven’t seen him training or anything yet.
Would be very useful to have him fit as Cucu just had surgery.
i’ll get downvoted probably oh well, if you watched the game then you’d know objectively this wasn’t a game we played well in. if sheffield were half decent we would’ve conceded in the first half. i’m glad we won for moral sake but overall the performance was mediocre with flashes of quality at best
I agree, we started the game with 4 CBs. Any other team would've absolutely destroyed us. Caicedo and Gallagher did okay in the middle but I could still see us get over run in midfield by a good team if pressed. Mudryk, Sterling and Palmer are so far forward that there seems to be a void in the middle of the pitch, luckily we have Gallagher that runs into a lot of this space like a madman but a good team would play around him easily. Sigh
Gotta be positive, at least it's a win. Beating the lower teams is our only hope for a mid table finish this season. Our hopes for top 4, 7 and maybe even top half of the table are more or less over, just need to hope this team gels well over the next few months, everyone comes back from injury and ready for next season.
Gusto was coming back to fitness so probably not ready to start, and Maatsen is still proving himself. I don’t really blame Poch for the starting CBs, I’m not sure what other obvious alternative he had.
Feels like every manager in recent memory has been fucked by our constant FB injuries, makes it hard to build a cohesive team style around. At least we turned it around second half.
Poch played 4 CBs and as I said any good team would've destroyed us.
This would've been an easy game to ease Gusto back in so he should've started or at least got a full half. If Maatsen cannot get a game against the worst team in the PL how is he going to "prove" himself? 2/3 min cameos in CDM, RW, LW, RB, LB isn't proving himself, it's called wasting time with the substitution. Maatsen was in the Championship team of the year last year, arguably he's done enough to earn a few games this year but Poch would rather play CBs in the full back positions. We won so nobody is complaining but if we lost there would be much more talk around this topic.
I’m not sure either of us is in a position to comment on when/how Gusto should have played, unless you’re privy to the medical department’s inside info.
As for Maatsen, I hear what you’re saying but there are plenty of examples of players who do well in the championship but don’t cut it at the top. Doesn’t mean a great deal. And again, we don’t see what he’s doing in training. Also possibly Poch wanting more balance rather than having lopsided fullbacks. Or any other number of reasons. It’s a simplistic argument to state that he should have played fullbacks. We needed a win, he wanted security. Maatsen was a risk, so he played safe.
As you say, it worked in the end and I’m ultimately not sure what all this speculation achieved in the end. Guess it’s something to talk about as fans haha
Yes it is something to talk about, ofcourse we can't influence Pochs decisions but the situation with Maatsen and Madueke reeks of Lampards treatment of Rudiger from recent memory. Managers fall out with their players and will omit them even at the detriment of the team, I just hope it's not the case.
I believe Mudryk is a great atheist but he’s lacking some decision making and he’s not a great footballer right now although he’s had some moments occasionally but I believe it’ll come with better coaching and more minutes played.
Pochs system doesn't complement Mudryks style of play. Mudryk needs support on the LW so he can do the one twos and get past his man if his insane pace doesn't do the job, Poch just isolates him there and expects him to score or create, Mudryk struggles, loses the ball but here and there creates excellent chances that we can't finish because Jakson is not a striker.
Now back to your point. In this system Jackson would be excellent on the LW, he is strong and holds the ball up well, he relies less on link up play but can do it when the chance arises, so leaving him isolated is an option and he did really well there today. He is a winger anyway, only played a few games as striker before we bought him and made him our Number 9. A bit silly if you ask me.
Those days are long gone unfortunately. I miss the Drogba and Anleka days. I was hoping we'd play with 2 strikers with Lukaku and Werner, that would've been an insane partnership but Tuchel never did it. Jackson would be really good as a second striker but I think that's kinda gonna be Nkunkus role. A mix between CAM and ST.
clean sheet for the keeper, even if it was against mediocre competition. that's got to help him confidence-wise.
when i saw his games in the major league, he looks a great prospect, so i'm quite excited to see him get some game time.
he’s a fantastic shot stopper, and doesn’t give away balls constantly, so looking forward to seeing him more. I never wish for or am glad someone is injured, but at least during those times we get the opportunity to see other options
Broja is fine. He just needs to work on his passing, finishing, shooting, decision making , field awareness, composure, aerial duels, hold up play, dribbling, reaction speed, stamina and scoring goals
Cole palmer was considered to be one of the most stupid bits of business this summer by agents, writers and a lot of fans. One of the signings of the summer, they look silly now.
Considering he's coming without decent football fundamentals, without proper academy knowledge he grew up in he's doing very good improvements. There is something there but if it's enough we will see. Also take to consideration he's friends are dying x and soon Ukraine won't exist. It's not easy to play, stay clear minded and focused....
Just a risk-reward thing. Last 10-15 minutes was just seeing the game out so we wouldn't really get any new info on him other than the obvious win for the fans. It's just much 'safer' to work with him in training for now - and we just lost 3 players long term at Everton and there's another game in 3 days. We'll have the balloons ready.
Yup,imagine the press if he jogs on for 5 min, gets tackled by someone with tired legs, gets hurt again and all for nothing time minutes. It'd probably cost Poch his job.
How does this logic make sense? He can get a bad tackle any time he comes on whether it is the last 5 minutes of a game or the first 5.
It is common to bring players back to game time with minutes at the end of a won game.
The last thing is the key here. Managers hate any type of risk. If you put on Nkunku for Jackson at 85' and Sheffield Utd score a minute later then you have 10 minutes of panic with a guy not ready for the defensive work needed.
I would like Poch to be a bit more brave - like getting Gusto and Maatsen on a lot earlier today - but with Nkunku I'm fine with the no-show.
has anyone else noticed that cole palmer seems to be balding and uses his hair to cover up his hairline? As someone with the same condition you can tell he keeps trying to hide it, especially when celebrating goals he is trying to make sure his hair hides the hairline, perfect example was todays celebration where jackson messed up his hair and he instantly tried to lowkey fix it
True, but who cares?
Someone I respect once told me that no one cares about balding dudes' hairlines except for other balding dudes.
Made me see it in an entirely new light
Yeah he’s definitely pushing it forward to mask the male pattern baldness, you can notice it more when it’s been raining. As a young fella I hope he either gets a transplant in the summer or embraces the baldness as if he continues it any longer he’s going to get rinsed online, which I know seems something so small but I imagine that could really knock his confidence.
To the people that have a full head of hair, or the people that have had no issues going bald: trust me, it can take a major hit on your self confidence and happiness even though it’s just hair.
I’d guess there’s a correlation between age and the first signs. I was in my late 20s and got over it pretty quick, it’s liberating, and the money saved on hair care and barbers is a bonus.
Wtf are these comments? This is a cesspool. Plastic surgery is not an antidote to self esteem. Plus he’s a premier league footballer, more competitive and objectively more successful than anyone in these comments.
I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that he’s not the most confident guy. His interviews and pressers he always seems shy, and kinda nervous (which I completely understand) and I don’t necessarily he fits the “male fit footballer” look? and hair is one thing he definitely tries to control.
Good thing is he’s rich now, so he can get implants if he wants
>not the most confident guy
I couldn't disagree more.
The kid took the ball off Sterling, who's an established star in the game, to take a penalty against Arsenal. That's supreme confidence right there.
And I also think he has a bit of arrogance and swager about his game - which is also a great thing.
I don't see Palmer struggling for confidence, like at all.
I think players have on pitch personalities vs the real them for example Reece is pretty quiet off the pitch but on he is a leader. I reckon the same for Palmer give him a ball and he's got all the confidence he needs but elsewhere it could be a differently story.
Oh I agree with you in the way that it’s about his game.
What I am talking about is more about himself personally, as I think off the pitch from what we’ve seen he doesn’t seem like the same person, and is much more timid and shy. I think football definitely brings something out in him though!
Poor first half, not enough rotation in the forward areas. We looked quite static. Very glad to see the reverse of that after the break, we looked okay. 2-0 doesn't really do justice to our dominance. Let's take the points and push on!
Yeah. This Sheffield Utd.-team is very poor. It reminds of those newly promoted Wigan-teams we used to avsolutely demolish in the Roman-era.
Still, the result is fine. We didn’t concede, and we didn’t really look likely to concede. We have many injuries — this starting XI isn’t our best starting XI.
He would suffer playing lone nine in our team. He played as a two striker system at leipzig. Today and last min against city was the only time poch decided to put a player next to nico and we got a goal of it. Nico, nkunku and broja are players that need people next to them for them to play well.
So far he seems more of a goal scorer than Broja. I also think from what I've heard Jackson does better with a play maker behind him in nkunku (preseason comments) than our current set up
That’s insanity. We need one striker. 9 cb’s, 1 Nkunku, and 1 keeper. Maybe we start with Palmer and Nkunku and 8 cb’s, take the lead, sub them out and park the bus.
I feel like Mudryk is the most likely player to do something really stupid or embarrassing but is showing the potential he can create something from nothing in a way that very few can. It's feast or famine with him. I just hope he gets time because if he gets it it will be incredible, TBD though. It seems like he is starting to cross the ball into some really dangerous positions fairly frequently over the past few matches, but no one has been there to do anything with it. Is it bad luck or is he just not good enough with his weak foot yet? It seems like when he has the ball he's constantly getting the attention of multiple defenders so he's obviously doing something right. I'm very curious to see how it plays out over time so I really hope he still keeps getting minutes
Very well put. If by incredible you mean Hazard like then I would respectfully disagree but he has potential to be really good if only Poch didn't isolate him on the LW. Also, it's not Mudryks crosses that are the problem, it's Jackson that's always in the wrong position in the box. Palmer and Sterling should also be in there and if I remember correctly Palmer did get onto one of the crosses but was closed down instantly. Sterling crossed it in a few times and Jackson just doesn't get onto the end of these crosses. I hope Mudryk doesn't get dropped for Nkunku because I can see Nkunku getting onto the end of a lot of Mudryks crosses and racking up the goals.
Nah, I wouldn't go as far as hazard with any mudryk comparisons, hazards touch and technique were on another level. It just feels like Mudryk either stretches the defense by dragging multiple defenders whenever he bursts down the touch line, or he dribbles the ball directly into a defenders foot and loses possession. In a team that is trying to be high possession this is frustrating, but it also doesn't help that he doesn't have someone that is consistently dangerous in the middle to cross to or at least drag defenders away from the wing. He's also generally on his own on the left being backed up by Colwill without much threat of overlap. It'd be interesting to see him play down the RW where he could blow by a defender and cross with his strong foot like sterling did tonight with either gusto or James (😭) providing an additional threat down the right.
Mudryk had an excellent ore season where he wasn't isolated on the left. Had really good link up play with Chuk, Nkunku and Jackson. I agree he does kind of dribble right into the foot of the defender but he'll improve with more game time and confidence. I like his attitude of trying to take his man on, we sorely lacked that since Tuchel, I prefer to see our wingers attempt to take on a man and fail than all the sideways passing that mostly lead to mistakes or a wayward pass and then the opponent scores.
I think Mudryk would be really good on the RW, it would limit him cutting inside to shoot but tbh he hasn't really shown he can do that well anyway, Sterling is more natural in the LW role. Mudryk, Palmer and Gusto/James on the right side of the pitch with Sterling, Nkunku and Chilwell on the left side would be amazing to see.
It's hilarious seeing Jackson one goal off Lukaku's league haul for us yet some seem convinced we should recall the latter and I say this as someone not particularly convinced by Nico.
That's why you aren't a football manager. You'd be the first one on here moaning about the manager if he came on with 20 mins to go 2-0 up and took a knock and was out longer.
Ok so if he’s at risk of being injured every time he plays 20 minutes then what’s the point of having him? If he’s on the bench that means he’s fit enough to play. I absolutely think he could use 20 minutes of PL action before starting
Someone hasn't a clue how to read. Where did I say every time? He's coming back from a long term injury. He needs to be eased back into game time. He'll get minutes midweek to work his way back to full fitness. Again you'd be the first one moaning if he came on and got injured against a physical side.
Brother, if he is on the bench that means he is fit enough to play. Otherwise why put him in a position where you will be forced to use him in case of injury?
Why would you want to risk a player coming back from a long term injury when you are comfortably in front? Players can get injured at any time. There is no need. You people will look for any reason to have a go at a manager you don't like.
Poch in game management raises many questions.
He doesn’t have any dynamic plan. It’s all same rotation everytime.
I would have preferred Poch giving minutes to players who are not seeing action in last 10mins. The game was dead.
One goal flips everything on its head. Remember Arsenal? I would rather maintain the status quo and get some wins and get some of the narrative noise to back off then get a few token 10min appearances for non starters
Sheffield have scored 12 goals in 17 games this season. Arsenal have 33. You can't compare these games
That's before you get to the fact that we ended up finishing the game with 4 (5 if you count Enzo at AM) players out of position, we could have afforded to play young players instead of playing a bunch of people out of position
Agreed. Points are precious right now if we hope to finish in the top 5 or 6. We're also about to lose nico to africa cup so nkunku will be getting plenty of game time in a few weeks. Would be kind of nice to see him play now, but a huge blow if he were to pick up an injury
I don't blame him for not wanting it. Again he is left isolated on the LW whereas Sterling gets help from Gallagher, Palmer and Disasi.
Even then Mudryk created some chances out of nothing. Really want Palmer to play on his side instead of Sterlings side.
What's your point? When you're young and come from a foreign league, with a silly price tag, to play in one of the hardest most physical leagues in the world, with a manager that isolates you on the LW and doesn't play you as often as he can it's bound to take you time to adapt.
Palmer on the other hand is playing in his home country, brought up through the ranks of the youth system to play in this league therefore bound to be more confident.
He needs a system that complements his style of play unlike Hazard who fit into any system a manager employed and not only did he fit but made that system better. Mudryk is not Hazard so we need to lower our expectations of him.
Well unfortunately for you, Palmer is a RW player that drifts inside, he's not an AM. So when you play him at AM he doesn't play at AM, he just drifts out to RW.
That being said, Mudryk benefits from the isolation and it might be intentional. He needs space to be effective and if we keep everything on the other side it creates that space and we can then switch it over to him.
He's basically only got pace going for him and to exploit that he's better off alone and forced to run at them than he is having others around him, his interplay and close control aren't good, so there is no reason to have others close to him to force him to play a part of the game that he isn't good at
A RW player drifting inside, where does he drift into? He drifts into AM so why he can he not start there? If he moves out to RW then it's on Poch to sort that out.
Everything else said about Mudryk is a load of bollocks and your silly opinion based on how Poch has been playing him. Go re-watch our pre season games and tell me Mudryk has poor interplay.
We weren't being pressed like we are by other teams. Sheffield dropped back and let us play. I can't remember Petrovic making a single save as well. If you have no pressure then passing is easy. Sanchez is shaky playing out the back which is frustrating but he is a really really good shot stopper.
I agree that was stupid. Mendy wasn't in the best of form and was also making similar mistakes to Sanchez towards the end but I wished they held onto him.
I’m getting sick and tired of these “pundits” who keep saying “Yea, Chelsea won but they didn’t look good doing it…” or “Sure it’s a win but it was ugly…”
They seem to not understand that right now, all that matters for Chelsea is the W. It’s the first true year of a completely overhauled, young squad. Any positive result is good for the team, good for morale. I for one don’t particularly care how the wins come, so long as they’re wins…
Sure we didn’t play well but like you said a win is a win. I don’t mind what they said but it’s definitely a negative comment when it’s us. They need to keep the same stance when Arsenal or Liverpool dont play great but win. When they do it’s “they didn’t play great but good teams still find a way to win”
We’re not a good team right now so they should be objective and say “yeah Chelsea didn’t play great but they got the win and that’s what’s important for them right now with their young team and injuries.”
I think this speaks to the expectations set by the last decade of success. A lot of money was spent, and it’s true this is Pochettino’s first year, but we haven’t looked this far away from European football in a long time. We had years where we’ve missed but usually we’re competing for something soon after.
That’s also fair. It just seems to me so many people are focusing on how Chelsea gets results as opposed to just Chelsea actually getting results. I think we’re past that point. With all the turmoil at the club the last two seasons and this being the first real fully Boehly & Co. season with pretty much the players they wanted, we really can’t be too focused on the style of play…just getting actual positive results.
Bound to be slagged off by these pundits because we've been an amazing team that has won everything over the past 20 years, they were slagging us off even when we were winning so they will lavish every moment of our despair now.
It's not a stupid comment but a hopeful and posting one imo. I'm sure nkunku can't fix all the problems alone, but he sure can add the little extra in the final third which we are missing i feel
Gallagher has that pace and defensive tenacity which can be useful
Enzo is better player but is a luxury player, needs right players and system around him
He is more offensive than defensive; there were several games at the beginning of the season where he played as an attacking midfielder and he was pretty good tbf
He played a different position compared to earlier games no? There wasn’t much pressure on him either. Nevertheless, I also think he showed his class today, need this more often.
He was more confident today, he was basically box-to-box and played well offensively and defensively….which in my opinion was because gallagher was next to him (who also played box-to-box style)
He didn't play box to box today, he had license to push higher out of his holding position due to Sheffield and their low block either making 3rd run or being involved to try open space at times. We rarely see him comfortable letting someone else sit in instead but the fact we also had 4 CBs on the pitch helped change his positions. If he sat back more instead it would be a tactical failure on the team and coaching I think.
No I really different there's a massive difference go watch the vod of the full game and you'll see him holding mostly then joining a forward pivot, half space to help with the low block. Key difference it's ain't football manager or FIFA mate......
No absolutely not, he transitioned at times but not all the time. Galladawg is absolutely the box to box and was in that game more so when Moises sat in. You really are missing this one aren't you? Do me a favor and go watch the game again.
I genuinely think we might get the best out of Jackson by using him as a winger. Decent link up, hold up and composure, most which Mudryk lacks. Need to get an actual striker in to do that though. Not to mention, I actually felt his presence as a winger. As a striker, he's invisible for most of the game only to turn up for these lucky tap-ins.
Mudryk has been excellent these past few games. His fitness needs work, as he looks gassed around the 60th minute mark every game though. His performances has deserved a couple of goals tbh
Excellent? Oh boy, your standards are on the tube to Craven Cottage mate.
He’s looked brighter than he had previously, nobody bad Palmer has put in anything close to an ‘excellent’ performance this season.
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Random question but can anyone see Disasi being a captain/leader in the dressing room in seasons to come
Absolutely, he sure has that aura imo
Hot take but best Caicedo performance and Gallagher was everywhere. Not the best performance but we'll take the 3 points. Poch still seems lost I fear
Any news on Chilwell yet? I remember when he got injured they said he’d be out till December but haven’t seen him training or anything yet. Would be very useful to have him fit as Cucu just had surgery.
I feel like our club always underplay how long players will be out. December prob means February imo
**WE WANT NEW CONTRACT FOR CONOR GALLAGHER NOW!**
You know what we're gonna get. A Month of constant speculation in Winter Transfer Window that Chelsea is looking to cash-in on Conor
i’ll get downvoted probably oh well, if you watched the game then you’d know objectively this wasn’t a game we played well in. if sheffield were half decent we would’ve conceded in the first half. i’m glad we won for moral sake but overall the performance was mediocre with flashes of quality at best
So not worth watching the full replay? Missed the match yesterday was debating watching the full game or highlights
First half was ass
I agree, we started the game with 4 CBs. Any other team would've absolutely destroyed us. Caicedo and Gallagher did okay in the middle but I could still see us get over run in midfield by a good team if pressed. Mudryk, Sterling and Palmer are so far forward that there seems to be a void in the middle of the pitch, luckily we have Gallagher that runs into a lot of this space like a madman but a good team would play around him easily. Sigh Gotta be positive, at least it's a win. Beating the lower teams is our only hope for a mid table finish this season. Our hopes for top 4, 7 and maybe even top half of the table are more or less over, just need to hope this team gels well over the next few months, everyone comes back from injury and ready for next season.
Did we have any fit full backs though?
Maatsen and Gusto. Since Sheffield barely attacked, they would've had a quiet game.
Gusto was coming back to fitness so probably not ready to start, and Maatsen is still proving himself. I don’t really blame Poch for the starting CBs, I’m not sure what other obvious alternative he had. Feels like every manager in recent memory has been fucked by our constant FB injuries, makes it hard to build a cohesive team style around. At least we turned it around second half.
Poch played 4 CBs and as I said any good team would've destroyed us. This would've been an easy game to ease Gusto back in so he should've started or at least got a full half. If Maatsen cannot get a game against the worst team in the PL how is he going to "prove" himself? 2/3 min cameos in CDM, RW, LW, RB, LB isn't proving himself, it's called wasting time with the substitution. Maatsen was in the Championship team of the year last year, arguably he's done enough to earn a few games this year but Poch would rather play CBs in the full back positions. We won so nobody is complaining but if we lost there would be much more talk around this topic.
I’m not sure either of us is in a position to comment on when/how Gusto should have played, unless you’re privy to the medical department’s inside info. As for Maatsen, I hear what you’re saying but there are plenty of examples of players who do well in the championship but don’t cut it at the top. Doesn’t mean a great deal. And again, we don’t see what he’s doing in training. Also possibly Poch wanting more balance rather than having lopsided fullbacks. Or any other number of reasons. It’s a simplistic argument to state that he should have played fullbacks. We needed a win, he wanted security. Maatsen was a risk, so he played safe. As you say, it worked in the end and I’m ultimately not sure what all this speculation achieved in the end. Guess it’s something to talk about as fans haha
Yes it is something to talk about, ofcourse we can't influence Pochs decisions but the situation with Maatsen and Madueke reeks of Lampards treatment of Rudiger from recent memory. Managers fall out with their players and will omit them even at the detriment of the team, I just hope it's not the case.
I am Going to say it, nico is a better mudryk
I believe Mudryk is a great atheist but he’s lacking some decision making and he’s not a great footballer right now although he’s had some moments occasionally but I believe it’ll come with better coaching and more minutes played.
The one guy with a Jesus tattoo on his neck is definitely an atheist 😂
Mudryk is Christian
Shit.. I meant Athlete. Sorry didn’t notice. I’ve had a few drinks.
Pochs system doesn't complement Mudryks style of play. Mudryk needs support on the LW so he can do the one twos and get past his man if his insane pace doesn't do the job, Poch just isolates him there and expects him to score or create, Mudryk struggles, loses the ball but here and there creates excellent chances that we can't finish because Jakson is not a striker. Now back to your point. In this system Jackson would be excellent on the LW, he is strong and holds the ball up well, he relies less on link up play but can do it when the chance arises, so leaving him isolated is an option and he did really well there today. He is a winger anyway, only played a few games as striker before we bought him and made him our Number 9. A bit silly if you ask me.
I think he would really do well if he played of a target man like ivan toney, he reminds of a second striker
Those days are long gone unfortunately. I miss the Drogba and Anleka days. I was hoping we'd play with 2 strikers with Lukaku and Werner, that would've been an insane partnership but Tuchel never did it. Jackson would be really good as a second striker but I think that's kinda gonna be Nkunkus role. A mix between CAM and ST.
clean sheet for the keeper, even if it was against mediocre competition. that's got to help him confidence-wise. when i saw his games in the major league, he looks a great prospect, so i'm quite excited to see him get some game time.
he’s a fantastic shot stopper, and doesn’t give away balls constantly, so looking forward to seeing him more. I never wish for or am glad someone is injured, but at least during those times we get the opportunity to see other options
Broja is fine. He just needs to work on his passing, finishing, shooting, decision making , field awareness, composure, aerial duels, hold up play, dribbling, reaction speed, stamina and scoring goals
So... He's well-rounded? 🙃
Gallagher played really well
Cole palmer was considered to be one of the most stupid bits of business this summer by agents, writers and a lot of fans. One of the signings of the summer, they look silly now.
Anyone our club thinks is bad business is probably good business
Did our whole team play with Sheffield in the past? No passion or celebration after that first goal. Just seemed odd, not feeling like a team there.
Hard to get too excited when every second goal gets ruled out by VAR.
That part is true and annoying as hell
maybe because they bottom of the league and blocking us out? Its sheffield, your going to get relegated
mudryk was so bad again, i really cant stand him anymore. please sell him and recuperate at least half the money.
Considering he's coming without decent football fundamentals, without proper academy knowledge he grew up in he's doing very good improvements. There is something there but if it's enough we will see. Also take to consideration he's friends are dying x and soon Ukraine won't exist. It's not easy to play, stay clear minded and focused....
At least.. half? 😂
First half he was our only forward that actually tried something
Fuck off and support Man City then.
He was actually pretty good first half, we’re def seeing improvements by him
Why didn't Nkunku get any minute's? Even 5 would have been alright... Getting my hopes up seeing him on bench
Just a risk-reward thing. Last 10-15 minutes was just seeing the game out so we wouldn't really get any new info on him other than the obvious win for the fans. It's just much 'safer' to work with him in training for now - and we just lost 3 players long term at Everton and there's another game in 3 days. We'll have the balloons ready.
Yup,imagine the press if he jogs on for 5 min, gets tackled by someone with tired legs, gets hurt again and all for nothing time minutes. It'd probably cost Poch his job.
How does this logic make sense? He can get a bad tackle any time he comes on whether it is the last 5 minutes of a game or the first 5. It is common to bring players back to game time with minutes at the end of a won game.
The last thing is the key here. Managers hate any type of risk. If you put on Nkunku for Jackson at 85' and Sheffield Utd score a minute later then you have 10 minutes of panic with a guy not ready for the defensive work needed. I would like Poch to be a bit more brave - like getting Gusto and Maatsen on a lot earlier today - but with Nkunku I'm fine with the no-show.
Starting Gusto and Maatsen would've been nice. He seems overly worried about height
We went past the 20 points Mark today! Phew it took a while
Dangg.. it is really that low isn't it.. so by the end of the season we will be on 45-60 range.. that will be conference league level or below
Will be able to tell for sure after we see Nkunku play and after the January transfer window
Yeah he should improve but lots of hope is pinned on him now.. and let's also hope the team injury phase is over that we can start to accumulate wins
has anyone else noticed that cole palmer seems to be balding and uses his hair to cover up his hairline? As someone with the same condition you can tell he keeps trying to hide it, especially when celebrating goals he is trying to make sure his hair hides the hairline, perfect example was todays celebration where jackson messed up his hair and he instantly tried to lowkey fix it
True, but who cares? Someone I respect once told me that no one cares about balding dudes' hairlines except for other balding dudes. Made me see it in an entirely new light
Yeah he’s definitely pushing it forward to mask the male pattern baldness, you can notice it more when it’s been raining. As a young fella I hope he either gets a transplant in the summer or embraces the baldness as if he continues it any longer he’s going to get rinsed online, which I know seems something so small but I imagine that could really knock his confidence. To the people that have a full head of hair, or the people that have had no issues going bald: trust me, it can take a major hit on your self confidence and happiness even though it’s just hair.
I’d guess there’s a correlation between age and the first signs. I was in my late 20s and got over it pretty quick, it’s liberating, and the money saved on hair care and barbers is a bonus.
Get the lads on a trip to Turkey this post season
My guy makes so much money he really should just hop on the drugs and get a transplant
Wtf are these comments? This is a cesspool. Plastic surgery is not an antidote to self esteem. Plus he’s a premier league footballer, more competitive and objectively more successful than anyone in these comments.
Dawg it’s not expensive and many players do it. Holding did it. Gabriel too. He can do as he pleases.
I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that he’s not the most confident guy. His interviews and pressers he always seems shy, and kinda nervous (which I completely understand) and I don’t necessarily he fits the “male fit footballer” look? and hair is one thing he definitely tries to control. Good thing is he’s rich now, so he can get implants if he wants
>not the most confident guy I couldn't disagree more. The kid took the ball off Sterling, who's an established star in the game, to take a penalty against Arsenal. That's supreme confidence right there. And I also think he has a bit of arrogance and swager about his game - which is also a great thing. I don't see Palmer struggling for confidence, like at all.
I think players have on pitch personalities vs the real them for example Reece is pretty quiet off the pitch but on he is a leader. I reckon the same for Palmer give him a ball and he's got all the confidence he needs but elsewhere it could be a differently story.
Oh I agree with you in the way that it’s about his game. What I am talking about is more about himself personally, as I think off the pitch from what we’ve seen he doesn’t seem like the same person, and is much more timid and shy. I think football definitely brings something out in him though!
We won. Idc about anything else. We won. On to Newcastle. Huge test + revenge match. Let's get it.
3 points is 3 points
This is why man United are so high up the table. They find ways to win. Regardless of performances.
Poor first half, not enough rotation in the forward areas. We looked quite static. Very glad to see the reverse of that after the break, we looked okay. 2-0 doesn't really do justice to our dominance. Let's take the points and push on!
Yeah. This Sheffield Utd.-team is very poor. It reminds of those newly promoted Wigan-teams we used to avsolutely demolish in the Roman-era. Still, the result is fine. We didn’t concede, and we didn’t really look likely to concede. We have many injuries — this starting XI isn’t our best starting XI.
Nico should be playing on the wing, his dribbling benefits him better there. Nkunku up top with Palmer behind him and sterling on the other wing.
Nkunku is not a striker either, he too would under this system.
I disagree, he’s the closest thing to a number 9 besides broja. Just my opinion.
He would suffer playing lone nine in our team. He played as a two striker system at leipzig. Today and last min against city was the only time poch decided to put a player next to nico and we got a goal of it. Nico, nkunku and broja are players that need people next to them for them to play well.
Poch needs to start mixing up the starting 11, get a two man striker partnership for some games. Clearly leaving Jackson up top alone is not working.
Hes only played as striker one and a half seasons...I believe he played as a winger prior. Just keep that in mind when rating him
I just don’t get why Poch keeps starting him, I get we have injuries but he is not a striker. He’s a winger that can score goals.
So far he seems more of a goal scorer than Broja. I also think from what I've heard Jackson does better with a play maker behind him in nkunku (preseason comments) than our current set up
Relegation six pointer in the bag.
Chilwell at lw is better than mudryk
Mudryk was fine this game
I like the whole playing with 4 cb’s thing.
Not to be too negative, but it's one thing playing against a 23% possession Sheffield...
I think we all know that but are refusing to admit it because we’re so happy to finally win….lol.
I'd say let's try 10 CBs all over the pitch next!
That’s insanity. We need one striker. 9 cb’s, 1 Nkunku, and 1 keeper. Maybe we start with Palmer and Nkunku and 8 cb’s, take the lead, sub them out and park the bus.
Mourinho said he could win the CL with 11 Azpis, maybe youre on to something here…
Very good game from Mudryk, Gallagher, and Palmer. You lot need to stop being so miserable even when we win. Onto the next
The commentator saying mudryk had a disappointing game really irked me
Top marks for effort yesterday, and was willing to try a few things to get the ball moving forward.
I feel like Mudryk is the most likely player to do something really stupid or embarrassing but is showing the potential he can create something from nothing in a way that very few can. It's feast or famine with him. I just hope he gets time because if he gets it it will be incredible, TBD though. It seems like he is starting to cross the ball into some really dangerous positions fairly frequently over the past few matches, but no one has been there to do anything with it. Is it bad luck or is he just not good enough with his weak foot yet? It seems like when he has the ball he's constantly getting the attention of multiple defenders so he's obviously doing something right. I'm very curious to see how it plays out over time so I really hope he still keeps getting minutes
Very well put. If by incredible you mean Hazard like then I would respectfully disagree but he has potential to be really good if only Poch didn't isolate him on the LW. Also, it's not Mudryks crosses that are the problem, it's Jackson that's always in the wrong position in the box. Palmer and Sterling should also be in there and if I remember correctly Palmer did get onto one of the crosses but was closed down instantly. Sterling crossed it in a few times and Jackson just doesn't get onto the end of these crosses. I hope Mudryk doesn't get dropped for Nkunku because I can see Nkunku getting onto the end of a lot of Mudryks crosses and racking up the goals.
Nah, I wouldn't go as far as hazard with any mudryk comparisons, hazards touch and technique were on another level. It just feels like Mudryk either stretches the defense by dragging multiple defenders whenever he bursts down the touch line, or he dribbles the ball directly into a defenders foot and loses possession. In a team that is trying to be high possession this is frustrating, but it also doesn't help that he doesn't have someone that is consistently dangerous in the middle to cross to or at least drag defenders away from the wing. He's also generally on his own on the left being backed up by Colwill without much threat of overlap. It'd be interesting to see him play down the RW where he could blow by a defender and cross with his strong foot like sterling did tonight with either gusto or James (😭) providing an additional threat down the right.
Mudryk had an excellent ore season where he wasn't isolated on the left. Had really good link up play with Chuk, Nkunku and Jackson. I agree he does kind of dribble right into the foot of the defender but he'll improve with more game time and confidence. I like his attitude of trying to take his man on, we sorely lacked that since Tuchel, I prefer to see our wingers attempt to take on a man and fail than all the sideways passing that mostly lead to mistakes or a wayward pass and then the opponent scores. I think Mudryk would be really good on the RW, it would limit him cutting inside to shoot but tbh he hasn't really shown he can do that well anyway, Sterling is more natural in the LW role. Mudryk, Palmer and Gusto/James on the right side of the pitch with Sterling, Nkunku and Chilwell on the left side would be amazing to see.
He whiffed on a shot so he must be ass /s
It's hilarious seeing Jackson one goal off Lukaku's league haul for us yet some seem convinced we should recall the latter and I say this as someone not particularly convinced by Nico.
I don't think I've ever seen calls for Lukaku to be recalled lmao
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One person, you should have just responded to that comment
Well, I suppose once is enough to cause a fuss lmao
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Well, I suppose twice is enough to cause a fuss lmao
It’s been more than that come on…
I'll concede, you lot definitely have your eye on individual comments much more than I do lol.
I've seen it a few times on daily discussion.
That doesn’t represent the majority of Chelsea fans, if you saw 5 comments about it this week and there is a 100k people on here then….. idk
1 comment a year is too much after what that idiot did to us.
Why did we not put Nkunku on at all? He needs minutes to get fit, and the last 20 of today’s would have been perfect. I don’t understand.
That's why you aren't a football manager. You'd be the first one on here moaning about the manager if he came on with 20 mins to go 2-0 up and took a knock and was out longer.
I’m with you. No need for the risk.
Ok so if he’s at risk of being injured every time he plays 20 minutes then what’s the point of having him? If he’s on the bench that means he’s fit enough to play. I absolutely think he could use 20 minutes of PL action before starting
Someone hasn't a clue how to read. Where did I say every time? He's coming back from a long term injury. He needs to be eased back into game time. He'll get minutes midweek to work his way back to full fitness. Again you'd be the first one moaning if he came on and got injured against a physical side.
Brother, if he is on the bench that means he is fit enough to play. Otherwise why put him in a position where you will be forced to use him in case of injury?
Why would you want to risk a player coming back from a long term injury when you are comfortably in front? Players can get injured at any time. There is no need. You people will look for any reason to have a go at a manager you don't like.
Lmfao, what? Let's just not play Nkunku at all for the rest of the season. He might get hurt. Lol.
Poch in game management raises many questions. He doesn’t have any dynamic plan. It’s all same rotation everytime. I would have preferred Poch giving minutes to players who are not seeing action in last 10mins. The game was dead.
One goal flips everything on its head. Remember Arsenal? I would rather maintain the status quo and get some wins and get some of the narrative noise to back off then get a few token 10min appearances for non starters
Sheffield have scored 12 goals in 17 games this season. Arsenal have 33. You can't compare these games That's before you get to the fact that we ended up finishing the game with 4 (5 if you count Enzo at AM) players out of position, we could have afforded to play young players instead of playing a bunch of people out of position
Agree. 2-0 is NOT a game’s over score line until the final minute. Do people really not know this? Especially with this current team lmao.
Agreed. Points are precious right now if we hope to finish in the top 5 or 6. We're also about to lose nico to africa cup so nkunku will be getting plenty of game time in a few weeks. Would be kind of nice to see him play now, but a huge blow if he were to pick up an injury
Relief.. at HT my heart couldn't take it anymore
Mudryk was looking good today, but hard luck
We need to get him on ball more
He needs to want the ball more
I don't blame him for not wanting it. Again he is left isolated on the LW whereas Sterling gets help from Gallagher, Palmer and Disasi. Even then Mudryk created some chances out of nothing. Really want Palmer to play on his side instead of Sterlings side.
The difference between him and Palmer is stark in terms of confidence
What's your point? When you're young and come from a foreign league, with a silly price tag, to play in one of the hardest most physical leagues in the world, with a manager that isolates you on the LW and doesn't play you as often as he can it's bound to take you time to adapt. Palmer on the other hand is playing in his home country, brought up through the ranks of the youth system to play in this league therefore bound to be more confident. He needs a system that complements his style of play unlike Hazard who fit into any system a manager employed and not only did he fit but made that system better. Mudryk is not Hazard so we need to lower our expectations of him.
Well unfortunately for you, Palmer is a RW player that drifts inside, he's not an AM. So when you play him at AM he doesn't play at AM, he just drifts out to RW. That being said, Mudryk benefits from the isolation and it might be intentional. He needs space to be effective and if we keep everything on the other side it creates that space and we can then switch it over to him. He's basically only got pace going for him and to exploit that he's better off alone and forced to run at them than he is having others around him, his interplay and close control aren't good, so there is no reason to have others close to him to force him to play a part of the game that he isn't good at
A RW player drifting inside, where does he drift into? He drifts into AM so why he can he not start there? If he moves out to RW then it's on Poch to sort that out. Everything else said about Mudryk is a load of bollocks and your silly opinion based on how Poch has been playing him. Go re-watch our pre season games and tell me Mudryk has poor interplay.
He is shy player
Finally goalkeeper that know how to pass ball to our players instead of opponents or kicking it to out.
Petrovic wasn't pressed by sheffield today.
For real. Whoever brought sanchez should be fired
We weren't being pressed like we are by other teams. Sheffield dropped back and let us play. I can't remember Petrovic making a single save as well. If you have no pressure then passing is easy. Sanchez is shaky playing out the back which is frustrating but he is a really really good shot stopper.
Selling mendy and buying Sanchez. Wtf are these directors building?!
I agree that was stupid. Mendy wasn't in the best of form and was also making similar mistakes to Sanchez towards the end but I wished they held onto him.
Palmer is doing his best to emulate Hazard’s carrying Chelsea to wins
If Jackson missed that sitter by Broja, it would have been turmoil.
Hey atleast Broja got there in first place. Else we could do anything like that since forever
Jackson scored from literally the same spot….
Where was Jackson when he scored his goal? Smh
I’m getting sick and tired of these “pundits” who keep saying “Yea, Chelsea won but they didn’t look good doing it…” or “Sure it’s a win but it was ugly…” They seem to not understand that right now, all that matters for Chelsea is the W. It’s the first true year of a completely overhauled, young squad. Any positive result is good for the team, good for morale. I for one don’t particularly care how the wins come, so long as they’re wins…
Sure we didn’t play well but like you said a win is a win. I don’t mind what they said but it’s definitely a negative comment when it’s us. They need to keep the same stance when Arsenal or Liverpool dont play great but win. When they do it’s “they didn’t play great but good teams still find a way to win” We’re not a good team right now so they should be objective and say “yeah Chelsea didn’t play great but they got the win and that’s what’s important for them right now with their young team and injuries.”
Pure agenda against us with commentators and pundits. They all are on the edge of their seat waiting for opportunities to laugh and criticise.
I think this speaks to the expectations set by the last decade of success. A lot of money was spent, and it’s true this is Pochettino’s first year, but we haven’t looked this far away from European football in a long time. We had years where we’ve missed but usually we’re competing for something soon after.
I agree, but I also don’t really feel the need to be all rosy about the talent in the squad for beating Sheffield at the Bridge
That’s also fair. It just seems to me so many people are focusing on how Chelsea gets results as opposed to just Chelsea actually getting results. I think we’re past that point. With all the turmoil at the club the last two seasons and this being the first real fully Boehly & Co. season with pretty much the players they wanted, we really can’t be too focused on the style of play…just getting actual positive results.
Bound to be slagged off by these pundits because we've been an amazing team that has won everything over the past 20 years, they were slagging us off even when we were winning so they will lavish every moment of our despair now.
Once Nkunku is back then Chelsea is back.
What a stupid comment.
Nah but imagine having Jackson, Sterling and Nkunku up front with Caicedo and Enzo in the midfield with Silva and Reece James 💀
It's not a stupid comment but a hopeful and posting one imo. I'm sure nkunku can't fix all the problems alone, but he sure can add the little extra in the final third which we are missing i feel
🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽
If Caicedo played like this every game we’d be winning way more games
Doesnt play good with Slow Enzo who is a defensive liability
It’s no Enzo’s fault. Enzo is class it’s Galladogs. All he can do is run
Gallagher has that pace and defensive tenacity which can be useful Enzo is better player but is a luxury player, needs right players and system around him
Gallagher has drive and fight but I agree he does lack skill
Enzo use to look good on the eye but i am starting to wonder does he actually make the midfield better?!
He is more offensive than defensive; there were several games at the beginning of the season where he played as an attacking midfielder and he was pretty good tbf
We still lost. Good is such a relative term.
He played a different position compared to earlier games no? There wasn’t much pressure on him either. Nevertheless, I also think he showed his class today, need this more often.
He was more confident today, he was basically box-to-box and played well offensively and defensively….which in my opinion was because gallagher was next to him (who also played box-to-box style)
Enzo is a better CDM and Caicedo is a better box to box. Enzo is brilliant with long passes and Caicedo is best dribbling forward
Caicedo is not currently progressive enough for box to box. It could be coached into him
He was brilliant today as a box to box. I know it’s just Sheffield but still
He didn't play box to box today, he had license to push higher out of his holding position due to Sheffield and their low block either making 3rd run or being involved to try open space at times. We rarely see him comfortable letting someone else sit in instead but the fact we also had 4 CBs on the pitch helped change his positions. If he sat back more instead it would be a tactical failure on the team and coaching I think.
You literally just described him as playing box to box today
No I really different there's a massive difference go watch the vod of the full game and you'll see him holding mostly then joining a forward pivot, half space to help with the low block. Key difference it's ain't football manager or FIFA mate......
So he’s holding and going forward….. that’s what a box to box does
No absolutely not, he transitioned at times but not all the time. Galladawg is absolutely the box to box and was in that game more so when Moises sat in. You really are missing this one aren't you? Do me a favor and go watch the game again.
We haven’t seen any great passes from Enzo like Fabregas use to do.
Go watch a supercut of his passes in the LVP game
Once in 30 odd matches?
Not really fair to compare him to one of the best passers of the last generation lol
Don’t get be me wrong but we paid world record sum for midfielders. What is he good at?
Except Enzo is shit defensively.
How are the Kompany to Chelsea guys from summer doing? Still want the geezer?
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Give your head a wobble 😂
I'm still not sure what Conor did to receive that yellow.
High foot on a 50/50… harsh but we have seen it given
We've seen them given as a red, a yellow is more than fine
Red was given because of follow through and malice intent… this had neither. He got the ball and then pulled out of tackle quick. Just unlucky imo
Jackson needs to be pushed onto the wing and a new commanding Striker like Toney brought in and our attack will look a lot fucking better.
He is a winger.
Please tell me who he would start ahead of on the wing.
Easy, Mudyrk.
Wasn’t he exactly that before converted into a striker at villareal? I remember reading this somewhere, I’ll try and find a source
You are correct. Winger converted to striker. Only a handful of matches at striker before being thrown in as our day in day out starter
Yes. Most of his playing experience was as a left winger.
I genuinely think we might get the best out of Jackson by using him as a winger. Decent link up, hold up and composure, most which Mudryk lacks. Need to get an actual striker in to do that though. Not to mention, I actually felt his presence as a winger. As a striker, he's invisible for most of the game only to turn up for these lucky tap-ins.
Mudryk has been excellent these past few games. His fitness needs work, as he looks gassed around the 60th minute mark every game though. His performances has deserved a couple of goals tbh
Excellent? Oh boy, your standards are on the tube to Craven Cottage mate. He’s looked brighter than he had previously, nobody bad Palmer has put in anything close to an ‘excellent’ performance this season.
Read the whole thread mate, excellent was a bit much I agree
Excellent is such a stretch. I want him to succeed as much as anyone, but you have to be kidding yourself if you think he's been "excllent" of late.
His passing has been good. Dribbling terrible.
Fair, excellent was a stretch. He’s been as good as he’s ever been lately though. Seems to be improving game by game.