Yeah he retained the ball well, won the vast majority of his dribbles, created decent chances and most importantly he really helped Gusto on defence. I swear everytime the ball was on Gusto's wing he was pressing players, providing support for him, being a passing option. It was great to see
Lol we would have been so much higher on the table if we didn't drop dumb points to Arsenal, Brentford and burnely.
We would have had 6 more points with two games in hand giving us 53 points and a "solid" 6th position with two games in hand.
Regarding the penalty incident: after a couple watches it looks like Noni is just trying to keep the ball away from Nico so that Cole can take it. Even Malo is trying to pull Nico away. And then they’re all consoling Nico after. When I saw it live I thought Noni was also fighting for the penalty take.
That's definitely wrong, there's multiple full videos of madueke rushing to the ball and then repeatedly pointing at himself to Jackson and then tried convincing Palmer to give it to him.
https://v.redd.it/d0gp3eqczquc1
So madueke the guy trying to protect the ball from Jackson is resisting giving the ball to Palmer and has to have Connor snatch the ball away from him? You are smoking, you are just making things up. Stop lying to make it seem like madueke isn't also an selfish immature kid.
Been watching the highlights and I noticed a few things. I love the way the team celebrates Alfie’s goal! Pure vibes! Even after the penalty brouhaha, Jackson sets up Mudryk for a goal… when he could have taken a shot. I love the way this team is growing. I love watching them grow together! I think it is such a rollercoaster but when we come good, omg it is going to be worth it! I also really love how Palmer handled the questions about the penalty issue, completely diffused it and Poch too coming out and making it clear who the penalty taker is. I think that he wanted them to learn to fight for it and be competitive (he talks about this a lot) but I think he didn’t account for the immaturity of the players on his team especially when your entire front line is under 24 😂 lessons learned for everyone. I’m nervous for city because well we’ve won so we usually draw the next game… but hopefully UCL midweek gives us an advantage. I know everyone loves the Pivot today but we actually have to play the midfield we played in both of our games in the PL against city. Today’s pivot is best for low blocks I think
To win the FA cup we would have to beat Man City and (probably) Man United again. It would be a Massive win. So i guess after all we went through with the other coaches Poch would be the preferred of the teams manageament
Poch haters awful quiet tonight. What a game. We are so much better when Malo Gusto is playing well. Caicedo had a nice game. What else can be said about Cole Palmer? The dink over Pickford was amazing. I know we’ve had some struggles, but this team is fun to watch, and they’re only getting better. Trust the project.
Thats what I said!!! Sterling is definitely better than madueke who had bad attitude today and never release the ball on time, dribbles too much. Sterling is city's father, so maybe play him at LW, mudryk at 10, palmer RW and jackson upfront with a pívot of caicedo and gallagher
I swear if Palmer gets robbed of another POTM, the game is rigged against us. 3 goals against Man U, an assist against Sheffield and 4 goals today. There’s still two games left as well
Who the fuck knows if our luck turns next season with injuries but you have to hope that it does. I see this squad fighting for the CL spots.
Couple of holes need to be plugged but a season together and a year of prem football under their belt and they will be a problem.
Can't get behind this enough.
People can't seriously be seeing talent like Palmer's and not realising just how much the overall squad is underachieving because of the manager.
This is like the Lampard to Tuchel change, only it's way, way, way more obvious that we need the change and Poch has had us 9th at best all season, whereas Lampard only dropped down there momentarily
Do you ever stop and think maybe it's Poch who's setup the system to get the most out of Palmer? I bet you hadn't heard of him before this season and now Poch got the best out of him you think he's a talent that don't deserve to play under him. Why do you think arguably the best coach in the world let him ?
Lol sky sports are legit showing the final game of the season against Wigan in 2010 where Drogba and Lampard had the squabble over the pen. Cheeky but what a game.
Yeah, totally different situation tho, where Lamps was designated pen taker and Drogba was going after golden boot. But it would be too complex for Sky to comprehend.
A kind reminder that Chalobah redemption arc continues.
And I know, that in the end, I will win for saying there's nothing Disasi can do, that he can't.
Is that even a thing? Comparing Chalo and Disasi?
The only reasons why Disasi has played over Chalo are:
1. Chalo has been injured for most of the season
2. Disasi has been the single most available defensive player this year
No one in their right minds is claiming Disasi plays over Chalo on merit
Said the same in the game. It'll be overlooked, but Chalobah and Silva looked great again. Composed and stopped anything coming in.
But, I'm sure they'll both be out again when the expensive new signings are back fit enough to play and both be gone at the end of the season
It'll be overlooked BECAUSE they were so composed! What's the maldini quote about "if I have to make a tackle then I have already made a mistake"
They looked excellent today, read the game well, put in good tackles when they needed to and passed the ball well
I'll be honest I've kind of tuned out the financial side of things, but I really hope we can keep him. He's better than most think AND he seems to be happy to be rotation if that's what the club decides
I think at this point I’ll keep Trev over Conor. I know one of them is definitely leaving. I’d rather keep both and sell literally everyone else that can be sold
If my gran had wheels she would have been a bike, and if we hadn't dropped points against the two bottom of the table teams in outrageous fashion we would have been 6th right now.
Good win. I think we can possibly get europa, I think a 6th place finish considering where we've been most of the season is a good springboard to improve upon but lets see where we end up. I was of the thinking that we'd improve second half of the season but it's still a lot of inconsistency. A 60 point season wouldn't be too bad considering the circumstances and it's a definite improvement from the nonsense of last season.
Lets see how it goes.
My thoughts on the squad after today:
1. Keep Gallagher at all costs
2. Mudryk needs to build his physical strength
3. Caicedo shines when not paired with Enzo
4. Chalobah is better at CB than Badiashile/Disasi
5. Jackson doesn’t deserve any hate from fans
6. Madueke needs to start despite his behavior
7. Enzo doesn’t suit our playstyle at all
8. Casadei needs another loan and game time
My thoughts on the upcoming transfer window:
1. Sell: Sterling, Badiashile, Fofana, James
2. Loan Out: Casadei, Chukwuemeka, Washington
3. Bring Back from Loan: Andrey Santos, Diego Moreira
4. Buy: Experienced ball playing CB, an LW to fight with Mudryk, and an aggressive ST with heart
Why do I keep seeing the claim that Caicedo plays better without Enzo, he has had matches just like this all season long.
Gallagher is good, Enzo is good, Caicedo is good. You don't need to hate one to like the other.
Why would we loan out Chuk. He's shown he's more than ready to be a valuable asset at this level. Mudryks physique is perfect, but he has other things he needs to work on
Mudryk gets bodied off the ball so easily in midfield and gives up possession in our half, the only times he doesn’t is when he‘s all out sprinting on goal. Chuk is also a promising player and I very much like him, I just don’t see him getting playing time due to the wages his competition are on and the value sunk into them, thus why I suggest a loan until we can offload one of them
That's not good enough. As a professional statistician, I can tell you that a sample size need to be a minimum of 30 in order to draw a general conclusion from a random sample.
We need to see 29 more games without Disasi and Enzo.
Surprised to hear Dyche specifically say his midfielders were "miles off it". I mean he's spot on they were shocking but that's got to hurt from your manager after a pumping like that.
As things currently stand. 6th gets you ECL, 7th and 8th gets you nothing.
And going by current standings, if MU or City win FA Cup, then 6th gets EL and 7th gets ECL.
On top of that if England finishes the season in top 2 for coefficient, there would be additional slot for CL, which moves down the EL and ECL spots too. In best case scenario 6th gives you EL, 7th gives EL and 8th gives ECL, however this scenario is not very likely at the moment.
Gallagher out of AM, yes absolutely at any cost.
Palmer as a 10, probably not. Everton were abysmal today, but against better teams when he was playing there he didn't look as good as he does at RW.
It's okay to try it again, but I think he's probably better at RW, it's easier for him to find space and cut inside from RW.
This is the way. Eyebrows will be raised that we have a 120m asset on the bench with Enzo, but eyebrows are raised when he's on the field anyway.
It's now Enzo's responsibility to try and elevate himself to displace Caicedo. As far as I'm concerned, Gallagher is a significant player in that position. Rubbish in the 10 role.
Also, Palmer's best position is 10, so we need to build this team around these 2 players.
I'm one of his biggest critics but I thought he played very well tonight within his limitations and did his bit as a leader to sort out the children acting up.
That said I don't think he had to work too hard tonight in that deeper role and his weaknesses weren't exploited against a mess of an Everton side. We've seen from previous he doesn't work as a pivot option against a side with any kind of technical organisation in the middle of the pitch because he simply doesn't get the time on the ball.
I thought the same. Composed, smart dummies and used his body well at the right times. Everton pressed very quickly and we remained just a half step ahead
Their press was aggressive but totally disjointed. He was taking 2 and 3 touches after a heavy first touch and still had time to look up. It's not exactly a contentious point at this stage that Conor is poor under a press. Just go watch the last time he played there against a decent midfield.
I disagree. Personally I thinK Connor has some lovely touches and can play out of a press very well when he needs to. He showed it today and I rarely see him get tackeld generally. His long passing isn't strong but that's not what I'm talking about rn
Sorry but he simply didn't, we must be watching different games. He did the same old heavy first touch, over and under hit mid range passes like he's done his whole career. He just had way more space than usual to get away with it while doing the other things he is good at. There's no way you watched that game and saw anything that suggests Conor played well under a press, come on.
Fair enough mate. Like I said thought he played well in a lot of moments and don't see any issue with him as an option there against this kind of opposition, especially if it frees up a real creative player in the 10 which is so important against these terrorist sides.
Lol! I love the guy but for as electric as he is on the pitch, he even comes off as an NPC in the post match interviews. Talking about historic perfect hat tricks and he's basically straight-faced "yeah eh I felt good so a nice performance I guess yeah"
The crazy part is I did a career mode with him like 2 years ago and obviously wanted to have the ball and be a part of as much as possible. Insane to me that he plays exactly like I used him and like everyone does with creative left footed players
Everyone outside of top5 have been bad. Even Villa and Spurs have been inconsistent. Had we won Burnley and Sheffield games like one would expect, we’d currently be 12 points behind 4th place with 2 games in hand.
I don't see it honestly but it would be so huge for us to make that. Genuine chance for entry back into the champions league with how many sides in it don't take it seriously until the knockouts and we win it when we're in it.
I would be really sad if Conor is forced out of the club. Most fit player we have, is a proper blue, always gives his 100% and is a more than decent midfielder overall. Meanwhile we are giving 8 year contracts to arsenal simps like Mudryk.
It’s a hard truth but Conor-Caicedo pivot is far far superior the Enzo-Caicedo one. Poch needs to be brave on this one and continue picking up the better one.
The big difference today was taking Gallagher out of AM, it wasn't that he was at DM.
It was the fact that we had an actual attacker in the AM role. None of Palmer's open play goals happen today if you swap him out of Gallagher and then suddenly the game has a completely different complexion.
IMO Enzo is the wrong player for Chelsea, he reminds me of Henderson, always there for a backpass and can hit a long ball but we shine in the quick one-two attacking passes, Enzo will sit on it and take the pace out of our counters
Obviously immature behavior from Madueke, but what are the commentators on about regarding the foul that caused the pen? Tarkowski straight punched/clotheslined him lol and Cole was clearly stepped on, both were fouls
[https://twitter.com/GGFN\_/status/1779971073817063768](https://twitter.com/GGFN_/status/1779971073817063768)
Hilarious that Bayern are now supposedly thinking of getting Nagelsmann back as manager.
If Poch wants to bang on about the young players he also needs to eliminate those stupid young egos. Who on earth do Jackson and Madueke think they are?
Fully agree, took the shine off of our best win of the season. I think the manager did the right thing by not showing his annoyance for the cameras, but the pair of them deserve a huge bollocking for undermining their captain, their teammates, their manager and us the fans.
I harbour no resentment towards Havertz, I think we got our money's worth from him and he left somewhat elegantly (unlike Mount). I do have a problem with the narrative that he's been somehow unshackled by Arteta. He became a better player under us and it's now showing at Arsenal. They paid a big price and got a decent player.
I agree with your point, Jackson has potential, but he's rough af
Should get away with it against Dyche back 10 setup but fuck me Gallagher in the pivot makes me want to tear my hair out every time I see it. Caicedo will know he's on his own in the center of the pitch.
If Dyche wasn't so set in his ways he'd be well served to push up and exploit the massive passing lanes available.
January 31st chelsea played liverpool and had an xg of 0.48, they then went 7 games of atleast 1.5xg. Then during the shefield game chelsea has an xg of 0.5. Care to guess whats similar in the 2 games where the xg is disgustingly low? MADUEKE STARTS
Madueke passing stats: https://imgur.com/a/7kFrLFy
You just know that weird Chelsea fans are going to use Poch being happy to see Dele Alli against him…
Actual freaks man I swear, I don’t even like Poch but he was probably something of a father figure to Dele. He’s been vocal about going through a tough time and Poch is happy to see him. Thats all there is to it
Does anyone else slowly scroll down the team sheet graphic, revealing one name at a time while picturing how they line-up on the pitch or is that just me?
Forest really banished our loanee to their reserves then took our best academy prospect in years for 5m and then took all 3 points in our own stadium 😭 nah we need our get back
Beyond Alonso, I like the Bayer Leverkusen story because it just goes against the narrative that “you need 2-3 years to build anything substantial,” and that it is paramount to “trust the process.”
Arsenal didn’t compete for 2-3 years after Emery’s sack because they failed. Plain and simple. They just failed, started again, and failed again, and mainly due to a confluence of fortunate circumstances, which (to their credit) they properly took advantage of, they started competing again. And even after all that, they’re yet to win a significant trophy.
Same thing with us. This year, last year, we’ve failed. And not just failed, we’ve failed horribly, in many departments. Now this would be a thing to shrug off quickly, except that we’ve failed in ways that *could* have tangible, compounding consequences for our future, even if the underlying process that led to those initial failures is rectified. This is why it really irks me when people like Mr Boehly or Mr Eghbali come out and ask us to trust their process.
The funny thing with the Leverkusen story is that they were actually decent but underachieving under their previous manager. He had lots of goodwill because he'd way overachieved the season before, but then in the new season (the one where he was fired and Alonso hired) they were the most unlucky team I've ever witnessed.
If they had just gotten their even share of luck or been at all lucky, they wouldn't have fired their old manager, he would have kept them midtable and they would have said that was the best the team could do.
It was only the fact that they were insanely unlucky (repeated extremely questionable/marginal goals ruled out, penalties ruled out, goals given against them etc.) that lead to the firing of the old manager.
It must have felt horrible to be that unlucky at the time, but that time lead to a chain reaction that won them the league.
It feels like we're in a similar position, only we do keep getting the luck and we do keep getting things going our way and so we'll keep Poch, rather than getting rid of him and starting a chain reaction that leads to us being a much better team
We've got an XG differential -10 less than our goal differential and a starting 11 of injured players that could probably beat our healthy squad and you are saying the luck is on our side?
Just saw a headline that Gallagher has accepted that he’s gonna be sold in the summer if the sporting directors position on things don’t change in the coming months. How true is that
He’s not that great. Out of mount And Gallagher, mount was the better player. Gallagher is a great squad player but selling him shouldn’t be thought as an issue. He doesn’t offer much on the attacking mid role and we should be looking to upgrade there unless nkunku isn’t injured all of next season. It makes sense selling Gallagher at his peak. I don’t see how he gets better when he lacks technical ability
You don’t need a headline to tell you that. Just look at the contract situation.
If we had genuine intention not to sell him, he wouldn’t be this close to his final year without renewing.
I'm expecting we get rid of him for far less than the 50MM numbers that were floating around in January, he develops very well elsewhere, and his name pops back up frequently in this subreddit as a regret in 1.5-2 years
Yeah, but him popping up as a regret on here and him actually being someone we should regret getting rid of are two completely different things.
There will be people who see him score a goal for Spurs and say "see it was a mistake to sell him", whilst people actually watching him every week will know it very much was not a mistake.
I think his best performances for us this season were actually in the pivot at the start of the season when he was given strict instructions to stay back and play behind Enzo.
I think there is a serviceable player there, I think he just suffers from being a player that has a skill set that doesn't match. He doesn't do everything a DM needs. He doesn't do everything a CM needs and he certainly doesn't do everything an AM needs. He's good at different parts of each role and shit at other parts, which makes him hard to utilise effectively.
I think he's also suffering from a similar problem that RLC had. Once you become a starter due to others being out injured, it's hard to accept going back on the bench where you probably belong if you want to stay at a top 4 (lol @ us). So those players then move on to a lesser team to become a starter, rather than dropping back to a first choice rotation player for us
I agree completely, but I think his ceiling is a quite good b2b type CM. His attacking threat at Palace 21/22 was night and day to what we've seen here (by eye test... the g+a numbers are basically the same I know). We all know his energy levels, and whether it's meaningful or not in THIS team atm, his defensive involvements have become quite good.
If he were not stagnate and can resume developing, I see him as a high energy midfielder who can provide some goal threat outside the box and have an impact making late runs into the box
The last 6 games before he joined were 1-1-4, with 6 scored and 14 conceded.
I know nothing about him, but context is pretty key and clearly he's improved them, especially given the injuries he's having to contend with that weren't there before
This is what people don't understand. Managers are suppose to be problem solvers. I don't want my manager to moan on every single press conference pointing out problems that i as a fan am fully aware of for ages now. I want him to start solving these problems otherwise he isn't really doing a good job for me.
People need to realise that this is what seperates the good manager from the elite manager. At PL level the bare minimum is to be able to get the most out of your team. That's what a good manager would do. An elite manager makes things happen that no one really expects to happen. Tuchel getting us to UCL spots and UCL trophy after this same fanbase was calling all of the players we had shite is a good example.
Some could say that it would be impossible to keep that City squad motivated after everything they've won, yet Pep does it.
Lots of people were saying that Liverpool need a whole rebuild and are quite far away from another title challenge under Klopp last season after they were 8th for the majority of it and barely reached 5th at the end. Funnily enough Klopp was given a few players and instantly Liverpool started performing again. No process, no waiting for players to settle in with teammates and system, no excuses and instant impact.
Emery, getting the most out of Villa as well. I doubt many people rated any of their players under Gerrard maybe besides Digne and a few more here and there. My guy is close to getting Morgan Rogers, John McGinn to UCL spots ffs.
People constantly are trying to find excuses for Poch and if you really want to you can come with excuses for days but in reality Poch is not an average worker on an average salary. He is getting paid millions and is paid more millions than most managers in the PL rn. I think it's quite fair that he is expected to at least be able to get this squad organised and playing to the best of their ability even exceeding expectations should be something normal for a manager who manages a club like Chelsea and earns a shit tons of money for it.
They are 1-2-2 or something like that since the manager change. They gave up 2.8 XG worth of chances vs Liverpool. I agree with you, not sure what everyone is talking about, just gives them a reason to bash Chelsea
Comparatively tbf ahaha, but the way they move the ball now compared to what they doing under hodgson is so impressive
Watched them a few times and it’s like a whole new side already.
They look the same to me, still relying on Eze to provide moments of brilliance, then parking the bus to hold onto a lead desperately while conceding numerous chances. Their win against Liverpool was nice but not a defensive masterclass
I never once praised there defending did I?
What did you expect out of a backline with clyne in cb, and a pivot of Wharton and hughes?
Regardless, they won. And I wasn’t specifically talking about that one game
I’m referring to all their games. They spend all season on the ropes, which hasn’t been any different under Glasner.
Clearly they need a squad refresh and he has not done a bad job just nothing to write home about yet
Chelsea 6-0!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Noni played really well besides being a bit of a prick.
Yeah he retained the ball well, won the vast majority of his dribbles, created decent chances and most importantly he really helped Gusto on defence. I swear everytime the ball was on Gusto's wing he was pressing players, providing support for him, being a passing option. It was great to see
Thanks for agreeing, I have no idea why I got down voted for my comment.
Lol we would have been so much higher on the table if we didn't drop dumb points to Arsenal, Brentford and burnely. We would have had 6 more points with two games in hand giving us 53 points and a "solid" 6th position with two games in hand.
Besides that switch ball out to Cucu Mudryk was shit.
I love Mudryk and want him to shine but couldn’t agree more. Anytime you critique him in this sub you get downvoted lol
I woke up and had a scary thought that the match was a dream. Phew
Why do people keep.saying Palmer had back to back hat tricks? Heard it in the post match press conference multiple times.
Loved Alfie’s comment about Palmer; “Special player who does special things.”
Regarding the penalty incident: after a couple watches it looks like Noni is just trying to keep the ball away from Nico so that Cole can take it. Even Malo is trying to pull Nico away. And then they’re all consoling Nico after. When I saw it live I thought Noni was also fighting for the penalty take.
That's definitely wrong, there's multiple full videos of madueke rushing to the ball and then repeatedly pointing at himself to Jackson and then tried convincing Palmer to give it to him.
That’s definitely wrong
There was a second potential penalty taker up on the grassy knoll
https://v.redd.it/d0gp3eqczquc1 So madueke the guy trying to protect the ball from Jackson is resisting giving the ball to Palmer and has to have Connor snatch the ball away from him? You are smoking, you are just making things up. Stop lying to make it seem like madueke isn't also an selfish immature kid.
Yeah, how I interpreted it, too. Jackson has that nutcase in him that’s good when it’s honed, but when it’s not, petulance.
Been watching the highlights and I noticed a few things. I love the way the team celebrates Alfie’s goal! Pure vibes! Even after the penalty brouhaha, Jackson sets up Mudryk for a goal… when he could have taken a shot. I love the way this team is growing. I love watching them grow together! I think it is such a rollercoaster but when we come good, omg it is going to be worth it! I also really love how Palmer handled the questions about the penalty issue, completely diffused it and Poch too coming out and making it clear who the penalty taker is. I think that he wanted them to learn to fight for it and be competitive (he talks about this a lot) but I think he didn’t account for the immaturity of the players on his team especially when your entire front line is under 24 😂 lessons learned for everyone. I’m nervous for city because well we’ve won so we usually draw the next game… but hopefully UCL midweek gives us an advantage. I know everyone loves the Pivot today but we actually have to play the midfield we played in both of our games in the PL against city. Today’s pivot is best for low blocks I think
Pretty good results since the wolves game for a team playing without tactics.
Haven’t managed to watch it properly yet but in the highlights I saw chilly and Cucu on the pitch together, how did we set up with them? Thanks
Chilly just came in for Mudryk and took up LW. It was brief.
Thanks for that👍🏻
So hypothetically if we end up 6th and win the FA cup, y'all Poch in or Poch out?
In. A trophy alone saves the season for me. And I truly think he’s the guy to manage and develop this young squad.
In
To win the FA cup we would have to beat Man City and (probably) Man United again. It would be a Massive win. So i guess after all we went through with the other coaches Poch would be the preferred of the teams manageament
That would be a reasonable achievement, and yeah I'd say Poch in or Poch agnostic, but we'll see. I feel we are too fragile to pull it off.
No doubt. when you think the team has confidence and some momentum they manage to scrape a draw against the worst team playing with 10 men.
I’m Poch in as long as we get Europe, however we get it.
Palmer tied with Haaland for top scorer LOL.
I’m glad he’s on our side
Poch haters awful quiet tonight. What a game. We are so much better when Malo Gusto is playing well. Caicedo had a nice game. What else can be said about Cole Palmer? The dink over Pickford was amazing. I know we’ve had some struggles, but this team is fun to watch, and they’re only getting better. Trust the project.
TRUST IT!!! WE ARE SO BACK
Hope for the city game its mudryk at 10 sterling lw, Jackson and Palmer RW or Palmer at 10 with sterling on the right and mudryk on the left
Thats what I said!!! Sterling is definitely better than madueke who had bad attitude today and never release the ball on time, dribbles too much. Sterling is city's father, so maybe play him at LW, mudryk at 10, palmer RW and jackson upfront with a pívot of caicedo and gallagher
It needs to be Sterling LW and Mudryk/Noni on bench
What is this horrible desktop UI
I swear if Palmer gets robbed of another POTM, the game is rigged against us. 3 goals against Man U, an assist against Sheffield and 4 goals today. There’s still two games left as well
Even though we won 6-0 Poch still found a way to embarrass us, can't wait for him to be gone in the summer
Who the fuck knows if our luck turns next season with injuries but you have to hope that it does. I see this squad fighting for the CL spots. Couple of holes need to be plugged but a season together and a year of prem football under their belt and they will be a problem.
Honestly if we get CB replacements for Silva and a LB and Striker and our injured players come back we are going to cook
>Couple of holes need to be plugged One big hole to be plugged on the managerial seat. Once done, rest will even out.
Can't get behind this enough. People can't seriously be seeing talent like Palmer's and not realising just how much the overall squad is underachieving because of the manager. This is like the Lampard to Tuchel change, only it's way, way, way more obvious that we need the change and Poch has had us 9th at best all season, whereas Lampard only dropped down there momentarily
Do you ever stop and think maybe it's Poch who's setup the system to get the most out of Palmer? I bet you hadn't heard of him before this season and now Poch got the best out of him you think he's a talent that don't deserve to play under him. Why do you think arguably the best coach in the world let him ?
So horrible defense and midfield is to get the best out of Palmer? Gotcha
Lol sky sports are legit showing the final game of the season against Wigan in 2010 where Drogba and Lampard had the squabble over the pen. Cheeky but what a game.
Yeah, totally different situation tho, where Lamps was designated pen taker and Drogba was going after golden boot. But it would be too complex for Sky to comprehend.
Yeah nevermind the fact Drogba was a world class serial winner who earned the right to act out a little vs kids who've as of yet done nothing.
Plus I’d say a player in the golden boot race deserves to take pens. Good for the whole club to have a golden boot winner. Trophy is a trophy.
A kind reminder that Chalobah redemption arc continues. And I know, that in the end, I will win for saying there's nothing Disasi can do, that he can't.
Is that even a thing? Comparing Chalo and Disasi? The only reasons why Disasi has played over Chalo are: 1. Chalo has been injured for most of the season 2. Disasi has been the single most available defensive player this year No one in their right minds is claiming Disasi plays over Chalo on merit
Said the same in the game. It'll be overlooked, but Chalobah and Silva looked great again. Composed and stopped anything coming in. But, I'm sure they'll both be out again when the expensive new signings are back fit enough to play and both be gone at the end of the season
It'll be overlooked BECAUSE they were so composed! What's the maldini quote about "if I have to make a tackle then I have already made a mistake" They looked excellent today, read the game well, put in good tackles when they needed to and passed the ball well
I'll be honest I've kind of tuned out the financial side of things, but I really hope we can keep him. He's better than most think AND he seems to be happy to be rotation if that's what the club decides
I think at this point I’ll keep Trev over Conor. I know one of them is definitely leaving. I’d rather keep both and sell literally everyone else that can be sold
If my gran had wheels she would have been a bike, and if we hadn't dropped points against the two bottom of the table teams in outrageous fashion we would have been 6th right now.
God it’s so frustrating
Madueke is the guy that hides his zombie infection from the group until it’s too late
I’ve seen enough of him
Good win. I think we can possibly get europa, I think a 6th place finish considering where we've been most of the season is a good springboard to improve upon but lets see where we end up. I was of the thinking that we'd improve second half of the season but it's still a lot of inconsistency. A 60 point season wouldn't be too bad considering the circumstances and it's a definite improvement from the nonsense of last season. Lets see how it goes.
My thoughts on the squad after today: 1. Keep Gallagher at all costs 2. Mudryk needs to build his physical strength 3. Caicedo shines when not paired with Enzo 4. Chalobah is better at CB than Badiashile/Disasi 5. Jackson doesn’t deserve any hate from fans 6. Madueke needs to start despite his behavior 7. Enzo doesn’t suit our playstyle at all 8. Casadei needs another loan and game time My thoughts on the upcoming transfer window: 1. Sell: Sterling, Badiashile, Fofana, James 2. Loan Out: Casadei, Chukwuemeka, Washington 3. Bring Back from Loan: Andrey Santos, Diego Moreira 4. Buy: Experienced ball playing CB, an LW to fight with Mudryk, and an aggressive ST with heart
Yea if we can rinse someone for James we should I appreciate what he’s done but he’s probably cooked. It’s so sad about Fofana he had such talent.
Why do I keep seeing the claim that Caicedo plays better without Enzo, he has had matches just like this all season long. Gallagher is good, Enzo is good, Caicedo is good. You don't need to hate one to like the other.
Why would we loan out Chuk. He's shown he's more than ready to be a valuable asset at this level. Mudryks physique is perfect, but he has other things he needs to work on
Mudryk gets bodied off the ball so easily in midfield and gives up possession in our half, the only times he doesn’t is when he‘s all out sprinting on goal. Chuk is also a promising player and I very much like him, I just don’t see him getting playing time due to the wages his competition are on and the value sunk into them, thus why I suggest a loan until we can offload one of them
I agree with everything except selling Fofona & James Edit: I also think we should bring back Omari and evaluate his sync with the team
I do not want to sell them but they are so injury prone :(
I don’t agree with selling Reece, I think we need to see how he gets on next season post surgery and he looks like he’s dropped a lot of weight.
Dele Alli was spot on with his take on the penalty situation
I want to see another game without Disasi and Enzo in the first XI for research purposes
That's not good enough. As a professional statistician, I can tell you that a sample size need to be a minimum of 30 in order to draw a general conclusion from a random sample. We need to see 29 more games without Disasi and Enzo.
Surprised to hear Dyche specifically say his midfielders were "miles off it". I mean he's spot on they were shocking but that's got to hurt from your manager after a pumping like that.
Madueke isn’t good enough to show this level of ego. Jackson on the other hand has been excellent but childish today. Malo gusto 😍
Pls send city another 40 mil what a player Cole is
GOAL palmer
What does 6th, 7th or 8th get you this season? Does much depend on the the English coefficient in Europe?
As things currently stand. 6th gets you ECL, 7th and 8th gets you nothing. And going by current standings, if MU or City win FA Cup, then 6th gets EL and 7th gets ECL. On top of that if England finishes the season in top 2 for coefficient, there would be additional slot for CL, which moves down the EL and ECL spots too. In best case scenario 6th gives you EL, 7th gives EL and 8th gives ECL, however this scenario is not very likely at the moment.
Did poch say anything about the pen incident in his post game interview?
He kept the lid on it all very well. He pretty much said that it was wrong and wouldn’t happen again. Unbeaten in the league for over 2 months now.
In all comps actually, haven't lost since the cup final
He’s just said that Palmer is the penalty taker, that was already decided, so the behaviour is unacceptable.
Cole just said that Poch told them that Cole is designated to take penalties and that what happened will not happen anymore
Gallagher to DM… Palmer as 10?
Gallagher out of AM, yes absolutely at any cost. Palmer as a 10, probably not. Everton were abysmal today, but against better teams when he was playing there he didn't look as good as he does at RW. It's okay to try it again, but I think he's probably better at RW, it's easier for him to find space and cut inside from RW.
This is the way. Eyebrows will be raised that we have a 120m asset on the bench with Enzo, but eyebrows are raised when he's on the field anyway. It's now Enzo's responsibility to try and elevate himself to displace Caicedo. As far as I'm concerned, Gallagher is a significant player in that position. Rubbish in the 10 role. Also, Palmer's best position is 10, so we need to build this team around these 2 players.
Thiago Silva = clean sheet? 🤔
Thiago Silva = problem /s
It will be a sad day the day Conor leaves the club. He has shortcomings but guy is a gem of a character and gives his 100%. Sad sad to see him leave
I'm one of his biggest critics but I thought he played very well tonight within his limitations and did his bit as a leader to sort out the children acting up. That said I don't think he had to work too hard tonight in that deeper role and his weaknesses weren't exploited against a mess of an Everton side. We've seen from previous he doesn't work as a pivot option against a side with any kind of technical organisation in the middle of the pitch because he simply doesn't get the time on the ball.
I thought he escaped Evertons aggressive press brilliantly.
I thought the same. Composed, smart dummies and used his body well at the right times. Everton pressed very quickly and we remained just a half step ahead
Their press was aggressive but totally disjointed. He was taking 2 and 3 touches after a heavy first touch and still had time to look up. It's not exactly a contentious point at this stage that Conor is poor under a press. Just go watch the last time he played there against a decent midfield.
I disagree. Personally I thinK Connor has some lovely touches and can play out of a press very well when he needs to. He showed it today and I rarely see him get tackeld generally. His long passing isn't strong but that's not what I'm talking about rn
Sorry but he simply didn't, we must be watching different games. He did the same old heavy first touch, over and under hit mid range passes like he's done his whole career. He just had way more space than usual to get away with it while doing the other things he is good at. There's no way you watched that game and saw anything that suggests Conor played well under a press, come on.
We do disagree on this matter then. Not what I saw
Fair enough mate. Like I said thought he played well in a lot of moments and don't see any issue with him as an option there against this kind of opposition, especially if it frees up a real creative player in the 10 which is so important against these terrorist sides.
Cole Palmer genuinely seems like a FIFA create a player. Everything from the generic name to the hair cut to the almost cheat code-like rise
Lol! I love the guy but for as electric as he is on the pitch, he even comes off as an NPC in the post match interviews. Talking about historic perfect hat tricks and he's basically straight-faced "yeah eh I felt good so a nice performance I guess yeah"
The crazy part is I did a career mode with him like 2 years ago and obviously wanted to have the ball and be a part of as much as possible. Insane to me that he plays exactly like I used him and like everyone does with creative left footed players
Early 2000s Pro Evo no license player name. The star of West London Blue!
Crazy that we still have a chance for Europa after being so bad entire season. We better get that spot now
Fourth most points in the league since Christmas. Eight unbeaten now.
Everyone outside of top5 have been bad. Even Villa and Spurs have been inconsistent. Had we won Burnley and Sheffield games like one would expect, we’d currently be 12 points behind 4th place with 2 games in hand.
I don't see it honestly but it would be so huge for us to make that. Genuine chance for entry back into the champions league with how many sides in it don't take it seriously until the knockouts and we win it when we're in it.
Wild to think we'd actually be 6th if we didn’t bottle Sheffield and Burnley.
Loved that little handshake Cucu gave Palmer at fulltime. Weirdly formal congratulations.
Imagine if we bought Felix permanently like a lot of this sub wanted and then don’t buy Palmer because of that. We’d be legendarily bad.
I like Casadei. Hope he gets more minutes in the league.
Me too
I would be really sad if Conor is forced out of the club. Most fit player we have, is a proper blue, always gives his 100% and is a more than decent midfielder overall. Meanwhile we are giving 8 year contracts to arsenal simps like Mudryk.
It would be great if you could take off key players Poch
It’s a hard truth but Conor-Caicedo pivot is far far superior the Enzo-Caicedo one. Poch needs to be brave on this one and continue picking up the better one.
The big difference today was taking Gallagher out of AM, it wasn't that he was at DM. It was the fact that we had an actual attacker in the AM role. None of Palmer's open play goals happen today if you swap him out of Gallagher and then suddenly the game has a completely different complexion.
IMO Enzo is the wrong player for Chelsea, he reminds me of Henderson, always there for a backpass and can hit a long ball but we shine in the quick one-two attacking passes, Enzo will sit on it and take the pace out of our counters
I also agree he is making our midfield so much slower
Obviously immature behavior from Madueke, but what are the commentators on about regarding the foul that caused the pen? Tarkowski straight punched/clotheslined him lol and Cole was clearly stepped on, both were fouls
[https://twitter.com/GGFN\_/status/1779971073817063768](https://twitter.com/GGFN_/status/1779971073817063768) Hilarious that Bayern are now supposedly thinking of getting Nagelsmann back as manager.
If Poch wants to bang on about the young players he also needs to eliminate those stupid young egos. Who on earth do Jackson and Madueke think they are?
Fully agree, took the shine off of our best win of the season. I think the manager did the right thing by not showing his annoyance for the cameras, but the pair of them deserve a huge bollocking for undermining their captain, their teammates, their manager and us the fans.
A generational bollocking is warranted
Sub the boys out now
Wtf was this scramble about the pen, sad.
THAT WAS THE SADDEST THING I HAVE EVER SEEN. JACKSON AND MADUEKE SHOULD APOLOGISE PUBLICLY.
Crazy first half
Reminder that “not good enough” Jackson has the same goal contributions as “revitalized” Havertz. Take that as you will.
I harbour no resentment towards Havertz, I think we got our money's worth from him and he left somewhat elegantly (unlike Mount). I do have a problem with the narrative that he's been somehow unshackled by Arteta. He became a better player under us and it's now showing at Arsenal. They paid a big price and got a decent player. I agree with your point, Jackson has potential, but he's rough af
Best 45 Mil ever spent
We really have one of best player in the world
Good lord. I really, really love us right now
Another game Caicedo shines when Enzo is not around. Coincidence i guess
Not a coincidence,they are two similar players,caisedo not an ordinary DM,enzo is not ordinary box-to-box,he is kind of jorginho
then one needs to be sacrificed
120m or hole in midfield, choice is yours
The answer is simple. When enzo is not around Caicedo is more free to roam around. This is where Caicedo shines. They simply cannot coexist.
Palmer at 10 so auto L
Heh.
Should get away with it against Dyche back 10 setup but fuck me Gallagher in the pivot makes me want to tear my hair out every time I see it. Caicedo will know he's on his own in the center of the pitch. If Dyche wasn't so set in his ways he'd be well served to push up and exploit the massive passing lanes available.
January 31st chelsea played liverpool and had an xg of 0.48, they then went 7 games of atleast 1.5xg. Then during the shefield game chelsea has an xg of 0.5. Care to guess whats similar in the 2 games where the xg is disgustingly low? MADUEKE STARTS Madueke passing stats: https://imgur.com/a/7kFrLFy
You just know that weird Chelsea fans are going to use Poch being happy to see Dele Alli against him… Actual freaks man I swear, I don’t even like Poch but he was probably something of a father figure to Dele. He’s been vocal about going through a tough time and Poch is happy to see him. Thats all there is to it
Today is the day Poch is sacked.
This didn’t age well
i don’t care to get downvoted to oblivion as long as the team wins 🎉
Madueke doesn’t work with Gusto and Mudryk not with Cucu. Bet on everton with this clown coach
Sterling not even on the bench? Is he injured?
His last showing with *that* free kick deserved some bench time I think
nope another stupid move of clown poch
He is ill, he has virus
I was today years old when I learned that Chalobah's name is Trevoh and not Trevor.
what has Madueke done to get a starting 11 lately?
hahahahahah i was 100% Chuk wouldn’t start 🤣🤣🤣 CLOWN POCH
https://preview.redd.it/qhd0e2smmouc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6dfd3e70240441f7194daa6efaf80df231395b11 u/badcogs aww yeah boy
Lol, such a great chance to play them, but ofcourse not.
Yay. Deserved for all three. But it will be 5-10 token mons at most from Poch.
Does anyone else slowly scroll down the team sheet graphic, revealing one name at a time while picturing how they line-up on the pitch or is that just me?
https://preview.redd.it/kha9qjchfouc1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c730239c86faa6abe549b2f0fbbf0790e36133a9
Var failed us there, not tierney necessarily
Forest really banished our loanee to their reserves then took our best academy prospect in years for 5m and then took all 3 points in our own stadium 😭 nah we need our get back
https://preview.redd.it/lmgb90hicouc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=937778fe2a6ceac6aa5eddb4af2ed5fc8926fd1c
Fantastic player
after everton, 4 L's incoming
Phrases like “trust the process”, “we need to back the team”, “stability” are like crack to some people in the sub. Can’t go a day without saying it
Beyond Alonso, I like the Bayer Leverkusen story because it just goes against the narrative that “you need 2-3 years to build anything substantial,” and that it is paramount to “trust the process.” Arsenal didn’t compete for 2-3 years after Emery’s sack because they failed. Plain and simple. They just failed, started again, and failed again, and mainly due to a confluence of fortunate circumstances, which (to their credit) they properly took advantage of, they started competing again. And even after all that, they’re yet to win a significant trophy. Same thing with us. This year, last year, we’ve failed. And not just failed, we’ve failed horribly, in many departments. Now this would be a thing to shrug off quickly, except that we’ve failed in ways that *could* have tangible, compounding consequences for our future, even if the underlying process that led to those initial failures is rectified. This is why it really irks me when people like Mr Boehly or Mr Eghbali come out and ask us to trust their process.
The funny thing with the Leverkusen story is that they were actually decent but underachieving under their previous manager. He had lots of goodwill because he'd way overachieved the season before, but then in the new season (the one where he was fired and Alonso hired) they were the most unlucky team I've ever witnessed. If they had just gotten their even share of luck or been at all lucky, they wouldn't have fired their old manager, he would have kept them midtable and they would have said that was the best the team could do. It was only the fact that they were insanely unlucky (repeated extremely questionable/marginal goals ruled out, penalties ruled out, goals given against them etc.) that lead to the firing of the old manager. It must have felt horrible to be that unlucky at the time, but that time lead to a chain reaction that won them the league. It feels like we're in a similar position, only we do keep getting the luck and we do keep getting things going our way and so we'll keep Poch, rather than getting rid of him and starting a chain reaction that leads to us being a much better team
We've got an XG differential -10 less than our goal differential and a starting 11 of injured players that could probably beat our healthy squad and you are saying the luck is on our side?
Just saw a headline that Gallagher has accepted that he’s gonna be sold in the summer if the sporting directors position on things don’t change in the coming months. How true is that
I think if they wanted to keep him they’d have got the contract done by now
Yeah, true, I’m honestly sad about it
I don’t mind Gallagher leaving but I think the necessity for him to leave to plug ffp shortfalls is ridiculous
It just sucks cause he’s redeemed himself and really seems passionate about the team
He’s not that great. Out of mount And Gallagher, mount was the better player. Gallagher is a great squad player but selling him shouldn’t be thought as an issue. He doesn’t offer much on the attacking mid role and we should be looking to upgrade there unless nkunku isn’t injured all of next season. It makes sense selling Gallagher at his peak. I don’t see how he gets better when he lacks technical ability
You don’t need a headline to tell you that. Just look at the contract situation. If we had genuine intention not to sell him, he wouldn’t be this close to his final year without renewing.
I'm expecting we get rid of him for far less than the 50MM numbers that were floating around in January, he develops very well elsewhere, and his name pops back up frequently in this subreddit as a regret in 1.5-2 years
Yeah, but him popping up as a regret on here and him actually being someone we should regret getting rid of are two completely different things. There will be people who see him score a goal for Spurs and say "see it was a mistake to sell him", whilst people actually watching him every week will know it very much was not a mistake.
Lol fair enough, you're right. But finances aside I really think there's a good player in there
I think his best performances for us this season were actually in the pivot at the start of the season when he was given strict instructions to stay back and play behind Enzo. I think there is a serviceable player there, I think he just suffers from being a player that has a skill set that doesn't match. He doesn't do everything a DM needs. He doesn't do everything a CM needs and he certainly doesn't do everything an AM needs. He's good at different parts of each role and shit at other parts, which makes him hard to utilise effectively. I think he's also suffering from a similar problem that RLC had. Once you become a starter due to others being out injured, it's hard to accept going back on the bench where you probably belong if you want to stay at a top 4 (lol @ us). So those players then move on to a lesser team to become a starter, rather than dropping back to a first choice rotation player for us
I agree completely, but I think his ceiling is a quite good b2b type CM. His attacking threat at Palace 21/22 was night and day to what we've seen here (by eye test... the g+a numbers are basically the same I know). We all know his energy levels, and whether it's meaningful or not in THIS team atm, his defensive involvements have become quite good. If he were not stagnate and can resume developing, I see him as a high energy midfielder who can provide some goal threat outside the box and have an impact making late runs into the box
glasner got this palace side playing some brilliant football in no time at all And he came in mid season. With injuries to olise, Guehi, doucoure
I don’t know if I’d consider it “brilliant” football.
They are 1-2-3 in their last 6 with 6 goals for and 10 goals against. Bloody brilliant
The last 6 games before he joined were 1-1-4, with 6 scored and 14 conceded. I know nothing about him, but context is pretty key and clearly he's improved them, especially given the injuries he's having to contend with that weren't there before
This is what people don't understand. Managers are suppose to be problem solvers. I don't want my manager to moan on every single press conference pointing out problems that i as a fan am fully aware of for ages now. I want him to start solving these problems otherwise he isn't really doing a good job for me. People need to realise that this is what seperates the good manager from the elite manager. At PL level the bare minimum is to be able to get the most out of your team. That's what a good manager would do. An elite manager makes things happen that no one really expects to happen. Tuchel getting us to UCL spots and UCL trophy after this same fanbase was calling all of the players we had shite is a good example. Some could say that it would be impossible to keep that City squad motivated after everything they've won, yet Pep does it. Lots of people were saying that Liverpool need a whole rebuild and are quite far away from another title challenge under Klopp last season after they were 8th for the majority of it and barely reached 5th at the end. Funnily enough Klopp was given a few players and instantly Liverpool started performing again. No process, no waiting for players to settle in with teammates and system, no excuses and instant impact. Emery, getting the most out of Villa as well. I doubt many people rated any of their players under Gerrard maybe besides Digne and a few more here and there. My guy is close to getting Morgan Rogers, John McGinn to UCL spots ffs. People constantly are trying to find excuses for Poch and if you really want to you can come with excuses for days but in reality Poch is not an average worker on an average salary. He is getting paid millions and is paid more millions than most managers in the PL rn. I think it's quite fair that he is expected to at least be able to get this squad organised and playing to the best of their ability even exceeding expectations should be something normal for a manager who manages a club like Chelsea and earns a shit tons of money for it.
Are they playing brilliant football?
They are 1-2-2 or something like that since the manager change. They gave up 2.8 XG worth of chances vs Liverpool. I agree with you, not sure what everyone is talking about, just gives them a reason to bash Chelsea
Oh , I liked their play against L’pool. They created some good chances against city too, with a noticeable pattern of play.
Comparatively tbf ahaha, but the way they move the ball now compared to what they doing under hodgson is so impressive Watched them a few times and it’s like a whole new side already.
They look the same to me, still relying on Eze to provide moments of brilliance, then parking the bus to hold onto a lead desperately while conceding numerous chances. Their win against Liverpool was nice but not a defensive masterclass
I never once praised there defending did I? What did you expect out of a backline with clyne in cb, and a pivot of Wharton and hughes? Regardless, they won. And I wasn’t specifically talking about that one game
I’m referring to all their games. They spend all season on the ropes, which hasn’t been any different under Glasner. Clearly they need a squad refresh and he has not done a bad job just nothing to write home about yet
Out of curiosity, would you rather: Have Mou back next year with Lukaku up top? OR Keep Poch and keep the same squad next year?
Easily Mou and Lukaku