Chelsea Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2023/24

Lavinia wrote: »

Alonso next

Considering the love for the 3-2 scorelines last season that could mean an own goal ...

Played poorly but as Frank said lots of new players and a good chunk of those were away on international duty.

Make no mistake about it though, if w play like that against Pool we'll be beaten easily.

Werner, Kante, Zouma the best for Chelsea, James took his goal well but let a lot go down his flank.

Another good thing though is we have, once everyone is fit, a pretty big squad so should be able to compete a bit better this year as we've a bit more quality.

Kepa is still a major worry and even if post match Frank stuck with him and said if Mendy is signed its for competition, you gte the feeling hes fuming with Kepa.

The goal was on him but there was 2 or 3 times we let them shot from distance without closing down, 1 of those was a goal.

We're still weak as pi** at set pieces, we cleared the initial corner but Dunk had a free header to make it 2-2 and he should have buried it.

Lots to work on still but that will come down the line, not just for Chelsea but every team in the PL, I dont think we'll be up to speed until about October/November but keep chalking up wins and we should be top 4 in 8 months time.

A win is a win. The team will probably look very different in a few games time. Good to get things on the road again .

Bayern are sounding out Odoi again going off Twitter suggestions.

I wouldnt be surprised if he does push for a move either, if hes not going to play over 2 midfielders on the wings when 2 of the wingers ahead of you are injured, it must be a bit s**t watching it from the sidelines.

He'll want to make the squad for England in the Euros and with Greenwood, Sancho, Sterling all head of him at the moment, sitting on our bench isnt going to further his international career.

Id have preferred to keep Ampadu for midfield as well but hopefully he can prove enough on loan at Sheffield to develop

If we play 4231 often like last night then we’re fine for midfield numbers really, i can see why Frank wants Rice as a dedicated holding mf for a 3 man midfield cause only Kante can do that for us atm realistically

Was disappointed not to see CHO start but he must be disappointing in training, we were narrow last night and while Reece James was good and the goal was a worldy, I saw a heatmap of him and he was infield far more than on the overlap of Havertz, maybe the intention was to suffocate Brighton idk but hopefully we see Ziyech make an impact when he’s ready

Based on how the game was up to that point I wasnt fancying us at 1 all, would have needed a sub to make an impact really but Reece picked a good time to get his first PL goal

I do hope Pulisic and Ziyech are available for Liverpool but unlikely they’ll start just 6 days after not making a matchday squad, hopefully Thiago Silva is up to speed by then though

Diana Freezing Martian wrote: »

ive a feeling if someone offered 20 mill for RLC they'd probably take it

I would, he's 24, let someone else take the punt on him now I think. If his attitude was better I'd want to show more patience with him after the injury, but there's nothing in him. I would have thought he would have enjoyed being behind closed doors tbh but he looks even more quiet.

Is Mendy any good? Seems to like to push the ball out in front of him, Pickford style. Is he going to be an upgrade? I know his stats are better, but maybe he's playing behind defenders who defend adequately and only really faced genuine quality maybe 6 games a season? Kepa isn't helped by a defence that never looks properly organised.

I reckon once we get Mendy in, our business will be done this window.

I still feel Rice would be an absurd waste of money.

He doesnt seem to be pushing for a move, probably not to burn bridges at WH and thats going to force WH to dig in and ask for 60/70/80m for him.

We might go after him next summer if theres no move now, best case scenario for that potential deal would be WH getting relegated, would make a deal much easier to do as you'd imagine Rice would want out.

The aggregated ratings from Reddit disagrees

Lavinia wrote: »

very glad to see the boss is backing me up
great minds and all tha jazz :pac::D

Lavinia wrote: »

you cant judge him or any player based on one game or even on one portion of the game. if that would be the criteria wed have no players at all

RLC this season is either a put up or shut up.

Hes 25 in a few months, the talent is there but hes never really reached any of his potential.

Hes arguably 5th choice for CM and if we play a 2 man pivot, hes screwed, if we go 4-3-3 he might get some minuites. he shouldnt even be in the discussion to play out wide, whatever LaHpard was thinking, it failed miserably, so thats on Lamaprd.

Havertz had an equally ineffective game but RLC couldnt even pass the ball.

duploelabs wrote: »

That's an aggregate score over the whole game, as you can see he's so far below the rest of the team. Exactly when did he have a good game for us last?

He performed well in the end of Contes days but never really for a run of games, nothing you'd go, oh remember that game?

Injuries havent helped, clearly but theres only so much you can blame on that.

Lavinia wrote: »

well i remember when lot of ye here were saying ollie is terrible we should sell him, but frank also saw a potential of him and unlike sarri that let him rot on the bench actually gave him game time and look how it went.. he showed hes a great player and lad for the team

i suppose frank also see great potential in rlc and hopefully he will show that he can be the beast on the pitch..

stays to see

Giroud played more games for Sarri than he did for Lampard. :pac:

Well maybe not a game changer, just the addition needed to keep Liverpool at the top

Top class player though and can allow Liverpool to play in many different ways, was hoping they wouldn't sign him and maybe suffering from post title syndrome we could get close to them, wouldn't be banking on either of those things now

GavRedKing wrote: »

Hes like Kovacic but all round, hes much better.

I think hes a fantastic player anyway.

I'm not pushed about getting close to the PL title because I think we're still weak as piss in some areas but consolidate top 4 and it'll be another step closer to fighting for a PL next year.

I wouldn't be pushed about a proper title challenge, but we need a decent points improvement this season and if Liverpool were to drop into the mid 80s in points like a normal title challenger not in the past 2 years, we should be close to that in an ideal world

Barring Laporte getting injured I don't see City dropping much this year, wouldn't be surprised to see a Liverpool drop though

hots wrote: »

I don't rate Thiago that highly at all, he's a good squad addition to pool who are weak outside their 11, but he only excels going forward and would be very light to be expected to do half the defensive work an all-round CM would do in the prem. He's a good fit for Liverpool though, drop Keita and have Henderson and Fabinho holding deep, then you take away the issues Thiago brings defensively and physically.

I'll politely disagree, his stats prove hes gets through more or less the same amount of tackles and interceptions per game as Kante, who's regarded one of the best in the business at CDM.

Throw in his attacking flair and you've got a seriously good hybrid who's got no real weakness to his game.

Hes a player I'd definitely have had at the Bridge in a heart beat, hes exactly the kind of CM that City need given Fernandinho is about 60.

Winner of Chelsea v Barnsley plays the winner of Leyton Orient v Spurs away in the 4th round of the league cup.

I'd prefer Leyton Orient too because it means Jose has one less chance at a trophy, of which he only has 3 real chances.

LineOfBeauty wrote: »

Most interceptions and most tackles completed for Bayern last season. On top of being usually near the top of the list when it comes to distance covered.

He has less tackles won than Muller going by fbref, it's a funny stat when you're looking at a barca/bayern-esque team. I think he's a good signing for pool, but only because they'll have him backed up by fabinho and henderson.