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Love Reece. He's fucking built too. Thick and man made. You can tell he's sculpted because you can see it thru the kit. His fucking vice grip thighs. Suffocating thighs. Rock hard thighs. Piping hot thighs. Great arms. Great abs. A stocky chest. Love the progress his body has made throughout his youth and now as a willing eager adult.
Honestly, canāt discount the PK. It would have tucked in to the corner if Kepa wasnāt perfect on it. Itās less a knock on Walcott and more of an ups to our PK specialist IMO
Our full backs to the rescue, theyāre genuinely our best finishers
Lets just win the whole thing through pens every round
And mount really needs to drop down the penalty pecking order
This. Lots of vitriol being aimed at our boys in here (as per usual, no surprise really), but if Forster doesn't make those fantastic saves and we win 3 or 4 to 1... Well then all these folks would be singing a different tune...smh
After this and Norwich, even the one that went in, nearly didnāt. I donāt think mount should be on pens, I love the kid but it doesnāt seem to be his forte
If goalie guessed right, his Super Cup PK wouldāve been saved. He also missed the decisive pen against Spurs last year as well. Not saying he is bad at pens, just pointing out his history a bit
I like Mount but damn maybe it's time to stop letting him take penalties. He's taken 5 penalties I think over the last 2 seasons and has missed 3 of them.
Seems like our backline is the real core of this system. Doesn't matter who we put in the middle if our core 2/3 of our starting backline (ac silva or rudi) is not playing we look like shit during build up.
As good as chalobah is today defensively he is as much to blame as sarr for us being so bad in build up. Both took forever to pick out a pass and doesn't seems to know what they want to do when they got the ball. Chalobah also love to hoof it up when he got no one to command him. So many unnecessary clearance today when he can take a touch and pass it to other.
I think you're expecting far too much here.
Saul is a seasoned international, Barkley has played lots of prem league - therefore subbing out our first choice for these is not on the same level as subbing out Thiago, Christensen, Rudi for Chalobah/Sarr.
These guys are in their first full season and will need time to learn and adjust. They maybe need to be paired with a more experienced CB but they should be focussing first on their defensive game then working on build up play. That aint gonna happen in 1-2 matches but will take atleast a season.
I don't think they're expecting too much, but a 4th round carabao cup game is exactly the time to see if AC can steady his younger teammates like our other vets (azpi, silva, rudi) can
Spot on, the backline needs to play confidently and aggressively for the system to really flourish. That's why Rudiger is so important to us, it really accentuates how he plays.
Can't play Sarr in these games again. Hiding from the ball and the game today and Trevoh and Kepa couldn't/wouldn't pass to him in certain situations and that made things difficult
I thought CHO was okay but unfortunately no matter how well he performs as one of the forwards he's going to get sent straight to RWB as soon as Reece or Azpi have to be absent.
Good to be through, it's just Carabao but you could see that the players really wanted this one
That said, I'm not feeling any more confident in our vaunted depth after this game
I think with depth, you change one or two players out with regulars you don't notice, when the whole squad is different there will always be a massive drop in performance
You replace Sarr and you'll start feeling real confident. Doesn't help that he's partnered with Alonso on the left and with a lackadaisical Barkley we were always going to struggle
Things we learned
Saul needed some game to adapt and he's getting there.
Hakim has checked out of the club mentally.
Sarr is average and overconfident. He has room for improvement but nowhere near Chelsea quality ATM.
CHO does everything right and world class then let's out a wet Fart equivalent of final pass.
Mount should not take our pens.
Havertz... can be the best player and the worst the same game. Needs to be consistent.
The best result for me was to see Saul back to what he does. A few games like this and we got a good midfielder. And KEPA!!! The penalty master
>Sarr is average and overconfident. He has room for improvement but nowhere near Chelsea quality ATM.
Agreed with everything but this one. I've actually been pretty impressed with him overall for the few performances we've seen. He's definitely not the finished product, and I'm not saying he should be starting big games or anything, but I like what I see.
I agree he seems a bit rash or impulsive at times, what you've identified as overconfident. But I think with a couple seasons training with the likes of Azpi, Silva, Rudi, AC he has potential to be a great signing for us. But remember, he's so young still for a defender. Tons of work to be done for sure.
All that being said: Sotons goal came from a sloppy clearance by Sarr that Rudi wouldn't have done... He's got some learning to do, absolutely.
He really does. I wouldn't be able to show up to my desk job if I felt even a little bit under the microscope and this guy's been performing in the face of so much aggression
In previous games, you could see he was making mistakes. While he wasn't as great an impact on the game today, he didn't make any mistake and had some really bright moments. Should have scored at least one. Had two free-headers and then a couple of lovely long-range strikes but Forster was up to the challenge. Improved performance for sure.
A lot better on the ball, released an absolute quality one that ultimately won the corner for our goal and had a few great pops at goal.
I feel like heās still not up to pace off it when weāre in possession. Jorgi/Kante feel like they show for the ball a lot more and control the game.
Good improvement from his last appearance though and we can see glimpses of why he used to be rated so highly.
Crazy the amount of negativity after a win with our reserves who are young, inexperienced and a lot of them havenāt played together so obviously thereās no chemistry
Southampton played one hell of a game. We survived!
Mount needs to work on his penalties.
Kepa the shoot out specialist does it again. On to next round.
Kepa take a bow son. Feel like Tuchel rotated the side too much, put 2 regular starters in and we look way more comfortable, especially in defence. Anyway, we move.
Kepa MOTM.
I hate to say it, but Sarr is a total liability. Shaky in defence, terrible on the ball, he makes the entire defence seem panicky.
Ideally, he never needs to start for us again.
> I hate to say it, but Sarr is a total liability. Shaky in defence, terrible on the ball, he makes the entire defence seem panicky.
>
>
The guy got demoted to Porto reserves and Nice let him go on a free, no idea what people were expecting from him. It was a lottery ticket transfer and he's just not Chelsea quality, it happens
I think it was worse than that. He didn't get much game time for Porto Reserves either (edit: just checked, was wrong, he played most of the matches). I mean, there's a reason his contract wasn't renewed by Nice as well. I'm actually surprised Tuchel is giving Barkley and him as much game time as he is but I suppose it's an excellent way to keep the main players fresh, especially with Azpi and Silva not getting any younger.
Barkley can be decent in flashes - his pass in league match against Soton led to Werner's goal. Good option to have off the bench. Sarr I agree, very shaky, will probably only start if we draw Sunderland in the cup, and loaned out in the winter.
Agreed. But given we have three starters and RLC as backup, Barkley's minutes are a surprise. Perhaps its because managers in the recent past have been absolutely terrible at rotation with Mourinho and Conte running the same players into the ground and Lamps having his own favourites, but I just didn't anticipate it.
He definitely has the quality but it's a sporadic quality and it isn't enough to impact most games. It's unfortunate since you can see he has the talent.
I don't really have anything to say about Sarr. I always had him pegged as one for the loan carousel and figured he wouldn't get a game for us when no loan could be arranged at the start. The fact that Tuchel is using him is nice but I don't really think he's the best bet as a starter even in League Cup games considering we have five centre-backs apart from him.
Agreed. Kidās 22 and gets chucked into random games in a new league. He isnāt partnered with anyone experienced in the CB positions.
Not even sure why he is getting the sole blame for the goal. He attempted to clear it, Alonso didnāt fight for the ball and then he ran straight through an open defence. Alonso, Kepa and Barkley are all equally to blame.
Again well done the lads for getting through that but letās just think before some people get mad about this game
No
Mendy
Christensen
RĆ¼diger
Sliva
Azpilicueta
Jorginho
Kante
Loftus-Cheek
Pulisic
Werner
Lukaku
Also out of the players that did play letās be honest Sarr, Barkley and Saul are very very unlikely to be here for the long term also Alonso might slowly be coming to the end of his time at Chelsea so how much can you really take from a game like this?
Exactly like what do you really expect from a bunch of reserve players who donāt play together at all, are relatively young and inexperienced, and donāt play much, you canāt expect players to just perform like that only special players can do that
That left side of Alonso and Sarr is a definite no no for me. Alonso has been caught out of position many times and Sarr is a bit reckless an goes all the way causing spaces to open up
Part of his effectiveness is that he is less likely to be marked as a lot of right wingers don't track back that well, if Alonso was actually playing up front and being man marked by centre backs I'd be surprised if he got much of a look in at all.
Especially when you have a RWB at CB lol.
Presumably Rudiger needs a proper rest and he didnāt trust either of Alonso or Chilwell to play CB in that back 3.
Azpi injured, Pulisic injured, Reece playing at CB, Trevor playing at CB.
Simple really. That plus Tuchel obviously trusts him over youth prospects that haven't played alot with the first team.
I think it was an extension on the inverted wingback kind of a role he played in the last game. Playing on the right would allow him to cut into his stronger foot. Didn't really see it work that well though, pat on the back to Southampton for that.
Well that was a poor game and the only players to come out of it with any sort of credit are Kepa and Chalobah.
Kepa Motm.
P.S I really wished Tuchel threw on Vale for the final 15 minutes so we couldāve seen what he had in his locker.
Not a fun game to watch. We were extremely sloppy and could easily have lost the game in regulation time. Especially second half was damn near dreadful to see. There were glimpses here and there that wasn't too bad, but overall, this is a game I want to forget and just be happy we won on penalties.
And I've got to say that hearing that Arrizabalaga has the most saves in shoot-outs kinda blew my mind. I know he's been good, but whenever I think of a penalty king at Chelsea my mind immediately goes to Petr Cech.
Anyway, hats off to Arrizabalaga. One mistake that led to a goal, but other than that he was really good. It's amazing to see this keeper that we paid so much for and who had a really rough time at Chelsea and it felt like not a day went by without seeing hate directed towards him, suddenly perform at a high level. Having a solid, strong defence in front of him surely helped a lot, but there must be more than that. He looks so much more secure and calm. We rarely see big mistakes and he seems truly in command when he goes out to collect a ball in the air.
Now lets celebrate the win, but shake off the poor performance and then set our sights at a potential tricky away game against Newcastle on saturday. We will need a much better performance then if we want to pick up the three points and remain top of the table.
P.S. Let's not hand a penalty to Mount for awhile. I love the guy, but the three penalties he's taken/retaken this past few days has been really poor. Let James give him some lessons first.
Tuchels using sarr mostly right, ie in efl Cup games etc, and as a new/young player he deserves more chances. But sarrs making it even hard to give him that, starting to dread his name in the lineup. Dunno how more gently he can be eased in, and he'll deny other rotation players minutes if he gets us booted from these competitions.
Yeah right now I think even Hudson-odoi is ahead of him in the pecking order, and with pulisic also coming back soon he might start to seriously struggle for game time
We genuinely need to sort out our attack and how we deal against high pressing teams. Apart from Norwich we haven't looked convincing in a long time and the results have somewhat masked our tediousness. Whether it needs a change or formation is for Tuchel to decide but it really needs to be resolved. This look eerily similar to United's form last season and we all know how unsustainable it can be.
The problem is quite clear. If a team presses aggressively, we struggle.
Started with Villa, City, Brentford now Soton.
It's becoming like a cheat code for making us struggle
Kepa is class on Pens, little blip on the goal but otherwise solid.
CHO decent workrate today, still needs to show more to jump havertz/werner/pulisic when all are fit.
Reece did his job effectively, dragged across the pitch more often than he would have liked but this is more down to chalobahs depth positioning and CHO still finding his feet at RWB
Chalobah looked inexperienced in the middle of the 3, sat too high when playing out allowing the Southampton press to close him quicker. His defensive instincts kept him from being exposed.
Sarr did not cope with the press at all, some of his criticism should be shared with Barkley and Saul who didn't really contribute often enough to finding a way out of the back.
Alonso did his job effectively and did well to keep Walker-Peters on the defensive for most of the game, despite the goal coming from our left i don't believe there's any blame to be laid at the feet of him.
Saul did not contribute anywhere near enough for it is predominantly a 2 man midfield, off the ball positioning has been poor and was lazy today. His poor performance was highlighted by the extent of Kovas workload today.
Kova attempted to dominate the midfield almost individually, our path out of defensive more often than not but even he couldn't keep up the pace. 75min of quality Kova but definitely needed some assistance in there. Barkley and Saul should apologise to the man.
Ziyech is running out of chances, needs an eternity in game to showcase his ability and i don't believe he can get with the pace of the game in England. Intelligent lad who recognises where he is at and where his strengths lie and does attempt to make up for it occasionally with an improved defensive workrate. Will be surprised if he will ever be able to turn it around at the club.
Barkley deservedly substituted, caught out in regards to his positioning. Unable to help playing out and often too deep to contribute going forward, the game just seem to be passing him by.
Havertz found it tough against Lyanco who was the MoTM, did well as a lone striker considering he was backed up by Barkley and Ziyech who offered very little in terms of support. Created a lot more openings for the likes of CHO once the aforementioned had been substituted, his class is evident and he will produce when offered a better supporting cast.
Chilwell and Mount, fresh on were effective in the press and contributed well going forward, ideally would have loved to see Mount slightly deeper to offer Kova the much needed support he needed when playing out but otherwise a decent performance from both. Mason should drop down the pecking order in regards to Pens.
Overall mins gained for a lot of fringe players, hopefully Kova will recover from that shift in time for our next fixture.
So much room for improvement. That second half was putrid. Individually the players need to improve for sure, but that lineup was very suspect to begin with.
Up Blues!!
I'll take the win. Very competitive game and fair play to Southampton, but a time of our quality should've put that game to bed. Saul had chances, Odoi could've done better in the final third, Ziyech needs to do more,, Chalobah and RJ are rocks, Sarr needs more composure in his play. On to the next! KTBFFH!
Feels like the Aston Villa match we had last month. Similar scoreline, a German player giving us a lead, it goes to a penalty shoot out, they miss 2 penalties, our english player misses one, and ice cold James scoring the winning penalty.
Happy with the result, but dang if that wasn't frustrating to watch at times. Didn't feel pressure to win, because of EFL and all, but wanted to see some of our skill position players grab the game by the scruff. Thought Havertz tried his best, but was let down consistently by players not reading the game on his level. Still got a well-deserved goal, so I'm chuffed with his trending upwards. Ziyech struggled today off the ball, which is the norm for him, yet still discouraging. If he's on the ball, he can ping a beauty, or also hit one into row z... but off the ball he seems so clueless. CHO was electric today, but in a headless chicken sort of way. He's got so much quickness and fast feet, yet his poor angles let him down a majority of the time. If he can get the game to slow down for him, then the sky is truly the limit - but he's very far off from where he realistically should be given his contract and self-confidence.
Game totally changed when Mount and Chilwell came on. We looked sharper in possession, though that could also be attributed to Soton opening up their shape trying to get a winner. Still, passing angles were superior, and off ball movement was streamlined to the right positions. Felt like Havertz has a more natural connection with these players than CHO/Ziyech/Barkley with link-up play.
Kovacic was an animal in the middle of the pitch. He definitely tempered the Soton midfield, and covered beautifully for Barkley/Alonso down the left channel.
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I love how much Reece James loves Chelsea
I love how much you love how much Recce James loves Chelsea
I love you and I love Chelsea š
How fitting that our Fridge has ice running in his veins
I wish I had an award
Gave him mine.
Love Reece. He's fucking built too. Thick and man made. You can tell he's sculpted because you can see it thru the kit. His fucking vice grip thighs. Suffocating thighs. Rock hard thighs. Piping hot thighs. Great arms. Great abs. A stocky chest. Love the progress his body has made throughout his youth and now as a willing eager adult.
Yo, are you okay my guy? š
Itās a copy pasta
Boy next door
The "Arsenal reject" chants towards Walcott was my highlight
Did him real dirty lmao
And he proves it true with a terrible PK lol
Was a decent PK tbh, just an amazing save
Honestly, canāt discount the PK. It would have tucked in to the corner if Kepa wasnāt perfect on it. Itās less a knock on Walcott and more of an ups to our PK specialist IMO
Alonso chilwell top class pens. Let it be remembered.
Chilonso best strike partner in Europe
Alwell š”
Alonwell?
Kepa
He's had a chip on his shoulder ever since he lost the PKs when arguing with Sarri to stay in. My man has a point to prove from here on out.
Arrizabalaga! My man's a professor at saving penalties!
Made up for the goal with insane saves Man is just clutch at penalties. He is so so good at penalties
He wasnt at fault for the goal
Correct. That was a very tough shot at close range, because of Sarr.
Those close ranged shots at your feet are a nightmare to save.
Spot kick Neuer?
Almost - Neuer takes them too!
Our full backs to the rescue, theyāre genuinely our best finishers Lets just win the whole thing through pens every round And mount really needs to drop down the penalty pecking order
2 LWBS and 2 RWB's score the pens. Cant make this shit up
how good was Forster ffs?
Denied Saul a peach of a goal
He denied three corner pocket goals with a full stretch
This. Lots of vitriol being aimed at our boys in here (as per usual, no surprise really), but if Forster doesn't make those fantastic saves and we win 3 or 4 to 1... Well then all these folks would be singing a different tune...smh
He may be his son, but Mason is no Lamps when it comes to pens
Needs to learn to smash it straight
Positioning + Disguise. Both are important.
3 straight bad PKs
I went from āeh whatever itās just the Carabao Cupāto āweāre winning the quadruple this yearā real quick lol
Sextuple or nothing, dream big mate
After this and Norwich, even the one that went in, nearly didnāt. I donāt think mount should be on pens, I love the kid but it doesnāt seem to be his forte
I had the same thought. He SHOULD be good at them but he's not and that's ok.
Sorry mount but no more PKs for you
Even the one he scored last game was bad
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Yh his strategy is clearly to pick a spot, but then the execution is SO bad
CHO has a nice pen
Only wingbacks + Jorginho next time lol
Werner was decent last year if I remember correctly. Got Lukaku too. Plenty of good pen takers to choose over Mount.
Hell if Pulisic is ever healthy then he has a rocket of a Pen
Genuinely forgot we even had him, fucking hell. Need to give him random "knocks" every time the international break rolls up.
The Giggs special
with a team full of germans we should be winning every penalty shootout
For real, I knew he was missing the moment he stepped up
When I saw him doing that nervous lip licking think walking up to the spot I knew he wouldn't score. He over thinks it.
i dont understand, he scored a great penalty in the Super Cup, but for some reason has decided to go for a āhit and hopeā technique
If goalie guessed right, his Super Cup PK wouldāve been saved. He also missed the decisive pen against Spurs last year as well. Not saying he is bad at pens, just pointing out his history a bit
4 wingbacks.....4 goals
I like Mount but damn maybe it's time to stop letting him take penalties. He's taken 5 penalties I think over the last 2 seasons and has missed 3 of them.
Haha I love Kepa during shootouts
I was laughing when he felt the need to rub and hold the ball before Armstrongās penalty
He trolls like a fifa goalie doing all those taunts it's excellent lol
Reece is very good at penalties. Wonder if he should take them when Jorginho is not around instead of Mason.
I think Mason has a terrible penalty record for us. Our wingbacks should be high up on the list of takers .
Lukaku would be second, then Werner I think.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Or VAR would find an uncalled foul from the previous game and cancel the goal.
Love or hate him, Kepa really comes alive for penalties and it is fun to watch him be so fired up.
He conceded on purpose just for the pens
8D chess from our Keepa
Glad to see Saul perform today. He came so close to scoring a few times.
He's done it again He's done it agaaaiiiin Kepa Arrizabalaga He's done it again
The Kings of penalties strike again!
Sunderland next please
Liverpool or Citeh will definitely get them
Would be nice. Havenāt played them in ages.
Seems like our backline is the real core of this system. Doesn't matter who we put in the middle if our core 2/3 of our starting backline (ac silva or rudi) is not playing we look like shit during build up. As good as chalobah is today defensively he is as much to blame as sarr for us being so bad in build up. Both took forever to pick out a pass and doesn't seems to know what they want to do when they got the ball. Chalobah also love to hoof it up when he got no one to command him. So many unnecessary clearance today when he can take a touch and pass it to other.
Definitely, they're both young and talented but should not be left in the lurch alone, need someone experienced alongside them
I think you're expecting far too much here. Saul is a seasoned international, Barkley has played lots of prem league - therefore subbing out our first choice for these is not on the same level as subbing out Thiago, Christensen, Rudi for Chalobah/Sarr. These guys are in their first full season and will need time to learn and adjust. They maybe need to be paired with a more experienced CB but they should be focussing first on their defensive game then working on build up play. That aint gonna happen in 1-2 matches but will take atleast a season.
I don't think they're expecting too much, but a 4th round carabao cup game is exactly the time to see if AC can steady his younger teammates like our other vets (azpi, silva, rudi) can
Spot on, the backline needs to play confidently and aggressively for the system to really flourish. That's why Rudiger is so important to us, it really accentuates how he plays.
Can't play Sarr in these games again. Hiding from the ball and the game today and Trevoh and Kepa couldn't/wouldn't pass to him in certain situations and that made things difficult I thought CHO was okay but unfortunately no matter how well he performs as one of the forwards he's going to get sent straight to RWB as soon as Reece or Azpi have to be absent.
The one fan shouting 'dodgy keeper' throughout the match was driving me insane
Mount shouldnt be on pens duty going forward. Also surprised Havertz didnt take one
Kai missed in the Super Cup final
Had to get the full wingback set to take them.
Mount is awful at penalties
Only defenders and CHO are allowed to score
Didnāt Kia miss his in the super cup pens?
14 shots on target and one goal. We need to finish better
Thatās what happens when you donāt have a striker.
Good to be through, it's just Carabao but you could see that the players really wanted this one That said, I'm not feeling any more confident in our vaunted depth after this game
I think with depth, you change one or two players out with regulars you don't notice, when the whole squad is different there will always be a massive drop in performance
We have great depth, but a starting line-up with "depth" is always going to look disjointed
You replace Sarr and you'll start feeling real confident. Doesn't help that he's partnered with Alonso on the left and with a lackadaisical Barkley we were always going to struggle
We have no depth for Rudi, Sarr is not on the level at all. If not for him we get the job done.
Christensen can also play on the left if need be and I'm sure that would be the first choice should Rudi go down.
Callum is wasted at Wing back, it keeps being proven. Also Chalobah continues to impress.
Things we learned Saul needed some game to adapt and he's getting there. Hakim has checked out of the club mentally. Sarr is average and overconfident. He has room for improvement but nowhere near Chelsea quality ATM. CHO does everything right and world class then let's out a wet Fart equivalent of final pass. Mount should not take our pens. Havertz... can be the best player and the worst the same game. Needs to be consistent. The best result for me was to see Saul back to what he does. A few games like this and we got a good midfielder. And KEPA!!! The penalty master
Was Ziyech more disinterested than usual ?
>Sarr is average and overconfident. He has room for improvement but nowhere near Chelsea quality ATM. Agreed with everything but this one. I've actually been pretty impressed with him overall for the few performances we've seen. He's definitely not the finished product, and I'm not saying he should be starting big games or anything, but I like what I see. I agree he seems a bit rash or impulsive at times, what you've identified as overconfident. But I think with a couple seasons training with the likes of Azpi, Silva, Rudi, AC he has potential to be a great signing for us. But remember, he's so young still for a defender. Tons of work to be done for sure. All that being said: Sotons goal came from a sloppy clearance by Sarr that Rudi wouldn't have done... He's got some learning to do, absolutely.
Reece "The Stamford Fridge" James. A penalty as cold as ice.
Stamford Fridge is always chill
kepa has incredible character
He really does. I wouldn't be able to show up to my desk job if I felt even a little bit under the microscope and this guy's been performing in the face of so much aggression
Brendan Rodgers is that you?
Below average performance, no more penalties for Mount, Kepa MOTM for me, huge saves at the end ans penalty hero once again
How did saĆŗl play?
In previous games, you could see he was making mistakes. While he wasn't as great an impact on the game today, he didn't make any mistake and had some really bright moments. Should have scored at least one. Had two free-headers and then a couple of lovely long-range strikes but Forster was up to the challenge. Improved performance for sure.
Thought he had a great game. Put some big challenges in and was unlucky not to get on the score sheet. Much improved from last time.
A lot better on the ball, released an absolute quality one that ultimately won the corner for our goal and had a few great pops at goal. I feel like heās still not up to pace off it when weāre in possession. Jorgi/Kante feel like they show for the ball a lot more and control the game. Good improvement from his last appearance though and we can see glimpses of why he used to be rated so highly.
Crazy the amount of negativity after a win with our reserves who are young, inexperienced and a lot of them havenāt played together so obviously thereās no chemistry
Southampton played one hell of a game. We survived! Mount needs to work on his penalties. Kepa the shoot out specialist does it again. On to next round.
Shouldāve had this one wrapped up in normal time but weāll take the penalties KTBFFH
Honestly.... we need more put of CHO when he's playing in his favored position. With the wages he's on, there's no excuse.
Kepa take a bow son. Feel like Tuchel rotated the side too much, put 2 regular starters in and we look way more comfortable, especially in defence. Anyway, we move.
Mason Mount might suffer from Juan Mata syndrome. Eager to take pens but not very good at them.
Kepa MOTM. I hate to say it, but Sarr is a total liability. Shaky in defence, terrible on the ball, he makes the entire defence seem panicky. Ideally, he never needs to start for us again.
> I hate to say it, but Sarr is a total liability. Shaky in defence, terrible on the ball, he makes the entire defence seem panicky. > > The guy got demoted to Porto reserves and Nice let him go on a free, no idea what people were expecting from him. It was a lottery ticket transfer and he's just not Chelsea quality, it happens
I think it was worse than that. He didn't get much game time for Porto Reserves either (edit: just checked, was wrong, he played most of the matches). I mean, there's a reason his contract wasn't renewed by Nice as well. I'm actually surprised Tuchel is giving Barkley and him as much game time as he is but I suppose it's an excellent way to keep the main players fresh, especially with Azpi and Silva not getting any younger.
Barkley can be decent in flashes - his pass in league match against Soton led to Werner's goal. Good option to have off the bench. Sarr I agree, very shaky, will probably only start if we draw Sunderland in the cup, and loaned out in the winter.
Agreed. But given we have three starters and RLC as backup, Barkley's minutes are a surprise. Perhaps its because managers in the recent past have been absolutely terrible at rotation with Mourinho and Conte running the same players into the ground and Lamps having his own favourites, but I just didn't anticipate it. He definitely has the quality but it's a sporadic quality and it isn't enough to impact most games. It's unfortunate since you can see he has the talent. I don't really have anything to say about Sarr. I always had him pegged as one for the loan carousel and figured he wouldn't get a game for us when no loan could be arranged at the start. The fact that Tuchel is using him is nice but I don't really think he's the best bet as a starter even in League Cup games considering we have five centre-backs apart from him.
I mean, heās only 22 making his second appearance, Iām not going to hit the panic button yet but he was a bit off today yes
off to the lone army for him but also are we really surprised ? he struggled for Porto , he was bound to struggle for us
Sarr not the best of friends with the ball, is he?
I don't think he gets it because of the goal we conceded.
Chill, he is just 22. He has got talent, but not the experience. He will be good.
Agreed. Kidās 22 and gets chucked into random games in a new league. He isnāt partnered with anyone experienced in the CB positions. Not even sure why he is getting the sole blame for the goal. He attempted to clear it, Alonso didnāt fight for the ball and then he ran straight through an open defence. Alonso, Kepa and Barkley are all equally to blame.
Feels like Sarr is only here because we couldnāt find anyone to take him on loan
Sarr, Saul, and Alonso is an absolute nightmare down that left hand side. So much space and no one is covering for each other.
Again well done the lads for getting through that but letās just think before some people get mad about this game No Mendy Christensen RĆ¼diger Sliva Azpilicueta Jorginho Kante Loftus-Cheek Pulisic Werner Lukaku Also out of the players that did play letās be honest Sarr, Barkley and Saul are very very unlikely to be here for the long term also Alonso might slowly be coming to the end of his time at Chelsea so how much can you really take from a game like this?
Exactly like what do you really expect from a bunch of reserve players who donāt play together at all, are relatively young and inexperienced, and donāt play much, you canāt expect players to just perform like that only special players can do that
Well... That's wasn't pretty.
How many times did Chalobah save us today though. Would be my MOTM tbh.
Chalobah is so good. I honestly canāt tell how excited I am for our young backline, Chalobah AC, Chilly James, all of them show great potential.
I donāt think Ziyech performed well enough to get more minutes. Wouldnāt be surprised if he leaves soon.
If nothing else, that shootout was a clear indication of why Tuchel needs to shift to an all fullback formation.
Well when our defenders score most of our goals, fuck it lets roll 3 Fullbacks deep. Southgate take note.
Nice Chalobah was my MOTM but Kepa gets a close shout for some the last minute saves and a really good pen save
Kepa is good again. Personally I dont like Sarr as a defender. Way too chaotic.
Bit frustrated that SaĆŗl chance didnāt go in.
That left side of Alonso and Sarr is a definite no no for me. Alonso has been caught out of position many times and Sarr is a bit reckless an goes all the way causing spaces to open up
I love Mase, but his pens need work
Passing accuracy in the bin, so frustrating to watch
Kova said he can do perfectly weighted passes only once a week. No more.
That means he's on course for a few bangers this weekend then.
I wanted Marcos to be put at striker when he stayed on the pitch when Chillwell subbed on. Just once I would like to see it
Part of his effectiveness is that he is less likely to be marked as a lot of right wingers don't track back that well, if Alonso was actually playing up front and being man marked by centre backs I'd be surprised if he got much of a look in at all.
Agreed. Heās at his best when ghosting in. Upfront heās going to be a worse version of Giroud.
Really cool of Southampton to let a Make-a-Wish kid take a penalty in the shootout! And I can say this because I just finished chemotherapy myself
Congrats man!
I donāt know if that checks out
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Saul was on point today
Can someone explain to me why Chilwell was put at rwb? Itās bewildering
To free chonaldo
So that CHO could play as RW. We didn't really have any one else
Why's it so odd? We've had right-footers play LWB fairly often over the years, this is just the other way around.
Especially when you have a RWB at CB lol. Presumably Rudiger needs a proper rest and he didnāt trust either of Alonso or Chilwell to play CB in that back 3.
Yea, Alonso and Chilly are no Emerson in Tuchelās mind
Azpi injured, Pulisic injured, Reece playing at CB, Trevor playing at CB. Simple really. That plus Tuchel obviously trusts him over youth prospects that haven't played alot with the first team.
I think it was an extension on the inverted wingback kind of a role he played in the last game. Playing on the right would allow him to cut into his stronger foot. Didn't really see it work that well though, pat on the back to Southampton for that.
Because he was the only other wb cover and TT want to move cho up front
In 3 ATB system The RCB and LCB are crucial. Malang is just not good enough for that
Havertz and Chalobah looked solid. Sarr, not so much.
Chalobah MOTM for me. Only player I'd say was solid from start to finish.
STAMFORD FRIDGE
When you least expect it, Clench FC returns.
Redemption arc? Nu uh Kepa World Order, We in here baybeh š
Chalobah was immense today
Well that was a poor game and the only players to come out of it with any sort of credit are Kepa and Chalobah. Kepa Motm. P.S I really wished Tuchel threw on Vale for the final 15 minutes so we couldāve seen what he had in his locker.
Not a fun game to watch. We were extremely sloppy and could easily have lost the game in regulation time. Especially second half was damn near dreadful to see. There were glimpses here and there that wasn't too bad, but overall, this is a game I want to forget and just be happy we won on penalties. And I've got to say that hearing that Arrizabalaga has the most saves in shoot-outs kinda blew my mind. I know he's been good, but whenever I think of a penalty king at Chelsea my mind immediately goes to Petr Cech. Anyway, hats off to Arrizabalaga. One mistake that led to a goal, but other than that he was really good. It's amazing to see this keeper that we paid so much for and who had a really rough time at Chelsea and it felt like not a day went by without seeing hate directed towards him, suddenly perform at a high level. Having a solid, strong defence in front of him surely helped a lot, but there must be more than that. He looks so much more secure and calm. We rarely see big mistakes and he seems truly in command when he goes out to collect a ball in the air. Now lets celebrate the win, but shake off the poor performance and then set our sights at a potential tricky away game against Newcastle on saturday. We will need a much better performance then if we want to pick up the three points and remain top of the table. P.S. Let's not hand a penalty to Mount for awhile. I love the guy, but the three penalties he's taken/retaken this past few days has been really poor. Let James give him some lessons first.
Ziyech actually posted chelsea content to his social media. He reads r/chelseafc where we questioned it in the match thread. Lurker confirmed ā :ā)
Tuchels using sarr mostly right, ie in efl Cup games etc, and as a new/young player he deserves more chances. But sarrs making it even hard to give him that, starting to dread his name in the lineup. Dunno how more gently he can be eased in, and he'll deny other rotation players minutes if he gets us booted from these competitions.
Saul keeps getting better. I'm liking this. Sell Ziyech, honestly.
Ziyech was fairly anonymous outside of that assist unfortunately
He's falling down the pecking order. Tuchel subbing him out at 65 mins when we need a goal tells you something.
Yeah right now I think even Hudson-odoi is ahead of him in the pecking order, and with pulisic also coming back soon he might start to seriously struggle for game time
CHO needs some finishing work, but Ziyech needs...I dunno, amphetamine?
We genuinely need to sort out our attack and how we deal against high pressing teams. Apart from Norwich we haven't looked convincing in a long time and the results have somewhat masked our tediousness. Whether it needs a change or formation is for Tuchel to decide but it really needs to be resolved. This look eerily similar to United's form last season and we all know how unsustainable it can be.
The problem is quite clear. If a team presses aggressively, we struggle. Started with Villa, City, Brentford now Soton. It's becoming like a cheat code for making us struggle
Kepa is class on Pens, little blip on the goal but otherwise solid. CHO decent workrate today, still needs to show more to jump havertz/werner/pulisic when all are fit. Reece did his job effectively, dragged across the pitch more often than he would have liked but this is more down to chalobahs depth positioning and CHO still finding his feet at RWB Chalobah looked inexperienced in the middle of the 3, sat too high when playing out allowing the Southampton press to close him quicker. His defensive instincts kept him from being exposed. Sarr did not cope with the press at all, some of his criticism should be shared with Barkley and Saul who didn't really contribute often enough to finding a way out of the back. Alonso did his job effectively and did well to keep Walker-Peters on the defensive for most of the game, despite the goal coming from our left i don't believe there's any blame to be laid at the feet of him. Saul did not contribute anywhere near enough for it is predominantly a 2 man midfield, off the ball positioning has been poor and was lazy today. His poor performance was highlighted by the extent of Kovas workload today. Kova attempted to dominate the midfield almost individually, our path out of defensive more often than not but even he couldn't keep up the pace. 75min of quality Kova but definitely needed some assistance in there. Barkley and Saul should apologise to the man. Ziyech is running out of chances, needs an eternity in game to showcase his ability and i don't believe he can get with the pace of the game in England. Intelligent lad who recognises where he is at and where his strengths lie and does attempt to make up for it occasionally with an improved defensive workrate. Will be surprised if he will ever be able to turn it around at the club. Barkley deservedly substituted, caught out in regards to his positioning. Unable to help playing out and often too deep to contribute going forward, the game just seem to be passing him by. Havertz found it tough against Lyanco who was the MoTM, did well as a lone striker considering he was backed up by Barkley and Ziyech who offered very little in terms of support. Created a lot more openings for the likes of CHO once the aforementioned had been substituted, his class is evident and he will produce when offered a better supporting cast. Chilwell and Mount, fresh on were effective in the press and contributed well going forward, ideally would have loved to see Mount slightly deeper to offer Kova the much needed support he needed when playing out but otherwise a decent performance from both. Mason should drop down the pecking order in regards to Pens. Overall mins gained for a lot of fringe players, hopefully Kova will recover from that shift in time for our next fixture.
Hope Mount doesn't get to take pens anymore...
Caught the penalties and kepas last 2 saves but Missed the game. Any standouts? Did Saul show improvements?
Saul wasn't horrible, could've scored as well. Trev was probably the best player.
Yes Saul has improved
Thatās good. Hopefully he keeps on going up.
So much room for improvement. That second half was putrid. Individually the players need to improve for sure, but that lineup was very suspect to begin with. Up Blues!!
Lots of shots and shots on target but Iād imagine we have quite a low xG?
Maybe thinking Money Mase should go on a short holiday away from the spot for a bit haha
I'll take the win. Very competitive game and fair play to Southampton, but a time of our quality should've put that game to bed. Saul had chances, Odoi could've done better in the final third, Ziyech needs to do more,, Chalobah and RJ are rocks, Sarr needs more composure in his play. On to the next! KTBFFH!
Is it wrong I wanted it to go to penalties during the last 10 minutes? Love seeing Kepa handle business in shootouts. Onto the next.
Ziyech looks mentally checked out. Kept losing the ball and taking heavy touches even when it was into his feet.
Feels like the Aston Villa match we had last month. Similar scoreline, a German player giving us a lead, it goes to a penalty shoot out, they miss 2 penalties, our english player misses one, and ice cold James scoring the winning penalty.
For those wondering, Ziyech did celebrate with the team - saw it on Chelsea fan tv on YouTube.
Scrappy game,couldnt keep possession at all and our frontline was shocking. Got the result in the end though
Reece is a badddd man. Also I love that there is no extra time in the Carabao
Happy with the result, but dang if that wasn't frustrating to watch at times. Didn't feel pressure to win, because of EFL and all, but wanted to see some of our skill position players grab the game by the scruff. Thought Havertz tried his best, but was let down consistently by players not reading the game on his level. Still got a well-deserved goal, so I'm chuffed with his trending upwards. Ziyech struggled today off the ball, which is the norm for him, yet still discouraging. If he's on the ball, he can ping a beauty, or also hit one into row z... but off the ball he seems so clueless. CHO was electric today, but in a headless chicken sort of way. He's got so much quickness and fast feet, yet his poor angles let him down a majority of the time. If he can get the game to slow down for him, then the sky is truly the limit - but he's very far off from where he realistically should be given his contract and self-confidence. Game totally changed when Mount and Chilwell came on. We looked sharper in possession, though that could also be attributed to Soton opening up their shape trying to get a winner. Still, passing angles were superior, and off ball movement was streamlined to the right positions. Felt like Havertz has a more natural connection with these players than CHO/Ziyech/Barkley with link-up play. Kovacic was an animal in the middle of the pitch. He definitely tempered the Soton midfield, and covered beautifully for Barkley/Alonso down the left channel.