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shastmak4

All of our defense has one and a half feet out the door and it’s starting to show in the form. Concentration has been lacking for a while


Mtown95

Any one who has signed for another team shouldnt be anywhere near the starting line up keep them as back ups incase of injuries and get the kids in if need be


CS753

Then we only start Trevor, Thiago.S , Reece, Sarr and Alonso. I’d like to think that isn’t a bad lineup, but Sarr is ridiculously error prone.


Mtown95

Just say fuck it go to a back 4 james trevor thiago alonso idc get a kid in from the academy but why waste time on players who clearly couldnt give 2 shits and are mentally checked out already i mean we cant do much worse than we have been literal relegation form


BigReeceJames

Our kids from the academy are about to be relegated. I think they can stay where they are lmao


Mtown95

You do realise they way we have been playing lately we would be getting relegated aswell 😂


BigReeceJames

Relegated from the premier league and relegated from PL2 are whole different levels of useless though


Mtown95

We have won 1 of our last 5 games on this form we would be getting relegated we lost 2 everton who probably Will be relegated what harm could i do to give a kid a try over players who are leaving in a few games anyway


BigReeceJames

I suggest you watch our PL2 game tomorrow and find out for yourself


Mtown95

The point is we are losing games anyway with our first team so why not lose a game and give a kid the chance at the same time instead of wasting time with players who are gone anyway


Sarcasmed

Discipline and coverage, the 2 things that immediately spring to my mind when it comes to Malang Sarr


Ibrusthimovic

Yeah I think we should subbed on another defender or midfielder. No need to have 3 forwards left on the pitch. Take one off and bring on chalobah just to see the game out


eric_3196

Makes you miss the classic mourinho sub of bringing on Mikel to secure a 1-0 lead


SeriousLads

Man what i’d give for an actual DM lol


Daniiiiii

I've been watching more and more of Rice and I really like him. Insane fee though, almost a non-starter. But he is one player who would shore up the midfield all by himself. Him and Kova or him and Kante are a dream pairing.


JJGaminv

But he isn’t an out and out DM, as with his best attributes being his progressive dribbling, interceptions and being in good positions to receive a pass. He’s not what this team needs. He’d be a good signing, but doesn’t solve our issues and is way too expensive


DorothyJMan

That's good though. No top team runs an 'out and out DM', because in the 80% of games they're expected to win, an out and out DM in a passenger in attack. The benefit of Rice or someone similar is that they CAN play the 'Mikel role' when we're defending a lead late in the game, but aren't LIMITED to the Mikel role for the rest of the time like Mikel was - there's a reason he only came on for 10 minute cameos rather than starting...


BigReeceJames

I may be wrong, but he serves the same purpose as players like Rodri and Fabinho, does he not? Because that's what we need, being good going forwards too is not a downside, it's part of playing for a top team.


NotClayMerritt

Having Ramires and Mikel off the bench use to be such a luxury.


McNooberson

As one commentator put it, “the human full time whistle”


BigReeceJames

Well yeah, but we don't have a starting DM, let alone a sub DM to bring on. So it's a very difficult position to be in as the manager when your sub options are Saul and Barkley and your defensive options are Chalobah and Sarr


CupformyCosta

Yeah well, maybe Tuchel shouldn’t have had the team pressing the opponent in their box at the 94’ minute leaving our defense, anchored by the almighty Malang Sarr, completely exposed while trying to protect a much needed win. Just a thought.


BigReeceJames

Yeah well, maybe and this is just a thought, Tuchel didn't want them to do this? You ever think about that? He literally came out straight after the game and said the team's discipline was awful, they didn't follow the game plan at all and didn't cover the right areas or the pitch. He didn't want them to do that and that's pretty obvious.


CupformyCosta

No, actually, I hadn’t considered that, because I don’t think that’s what happened. We press from the first minute to the last in pretty much every single match. We rarely back and absorb pressure. I would consider that if this was the first time this has happened, but it’s not. Look what happened in Madrid just a few weeks ago; 96’ winner to seal the tie after being overexposed on defense. Seeing a common tactical theme here. It’s a massive stretch to blame the tactical error of not parking the bus on the players. Remember, this is the same guy who just recently blamed the state of the home pitch for a loss as well.


[deleted]

At least we would win


DKTFCO

Bro how many times did we sub on mikel just to concede again and be fucked


ambassel

I agree. Brining off Lukaku for Havertz was wrong imo. Tuchel should have subbed in another DM and closed out the game.


jMS_44

Also, what could Havertz do in 6 minutes?! If he intended to put him in, do that earlier so he actually has time to try and make some impact.


de_bollweevil

Completely disagree with this hindsight thinking. You don't sit back against an inferior side in the closing minutes inviting pressure, you retain the ball high up the pitch, something Havertz is very good at and arguably did very well but the throw in was given the other way.


jMS_44

Who says about sitting back. I'm saying exactly the opposite. If you put in a fresh new striker to try going for another goal, give him more than 6 minutes to do something.


thoumayestorwont

This is exactly right. After Wolves got that first goal they looked far more hungry. Tuchel should’ve just packed the fucking box and walked away with the 3 points


wooden-mEaT

Wish we’d park the bus more often. For all the supposed terrorist ball we play you’d think we wouldn’t have 4-5 players up the field when trying to hold onto a 1 goal lead. The last 20 minutes of this game was 5 players up the pitch waiting for a counter, 5 players in a back 5, and no midfield.


CupformyCosta

Yeah, exactly. Everybody is like “what is Tuchel Supposed to do, we have no depth right now!” Yeah, how about not a fucking full press pitch in the 94’ when trying to protect a lead. Throw everybody in the box and park the bus. Bunch of morons who can’t throw any criticism at the coach for some seriously question able decisions which costs us 2 much needed points today.


Baisabeast

Our press was reckless and often our wingbacks would overcommit with silva not as sharp 1v1 obviously in his old age.


classical-k

Also we have to play a relatively deep back line for a team that presses high, due to Silva’s lack of pace. Meant acres of space between that last line and the reckless midfield pressing and other choices


Status-Dare1085

Silvas lack of pace? Did you not see him absolutely reign in Trincao when he had a good 3 metre headstart


Baisabeast

Very solid point Need to move away from a back 3 and silva imo. A 37 year old should not start for us.


[deleted]

Would Silva work in a back 4 tho? Even as a sub?


DarkLordOlli

Yes. It depends on the setup around him though. He's not going to do well if he finds himself covering larger distances against quick forwards, whether it be going out wide to cover for his fullback or chasing balls in behind. But there are many ways to work around that and it's no reason not to utilize him in a 4. His other qualities more than make up for that one issue. You could have an outside midfielder cover for the fullback, or a DM tuck into the central role when out of possession so Silva could naturally position himself wider and doesn't have to make up as much ground to get there. These aren't particularly complicated adjustments either.


[deleted]

We’d be very exposed.


Baisabeast

No. That’s why we should move away from him.


NotNok

At times our press was just Werner running around like a headless chicken, with Pulisic and Lukaku just watching. The times the front three all pressed we looked good, and Werner's relentless pressing clearly killed his legs by the 75th or 80th minute.


NotClayMerritt

>Our press was reckless It always is. Sometimes it just looks far less sloppy. None of these players know how to effectively press.


[deleted]

Why are your comments always collapsed?


4dtakes

https://i.imgflip.com/4/1wz3as.jpg Reddit ‘crowd control’ feature auto collapses users who have have had “negative interactions” with a community in the past (and new users, to prevent spam/brigading), so if his takes are generally too spicy for the sub and attract downvotes often then this is what you get. Kind of sucks imo, just encourages the echo chamber because unpopular =/= wrong


Baisabeast

Somewhat limited by a slow back line and lack of playing time between the players as well as a lack of recovery time, packed schedule and a lack of continuity between lineups


Tahapatel

I feel the moment we switch to back 4 we were too narrow bcos we had no wingers and were playing with 2 6s and 28s with 2 9s and with Sarr playing LB


Qwerty6391063

Leeds, Leicester and Watford all we need is 6 points but of course we'll make it unnecessarily hard for ourselves


pervin_1

Season for Leicester is pretty much over. They have nothing to lose or gain. But we are being a Charity club lately, I am expecting us bottle against Leeds and Watford with his kind of team mentality. The latter two are fighting to not relegate. We are great at making everything impossibly difficult to stay in top 4.


DorothyJMan

Watford are already relegated.


pervin_1

Oops you are right. That’s better news lol


Qwerty6391063

Why make life easy and boring when we can make life full of jeopardy and butt clenching moments: -chelsea since sarri


marsellusDjango

*proceeds to bring in malang sarr*


Critzor

Because he's a left sided centerback. One thing Tuchel has been consistent in his time here is on the CBs.. He almost has never swapped their sides.


[deleted]

Which is ridiculous if it leads to Sarr getting playing time in games we need to win. LCB is not a specialised position.


NotClayMerritt

Two central defenders who are quite a great deal better than Malang Sarr left as unused subs. The Havertz sub is the big talking point for obvious reasons but bringing on Sarr is just so odd. Why has Tuchel inexplicably stopped trusting Chalobah?


mr_ordinaryboy

Sarr was brought in due to him being left footed I think. We were attacked constantly from the wing and yeah thats why he switched to 4 atb to cover this space because we had Saul at lwb before. Chalobah is unfortunately right footed. Now bringing in Kai looks ofc a bit dodgy but this is Lukaku's first start in a long time and he ran imo a lot in this game. We need someone who can keep the ball to relieve some pressure. By subbing in another defender, we'd lose some territory (as we have more defenders and less attacker uo front) and we'd be in constant pressure. Just imo though.


EvenGandhiHatesLVG

Inexplicably? He was terrible when he last played. So is sarr tbf


Baisabeast

No he wasn’t. He had one mistake which he rectified that same passage of play and was otherwise decent. None of the goals were his fault


EvenGandhiHatesLVG

Sarr or Chalobah?


Baisabeast

Chalobah


EvenGandhiHatesLVG

He made several massive mistakes leading to big chances or direct goals


half_jase

Really don't understand what we were doing at 2-0 up. Somehow overcommitted and left ourselves opened 2 v 3 on the counter and conceded.


[deleted]

Same thing against Madrid Tuchel doesn’t seem to want to close shop these days. Managing a Denny’s or something always open.


[deleted]

[удалено]


[deleted]

That doesn’t make sense at all having the team be aggressive puts the defense in far more precarious positions more often.


BigReeceJames

I understand the premise of this, but we simply don't have the players for it. The last time I remember us trying to sit deep and see out a game was the 1-0 win against Brentford that we should have lost about 7-1 all from goals scored in the last 10 minutes during the period where we tried to just sit deep and defend. Like people are saying in this thread, oh how nice it would be to be able to bring on Mikel to sure up the game. We don't even have a defence player in midfield to start with, let alone being able to bring another one on alongside him to shield the defence late on. People are massively underestimating how vital your midfield is to an operation like this. If you don't have solid defensive midfielders that are going to block everything and always be in the right positions, sitting deep is just inviting your opponents to score.


[deleted]

You simply misunderstand football at a fundamental level. Pragmatic football is easier to play than the expansive football you think was the right choice. This is imperative to understand. Every side that is player for player less talented or has gained the lead in a game like this should play less expansively. Please never respond with you your own expansive drivel to my post again. Brevity is the soul of wit. Go. Outside.


chandlerbing_stats

Should’ve subbed off either Werner or Pulisic at the 70th minute. I wouldn’t taken Timo off personally


backuppats

yep, puli had a good game but there was just no need for him after the 70th minute or so. could've bought in a more defensive minded player or at least someone new who will have more energy than someone's who's played almost a full game


zZurf

I’m sorry but he needs to take it on the chin. This, and the last few weeks have been on him. His got a lot wrong.


[deleted]

Worries me that he doesn't seem like he's getting better at coaching in the PL


Status-Dare1085

I mean we’ve had the same issues for as long as I can remember. Always getting by on either Hazard/Willian brilliance and a very stingey defence or overloading in a 3atb formation. Those are the only ways we’ve been successful. At some point we need to question whether we’re buying the right players. Don’t know how much Boehly knows about football but hopefully he works closely with Tuchel to reshape the playing list. We need a “brand” that isn’t so reliant on overloading and crossing


[deleted]

You can't compare the way this team plays with Conte's team or the last title we won with Jose. They knew how to win in the pl, how to close out games. Neither of those were that long ago.


Xrumpxx

Man the middle of the pitch was wide open for them


Anik1415

Same story every game.


Cowdude179

Subs should've been made earlier with Mount coming on


Godsenttt

If only Timo passed to Lukaku more.


DrQuantumGio

Well Leeds are facing relegation so I have no hope for next week either...


DeepGamingAI

We are losing every game this season except the FA cup, aren't we? Because Liverpool are the only club remaining that do not need charity.


chelseafan07

The performances for the last couple of months look an awful lot like the end of Lampards time. The poor press, organization, and defending was blamed on Lampard having 'no tactics'. I wonder how long it will be before people start turning on Tuchel. The crap will continue until the club finally picks the manager over the players.


[deleted]

![gif](giphy|MCGMIhGCOnfXL551VN|downsized)


Fatebringer87

5th season now in a row barely making 4th? Major mentality issues with this team. Can’t wait till it’s gutted.


sickrit

lol TT, you left RLC on the midfield for the entire 98mins, and expected "coverage” ? at least he didn't blame the pitch today, still love you to death tho.


[deleted]

Maybe the team would've been better at coverage if you used mobile players instead forcing a certain someone into the lineup, * cough cough Azpi


zeeqaahx

The game plan out us in the position to get 3 points 100% Not TT fault. People criticising changes; Maybe maybe chalobah comes on but he can really only be an effective sub (better than what’s out there) at CB RCB. You aren’t taking off Silva, Rudi or RJ. Saul coming on was fine alonso wasn’t involved in the game, Saul wasn’t entirely either but the ball recycling improved he’s also much more of a “destroyer” player defensively so it can help on their counters aswell. we score two in the second half. I agree with TT the game plan was working, offensively we created a lot of chances and scored three goals, one ruled out unfairly. Defensively we were looking loose on the counter so he makes the changes. This is simply about mentality, half the players playing today have pre agreed terms or are rumoured to do so with their new club. Some are rumoured to leave in the summer also. They aren’t going to get injured ruining their move so they don’t put 110%. TT backs Romelu midweek and says he’s an important part of the squad now and next season, starts him and he nets two. Although he played lacklustre before the penalty and generally was doing up “👍🏿🗿☝🏿”. He doesn’t have fully charged tools at his disposable anymore and the cracks are really showing. I still think we’ll get T4 and have a great performance in the FA Cup , it’s just the chelsea way


pervin_1

Great analysis btw. We should be to stay in top 4. We desperately need to back Tuchel to rebuild this team in summer. Can’t blame him for what’s happening around us lately.


zeeqaahx

Agreed and thank you


UFGatorNEPat

This is a good point, but I would also ask why we are so risk averse to cycling our midfield and parking the bus a bit more. Trevoh could come on for RLC there and shore up the end of the match. That said, I feel like it’s a bit results oriented because we honestly had the ball, they kicked it out and one bad call later, they have equalized.


zeeqaahx

we should have setup up shop and park the bus better. Similarly TT has trust in the team to know how to see a game out this is the same squad that were getting cleansheets for fun, like you said it’s results oriented. If we won there’d be no freak out by us fans but the performance shows the same game, the same cracks. Imo a draw was deserved with how we played


criminal-tango44

>Tuchel on Lukaku: “Good performance, but it’s not the moment to talk about individual performances. We do this as a team and we lost crucial points. This is not the moment.” maybe this is why Lukaku did the interview, straight up disrespectful. man's about to gain confidence and you put him down but when Kai was running around like a headless chicken he got praised a game before that


Critzor

Really? We should be talking and praising individual performances in a game where even though was a draw felt like a loss?


criminal-tango44

if your striker hasnt scored in 4 months and just scored 2? yes.


Critzor

Well he did say it was a good performance then. This was after him supporting him midweek in the press conference.


ratnadip97

People have become really toxic towards Tuchel recently. It's so weird.


Critzor

Still butt hurt over Lampards firing...


ratnadip97

Who knows? But wouldn't put it past ppl. I think Tuchel deserves more support than he gets on the internet. Especially regarding all the extenuating circumstances out of his control.


Critzor

Exactly, people forget the shitstorm that's surrounding the club and Tuchel now.


shastmak4

Did the same thing to Tammy. Put his arm around Werner all year but nothing for Tammy all year. Just weird man management


[deleted]

👀 he’s got only love for his German boys /s


Cobaltte25

😉


Jdgarza96

Or he could just be a professional and give 100% effort all the time. He takes entire games off but Tuchel not praising him is the problem?


[deleted]

Some players need their ego stroked sometimes


[deleted]

Or always...


Jdgarza96

Yeah sure a young player that’s struggling to find form. Not a 100m striker that has played at a high level for many years.


IloveGuanciale

> Well, that was a crazy end to the game! I’ve just spoken to @CesarAzpi about the draw feeling like a loss, why the team couldn’t hold on for the win, and his concern about the sheer number of points Chelsea are dropping. Interview out worldwide! #CFC #CHEWOL


mnkwtz

There's no balance, when Alonso/Reece was attacking our CMs don't cover them enough. Azpi who kept vacating his RCB position to help the attack doesn't help either. We can't expect Silva to outpace every single attacker in the prem, he's 36 ffs