Move onto the next match thread but for chesles. Marmadashvilli Bradley gomez vvd kerez Gravenberch macallister Salah szoboszlai gakpo Isak Wirtz should be made train the press and be the lw reserve for a few weeks. Jones did run aboit a bit on his own last night but he is deficient at what is needed to be a cm..get in there and do the job at cm. Gravenberch needs to go back to 6 and stay there. Let's start the process by getting clean sheets and building back up the team shape and press. Then we can think about goals.
I'm repeating myself, but to me it's just simply that there have been too many changes at once. Four of the newbies as starters last night, only one of whom is performing to expectations - add Isak, who isn't up to speed yet, and it's no huge surprise to me that they will struggle to gel. Also some below-par performances from the established players - though that could be related to the changes - and the whole team is struggling to click. Imo, new players need to be integrated slowly into an established team, bit by bit, not thrown in all at once. However, a huge chunk of last season's team has left us, and so we had to replace them with players who were ostensibly ready for the task rather than slowly blooding in potential. I'm expecting it's just a matter of time before they come together, and hoping we haven't lost too much ground before it does.
We've only played them four times before, won one, lost one, drew two. That's not a bad set of results tbf.
My.quesrion on kerkez is simple. What do people expect and what do people think he is doing that Robertson would. Ot be doing? For me he is playing the role asked of him rather than the role he played at Bournemouth which exploited a lot of his best attributes. Kerkez is not making many glaring errors. He's not behind the line, he's not giving loads of frees away and such Barring being subbed off for being a risk he's actually not done too bad.
No real problem with Kerkez, I think he’s learning well and getting to grips with it. The reality is Slot is just over complicating things. Just stick with a back 4 and get last years midfield 3 in place - the front 3 has and always will be interchangeable, it will take care of itself if you do the 2 former things
We got winning results from our first seven games playing with the new players and although the performances weren't great, we did what we needed to do to win. I was expecting to see the performances improve as the newbies settled in but imo Slot's experimenting in the Palace game got everyone confused and that experimenting carried on in last night's game with similar result, almost literally. We were calling for rotation last season when he was running the players into the ground. He seemed to have the philosophy of always playing the strongest 11 no matter what. This season was always going to be the real test. We have to trust that he knows what he's doing even if it seems like atm, he doesn't. We will come good.
The one we lost, before last night, was a dead rubber as well. This. The problem seems to exist on the right side but that then asks the question of what we actually want from the left side to achieve a balance.
I agree. Its fine to say theres 4 new plauers and it takes time. What is am seeing is what you sre seeing. Gravenberch not playing 6. He is playing 8/10 half the time Szoboszlai shifted up fown left and right. Forcing him into the side as he started brilliantly is leading to him playing ****e. Macallister unfit so in soem the non cm Jones etc. Konate playing like a dog. If we go back to basics and reduce this down to 2/3 new players amd a simpler system where the players are in their own positions tactically it should improve. Marmadashvilli Bradley konate vvd kerkez Gravenberch macallister Salah Szoboszlai gakpo Ekitike (if fit) Sub on isak and wirtz and frimpong in their positions to bring them along. I want to see Ekitike press and all 4 go at once. I want to see gravenberch patrolling his space and players covering if he does go later in moves. I want to see the back line higher and less gaps. I want to see more aggression in the press and actual contact made.
When Isak came on, I was looking forward to seeing him and Ekitike together. We'll have to wait a bit longer.
Said yesterday, I expected him to be overlapping gakpo and being fed the ball to cross but just doesn’t happen. Hes coming inside on under lap and doesn’t get the ball and just drags defender inside to nullify gakpo cutting in. On the odd occasion he does overlap gakpo isn’t feeding him. When building up from the back he’s often inside next to vvd making it a 3 which is odd. I get it for Robertson but kerkez isnt good at that role so don’t understand. If want that then buy a CB that can play LB like city do with ake / gvardiol.
I still can't see how you can fit both MacAllister and Wirtz into this team at the same time, though that wasn't the problem last night - the problem last night, especially in the 1st half, was that we couldn't cope with their press, and we were a yard slower to loose balls in the midfield. And, to be brutally honest, Ekitike had Darwin's finishing boots on.
Yeah, was saying the same thing to my mate in the pub last night - fair enough argument about adapting to all the new players, but it's by-and-large established players who've been dogshit. Konate has had one good game all season, MacAllister has been pants, Salah's head is somewhere else (grief?), Gakpo has been ****s, and even Gravy, who had been cromulent until Saturday, has now come out in sympathy with Macca. And Jones is Jones.
And yet for all of that, they won with the softest penalty you'll see. It's not an excuse for our dismal performance. There are no excuses for that. I suppose my point is that Gala for all their outplaying us weren't able to score from open play so we must have done something right other than a few great saves.
I'd say that they were bang average. We seemed unwilling to move or play at any pace and worried about being countered. We should have driven down the wings. Earned 10 or 22 corners and just piled them in. I didn't see thst much out of them that was good. Just a lot of hellishly slow tip tap about and zero effort to make an option. Zero press to pressure their defenders at all as well.
Imo wirtz needs to actually earn his spot. His wage and his fee shouldn't assure a spot. let's go with the best available line up from last season and work in one at a time now. Imo gk is now enforced change Striker is what it is. I dont think kerkez is causing that much issue. That's enough for Chelsea. Go with the rest as the old guard and if they cant run or work then there's nothing a new player can do to help them.
That amount of **** aimed at Wirtz is ridiculous. He's ****ing quality and it'll take time for not only him to get used to his teammates but his teammates to get used to him. If you watch him in the game, he's constantly moving and finding those pockets of space but the ball doesn't come. He's absolutely a team player; he is very good at link up play, one or two touch football, he's not an individual that'll make things happen in his own, he needs teammates on the same wave length. Wirtz and Ekitike were linking very well initially. #youllneverwalkalone
