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What i dont like about this app and Chelsea fanbase in general is genuine inability to separate current events with bigger picture. Anyone saying Xabi Alonso is the problem here and should be sacked after 5 PL gameweeks in my opinion is not a Chelsea fan for the right reasons.
Managers who like their teams to play in a certain way will always need time to put that system into place at a new club. So even if he came into fully settled squad, we would need time for him to coach players what to do and when to do it, and make them believe in that process that will longterm help us become better.
So in perfect scenario, it would still be struggle and would need time. Our scenario is far away from perfect. We didnt bring a midfielder after Enzo left, we got JP, James, Caicedo, Palestra etc injured, and thats imo practically all starters for us when fully fit ( you can disagree on Palestra, but there's a reason he played all preseason games, he is present and future of this club ). So, at the moment, we have our manager patching the holes left in the squad without getting any stability because of injuries + SD's blunder on the last day of transfer window.
Should we be disappointed by how we performed last few games? Absolutely. That's fully valid. Should we expect more? Undoubtly. But should we turn on Alonso for it? Absolutely not. Not a single manager out there can take this team in our current situation and make us perform immediately with less struggle than what Xabi is facing.
Being sad and loosing your heads cos we arent winning is one thing, but we set a dangerous precedent if we point to our manager again. That should absolutely not be a case going forward, especially if we want any progress longterm. Arteta went tru it, Guardiola did aswell, Klopp did when he took over Liverpool first. You dont teach intricate tactics, patterns of play and timings in 2 months.
You need lot of time to translate to players exactly what you want from them. We need more intensity and taking responsibility, i fully agree on that. But these things need time, culture doesnt change over night, and constant change doesnt help it aswell.
Talking about Maresca ( which i find disgusting given what happened there ), mentioning Tuchel's quick transformation and similar things dont change where we are at the moment. Its not the same team, not the same opposition, and not the same level. Allow Xabi to work with these players, there is not a single option better than him out there. And i find it disturbing that i even feel the urge and need to say these things. We as a fanbase gotta do better, cos this is gettin absurd.
In Xabi i trust 💙
Not including our academy boys who still didnt get a proper opportunity like Watson, Jazuli, Greenwood ( level of potential for biggest stage yet to be determined ), these are our 3 generational level talents. I know people will say generational is too strong of a word, but i dont use it for anybody.
Estevao already has that starboy aura to him. He is technically astute, has elite level instincts, and is already a starting RW for Brazil's NT at 19 years of age. Its scary to even think where his potential can take him. Only sky is the limit to what this boy can become
Josh on the other hand is all you want from your defender. I genuinly cant compare him to any other defender out there, and that is compliment of highest order by itself. Tall, fast, strong, top ball carrier, high football IQ + calmness while being only 20 years of age. Josh genuinly has all the tools needed to be best of the best in every single aspect - mentally, technically & physically. Genuinly an unicorn in world of football.
Last, but not least - Penders. 6'7 monster already starting for Chelsea FC while being only 21yo. Level of calmness he possesses is of a veteran who spent decades between the sticks. Very good in terms of ball playing, commanding his area and providing top level saves. His only real weakness is parring, but these things can be easily fixed longterm with coaching and experience gained. There is no other keeper in his age bracket who is this level of talent. If he reaches even half of his potential, he will solve our GK issue once and for all.
These are the 3 guys that can determine how successful we can be next decade, and we should fight tooth & nail to keep them happy and give them enought game time for them to make significant impact and imprint their names in Premier League history books one day.
Special shoutout to our academy for regularly producing some of the best young talents in the country. Cobham is truly special, and will continue to provide us with some absolute young ballers for years to come. Future is Chels 🥶
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Not too Xabi 😉 i am reading his patterns of play and setup more and more with each passing day. Both IP & OOP to a tee outside of Emegha not starting and Neto as surprising false 9/poacher. That narrow double pivot was absolute class today. Lavia maturing more and more in reading the game and his movement OOP is getting better and better. Fitness issues are taking away absolute animal from us. Please stay healthy brother, we need you more than ever 💙
This is probably how i would setup tomorrow against Manchester United. I feel this is best we can put out now after injuries to JP, James, Lacroix, Martinez & Hato.
IP : Palestra can go byline while Rogers moves more centrally. When Josh goes higher, Lavia can drop deeper and become part of a back 3 in buildup. Emegha will be the focal point to retain the ball against Man Utd defenders who arent athletic enought to contain him. If they try to man mark him and he drags them further away from the goal, those channels can be easily exploited by Rogers + Palmer, or he can simply turn these players with his speed and physicality. If they try to sit deep, Palmer + Rogers can create enought for him when he runs into channels, cos he will drag these players anyways to open up more space for our players in advanced zones. Number of sprints he does per 90 and his movement in & around the box is threat for any team put there.
OOP: when we dont have the ball, we can easily switch back to back 3. Josh goes from rb to rcb, Fofana from rcb to ccb and Colwill goes little bit wider on the left. Palestra and Neto respectfully go into lwb and rwb roles which is where they are most natural anyways. Lavia & Caicedo play in narrow double pivot close to eachother while we do our usual press up front with Palmer, Rogers & Emegha. Once Man Utd loose the ball, we go into counter attack with lot of pace on the wings and in attack. We have progressive passing in Colwill + Lavia, which will give us some balance and add more control to the setup.
Most teams that have beaten Man Utd badly this season were setting up in the same way. Bournemouth + Como last 2 games gave us literal blueprint on what to do and how to exploit their weaknessess. If u press them and dont allow them much space and refuse to give them the ball and control of the game, they will crumble. Not enought players in that team are comfortable on the ball, and their defence is all over the place. Even more than ours. If u keep pressuring them into mistakes, they will self implode. This is what we need to do tomorrow. Maximum intensity from minute 1 and force them into silly mistakes which will come for sure. If we score and take a lead, dont just give them back control. Keep pushing more and more. Use every heavy touch to press and we will get there.
Really hopeful for this game tomorrow. I genuinly think this is where we have to bounce back and show the rest of the league what we can do. UTC 💙
By far the best player on the pitch today, without the shadow of a doubt. This is what 10/10 performance from double pivot midfielder look like. Lavia was absolutely brilliant today. He was glue that connected our whole team. Special shoutout to Josh aswell. His ball carrying and duel winning today was crucial. UTC 💙
This is probably how i would setup tomorrow against Manchester United. I feel this is best we can put out now after injuries to JP, James, Lacroix, Martinez & Hato.
IP : Palestra can go byline while Rogers moves more centrally. When Josh goes higher, Lavia can drop deeper and become part of a back 3 in buildup. Emegha will be the focal point to retain the ball against Man Utd defenders who arent athletic enought to contain him. If they try to man mark him and he drags them further away from the goal, those channels can be easily exploited by Rogers + Palmer, or he can simply turn these players with his speed and physicality. If they try to sit deep, Palmer + Rogers can create enought for him when he runs into channels, cos he will drag these players anyways to open up more space for our players in advanced zones. Number of sprints he does per 90 and his movement in & around the box is threat for any team put there.
OOP: when we dont have the ball, we can easily switch back to back 3. Josh goes from rb to rcb, Fofana from rcb to ccb and Colwill goes little bit wider on the left. Palestra and Neto respectfully go into lwb and rwb roles which is where they are most natural anyways. Lavia & Caicedo play in narrow double pivot close to eachother while we do our usual press up front with Palmer, Rogers & Emegha. Once Man Utd loose the ball, we go into counter attack with lot of pace on the wings and in attack. We have progressive passing in Colwill + Lavia, which will give us some balance and add more control to the setup.
Most teams that have beaten Man Utd badly this season were setting up in the same way. Bournemouth + Como last 2 games gave us literal blueprint on what to do and how to exploit their weaknessess. If u press them and dont allow them much space and refuse to give them the ball and control of the game, they will crumble. Not enought players in that team are comfortable on the ball, and their defence is all over the place. Even more than ours. If u keep pressuring them into mistakes, they will self implode. This is what we need to do tomorrow. Maximum intensity from minute 1 and force them into silly mistakes which will come for sure. If we score and take a lead, dont just give them back control. Keep pushing more and more. Use every heavy touch to press and we will get there.
Really hopeful for this game tomorrow. I genuinly think this is where we have to bounce back and show the rest of the league what we can do. UTC 💙
I dont post as much as i would like to ( work takes a lot of my time ), but still very grateful for all of yall support and time you put into reading my posts and sharing your views. Its not about how many followers are there, its about community and good people who love this beautiful club from the bottom of their hearts and want us to succeed no matter what. Really appreciate all of you in genuine hope for better days of CFC in near future. UTC 💙🙏
Our fanbase is by far the worst one on this app in terms of being reactionary. There is absolutely no patience whatsoever from 99% of our fans in here. Never seeing things in isolation, never adding context to things, just pure crashouts and emotional outbursts.
Honest to God, most of our fans deserve starting lineup of Sanchez, Gusto, Disasi, Fofana, Baba Rahman, Garnacho, Bakayoko, Drinkwater, Zappacosta, Bounanotte & Delap. And let them be managed by Graham Potter.
Cos there is no other way yall will appreciate what you got at home if you dont see dark days like these. I've seen amazing Chelsea, and i've seen terrible Chelsea since i was a kid. And even back then as a kid when we didnt win shit, i was never this reactionary like you guys are on daily bases. 1 game Xabi is a saviour, next one he has to be sacked. I just cant believe how minds of some fans are functioning on this app. Where is critical thinking? Where is trusting a manager who btw has 6 W, 2 D and 3 L's after taking over a new team with so many inconsistencies, injuries and SD's not providing him with best balance needed to lead a team.
I just cant believe the sheep mentality this fanbase has. Who is a new hot name yall would want? Fabregas? Luis? For what? So they can come and be called shit after 10 games also? Level of football knowledge in here is absolutely abysmall. I genuinly cant even believe i have to write this shit seeing all your crashouts and crying on TL like we are absolute dog shit.
We as a fanbase definitely dont deserve nice things. Not only do we put down our players and managers day in, day out. We also support other fanbases who call our players shit. That should be a sacred thing we should never allow. Protect your fucking players, and protect your fucking manager from others.
Show the pride, support your team like it means something and grow up. Football isnt always winning trophies every season. It doesnt work like that, especially in Premier League. Call for standards, absolutely. But crashing out on Emegha for penalty miss? Crashing out on Alonso cos Estevao didnt play? This is all part of football. Its nothing that didnt happen to every single team 100+ times.
Im done with hire & fire at Stamford Bridge. Im done with all the turmoil and chopping and changing. This has to stop. Xabi has my support, and he will find a way for us to become successful. Maybe not in 1 month. Maybe not even in 6. But he will find a way, and we will all be happy we have him time. Trust your manager and trust your team. Even when we go tru difficult periods like this. We will come out stronger from it. UTC 💙
He deserved Balon D'Or just based on this. R9 is GOAT striker. Best to ever do it. If he had no injuries, he wouldve been closer to Messi than he is to Lewandowski, Aguero etc etc. True legend 💛
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Football is a wonderful sport we all love.
Football is 3 things for me. Winning, entertainment and being part of a community.
Too many people are transfixed with how you win. The feeling I get walking away from Stamford Bridge with 3 points will ALWAYS supersede how we played.
I have seen it all. From Hoddle, Vialli, Gullit, Mourinho, Ranieri, Conte, Tuchel, Potter, Lampard, Ancellotti to name a few.
The one thing I had in common with all of them, was the feeling I had after a win.
Yes, I want to be entertained, of course I want to see pretty patterns of play and watch amazing goals. After all, football is theatre, but that takes time. For some managers it’s lands quicker than others, some are fortunate that they have the right players at the right time. Some get bought those players and it works and for some, it never materialises. What I want at Chelsea now is long term stability. I want a manager who represents the club and understands the importance of winning. I want a manager who has a long term objective and I believe we have that in Alonso.
I totally get why people are still pissed off post Spurs. It was a car crash, but it’s also a car crash where we all got out of the car with no major injuries. We are 5th, the players are still learning and the season is young.
If Alonso is playing shit football at the end of the season then we can talk, but until then, we sadly just have to expect a bit of a rollercoaster. The ride might even out soon or we might be in for more bumpy turns but it’s about the end goal. Mentality change (still hasn’t happened but getting better) and creating a winning machine. With whatever style is required.
Please give Alonso time. We are lucky to have him after the shit show of the last 4 years!
So underrated even before he touched the pitch. Strong, rapid, ambipedal, great in running channels, can create lot of space for attackers around him aswell because he always draggs defenders with him with his movement and he knows his way in and around the box. Our fanbase loves to write off players before they show what they can do, hope Emegha proves those doubters wrong immediately. Would love for him to come off the bench vs Liverpool and then starts on the weekend against Manchester United. No Man Utd defender will be able to track those runs. He will create so much space for Palmer & Rogers aswell. 💣
Was there early days 😉
teapaw.org/ChelseaWay_/status/208…
CW_ retweeted
Promised a thread on Rogers some time ago, but didnt deliver it. What better time to do it than now tho, after he signed for our beautiful club. Lets get into it.
Morgan Rogers has flaws in his game. He definitely isnt a finished product yet. But what makes him special is the fact that in things he is good at, he is amazing at them. In addition to that, his surroundings made his flaws visible even more, and it was very easy to see why, especially if u watched full 90's of Aston Villa last few seasons.
In that Aston Villa team, he was practically the only real ball carrier. And players around him werent optimal to get the best out of him, not even close to optimal.
Emery likes intensity, team showing character, and having leaders on the pitch at all times. He likes it to a fault, because he would fit players in positions that arent ideal for them to have the best players on the pitch at all times.
When you have Mcginn/Buendia/Sancho as your wingers, its not easy to be a creator from midfield areas. These arent your "attack the space" wingers, but more the ones who move inside and occupy advanced midfield areas, while Digne/Maatsen/Cash overlap a lot. So thats the first thing that made Rogers life a bit more difficult than it shouldve been. But it doesnt stop there.
Guy in front of him was Watkins. Aldo Watkins is a great runner into space, he is also an enourmous BCM magnet. I cant count how many times have i seen Rogers putting a chance on a plate for him, just for Watkins to miss it like its nothing. Watkins also isnt great at dropping deep and linking up play, cos he is more of a poacher than a creator like Kane or JP ( now his new teammate ).
One more thing that didnt help him whatsoever was protection behind him. Emery had Tielemans playing almost every single game. Tielemans is great passer and has a top football IQ as a player, but what he is not, he isnt great transition defender. So, to maximise Rogers, Onana should be playing almost every game. He didnt ofcourse, because he is injury prone ( currently injured again ), so in comes Kamara. Kamara for me is one of the most underrated players in that Villa team. He is one of the cogs that got them that UCL position, and one of the key players in them winning European competition. But that balance in double pivot was far away from being perfect, especially when you expect your No.10 to do so many risky things when carrying the ball and dragging players with him, creating openings for other teammates around him.
He didnt have creators around him, or the ball carriers to help him get more isolations. This is why Aston Villa massively overperformed their xG, 2 seasons in a row aswell. At one point in the season, their xG was same as Wolverhampton's, and they were in relegation zone at that time. Doing all that carrying of a team who doesnt create enought is a big task for any player out there, so people have to be a bit more objective on impact Rogers had compared to what could've been if he had right profiles around him.
On that note, in comes Chelsea. At Chelsea, Rogers wont be the only ball carrier, and he definitely wont be the only creator. He will have people creating for him, and thats when his xG overperforming will come in handy, given he is a huge threat any time he finds himself around the box.
This is exactly what Chelsea was missing. We had Enzo as box crasher, and aldo he isnt as physical, Enzo was really good at it because of his elite level football IQ and reading the space in advance. Not many players have mental capacity to always stay concentrated and make a perfectly timed runs. Thats why it worked. But outside of that game reading, Enzo isnt a guy that will receive the ball, drive past 2-3 players with quick feet and then fire a bolt in opposite corner. That's Roger's bread & butter.
22 million euros. Still cant believe this actually happened. Both Stuttgart and Real Madrid made a horrible mistake here 💯
There is probably no club out there that needs Alex Scott more than us, and there is absolutely no better club for Alex Scott to pick from out there than us. Here's why:
1. He is joining a club where he will play in double pivot with one of the best No.6/b2b hybrids out there in Moises Caicedo. He will have someone to rely on when he steps up, and they will easily interchange and even press together off the ball. Going from Tyler Adams to Moi is highest possible upgrade in terms of midfield partnership.
2. He will have as many England's NT teammates as one can wish for. People underestimate power of playing with same players at club and country level. That connection is the reason why lot of clubs have players starting for NT because of the synergy these players have playing with eachother week in, week out.
3. He will have one of the best leaders out there in Henderson to show him the way and help him ease in moving from Bournemouth to Chelsea, which is undoubtly a step up and whole another level to prove yourself at ( all props to Bournemouth, i mean no disrespect ofcourse ). I have no doubt that hand around shoulder will give him a lot of confidence from such a well respected player in world of football.
4. If we continue playing this same system, he will have top protection behind him. He will have more licence to roam and will be able to play with full freedom. He will have legs in Moi next to him and players like Lacroix, Josh, Hato etc behind him who all got transition speed and can fix his step ups when going into counterpress in higher zones.
5. He struggled with some smaller injuries, and if he joins us in january, he will be on 1 game a week basis ( given we dont play Europe, contrary to Bournemouth ) which will help his workload and allow him to be fresh for every game. He will also have players like Lavia, Henderson, Barco etc pushing him for starting spot, so he will definitely have competition pushing him to reach higher level.
6. Last, but not least, he will be managed by one of the best ex-midfield players out there. Whatever Alex Scott is good at ( he is a generalist so he is practically good at everything ), Xabi Alonso will find a way to highlight it, and on top of that, refine/maximise his skills to even higher level than he is on now. So for him, sky is the limit.
We are finally getting athletically + technically gifted players, runners and legs in all areas on the pitch. Adjusting and balancing our squad to fit the needs of PL football and giving Alonso players who can help him achieve long term success at our beautiful club. On top of that, this team is so much more likable than anything we had last 4+ years. You can see the unity and how they support and push eachother.
MY CLUB IS BACK ! 🤯🥶
I absolutely see why we would get linked with Natan. Probably closest thing to Gabriel Magalhães on the market. Strong, agressive, front footed, absolutely top duel winner and box defender in general.
Has elite level mentality to it ( saw him putting his head on opposition attackers foot multiple times just so they dont get to the ball - John Terry-esque ).
Very versatile aswell, can play as ccb and wide defender ( equally comfortable ) which is always valuable, especially in 3 at the back system.
Think some of these top clubs is definitely getting him in january or summer. He deserves his big move for sure, its just a matter of time at this point.
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"We dont see Alex Scott as immediate priority" aka Alex Scott rejected us because he wants to join Chelsea. Seen enought briefs in my lifetime to know what they look like 😉
[🟢] NEW: Alex Scott is highly regarded at Liverpool and has an existing relationship with Andoni Iraola, but midfield is not an immediate priority. The club consider themselves well-stocked, with high hopes for Trey Nyoni and James McConnell.
Liverpool would probably welcome Bournemouth keeping Scott until the summer, when their situation could change. Mac Allister was disappointed not to be offered a new contract this summer.
Bournemouth would consider a January sale for a fee rising to £100m, provided their Premier League status is not in jeopardy. Chelsea are viewed by many as January frontrunners.
[Stuart James & Thom Harris, @TheAthleticFC; additional reporting by @David_Ornstein] #LFC
