Chelsea Teams and Match Talk

05 May 2024 15:56:46
poch starting to prove us all wrong surely he stays now and gets backed to add 2 or 3 experienced players in the summer

Mudryk has to go do he is absoloutely atrocious.

05 May 2024 16:58:28
I'm not disagreeing with you here Pochempire, because he has been undeniably, and frustratingly, rubbish but in the same way it seems like Poch is coming good, could it be the case that Mudryk, given time and patience, could also come good?

05 May 2024 17:34:32
Keep poch keep Mudryk the plan is coming together for what it's worth my take on comings and goings

Sell Hall done, Broja, Lukaku , Sanchez Sterling if possible, if we have to sell one of Chalaboa or Gallagher for FFP so be it

Experienced goalkeeper keep Kepa if we can't get a fee centre half and centre forward.

05 May 2024 18:11:39
Poch, the real Poch isn’t proving “us all wrong. ”

Who will be the first to say, “why has it taken so long? ”

As far a Mudryk is concerned. Today he had the least influence of any player with the ball but without the ball he cause problems. When he plays he gives us natural width and there just being out wide cause gaps in a back four. Also, today like so often, clubs are so sh@t scared if his pace they double up on him.

05 May 2024 15:35:19
Very very, very impressed today. Maybe the first game I've watched where I've had true faith in the project.

05 May 2024 20:25:15
It’s just another home win.

05 May 2024 15:28:52
Cucurella inverting into midfield in a 3-2-4-1 formation has been nothing short of fantastic. Finally the team looks like it's taking shape.

All that work would be undone by selling Chalobah and Gallagher though it should not happen.

05 May 2024 16:56:41
Totally agree. Well done to Poch.

05 May 2024 10:58:33
Nkunku looks fit for today.

04 May 2024 11:33:25
Moving forward to Sunday I really hope Poch picks the same team as he did against Spurs. The players who played deserve to be rewarded for arguably one of the best performances of the season.

For our success next season it is imperative we build a solid spine of players who aren't injury prone and also have performed consistently.

Like others have said since Chalobah came in the side he has been a breath of fresh air. He has performed well each game he and if you add Colwill next to him that has potential to be a superb Partnership.

Then you have Gallagher and Caceido in Central midfield who's playing styles seem to compliment each other really well. You have Gallaghers energy going box to box as an 8 and often leading the press. Caceido is getting better game by game often breaking up play and reads the game well.

After them you have Palmer as a 10 or RW his stats this season speak for themself 20 league goals and 9 assists.

Every successful side for as long as I can remember has that spine of quality dependable players, we need a Goal Keeper and a Striker for that spine to be near complete. If we can add that quality and have a bit of a better break with injuries I think we will have a real chance of competing for the league.

04 May 2024 12:43:36
I thinbk Poch has no choice but to pick the same team whitey as only youngsters on the benvch on Thursday night and it's unlikely he would risk putting any of the 14 on the injured list back as a starter. But uou nevr know and some of Thursday's side may be nursing slight strains/ knocks.

05 May 2024 11:07:50
One thing you'd say is that West Ham will not be as obliging opponents as Spurs. The more I reflect on that game it's clear that, as good as we were, Spurs were that bad. So this will be a much tougher game, you'd imagine. For that reason, if we had a fully fit Nkunku I'd consider moving Jackson to the left wing and Nkunku up front – or even switching Mudryk and Jackson if we don't want to risk Nkunku (sensible) . It's like playing with a man down with him on the pitch at the moment. I can't decide if that's better in the striker position or on the wing!

05 May 2024 16:28:40
EdW you’re right, West Ham weren’t as obliging. They were far more obliging.

05 May 2024 16:54:52
Hahah. I didn't manage to see much of the match Cech, but I'm very, very happy to be proved wrong like that.

05 May 2024 19:54:26
I was naughty and found myself a stream. Very glad I did. West Ham were poor, however on the flip side we were fantastic and controlled the game superbly. They had a couple of dangerous moments as you’d expect for almost any side in a football match, but luckily for us they never quite capitalised (Bowen took a leaf out of Nunez’s book today) .

02 May 2024 22:35:56
Excellent tonight, never really felt like spurs would score. Looked a little bit tired second half but it’s a long old season. Atmosphere in the ground was brilliant too.

03 May 2024 05:21:01
RVD, I’m gutted I couldn’t be at the bridge and very envious of you and others that were there.

02 May 2024 22:09:48
Great win, cucurella was brilliant. caicedo and Gallagher work so well in a midfield 2.
Really hope Gallagher signs a new contract.

03 May 2024 10:00:09
Yes another shout out for Caicedo and Gallagher together a good one Steve and both wrre otstanding yesterday in bossing the midfield if esoecially first half.

28 Apr 2024 19:08:11
After the game against Villa I questioned if Mudryk would start another game for us this season. Having watched the North London derby today I've changed my mind and now think he should be in from start on Thursday.

29 Apr 2024 01:13:17
I’d like to see Mudryk central and Jackson from the left with less pressure on him. Mudryk seems better from central areas also.

30 Apr 2024 17:14:03
I'd agree with you Tom if he ever used his pace to run in behind. With Spurs' high line it would seem perfect. But he never seems to want to do that.

03 May 2024 10:02:35
He looked good in first half running at Spurs defense and needs more confidence to do that more often plus cooler head at times with final passing/ shooting option. But does have some sublime skills at his disposal and if he could consistently click he may yet become the player we all hoped we had paid for.

24 Apr 2024 09:14:33
I suffered from a complete headloss last night which has now manifested itself as serene apathy and a resignation that this 'project' just isn't working.

I thought Poch got it right on Saturday but so very, very wrong last night. Where to even start?

A left side of Cucurella and Mudryk seems the best place, they encapsulate every major criticism since the takeover. 124m quid on two players that legitimately might not start on a weekly basis in the Championship. I don't know how much to believe when managers 'send a message' with their team sheet, but I do find myself wondering if this was Poch showing the board that this is the consequence of playing their signings.

It leaves me thinking that there is just nowhere to go from here. We've got this lot for the next 7 years. Sure, Poch will get sacked, we've expected that since Xmas - but how much is going to change? The only players that anyone is going to be interested in buying off of us are the ones that we want to keep. In two years time when Enzo, Palmer, James, Colwill, Gallagher have all gone what are we going to celebrating? Madueke scoring his 15th career league goal? Mudryk completing his 12th career full 90?

I've tried so hard to see the positives and keep the faith. I've understood the thinking behind the signings even when I disagreed strongly with the fees and prioritisation of who we have brought in. I've suppressed my grumbles watching players who gave it all for Chelsea have been systematically sold off for a glorified u23 team. I've acknowledged that injuries virtually ended our season before it had begun. But I don't know if I have anything left to give. I've spent nearly £1000 watching us this season in the desperate hope that we are approaching the light at the end of the tunnel only to witness a litany of disappointments.

So yeah, basically I guess I'm used to it now. We've become a non-factor and unless all of these signings suddenly take a quantum leap forwards I struggle to see how this is going to change in the immediate future. At least we got to see us win it all.

24 Apr 2024 12:02:57
Welcome sir. Unfortunately I've been in this spot for a while. It was pretty evident early on it was a disastrous 'strategy'

24 Apr 2024 12:30:35
RBD, that about sums it up for me. Galling that we're going to have to sell academy products, who might not be polished (yet) but surely have the potential, and give more on the pitch than the charlatans we bought (some of whom are just other teams' academy products anyway! ), to cover the spending deficit. I wondered about playing Mudryk and Cucurella together too – didn't necessarily have to be as bad as it was if Mudryk hadn't treated it as a walking holiday. Honestly, players would get banished from my kid's u-11 training session if they put twice the effort he put in last night, let alone in a match.

If nothing else what's happening to Chelsea under Clearlake is an effective metaphor for the hedgefund/ corporate process – the parasite attaches, hollows the host out, leeches the blood (spirit/ history/ tradition) whilst replacing with spreadsheet data. If the entity survives this process, milk it until it drops. If it perishes, extract fangs and move on.

24 Apr 2024 12:38:14
My guess is that whatever direction the chooses to go and whether it’s our current owners or new ones the club will still exist.

I excepted a long time ago that this was going to be a painful process that require patience from me. I personally don’t think things will change for several seasons.

I find having current low expectations I helps with my anger ish management.

24 Apr 2024 15:05:17
I feel like I'm caught in a purgatory between thinking this whole thing needs to be torn down and that there is a scenario where it could suddenly work. But the long-term effect of this has manifested itself in me as just not particularly caring any more - I'm finding it so hard to remain invested when all but about 5 of these players mean virtually nothing to me as a fan.

On Mudryk perhaps the less said the better, he's just miles off it and he's running out of time. If you're at a game and decide to focus on him, you can clearly see that he could probably use 18 months in the academy developing his game - but he's 23 and cost £60m! The reality is that there are at least 3 players from the academy who deserve a chance to prove themselves in place of him but if Poch does that he may as well be handing in his resignation. I actually don't mind the thinking behind signing Mudryk, taking a shot at a raw but potentially world-class talent is fine but not in our current circumstances.

I don't want to open up the same old topics, but I can't see how you can separate what we see on the pitch with the sporting directors. I know the 'pure profit' argument for selling academy players but has anyone wondered that perhaps the reason these players are always marked for sale is also because no one in charge gets any credit if they succeed?

Consider the fact that we need the 'pure profit' to pay for the expensive duds they have brought in. Sure, Mount has been injured all season, but he's still a better player than Mudryk is. Would you rather have CHO or Madueke right now? Chalobah has shown more in his 700 mins than Disasi has in 3700. Why should we simply accept that we needed these signings and the sales are collateral damage? What would you prefer, Mount, CHO, Chalobah + 130m or what we currently have?

Four managers since the takeover, you can't just keep battering them without looking at whether the players are good enough. You can't question the quality of the players without considering that the SD/ recruitment is making too many mistakes. We aren't asking for perfection, just some accountability and an acknowledgment that they aren't infallible.

24 Apr 2024 16:20:37
RBD, making a positive statement in itself feels like an excuse at the moment but ho hum.

I didn’t want Potter sacked because for lots of reasons including a bloated squad, lots of injuries and a group of players that to me just looked to comfortable. Some of those reasons now apply to Poch. So I think he should be given another season.

An example of what might have been is the beast Sterling has played this season was with James behind him. So much of football is about important pairings but because of injuries those poteygoid partnerships just haven’t worked out.

27 Apr 2024 22:07:03
I feel the same way as the rest of you. Sterling and James aren’t going to make a difference as they are both unreliable for different reasons. The recruitment has been poor including the coaches. Another season of listening to Poch’s lame excuses will finish me off. I just think we need to throw the dice with a different coach and hope for the best.

27 Apr 2024 23:09:52
I’m gutted that Sterling not scoring 12 goals this seasons looks like costing me £400 for charity.

23 Apr 2024 21:49:00
One of those rare games where not one player comes out with any credit.

God we need are injured players back.

The biggest worry for me was the midfield no fight at all.

23 Apr 2024 22:10:42
Seymns, getting there backside smacked will do nothing for a young side. So many dropped there heads in the second half.

23 Apr 2024 21:41:06
Well played Arsenal well deserved and easy win tonight.

So many poor performances not worth mentioning them all but BB's display tonight was a total disaster he looks a completely different player since his injury issues.

Poch team selection and substitutions were very strange and I know I've said this before but what on earth does he say to our players at HT?

Shouldn't have got out of bed to watch it and I'm still not allowed a few JD's.

23 Apr 2024 22:07:01
Agree our central defence was v poor BB in particular would of liked to of seen Carney play we looked very tired Fernandez Gallagher and Cacaido need a rest.

23 Apr 2024 22:12:06
Maybe the decision delaying the Enzo operation might now be reconsidered.