Chelsea 2 Wolverhampton Wanderers 4

[My Blood Is Blue]

Just now, Bison said:

1000%.

The idea of Chilwell and the reality of Chilwell are two very different things. He plays like he did on Wednesday far more often than people are happy to admit.

Lewis Hall last season showed ability and technique far beyond anything I've ever seen from Chilwell.

Oh, come on now. I'm a massive fan of Hall, but he isn't better than Chilwell. 

I get that you don't like or rate Chilwell, and that is fine, fully entitled to that view. I have a different view, I rate him and when he's fully firing is a massive asset to our team. He has had a lot of time out and is probably nervous about how much his body can handle, so I will cut him some slack for the other night, but he was truly awful... I kind of hope he subbed himself off.

[Mark Kelly]

16 minutes ago, My Blood Is Blue said:

I imagine Poch is shuddering at the thought of maybe having to play 2 full backs!

He'll be cold in his grave before he recognises "full back" 

[Dwmh]

42 minutes ago, paulw66 said:

Wolves as home is an entirely different proposition to Liverpool away. And you know that. 

And a Genuine challenge.  I'm happy to write the Anfield game off, just as I am happy to ignore the Middlesborough 6-1.

Now we see where we are after a period where IMO some got a bit unrealistic about our progress.

[ROTG]

19 minutes ago, Bison said:

Lewis Hall last season showed ability and technique far beyond anything I've ever seen from Chilwell.

Well I am sure lewis will get a second bite of the apple when he returns in the summer

[paulw66]

1 hour ago, Bison said:

I would do the unthinkable and give a left back from the academy a go. I know, radical! 😮

 

 

So, Silva aside, we have a very young, inexperienced side, made up of largely 20-23 year olds, and you want to throw in an untested kid. What could possibly go wrong? 

1 hour ago, Bison said:

 

20 year old Dylan Williams has been with the squad recently. He is exactly the same age as the Liverpool player who destroyed Chilwell on Wednesday. 

 

I am curious as to how you can conclude that he destroyed Chilwell. The goal he got was after Chilwell had collided with / was wrestled to the ground by Jota, and all the damage he did in the second half, Chilwell wasn't there.

Moreover, the argument that one 20 year old is ready, means that ours is, is just fantasy.  I don't presume you have seen Williams kick a ball? Moreover, Bradley is playing in a team that has far more senior players in it. 

1 hour ago, Bison said:

 

The worst thing about managers like Poch is they make fans believe we have no option but to go along with their nonsense. Dylan Williams is right there. We have academy players who can do a job right now but they will never be considered for whatever reason.

 

Colwill has started 18 PL games

Gallagher has started 21 (a lot as Captain)

James would be first choice if he could stay fit. 

Our academy players are being considered, and are playing. That is ignoring any minutes afforded to Broja and Gilchrist thus far.

Funny, but whenever he picked Maatsen, you complained how bad he was.

53 minutes ago, Bison said:

 

Lewis Hall last season showed ability and technique far beyond anything I've ever seen from Chilwell.

the lad who can't get a game at Newcastle?

[paulw66]

47 minutes ago, Dwmh said:

And a Genuine challenge.  I'm happy to write the Anfield game off, just as I am happy to ignore the Middlesborough 6-1.

Now we see where we are after a period where IMO some got a bit unrealistic about our progress.

Sure. I am not saying Wolves are a middlesboro, but they certainly wont attack us like Liverpool. They will stick 10 men behind the ball, and we will need attacking output from our full backs.

[asvaberg]

26 minutes ago, paulw66 said:

Sure. I am not saying Wolves are a middlesboro, but they certainly wont attack us like Liverpool. They will stick 10 men behind the ball, and we will need attacking output from our full backs.

I think we will have a tough opponent just like ManU had yesterday. LUCK, SKILL and "Fergie time" secured a win for Man U at Molineux. We have neither of the three.

Edited February 2 by asvaberg

[Bert19]

On 01/02/2024 at 06:52, My Blood Is Blue said:

For Poch, this surely is a has to win, otherwise I can see fans turning, if they haven’t already. If we don’t see a reaction in this match then that will tell us everything we need to know about our head coach.

I think he needs a convincing win here.  The home crowd seemed pretty annoyed by what they were seeing again against Fulham the other week, so I cannot fathom things will be better after Wednesday night's drubbing.  

But even if we do win well, it's just delaying the inevitable - we've got a hard run ahead of us next few weeks.  He's not up to it and the turn is already well on the way. 

[blueboy1905]

1 hour ago, ROTG said:

Well I am sure lewis will get a second bite of the apple when he returns in the summer

He will be first out of the door, pure profit and that, along with other youth graduates so we can buy some foetuses from South America.

[Ham]

4 hours ago, Bison said:

I would do the unthinkable and give a left back from the academy a go. I know, radical! 😮

20 year old Dylan Williams has been with the squad recently. He is exactly the same age as the Liverpool player who destroyed Chilwell on Wednesday. 

The worst thing about managers like Poch is they make fans believe we have no option but to go along with their nonsense. Dylan Williams is right there. We have academy players who can do a job right now but they will never be considered for whatever reason.

Wolves are a decent Premier League team so I am fully expecting another rubbish performance from Chilwell, Mudryk and any other bad player we'll pick. This isn't Middlesbrough coming to the Bridge. 

 

4 hours ago, My Blood Is Blue said:

So you would start a 20 year old who has 9 senior appearances, none of which have come in the PL, over our vice-captain who has over 228 senior appearances (all but 8 have been in the PL) and 19 England caps, because he had a bad performance in a match where nearly the entire team underperformed against the league leaders?

Out of interest, how much have you seen of Williams? What kind of full back is he?

I was about to ask precisely the same thing about Williams. 

[chara]

On 01/02/2024 at 00:37, Mark Kelly said:

We won't win this , Gary O'Neil is ten times the coach Pochettino is.

Ryan O'Neal would have been ten times better!

[chara]

On 30/01/2024 at 02:46, paulw66 said:

Jackson back for this one, after Senegal lost on penalties to Ivory Coast.

Whatever you think of this guy, he's a better option than Broja.

To repeat a theme...Glenda Jackson a far better option than Broja!

[Max Fowler]

6 hours ago, My Blood Is Blue said:

Oh, come on now. I'm a massive fan of Hall, but he isn't better than Chilwell. 

I get that you don't like or rate Chilwell, and that is fine, fully entitled to that view. I have a different view, I rate him and when he's fully firing is a massive asset to our team. He has had a lot of time out and is probably nervous about how much his body can handle, so I will cut him some slack for the other night, but he was truly awful... I kind of hope he subbed himself off.

You’re partly right, but I do think Chilwell is done here. Unfortunately largely due to injuries.

[My Blood Is Blue]

1 minute ago, Max Fowler said:

You’re partly right, but I do think Chilwell is done here. Unfortunately largely due to injuries.

Yeah, that I can understand. I've said, if he gets another medium/long-term injury in the next 6 months or so, then that has to be it and we move on. But while he is fit, he is definitely our best option.

[Holymoly]

6 hours ago, Dwmh said:

And a Genuine challenge.  I'm happy to write the Anfield game off, just as I am happy to ignore the Middlesborough 6-1.

Now we see where we are after a period where IMO some got a bit unrealistic about our progress.

I'm prepared to ignore those two results as well. The first was against a team that was equally better than us as we were against a mediocre championship side in the latter. This game is for mid table bragging rights.

I'm still waiting to see one of our players worthy of being considered a real Chelsea player. Gallagher will be gone in the summer to balance the books, Chilwell is as flakey as anything and Silva will soon be on the plane home. At that point god help everyone, we're just a bunch of AI created also-rans.

[Max Fowler]

6 minutes ago, My Blood Is Blue said:

Yeah, that I can understand. I've said, if he gets another medium/long-term injury in the next 6 months or so, then that has to be it and we move on. But while he is fit, he is definitely our best option.

Also one of the problems with Poch's 4 at the back is it really doesnt get the best out of James or Chilwell IMO. That would be more of a problem if they actually could get on the pitch.

[chara]

56 minutes ago, Holymoly said:

I'm prepared to ignore those two results as well. The first was against a team that was equally better than us as we were against a mediocre championship side in the latter. This game is for mid table bragging rights.

I'm still waiting to see one of our players worthy of being considered a real Chelsea player. Gallagher will be gone in the summer to balance the books, Chilwell is as flakey as anything and Silva will soon be on the plane home. At that point god help everyone, we're just a bunch of AI created also-rans.

A good question.....apart from the obvious players in the past JT etc...was JFH a real Chelsea player? ..Anelka?..Crespo ?..for example not argument...Alfie looks to be ....Rudi I always thought of as the perfect mercenary... dedicated to the flag he was working under but ready to go wherever he was paid to be without a look back.

Most of the present squad look like many a rehabbed or "saved" species being reintroduced to their natural environment...somewhat bemused and not quite sure where to go for the best!

 

[Dwmh]

So another game where we small clubs end up playing on Sunday or Friday without being on TV.
Presumably to accomodate Man U playing Thursday against Wolves rather than playing Sunday and Wednesday.

Don't you just hate the big clubs

[kev61]

10 hours ago, Bison said:

1000%.

The idea of Chilwell and the reality of Chilwell are two very different things. He plays like he did on Wednesday far more often than people are happy to admit.

Lewis Hall last season showed ability and technique far beyond anything I've ever seen from Chilwell.

Chilwell is another example of crap coaching.He is a left back not a left winger.

I'm all for trying players in different positions if need be.Chilwell is a left back and a good one.Let's not mess with players in their natural position - it causes even more instability..

 

[ShedMiddle]

4 hours ago, My Blood Is Blue said:

Yeah, that I can understand. I've said, if he gets another medium/long-term injury in the next 6 months or so, then that has to be it and we move on. But while he is fit, he is definitely our best option.

Chillwell is a small molar player to Alonso.. They are both more dangerous than our attackers. They are both great on the ball but, both not the most defensively minded. I am biased but, I love their style of play. Puts us on the front foot.

We had one great second half this season and that was against Newcastle. Poch was forced to play with a  real left back and a real right back. I think we're a different team when that happens.

Really hope Lewis Hall does get another chance here and played at left back!

[ShedMiddle]

                             Petrovic

                Disasi  Silva  Badiashille  

Gusto                 Caciedo               Chillwell 

                     Enzo             Chuck

                     Palmer      Nkunku            

 

[xceleryx]

6 hours ago, Max Fowler said:

Also one of the problems with Poch's 4 at the back is it really doesnt get the best out of James or Chilwell IMO. That would be more of a problem if they actually could get on the pitch.

It doesn't, not that either have managed to be fielded together this season. That being said, there's still a problem with it even without either of those two on the pitch, and unfortunately some of that has to do with Thiago Silva being a centrepiece still. His presence in the team means we have to play deeper, something that has a knock on effect the further up the pitch one goes. It either creates a larger disconnect between the defence and midfield, midfield and attack, or it forces the midfield and attack to drop deeper themselves to retain a balance and therefore hampers any ability to press high effectively. 

When we're in possession, like with most possession based teams, we see our back four morph into more of a three. In most instance you ideally want the two centre halves to split off into right and left options with the DM slotting into the middle. Because of Thiago Silva's lack of leg speed, and his generally held uncomfortableness defending wide areas, we're forced to keep him central. This leaves us only being able to push one fullback up the pitch at a time, as the other fullback has to tuck in and play that L/R CB role. Beyond Chilwell being injured a big part of why Colwill has been playing left back is likely down to it being more practical for him to take up that LCB role, keeping TS central, and allows Disasi to play RCB, with Gusto pushing higher up. 

If we do want to play with two more adventurous fullbacks then it'll mean either the DM having to drop back into a R/L CB slot to fill the gap, or dropping Thiago Silva for one of our other CB options who are going to provide greater capability of filling that L/R CB slot within a three. 

Of course, TS is still a good player and his experience is important within a young side, but there's trades offs that the team has to make to accomodate that. 

[kev61]

6 hours ago, Max Fowler said:

You’re partly right, but I do think Chilwell is done here. Unfortunately largely due to injuries.

You could also throw James  into the mix of players that get injured frequently.

We have enough good players to do better than we are doing 

"Chilwell is done here" a bold statement that makes no sense.

[Michael Tucker]

4 hours ago, kev61 said:

"Chilwell is done here" a bold statement that makes no sense.

Doesn't make any sense to me, either!

[Max Fowler]

6 hours ago, xceleryx said:

It doesn't, not that either have managed to be fielded together this season. That being said, there's still a problem with it even without either of those two on the pitch, and unfortunately some of that has to do with Thiago Silva being a centrepiece still. His presence in the team means we have to play deeper, something that has a knock on effect the further up the pitch one goes. It either creates a larger disconnect between the defence and midfield, midfield and attack, or it forces the midfield and attack to drop deeper themselves to retain a balance and therefore hampers any ability to press high effectively. 

When we're in possession, like with most possession based teams, we see our back four morph into more of a three. In most instance you ideally want the two centre halves to split off into right and left options with the DM slotting into the middle. Because of Thiago Silva's lack of leg speed, and his generally held uncomfortableness defending wide areas, we're forced to keep him central. This leaves us only being able to push one fullback up the pitch at a time, as the other fullback has to tuck in and play that L/R CB role. Beyond Chilwell being injured a big part of why Colwill has been playing left back is likely down to it being more practical for him to take up that LCB role, keeping TS central, and allows Disasi to play RCB, with Gusto pushing higher up. 

If we do want to play with two more adventurous fullbacks then it'll mean either the DM having to drop back into a R/L CB slot to fill the gap, or dropping Thiago Silva for one of our other CB options who are going to provide greater capability of filling that L/R CB slot within a three. 

Of course, TS is still a good player and his experience is important within a young side, but there's trades offs that the team has to make to accomodate that. 

Well argued. Personally I think we should keep Silva for another season because he’s still our best centre half and none of the others seem capable of stepping up. With the exception of Disasi maybe.