Chelsea 0 Liverpool 0

[Ham]

2 hours ago, xceleryx said:

 

Would love our starting midfield to look like this next season - DM, Enzo, and someone like SMS as the #8 and link to the attack. 

Like Mason Mount?

2 hours ago, paulw66 said:

 

Looks........ zero assists so far.

 

Unfortunately that says nothing about the player in question in this Chelsea side. He should have had half a dozen assists or more from memory. 

[xceleryx]

1 hour ago, Bison said:

Getting rid of Koavcic this summer whilst he still has some value is by far the smartest thing to do.

He has one year left on his deal so losing him for nothing next summer would be bad business. Offering him a new 3-4 year deal would be significantly worse.

Kovacic's role in the team is completely redundant now we have Enzo.

You could just about say the same for Kante though to be fair once you look at things going forward.

Presuming we make the obvious signing of a starting calibre holding player, that automatically accounts for one midfield position. If we play a double pivot that second CM spot naturally goes to Enzo, this leaves Kante on the bench. Kante functions best when given freedom to roam and pressure high up the pitch, ideally that's with a holding player in behind like he had at Leicester and early days here. Dropping Enzo to accomodate Kante would be a massive loss of technical guile, passing range, creativity, vision and just general on-ball polish. Dropping the DM to partner Enzo and Kante together would mean Enzo sacrificing his game to be the sitting player, largely wasting his best qualities. 

A midfield three is the best solution with a holding player, Enzo and Kante all fitting together. However, and as mentioned before, ideally one of those CM's would be a more productive attacking type of #8. While the aforementioned trio would be okay in certain situations, such as in more open games like we have against Liverpool, generally we're going to face sides that sit back and require breaking down via the pass so Kante would be the more obvious player to drop for someone more offensively impactful. This would give us the perfect blend of a holding option, a go-between in Enzo who can support both sides of the ball, and then an actual attacking threat as the third man. 

Like Kovacic, Kante's role in the side would be rather similar as that "go between" type of option. 

[xceleryx]

12 minutes ago, Ham said:

Like Mason Mount?

He's the best on hand option, yes.

Although jury remains out on not just his future but if he can truly produce as a bonafide #8. 

Otherwise a more genuine option like a SMS would be perfect - although at 28 he's probably considered "too old" for our project. He's such a damn good player though.

Edited April 5, 2023 by xceleryx

[paulw66]

23 minutes ago, Ham said:

 

Unfortunately that says nothing about the player in question in this Chelsea side. He should have had half a dozen assists or more from memory. 

the other Chelsea forwards don't and never had this level of sympathy when judging goal contributions. 

I don't recall him laying on all that many chances TBH. He has had plenty himself.......... 

[Bison]

2 hours ago, Ham said:

Like Mason Mount?

Unfortunately that says nothing about the player in question in this Chelsea side. He should have had half a dozen assists or more from memory. 

According to the Premier League's official site, Felix has created one 'big chance' in his 9 games.

Took this image from @Chelsea Youth 's twitter account. Look at last night's game:

This is a regular occurrence for Felix.

@xceleryx Check out Kante, robbed of another assist. :)

2 hours ago, paulw66 said:

the other Chelsea forwards don't and never had this level of sympathy when judging goal contributions. 

I don't recall him laying on all that many chances TBH. He has had plenty himself.......... 

I think a large reason why is that even though he's clearly just as ineffective as the rest of them he just does it in an aesthetically pleasing way.

It should be a case of thank you and goodbye once the loan is up.

Edited April 5, 2023 by Bison

[chara]

Sixpeneth.... when Kante was rightly subbed rather than run him completely into the ground first time out I did hope that given the way of the game that instead of bringing on a "replacement" for Kante maybe a different last, what 20 minutes?, might see Mount on and a different tactical game approach.... no such hope of course,,,status quo at 0-0 ?

I am not the acute tactical observer as some are here but I felt Liverpool would struggle if forced to reevaluate whatever the "plan"was,,except of course the free to foul rule..standard Referee nod.

Kepa gets roasted week in week out..sometimes justified and sometimes force of habit but where is the mention of the excellent stop from the only real decent/good effort from Liverpool?

[paulw66]

10 minutes ago, Bison said:

 

I think a large reason why is that even though he's clearly just as ineffective as the rest of them he just does it in an aesthetically pleasing way.

 

That is effectively it in a nutshell. Which is why one keeps reading, "he looks good" or "he looked good"

 

[Bison]

1 hour ago, paulw66 said:

That is effectively it in a nutshell. Which is why one keeps reading, "he looks good" or "he looked good"

That's why somebody like Hazard really was a generational talent. For somebody to look that skilful and mesmerising with the ball and have end product? Players like Felix aren't fit to lace those boots.

[blueandproud]

Another bloody 0-0 against a mediocre Liverpool side.  Enzo, Kante, Fofana, James and Chilwell were good.  Felix The Cat was good in some moments, but seems to flit in and out of games.  Kovacic should be sold in the summer, we need a midfielder  who can score goals (ie a Lampard, Ballack or even a Gavin Peacock).  Havertz?  What does he have to do to be dropped?  He's making Chris Sutton look good, and boy that takes some doing! It's like playing with 10 men even with him on the pitch.   And get rid of Auba as well, we were better off buying an aubergine instead!

[jasonb]

The Toothless and the Clueless was one comment I read.

The thinking was Liverpool are in a worse place as Chelsea have started the rebuild.

Before the match I would have settled for a point, disappointing though as we could have done better.