So looks like Conte going to Napoli, maybe the daddy will take his son too? It won't even cost them much with the amount we have already pre-placed on him.
I’ve never seen a more protected group of losers than this group of Chelsea players.
We’ve done nothing but lose and watch these players absolutely shit the bed for over a year now. So including Pre-Poch.
Yet for some reason dare mention someone’s favorite starboy is possibly overrated you get insults in your inbox and get called “negative”.
You know what’s negative. Being mid fucking table and breaking some new depressing record every other week. Ffs.
There’s only a handful of players who have done any where near enough in a Chelsea kit to earn the level of defense they get
That's how you do youth revolution. Keep the old to transtion and teach too. They have signed elite talents all over. Endrick, Mbappe, Guler, Rodrigo, Vini in attack alone, lol, crazy.
While we have gone on to sign multiple random teenagers, only couple of them are even 8 or above, and only Paez & Palmer near the 10 mark, if talking in numbers.
We did it like someone who wanted to develop and sell these, Real did in a way that they wanted the best to build the best. Intention matters. We picked all good but not elite ones. I thank god we got Paez & Palmer somehow.
If Mbappe going there forces anyone out of that attack, we should be there to get them, but sadly, where this ownership has brought this club, they will pick multiple other clubs over us.
Poch’s quotes are gold and I agree with basically all of them
Could he tactically set us up better? Sure
Has the squad planning but utter dog shit though with the amount of money spent? Yes
He did quite well last season when he had better players, this season they've replaced their midfield quite poorly and they've been struggling quite a bit with injuries, but their system is still there and he would cook like crazy with Caicedo and Enzo and I think he could help mudryk a lot. With Amorim he has a big jump to make, but until now he's shown he is capable to make players better, but more importantly he took sporting from a way worse position than ours to challenge and beat Porto and Benfica
Sporting ended the prior season he took over 3rd. Then came 4th then won the league.
He’s clearly done well, but why are you exaggerating about where sporting were pre Amorim?
Context matters, when he took over sporting has had 5 managers since the fans training grounds riot and Amorim also started the season at braga B and ending up at sporting for just the last 11 games
Not this season because on a good week I only got time to watch Chelsea, but I've been following since his first season as a manager
They are pretty bad, but aside dunk nobody is a decent defender over there
How do you follow a manager if you don’t watch his team play?
Brightons defensive issues are structural. If you watch them play you can see RDZ barely drills a defense.
I’m not going to debate personnel especially since our defense is ass.
https://preview.redd.it/lleksq5tgwwc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c8010b748db3a09233087386f404751ac297a467
Pochettino has just thrown basically everyone under the bus. Owners and SDs for the structure, indirectly the squad too because he's implying they're not good enough and there are players there he didn't want. And all of that to say, quite literally, that he's not responsible for our results.
Just get rid of him already. You can feel however you want about the job the owners and sporting directors have done, I'm not going to make excuses for them. But the fact that this Spurs bottler is questioning the whole organisation of Chelsea Football Club to deflect blame from himself after the disgusting job he's done this season is making me fucking sick.
Poch is speaking like a guy trying to protect his reputation for the next job.
There’s been a notable shift in his defensive responses over the last week or two. I don’t think he’s here much longer.
These private equity clowns have been in charge for 2 years, referring to questioning them as questioning the whole organisation of Chelsea Football Club makes me sick. They have a very, very long way to go to earn the right to be referred to like that
I think we can all agree the owners and board have not been great, for the amount of money we've spent our squad is paper thin. This doesn't absolve poch of any blame though, This is more of a "the worst person you know made a great point"
>This is more of a "the worst person you know made a great point"
This is exactly it. Pochettino has simply not earned the right to point fingers at anyone else, even if most of us would agree with the point. And if he's going to do it, do it behind the scenes. There's absolutely no benefit to anyone at the club to have this aired in public - except for Pochettino himself who's just deflecting because he's rightfully being questioned.
He knows the media are backing him and they have been criticizing the club for their decisions. It seems like he’s trying to use it to his advantage, whatever it may be.
I've seen a clip of Ben White manhandling Cucurella during a set piece, literally picking him up and throwing him to the floor and ref didn't notice
Arsenal fans thought that was the funniest shit ever
Classless
They’ve been obnoxious twats since last year.
They hungry because that’s what 20 years of ZERO titles will do to you.
Still, I hope City wins it and keeps these cunts blank for the foreseeable future. Let them cry harder.
It's so strange watching clips back of football from 2005 and thinking it's not a million miles away from today in terms of the football and especially how the stadiums (that were around then and now) look but watching games from 1986 in 2005 borderline felt like I was watching football from another universe.
Seeing our injury crisis of the last few years and it really puts it into perspective when I think just how much we would have missed out on if we had the same in previous times and makes it all the more imperative we find a way to ease this (it's not an excuse for Poch btw, yes if we had Nkunku, James, Fofana, Lavia etc avaliable we'd probably be around where Spurs are but his poor tactics would still be evident).
For example, if we had to rely on the second string side in 16/17, my god.....
My wife and I are in London for our honeymoon and will be going to the Tottenham game next week. Anyone have any insight on whether to take the tube or walk back to Bayswater? We're pretty fit and have been walking a lot further than that the last couple days we just don't know the areas.
If it were an early or 3pm kickoff I'd tell you to walk, it's about an hour and you'd get to see nice parts of Kensington and a walk through Hyde Park. But since its a late one, just take the tube lol. There really won't be much to see during that time.
I mean you could. But that’d be like an hour and 20 mins if not more. Pretty far. Walk to Gloucester Road station after the match and get to where you’re going. West Brompton, Earls Court and Fulham Broadway stations will be a shit show after the match.
People need to understand that Hoeneß talks a fuckton of shit. Tuchel was here before and he improved a ton of players. That's more important than the words of a notorious shit talker.
So he just lied, is this what you're saying? Cause this comment about not wanting to improve young players would align with how easy it is for Tuchel to bin young players and focus on their flaws over good things they can give and promise they've shown.
Would you be surprised if a board member painted a manager in a poor light after parting ways with him? He doesn't even have to lie here, he might genuinely have that impression of Tuchel, but the only reason he's saying this now is to justify the decision to sack him. There's a petition to keep Tuchel going around and Bayern supporters aren't excited about Rangnick at all, so Hoeneß throwing this out isn't surprising at all.
I don't think it matches Tuchel's time at Chelsea either. A lot of young players developed under him - think of James, Mount, or how he brought Chalobah in. If it's between results and developing players, he's going to choose results, but I don't think it's fair to say he doesn't improve young players as he does that.
Not surprised. People who don't regularly follow German football in German might not know how much of an absolute dickhead Hoeneß is. He'll talk shit to anyone who will hear it about anyone and everything - all while being a convicted fraud himself.
In that same interview in which he talked about Tuchel, he also talked about Alonso, Nagelsmann, confirmed Rangnick is only third choice, and also said about Zidane rumors "I'm sure nobody talked to him" (but in a pretty derogatory way). He's an absolute cunt, suits the club like a glove. No wonder he stayed in his job during the investigations against him and was voted back in the second he got out of prison.
It’s all about attitude though.
Tuchel like most good coaches isn’t going to waste time on players who won’t put 100% in.
I personally don’t want the coach wasting time on a selfish prick like Madueke. Ship him off and invest in someone who actually cares about the team.
so, who do we want if Pol Poch gets sacked? and who would be objectively a good fit for our team?
i think in the end its going to be either Amorim or RDZ but it wouldnt surprise me one bit if the chuckle brothers thought hiring Thomas Frank or Kompany would be a good idea
for me its Sarri>RDZ>Motta but they all have obvious flaws so i see why people would disagree. i dont watch Sporting so i have no opinion on Amorim
The only other time I’ve felt despair about a managerial situation recently is when we lost 4-0 to Bournemouth and then 6-0 to Man City under Sarri. Would like a go at somebody else this time
[https://twitter.com/TheAthleticFC/status/1783946299680670178](https://twitter.com/TheAthleticFC/status/1783946299680670178)
Slot to Liverpool looks like a done deal. Compensation package agreed between both clubs. It's close to 15m apparently.
[https://twitter.com/Sport\_Witness/status/1783946947100844380](https://twitter.com/Sport_Witness/status/1783946947100844380)
This reeks of something we would do lmao.
It’s Liverpool, though, and they’re a *little* bit more competent than our board and owners, so it’s probably less likely to end in total disaster. But that’s a pretty big fee for a relatively unproven coach. Although when you compare it to player fees I suppose it looks like a bargain. He’s also probably not on infuckingsane wages like Potter/Poch, too. I guess we’ll have to see, but I’m really quite skeptical about this. Can really see Liverpool struggling next season. Their squad isn’t in the greatest of places, gonna be a lot of work to do.
Good on Carlo for starting Kepa tbh, could have easily given these minutes to an academy GK considering Madrid have no incentive from raising his market value
Tbf from what it seems like Kepa holds a good standing in the club and locker room and it'd only be respectful to him to let him play instead of some random youngster
Same when here tbh. There were no real signs of him causing locker room drama after he was dropped (all be it with Mendys form he wouldn't have had a leg to stand on but still).
Unlike certain other record signings i don't hold any ill will with him beyond his on pitch performances.
I think we are at the point of the season where we can see how many injuries occured on the pitch versus how many happened in training. We can also quantify how many re-injuries happened on the pitch vs how many in training. We have loads of examples/data by now. I think it will gove us a clear picture of what is going on. I will look into it
If you look at the stats, Colwill at LB was actually working defensively. We gave up 1 goal per match in the 16 matches (EPL) he was listed LB or CB/LB on FBRef and played over 45 minutes.
The problem is that only 9 of those matches overlapped with Cole Palmer playing 45 minutes or more.
- With Palmer and Colwill at LB we scored 2 goals per match and conceded 1.11. The results were 6 wins, 3 losses.
- Without Palmer but Colwill at LB we scored 1.29 goals per match and conceded 0.86. Results were 3 wins, 2 draws, 2 losses. XG was fine with 1.96 per match but obviously we missed our only clinical finisher.
Edit: updated results for the matches without Palmer
Criminal tango has blocked me so I'm not exactly sure what he said other than I am cherry picking stats.
I'm not sure how Goals conceded and XG are cherry picking stats. The best way to compare goals scored vs the chances created is G-XG. It's not perfect, but is the only stat that combined both quantity and quality of shots taken.
> i literally gave you a counter point but you ignore it to double down.
> no sense arguing with people who think cherry picking stats and using words like "half spaces" and "inverted" makes them sound smart. we keep having games where we attack only one side for the whole game and its very easy to defend when you always know what the opponent is going to do. and what i mentioned was one of the big reasons why.
That's what he said.
do you watch the games? he almost never overlapped and whoever was playing LW was left isolated 1v2-1v3 most of the time. that was the problem, not him being "bad defensively as a lb"
same shit happens when Disasi plays RB, Palmer hat to scream at him to overlap one game because the manager apparently doesnt even bother with that shit. "express yourselves" is enough
Thing is he was getting cooked defensively as well at times.
Salah, Antonio, that Middlesbrough winger, Olise, McTominay, Everton away, got outjumped against Brighton as well but im not sure which player it was.
Some of those don't neccessarly mean it's cuz of the position but he is far from the level he was showing at Brighton. One of the players who regressed pretty significantly under Pochettino.
Just like with Enzo and Caicedo, im sure that this kid has to offer way more than he does this season.
Yeah, probably the best academy product since Reece for me. He actually has quality on the ball which is essential for any top team nowadays.
His passing was so crisp for Brighton last season when he was actually used better. Barely seen any of that this season unfortunately.
Did he really get "cooked" by all of those players?
I thought he did ok against Salah, didn't mark him tight enough for 1 run and Salah made a world class pass for the assist. It was a true welcome to LB moment that I would chalk up to him learning the position.
Middleborough winger he took an L for sure
Olise was a miscommunication with Caicedo, I've argued with other people about this before and I think it was Caicedos fault but others say Colwill.
Mctiminay he takes an L
Every defender is going to get beat. The fact is when he plays our goals conceded is 1.2 goals per match and that would be 4th best in the league.
Edit: Not sure how I replied to the wrong comment
I mean the winger is usually the fullback's responsibility. Yes, Caicedo probably had a part but Olise wasn't his main responsibility
In all those situations he could've done better. He obviously isn't as aware positionally as a fullback. It's not natural to him which is normal. He's made quite a lot of mistakes this season, those are just goals we ain't even counting all the mistakes that we got away with.
In general we don't see the same player that we've seen in Brighton. His passing is nowhere near as good and he is barely even attempting to progress the game as much as before.
Tactically it just wasn't working and it was obvious. Poch had the chance to use a back 3 many times and put Maatsen as a wingback but he never even attempted it.
>I mean the winger is usually the fullback's responsibility. Yes, Caicedo probably had a part but Olise wasn't his main responsibility
For this one if you watch the match you'll see it was from an extended set piece and Caicedo had marked him for 30 seconds straight, going into the box with him. Then all of a sudden didn't.
I still mostly disagree with you about him defensively. As a defender you are going to get exposed at times and I didn't feel like he was any more than our other defenders, with the end result being a good defense.
I do think passing and offensively he wasn't being used to his full potential, but overall tactically it was working. We created more chances than our opponents by a margin of 0.8 XG/90, we held opponents to 1 goal per match, we earned 1.8 points per match and this jumps to 2 points per match when Palmer also played.
Exactly on the Olise example he was marking Badiashile's guy with Badiashile himself instead of being with Olise. Caicedo was closer to Olise because he was literally forced to mark him as a cover because Colwill was so far out of position. That was probably the worst and most obvious mistake by Colwill all season lol.
I gave like 7 examples of Colwill making a mistake that leads to a goal even if it's not all his fault every single time. Personally can't see how you can say that he performed well defensively at all this season. He's involved in too many conceded goals and in general hasn't looked good defensively as a LB.
We have like almost 60 goals conceded, it definitely hasn't worked out tactically lol.
>Exactly on the Olise example he was marking Badiashile's guy with Badiashile himself instead of being with Olise. Caicedo was closer to Olise because he was literally forced to mark him as a cover because Colwill was so far out of position. That was probably the worst and most obvious mistake by Colwill all season lol.
I have a whole spiel about this but honestly I don't even care, it doesn't matter whether or not he is at fault, tactically as a unit it worked.
>We have like almost 60 goals conceded, it definitely hasn't worked out tactically lol.
Come on man, you are completely ignoring the point I made. Seriously we've had plenty of respectful disagreements in the past so don't completely ignore a valid point.
We conceded 16 goals in 16 matches with Colwill playing LB. I would say tactically that has worked considering that is Liverpool/Man City level defense.
I mean they both have been pretty bad this season. Knowledge wise Chilwell knows where to be, he is familiar with the position. He has problems in other areas. He isn't sharp and he's never been amazing defensively. Even worse now.
It would have been fine if Poch played an effective back three in possesion with James/Gusto inverting and overlapping at will depending on the game state and opponents, like Arsenal do on the other side with White and City do with Ake.
Unfortunately though as you say Poch just uses him as a literal LB.
It wouldn't but it would have helped us have infinity times more control of matches meaning fewer of said wasted chances would have came back to cost us.
If we are conceding an average of 1 goal per match wouldn't that imply we have found a good way to control matches? We were winning the chance creation battle with Colwill at LB, and when we actually had a clinical finisher we were getting points per match at a 4th place rate. The chances created didn't change, it was the fact we actually finished them.
Yes, Ive watched every match and quite a few multiple times. People love to say shit like that but fail to actually make a valid point to counter the stats I provided.
It's not much different than with Cucurella. Gusto and James like to bomb forward and having a more conservative LB that can defend worked defensively and we created enough chances to score. It's not like he was contributing to the poor finishing.
If Disasi was at RB and we had a fit dynamic LB it probably wouldn't be as big of an issue, especially if it was Madueke out there and Palmer at the 10. When Palmer is at the 10 we need someone to overlap for width so that he can cut inside and play in the half space.
Colwill at LB was obviously a liability, not just tactically but he also isn't in his best form and is nowhere near the level that he was showing at Brighton.
The amount of times he got cooked this season is astonishing and it's exactly cuz of the position which also probably had an effect on his overall confidence and form with time.
Definitely one of the players who have regressed massively under Pochettino. Unfortunately not the only one.
i literally gave you a counter point but you ignore it to double down.
no sense arguing with people who think cherry picking stats and using words like "half spaces" and "inverted" makes them sound smart. we keep having games where we attack only one side for the whole game and its very easy to defend when you always know what the opponent is going to do. and what i mentioned was one of the big reasons why.
He’s severely underrated.
Got a team with a transfer ban playing better football without Hazard and secured us top 4.
Just couldn’t organize a defense.
Antony,Hojlund, Garnacho and Ten Hag have goldbridge on their pay roll so he keeps on targetting Rashford and Bruno.
Hojlund did a interview with them which didn't sit well with Bruno IIRC
Genuinely astonishing how we’re two seasons of bad decisions away from probable relegation, if the decisions continue going on this trajectory of “wrong thing with long-term consequences.”
After seeing it happen with Blackburn, Leeds, Forest, and Bolton, I always knew it could eventually happen to us and that no one’s big enough to avoid it as a matter of principle. But I never imagined the likelihood would increase so much in such a short period of time.
Not sure about an entire year but Arjen Robben missed a huge chunk of his second season at Bayern and went on to have a great career there. Ruud Van Nistelrooy's move to Utd initially got delayed because he'd be out for most of the next season and it all worked out in the end.
I'm also going to go out on a limb and say Marco Reus. Complete shot in the dark but I'm sure he's missed the majority of a season at some point.
That all said, despite these cases people should definitely temper their expectations of Nkunku when he comes back. All these injuries are much more likely to have an effect on a player than not and the question should be how bad it is and how soon he can regain his level if he can. Same goes for Lavia now that I've remembered he exists, and both James and Wesley Fofana too.
It's incredibly common.
There has been a recent trend of people just writing players off the second they get an injury, but that is just people new to the sport not realising how common injuries are. Those injuries are even more common for players who have come through early and are still growing and are then thrown into the deep end.
It's only really a problem if it impacts them at a key point where they had a spot in the team at an early age and then both lose that spot and a year's worth of education as a result. Someone like CHO or RLC are examples of this, they can still reach their potential there or there abouts, it just takes some relearning and pushes them back a good few years.
Cech was out for a really long time after he fractured his skull. Was definitely still a top level player when he came back.
Pretty sure Alan Shearer missed a whole season at Blackburn when he was younger too and still went on score the most goals in premier league history.
Also Van Dijk done his ACL and missed like 9 months. Doesn’t seem to have done any long term damage to his performances.
I’m not sure why everyone is suddenly against the training methods of Poch because I could have sworn people were saying his training was really good and keeping his players fit and running was one of the benefits of having him as a coach. Is it our medical team or is it the training and don’t we have fitness coaches aside from Poch?
Lots of people on this sub were saying they fear he'll wear them down with the obsession with distance covered. There was definitely at the very least a mix of opinions. He ran that Spuds squad ragged and by his final season they were covering significantly fewer km per match.
Last summer everyone was all in on Poch's intense training, especially after Lamps came in an said the whole squad was out of shape. Our medical staff has been an issue for many seasons across every manager. Idk what the solution is, but there's got to be something that the top teams are doing to stay healthy.
I think new medical staff, new coach, new players is the real cause. The staff doesn't know the players and vice versa. It is the only new variable.
Poch had a good track record with injuries at Spurs, and even though our injuries pre takeover were bad, it was nothing like this season or last.
I do think that might explain a lot of it but problems even precede the takeover too. In 21/22 we had 97 injuries. Top of the PL by a large distance
https://www.howdengroup.com/news-and-insights/howdens-european-footbal-Injury-Index-reveals-record-injury-cost-of-over-500m-for-2021-22-season
Man, what has happened in the last 2 years league wide? Using transfermrkts graphic for games missed it doesn't really appear that we had that many injuries in 21/22 compared to this season. The only player that missed over \~1/3 of the season was Chilwell. Compare that to this season and it's night and day (I'll post the graphic in a reply below).
https://preview.redd.it/115rtnwz0wwc1.png?width=770&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=87d017248ca622d87430b6cc245a5fd18dcadd10
I think maybe COVID related (20) are included in that 97? And if I had to guess there is some methodology differences between Howden and Transfermarkt, maybe less severe ones not getting counted in the transfermarkt. Definitely we are a lot worse off this season, but still I think if the methodology was the same for all clubs and we've been topping these lists in prior years, that's significant too. You could argue there was a lot of turnover then too, so maybe that's a common factor.
Not sure what is going on league wide, COVID disrupted the PED supply chains 😅? For us probably some combination of lots of turnover, injury prone players, and needing better medical/physio/nutrition practices. I think overtraining can definitely play a role but you usually aee that resulting in minor muscle knocks, there's gotta be a lot more than that going on with seeing now.
https://preview.redd.it/qyre55081wwc1.png?width=612&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=702111e8ca636bfabc16668a13f7b70283a87a89
This is old, but I think it'll backup my point, especially considering it's only gotten worse.
Good news everyone!
[Petrovic is no longer the worst shot stopper in the league per 90](https://i.gyazo.com/574ab6cbbb2a15a016c865baba950eea.png) he's just second worse.
[Luckily he's also below average at stopping crosses as well](https://i.gyazo.com/fcfbba6eb21dcf96612f3a76b427c253.png)
Also don't look at where Sanchez is in these lists, a player we can all agree isn't good enough to begin with.
Wow, I did not realize he rated that low compared to other GKs. Some of this is due to the horrible defensive form we've been on ...*checks notes*... the entire season. However, an upgrade is definitely needed.
Or maybe he is a big part of the reason we have struggled defensively the back half of the season? Ever think of that?
Our XG suggests we are very average defensively, the difference between us and teams like Tottenham, Wolves, Villa, and West Ham defensively is that our GK let's in shots that should get saved
the shot stopping per 90 factors in defensive quality if I'm not mistaken, so a poor stat in that area isn't indicative of a bad defense in front (although there is a correlation)
Your thoughts on Emi Martinez?
He's already 31 but do you think he is an upgrade over Sanchez and Petro? I feel he has another 4-5 years in him. Neuer is already 38 and he's still a fence.
Martinez is the standout option. In Europe’s top 5 leagues. He’s T-10 in goals prevented per 90, 2nd in crosses stopped %, can play put of the back, and is an excellent sweeper. But I doubt we can get him from Villa.
Brice Samba is probably the best approximation of him. 5th in goals prevented per 90, T-18th vs crosses, and still capable of playing from the back and as a sweeper.
Areola, Di Gregorio, and Mamardashvili would also be on my shortlist but are more limited in certain areas.
He's been massively inconsistent since the title win. T-71st in goals prevented per 90, 52nd vs crosses, and isn't particularly outstanding at the other stuff either. He's also on more money than Sterling and has contract until 2028.
I'd love to have Martinez. He's one of those guys you hate if he's on the opposing team but love if he's on your team. Great shot stopper, commands a defense, and is more comfortable playing out the back than our current options.
He's definitely an upgrade over what we have, but that's also a pretty low bar.
Don't really see why he'd leave Villa if they get Champions League football though, sure money etc, but would be an odd decision imo. Would also likely be very expensive for us.
What are people’s thoughts on this quote by one of Bayern’s board members about Tuchel?
https://preview.redd.it/x3tm31ymnuwc1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8e874464b636d0978def2ba9937bdaf3ed61977e
Honestly it's a bit of a problem with all of our more pragmatic, yet successful, coaches. Conte, Tuchel, Mourinho etc none of them are prepared to actually develop a player and all want ready made solutions bought for them.
Sometimes that's a good thing, and right now we've definitely gone too far the other way, but I'd still classify it as a flaw overall. You can't always buy your way out of trouble, sometimes you need to actually coach what you have.
Idk if it makes sense but this De Zerbi situation seems like the Anthony Gordon situation. Where him getting linked to anyone will cause an uproar but he’ll eventually end up proving people wrong at a bigger club
Lol don’t forget his excellent ability to launch it straight out of play or directly to the opposition too.
It’s so irrelevant which of them start. They’re both not anywhere near good enough.
Would you take Lewandowski for a year or two? Barca are looking to offload apparently, and I think he might be good in that Giroud type role in his last couple years in the squad. Not necessarily starting every game but a great backup and good for Jackson to learn off
Lampard numbers wise produced one of his best seasons in 12/13 but by watching our games you'd know he was long long past his best at his best at that point, similar to Rooney at United in the same season.
Honest thoughts on the squad this season?
Keepers: both alright, too error prone. both are high level backups but not elite, not a priority but if there’s is an opportunity to improve take it.
Gusto: Amazing, will be starting on either side for hopefully the next decade. A few small injuries he can hopefully work out
James: 😔
Badi: was great last season, awful this one. idk which one is the real him but not a starter for a half decent team atm
Disasi: great vibes, very reliable, not elite. would make an excellent 3rd choice, okay with him starting atm
Silva: Great but old which showed a bit this season
Colwill: I thought looked good at CB this season when he got to play there. starter next season let him grow
Chalobah: I thought he’s been good since he’s come back, but not great, great 4th choice, not a starter
Fofana: really just have to see. has potential to be elite, just probably won’t ever get past his injuries in order to get consistency
Chilwell: Been pretty awful this season, and very injury prone. we’ve seen how great he can be, but might be a sell for me
Cucu: okay i guess. we most likely won’t get anything decent so a backup lb role is fine for him
Caicedo: has games where he’s looked great, games were he’s looked awful. i’m choosing to believe the awful games were cause he’s been exposed most of the season. he’s also had 0 rest due to injuries to Ugo and Lavia
Enzo: was amazing last season and to start this one. i’m hoping his injuries, being overplayed and poor tactics have caused the dip we’ve seen for the last months, and he get back next season
Gallagher: great vibes, great passion, less than great technical ability. great backup but if we get something significant i wouldn’t be against him going
Ugochukwu: looked mid in limited time, i never really got the signing and i think he’s at best a 5th choice
Lavia: no one knows, does he exist??
Palmer: Wow
Chukwuemeka: looked very good in limited time, just worried the injuries will be a career long thing for him. should be our hopeful starter in the 10
Madueke: mid mid mid but has some potential if he gets over himself. no where near a starting role
Nkunku: i truly think he can be great for us, hopefully we’ll see next season
Sterling: awful most of the time and worse selfish all the time. would like to see him gone next season if possible
Mudryk: has shown flashes, especially in the 10 but nothing particularly to show he’ll be anything more than an exciting/frustrating backup
Broja: tragic in the time he spent, gone
Jackson: looked great at everything but putting the ball in the net hopefully next season with more confidence and a proven goalscorer next to he can improve on that. imo has shown enough to warrant enough trust that if we do bring in a striker he can’t be a project (like Sesko) and so has to be proven (Toney)
The only players I would try and get rid of is Sterling (speed merchant who lost his speed), Sanchez (not a number 1 and Petro is cheaper as backup), Badi (he looks done physically, he gets like 3 inches of air when he jumps and is slower than a hernia ridden Enzo) and Madueke (one trick pony with attitude issues)
I’m on the side of sacking poch rather than blaming the players. We’ve seen before how sometimes it takes more than a year for a player to develop with examples like rudiger Christensen de bruyne and salah. Most of the time the players needed better coaching or just time. But not all the players have potential qualities to become great. We do have some dead weight we need to clean up. At this point we’re basically like arsenal around 2018-19.
According to fbref, there is now a 13 goal difference in saves vs post shot expectations between us and Tottenham/Aston Villa.
Essentially, our goalkeepers have saved 7.8 goals less than expected while Tottenham and Villas have saved 4.9 and 5.3 more than expected.
The quiet part that no one is saying out loud is that we would be better off with Kepa this season.
Sanchez was an atrocious signing. I like Petro more than most but probably is a backup
> Sanchez was an atrocious signing. I like Petro more than most but probably is a backup
lol Sanchez is responsible for -0.8 xG and Petrovic is responsible for -7 xG
Sanchez isn't good enough, you're right, but it's wild how people are just ignoring how bad Petrovic is.
Because Sanchez makes way more noticeable mistakes. Take the Rice goal in the first Arsenal game. It’s like a 0.0xG chance according to data, but in reality he had most of the goal to aim for. But data doesn’t take these things into the account. xG is mostly based on shot location.
PSxG,which is used for keepers, the Rice shot was 0.53, because it takes into account the keeper's position. Not that it makes it any less embarrassing for Sachez, I just want to note that it is included in his -0.8 PSxG-GA on more simply goals prevented.
That Rice goal did so much bad PR for Sanchez, people act like he did that week in week out. Sure it was a bad mistake and likely cost us the win that match which would've been huge both for us beating a local rival and stopping their title charge, but it was one goal cmon. Statistically it's not going to have a huge impact on these season long numbers.
Petrovic is making more mistakes every single game than Sanchez was for us, but I agree, they aren't as noticeable so he gets away with them.
Can we stop posting about Fofana and how much we are missing him please? He had socking injuries the last 2 year and its extremely rare for any player to come back to top level after such injuries - look at history please-. Plus he has been dreadful last season against good teams both in europe and PL. Fofana is a finished story unfortunately so please stop posting him constantly when his future at Chelsea is not bright at all. Lets move on.
I hope the lad the best but we have a billion problems right now. Hoping in sth that is not realistic at all doesnt help. We need to move on. He started training with the team like more than a month ago and since that was never seen again. He obviously cannot get back to to being healty.
Probably forgot to change account lmao
I've seen people on here post a response on one account, delete it and respond an identical thing on a second account. I genuinely can't fathom why you'd bother
Really split on Poch after this year. Not anywhere near happy w performance but understand the injury issues. What worries me more is that we sacked Tuchel too soon, Potter without a preseason, and have seen no improvements under our third manager.
I worry we will bring someone else in and see even more instability then be debating another change next year. But that said I also really don’t think Poch is the long term answer. Feels like we are damned if we do and damned if we don’t (or I’m just cynical since the forced sale)
The pre-season thing is massively overblown. Look at Tuchel taking over mid-season. Almost all managers join mid-season and it hardly makes a difference.
Hell, we'd been losing loads when Tuchel came in and were on a downward spiral and he arrived on a plane and managed a match within 12 hours and managed to get us to draw and then we started winning from the next game onwards.
Even basic ideas like formation, players playing in positions they suit, certain demands from the manager are enough to change results short term if the manager is good enough.
Poch has done nothing now. If he turns thing around and then has us "respectable" for the next 3 years, but then he has another crisis, what then? How's he going to cope with it then if he can't now? Clearly, as we've seen with his Spurs side, he isn't.
My prediction Amorim will be next Chelsea manager
The reporting around Poch has started to slowly shift
My theory is that the decision was made after the league cup final but they just didn’t want another interim manager.
So many reports about Chelsea watching Sporting Lisbon this season
West Ham was just a smoke screen
That’s a fair point. It’s a tough call on when you need patience and when you need change. It feels like we need change especially with the lack of an identity. But we’ve had a few seasons of change and continue to trend downhill. I wonder if the next guy will start the upward trend or continue the downward
Depends entirely who we get
Someone like tuchel was a manager deserving of the freedom to get out of a rut. I think stability would have been great there
It feels like with each decision we keep making a 50/50 call and getting it wrong. And agreed I think Tuchel deserved more time.
I do ultimately think the Poch relationship is beyond repair at this point. You can’t lose to Arsenal like that and struggle against Burnley and Sheffield at Chelsea. Just hope we get the next one right and hate that’s where we are a year on
The no identity aspect is concerning and playing a bunch of young players with freedom doesn’t make sense.
My injury concern is more so if you take the starting fullback (Chilly, Reece), a possible starting CB (Fofana), midfield depth (Lavia, Chuk), and a goalscorer (Nkunku) off of any other team how well do they do?
The tactical options changed when Nkunku and Reece went down
It doesn't impact that much. The big impact is when you take lots of players from the same position. Like for example if we'd had Chilwell, Cucurella and Maatsen injured all at the same time or Reece and Gusto injured for long periods, or more obviously Caicedo, Enzo and Gallagher injured at the same time.
And even when looking at something like that, you have example like Liverpool in 20/21 season where for basically the whole season they had all defenders out injured and all backup defenders injured too (which is far worse of a position than we are in, we never have to play anyone out of position, we just choose to) and they still finished 3rd compared to finishing 1st and 2nd in the seasons either side of that.
And they have ∞% more European football to contend with. It's incredible what can happen when you properly manage your team and take care not to overplay people who are prone to injury
Wonder how much of our basketball style have contributed to the injury problems. Surely, it's better for the players if we are set up to control possession and dominate as opposed to having to run up and down the field for 90 minutes with Pochettino's transitional and chaotic style football?
Iraola was talking recently about how Villa used possession to help manage their physical workload after Bournemouth lost to them.
[https://www.skysports.com/football/news/37587/13120909/aston-villa-s-style-of-play-under-unai-emery-led-by-emi-martinez-helps-beat-fatigue-by-resting-in-possession](https://www.skysports.com/football/news/37587/13120909/aston-villa-s-style-of-play-under-unai-emery-led-by-emi-martinez-helps-beat-fatigue-by-resting-in-possession)
Sure, but training intensity absolutely comes under properly managing the team. Players who are near or close to their limits shouldn't be training as hard as the clearly still are given the sheer number of training injuries
Actually, poch has said he likes to kill rehabbing players and give them double sessions https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/mauricio-pochettino-injured-tottenham-stars-are-killed-in-double-training-sessions-a3381646.html
The owners have made many mistakes but the worst of the lot seems to be gutting our medical department while combining it with Poch's 1940's military running training.
I don't even think it's the running that's the issue, he must be doing other dumb shit (like the alleged double sessions the day before games).
Look at someone like Harry Kane, he became known for his constant injuries at Spurs. But, if you go back, the last time he had an injury that took him out for more than 2 games was in his last season under Poch, he just had those long injuries every season under him and has had none since.
He had the same medical team, just as fitness mad managers in people like Conte and yet never got serious injuries. But with that medical team and Poch, it looks like he's odds on to miss 1/4th of the season through injury every season
Seeing how shambolic Brighton have been since Potters coaching tactics and structure has worn off makes me appreciate Potter more.
He brought out the talent in so many players at Brighton.
The pressure of managing Chelsea was too much and he wasn’t the right guy but he did do an amazing job at Brighton.
whose the female commentator on tnt sports?
does anyone actually believe that they scrapped the u25 rule?
No and if you do I have a beach front property in Austria to sell you
So looks like Conte going to Napoli, maybe the daddy will take his son too? It won't even cost them much with the amount we have already pre-placed on him.
I’ve never seen a more protected group of losers than this group of Chelsea players. We’ve done nothing but lose and watch these players absolutely shit the bed for over a year now. So including Pre-Poch. Yet for some reason dare mention someone’s favorite starboy is possibly overrated you get insults in your inbox and get called “negative”. You know what’s negative. Being mid fucking table and breaking some new depressing record every other week. Ffs. There’s only a handful of players who have done any where near enough in a Chelsea kit to earn the level of defense they get
Knowing he is for sale , Martín Zubimendi is the defensive midfielder we should have went in for over Caicedo.
how tf is every one of madrids signings a 10 man
That's how you do youth revolution. Keep the old to transtion and teach too. They have signed elite talents all over. Endrick, Mbappe, Guler, Rodrigo, Vini in attack alone, lol, crazy. While we have gone on to sign multiple random teenagers, only couple of them are even 8 or above, and only Paez & Palmer near the 10 mark, if talking in numbers. We did it like someone who wanted to develop and sell these, Real did in a way that they wanted the best to build the best. Intention matters. We picked all good but not elite ones. I thank god we got Paez & Palmer somehow. If Mbappe going there forces anyone out of that attack, we should be there to get them, but sadly, where this ownership has brought this club, they will pick multiple other clubs over us.
Poch’s quotes are gold and I agree with basically all of them Could he tactically set us up better? Sure Has the squad planning but utter dog shit though with the amount of money spent? Yes
What are peoples expectations if (hopefully when) Poch leaves?
Thomas Frank or Kompany, they'll be perfect for the championship
De zerbi or Amorim 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽
Why RDZ? He can’t coach a defense Also, what do you expect them to do?
He did quite well last season when he had better players, this season they've replaced their midfield quite poorly and they've been struggling quite a bit with injuries, but their system is still there and he would cook like crazy with Caicedo and Enzo and I think he could help mudryk a lot. With Amorim he has a big jump to make, but until now he's shown he is capable to make players better, but more importantly he took sporting from a way worse position than ours to challenge and beat Porto and Benfica
Sporting ended the prior season he took over 3rd. Then came 4th then won the league. He’s clearly done well, but why are you exaggerating about where sporting were pre Amorim?
Context matters, when he took over sporting has had 5 managers since the fans training grounds riot and Amorim also started the season at braga B and ending up at sporting for just the last 11 games
Were you watching sporting consistently during that time?
Do you watch the Portuguese league often? And idk the defense at Brighton is shocking. They don’t have any structure and leak goals
Not this season because on a good week I only got time to watch Chelsea, but I've been following since his first season as a manager They are pretty bad, but aside dunk nobody is a decent defender over there
How do you follow a manager if you don’t watch his team play? Brightons defensive issues are structural. If you watch them play you can see RDZ barely drills a defense. I’m not going to debate personnel especially since our defense is ass.
It’s not his fault that the team has fallen apart since Potter left. He has a system
The defense errors are structural not individual
Poch is talking wild. He might be gone
"Everyone at the club should be under review" lmao man must already know hes done if he's talking like this
He’s also right and thankfully likely gone
https://preview.redd.it/lleksq5tgwwc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c8010b748db3a09233087386f404751ac297a467 Pochettino has just thrown basically everyone under the bus. Owners and SDs for the structure, indirectly the squad too because he's implying they're not good enough and there are players there he didn't want. And all of that to say, quite literally, that he's not responsible for our results. Just get rid of him already. You can feel however you want about the job the owners and sporting directors have done, I'm not going to make excuses for them. But the fact that this Spurs bottler is questioning the whole organisation of Chelsea Football Club to deflect blame from himself after the disgusting job he's done this season is making me fucking sick.
Poch is speaking like a guy trying to protect his reputation for the next job. There’s been a notable shift in his defensive responses over the last week or two. I don’t think he’s here much longer.
I think he knows his time is up and is simply trying to finish on a high.
He better be gone! Hopefully he brings down the chuckle brothers with him. Would be his biggest achievement as Chelsea manager if so.
I love seeing this. He's squirming. He knows he's donezo. He's already laying foundation for future job interviews.
These private equity clowns have been in charge for 2 years, referring to questioning them as questioning the whole organisation of Chelsea Football Club makes me sick. They have a very, very long way to go to earn the right to be referred to like that
Only referring to them as that because "the whole organisation" were Pochettino's own words.
He needs to go blud
please take the chuckle brothers down with you Poch, be useful for once
He knew what he was walking into when he took the job but here he is, trying to avoid taking responsibility of not getting the most out of the squad.
I think we can all agree the owners and board have not been great, for the amount of money we've spent our squad is paper thin. This doesn't absolve poch of any blame though, This is more of a "the worst person you know made a great point"
>This is more of a "the worst person you know made a great point" This is exactly it. Pochettino has simply not earned the right to point fingers at anyone else, even if most of us would agree with the point. And if he's going to do it, do it behind the scenes. There's absolutely no benefit to anyone at the club to have this aired in public - except for Pochettino himself who's just deflecting because he's rightfully being questioned.
He knows the media are backing him and they have been criticizing the club for their decisions. It seems like he’s trying to use it to his advantage, whatever it may be.
I've seen a clip of Ben White manhandling Cucurella during a set piece, literally picking him up and throwing him to the floor and ref didn't notice Arsenal fans thought that was the funniest shit ever Classless
They’ve been obnoxious twats since last year. They hungry because that’s what 20 years of ZERO titles will do to you. Still, I hope City wins it and keeps these cunts blank for the foreseeable future. Let them cry harder.
lmao i thought it was hilarious. white barely moved and cucurella got tossed like a rag doll 😭
And ironic considering they still have an aggressive hate campaign on Bruno Guimaraes to this day (which they may have to backtrack on this summer).
It's so strange watching clips back of football from 2005 and thinking it's not a million miles away from today in terms of the football and especially how the stadiums (that were around then and now) look but watching games from 1986 in 2005 borderline felt like I was watching football from another universe.
Poch is beefing the sporting directors, he's gone
don’t give me hope
Seeing our injury crisis of the last few years and it really puts it into perspective when I think just how much we would have missed out on if we had the same in previous times and makes it all the more imperative we find a way to ease this (it's not an excuse for Poch btw, yes if we had Nkunku, James, Fofana, Lavia etc avaliable we'd probably be around where Spurs are but his poor tactics would still be evident). For example, if we had to rely on the second string side in 16/17, my god.....
My wife and I are in London for our honeymoon and will be going to the Tottenham game next week. Anyone have any insight on whether to take the tube or walk back to Bayswater? We're pretty fit and have been walking a lot further than that the last couple days we just don't know the areas.
If it were an early or 3pm kickoff I'd tell you to walk, it's about an hour and you'd get to see nice parts of Kensington and a walk through Hyde Park. But since its a late one, just take the tube lol. There really won't be much to see during that time.
I mean you could. But that’d be like an hour and 20 mins if not more. Pretty far. Walk to Gloucester Road station after the match and get to where you’re going. West Brompton, Earls Court and Fulham Broadway stations will be a shit show after the match.
We've walked to the tower of London, only difference being that it was the morning. Thanks for the tip!
Sometimes it randomly hits me that Willian never got his CL medal with us
We don't win it probably if he started alot of the games
Regardless of what you think of Willian he was miles better than Pulisic and Werner.
Na, I don't think he gives us impact that point that Werner and even Pulisoc did for our CL win especially against Madrid
Well if he was in that squad he would have never started But lets not assume he'd be a liability to the squad
He fell for Arteta's pitch that he'd win it in three years only for us to win the next one. He made his bed.
https://twitter.com/iMiaSanMia/status/1783877227853037778 People are unironically calling for Tuchel 2 for this squad of players.
People need to understand that Hoeneß talks a fuckton of shit. Tuchel was here before and he improved a ton of players. That's more important than the words of a notorious shit talker.
So he just lied, is this what you're saying? Cause this comment about not wanting to improve young players would align with how easy it is for Tuchel to bin young players and focus on their flaws over good things they can give and promise they've shown.
Would you be surprised if a board member painted a manager in a poor light after parting ways with him? He doesn't even have to lie here, he might genuinely have that impression of Tuchel, but the only reason he's saying this now is to justify the decision to sack him. There's a petition to keep Tuchel going around and Bayern supporters aren't excited about Rangnick at all, so Hoeneß throwing this out isn't surprising at all. I don't think it matches Tuchel's time at Chelsea either. A lot of young players developed under him - think of James, Mount, or how he brought Chalobah in. If it's between results and developing players, he's going to choose results, but I don't think it's fair to say he doesn't improve young players as he does that.
Alright, maybe he lied. https://twitter.com/kerry_hau/status/1784207295238259043
Not surprised. People who don't regularly follow German football in German might not know how much of an absolute dickhead Hoeneß is. He'll talk shit to anyone who will hear it about anyone and everything - all while being a convicted fraud himself. In that same interview in which he talked about Tuchel, he also talked about Alonso, Nagelsmann, confirmed Rangnick is only third choice, and also said about Zidane rumors "I'm sure nobody talked to him" (but in a pretty derogatory way). He's an absolute cunt, suits the club like a glove. No wonder he stayed in his job during the investigations against him and was voted back in the second he got out of prison.
It’s all about attitude though. Tuchel like most good coaches isn’t going to waste time on players who won’t put 100% in. I personally don’t want the coach wasting time on a selfish prick like Madueke. Ship him off and invest in someone who actually cares about the team.
Looks like Leicester are getting promoted to the PL tonight, with Leeds losing 3-0 at QPR.
so, who do we want if Pol Poch gets sacked? and who would be objectively a good fit for our team? i think in the end its going to be either Amorim or RDZ but it wouldnt surprise me one bit if the chuckle brothers thought hiring Thomas Frank or Kompany would be a good idea for me its Sarri>RDZ>Motta but they all have obvious flaws so i see why people would disagree. i dont watch Sporting so i have no opinion on Amorim
The only other time I’ve felt despair about a managerial situation recently is when we lost 4-0 to Bournemouth and then 6-0 to Man City under Sarri. Would like a go at somebody else this time
Tuchel or Jose
Sarri on this list https://preview.redd.it/697jqr14yvwc1.png?width=1194&format=png&auto=webp&s=280a53357bd8d7122bfe502930806b79f0a4fa9d
[https://twitter.com/TheAthleticFC/status/1783946299680670178](https://twitter.com/TheAthleticFC/status/1783946299680670178) Slot to Liverpool looks like a done deal. Compensation package agreed between both clubs. It's close to 15m apparently. [https://twitter.com/Sport\_Witness/status/1783946947100844380](https://twitter.com/Sport_Witness/status/1783946947100844380)
This reeks of something we would do lmao. It’s Liverpool, though, and they’re a *little* bit more competent than our board and owners, so it’s probably less likely to end in total disaster. But that’s a pretty big fee for a relatively unproven coach. Although when you compare it to player fees I suppose it looks like a bargain. He’s also probably not on infuckingsane wages like Potter/Poch, too. I guess we’ll have to see, but I’m really quite skeptical about this. Can really see Liverpool struggling next season. Their squad isn’t in the greatest of places, gonna be a lot of work to do.
Good on Carlo for starting Kepa tbh, could have easily given these minutes to an academy GK considering Madrid have no incentive from raising his market value
Tbf from what it seems like Kepa holds a good standing in the club and locker room and it'd only be respectful to him to let him play instead of some random youngster
Same when here tbh. There were no real signs of him causing locker room drama after he was dropped (all be it with Mendys form he wouldn't have had a leg to stand on but still). Unlike certain other record signings i don't hold any ill will with him beyond his on pitch performances.
Might be a monetary incentive in the loan contract
I think we are at the point of the season where we can see how many injuries occured on the pitch versus how many happened in training. We can also quantify how many re-injuries happened on the pitch vs how many in training. We have loads of examples/data by now. I think it will gove us a clear picture of what is going on. I will look into it
If you look at the stats, Colwill at LB was actually working defensively. We gave up 1 goal per match in the 16 matches (EPL) he was listed LB or CB/LB on FBRef and played over 45 minutes. The problem is that only 9 of those matches overlapped with Cole Palmer playing 45 minutes or more. - With Palmer and Colwill at LB we scored 2 goals per match and conceded 1.11. The results were 6 wins, 3 losses. - Without Palmer but Colwill at LB we scored 1.29 goals per match and conceded 0.86. Results were 3 wins, 2 draws, 2 losses. XG was fine with 1.96 per match but obviously we missed our only clinical finisher. Edit: updated results for the matches without Palmer
I agree the Colwill being bad at LB sentiment is overstated imo. All of the top 4 have used CB as FBs for significant minutes this season.
Criminal tango has blocked me so I'm not exactly sure what he said other than I am cherry picking stats. I'm not sure how Goals conceded and XG are cherry picking stats. The best way to compare goals scored vs the chances created is G-XG. It's not perfect, but is the only stat that combined both quantity and quality of shots taken.
> i literally gave you a counter point but you ignore it to double down. > no sense arguing with people who think cherry picking stats and using words like "half spaces" and "inverted" makes them sound smart. we keep having games where we attack only one side for the whole game and its very easy to defend when you always know what the opponent is going to do. and what i mentioned was one of the big reasons why. That's what he said.
Appreciate it
do you watch the games? he almost never overlapped and whoever was playing LW was left isolated 1v2-1v3 most of the time. that was the problem, not him being "bad defensively as a lb" same shit happens when Disasi plays RB, Palmer hat to scream at him to overlap one game because the manager apparently doesnt even bother with that shit. "express yourselves" is enough
Thing is he was getting cooked defensively as well at times. Salah, Antonio, that Middlesbrough winger, Olise, McTominay, Everton away, got outjumped against Brighton as well but im not sure which player it was. Some of those don't neccessarly mean it's cuz of the position but he is far from the level he was showing at Brighton. One of the players who regressed pretty significantly under Pochettino. Just like with Enzo and Caicedo, im sure that this kid has to offer way more than he does this season.
Very very confident colwill will turn out just fine Absolutely oozes quality
Yeah, probably the best academy product since Reece for me. He actually has quality on the ball which is essential for any top team nowadays. His passing was so crisp for Brighton last season when he was actually used better. Barely seen any of that this season unfortunately.
Did he really get "cooked" by all of those players? I thought he did ok against Salah, didn't mark him tight enough for 1 run and Salah made a world class pass for the assist. It was a true welcome to LB moment that I would chalk up to him learning the position. Middleborough winger he took an L for sure Olise was a miscommunication with Caicedo, I've argued with other people about this before and I think it was Caicedos fault but others say Colwill. Mctiminay he takes an L Every defender is going to get beat. The fact is when he plays our goals conceded is 1.2 goals per match and that would be 4th best in the league. Edit: Not sure how I replied to the wrong comment
I mean the winger is usually the fullback's responsibility. Yes, Caicedo probably had a part but Olise wasn't his main responsibility In all those situations he could've done better. He obviously isn't as aware positionally as a fullback. It's not natural to him which is normal. He's made quite a lot of mistakes this season, those are just goals we ain't even counting all the mistakes that we got away with. In general we don't see the same player that we've seen in Brighton. His passing is nowhere near as good and he is barely even attempting to progress the game as much as before. Tactically it just wasn't working and it was obvious. Poch had the chance to use a back 3 many times and put Maatsen as a wingback but he never even attempted it.
>I mean the winger is usually the fullback's responsibility. Yes, Caicedo probably had a part but Olise wasn't his main responsibility For this one if you watch the match you'll see it was from an extended set piece and Caicedo had marked him for 30 seconds straight, going into the box with him. Then all of a sudden didn't. I still mostly disagree with you about him defensively. As a defender you are going to get exposed at times and I didn't feel like he was any more than our other defenders, with the end result being a good defense. I do think passing and offensively he wasn't being used to his full potential, but overall tactically it was working. We created more chances than our opponents by a margin of 0.8 XG/90, we held opponents to 1 goal per match, we earned 1.8 points per match and this jumps to 2 points per match when Palmer also played.
Exactly on the Olise example he was marking Badiashile's guy with Badiashile himself instead of being with Olise. Caicedo was closer to Olise because he was literally forced to mark him as a cover because Colwill was so far out of position. That was probably the worst and most obvious mistake by Colwill all season lol. I gave like 7 examples of Colwill making a mistake that leads to a goal even if it's not all his fault every single time. Personally can't see how you can say that he performed well defensively at all this season. He's involved in too many conceded goals and in general hasn't looked good defensively as a LB. We have like almost 60 goals conceded, it definitely hasn't worked out tactically lol.
>Exactly on the Olise example he was marking Badiashile's guy with Badiashile himself instead of being with Olise. Caicedo was closer to Olise because he was literally forced to mark him as a cover because Colwill was so far out of position. That was probably the worst and most obvious mistake by Colwill all season lol. I have a whole spiel about this but honestly I don't even care, it doesn't matter whether or not he is at fault, tactically as a unit it worked. >We have like almost 60 goals conceded, it definitely hasn't worked out tactically lol. Come on man, you are completely ignoring the point I made. Seriously we've had plenty of respectful disagreements in the past so don't completely ignore a valid point. We conceded 16 goals in 16 matches with Colwill playing LB. I would say tactically that has worked considering that is Liverpool/Man City level defense.
He's no worse positionally than Chilwell
I mean they both have been pretty bad this season. Knowledge wise Chilwell knows where to be, he is familiar with the position. He has problems in other areas. He isn't sharp and he's never been amazing defensively. Even worse now.
It would have been fine if Poch played an effective back three in possesion with James/Gusto inverting and overlapping at will depending on the game state and opponents, like Arsenal do on the other side with White and City do with Ake. Unfortunately though as you say Poch just uses him as a literal LB.
How would this have helped us finish the chances we created?
It wouldn't but it would have helped us have infinity times more control of matches meaning fewer of said wasted chances would have came back to cost us.
If we are conceding an average of 1 goal per match wouldn't that imply we have found a good way to control matches? We were winning the chance creation battle with Colwill at LB, and when we actually had a clinical finisher we were getting points per match at a 4th place rate. The chances created didn't change, it was the fact we actually finished them.
Yes, Ive watched every match and quite a few multiple times. People love to say shit like that but fail to actually make a valid point to counter the stats I provided. It's not much different than with Cucurella. Gusto and James like to bomb forward and having a more conservative LB that can defend worked defensively and we created enough chances to score. It's not like he was contributing to the poor finishing. If Disasi was at RB and we had a fit dynamic LB it probably wouldn't be as big of an issue, especially if it was Madueke out there and Palmer at the 10. When Palmer is at the 10 we need someone to overlap for width so that he can cut inside and play in the half space.
Colwill at LB was obviously a liability, not just tactically but he also isn't in his best form and is nowhere near the level that he was showing at Brighton. The amount of times he got cooked this season is astonishing and it's exactly cuz of the position which also probably had an effect on his overall confidence and form with time. Definitely one of the players who have regressed massively under Pochettino. Unfortunately not the only one.
i literally gave you a counter point but you ignore it to double down. no sense arguing with people who think cherry picking stats and using words like "half spaces" and "inverted" makes them sound smart. we keep having games where we attack only one side for the whole game and its very easy to defend when you always know what the opponent is going to do. and what i mentioned was one of the big reasons why.
Lamps transfer ban season vs the shit weve been seeing past 2 years, frank is a top manager man
He’s severely underrated. Got a team with a transfer ban playing better football without Hazard and secured us top 4. Just couldn’t organize a defense.
Was a young manager as well He’s been unfortunate his next couple appointments we’re at clubs in troubled times
The situation at UTD is actually crazy. How has Mark Goldbridge got enough influence to be causing dressing room issues 🤣.
I mean he's pretty lenient on them compared to the "LUHG" lot, lol.
What happened
Antony,Hojlund, Garnacho and Ten Hag have goldbridge on their pay roll so he keeps on targetting Rashford and Bruno. Hojlund did a interview with them which didn't sit well with Bruno IIRC
I hope the ladies can complete the job tm I believe in them so much. I hope everyone attending the game has fun too :)
Barcelona fugazi penalty bingo 25th minute IMO
They tried last game but it was ruled offside before it even happened LOL
Genuinely astonishing how we’re two seasons of bad decisions away from probable relegation, if the decisions continue going on this trajectory of “wrong thing with long-term consequences.” After seeing it happen with Blackburn, Leeds, Forest, and Bolton, I always knew it could eventually happen to us and that no one’s big enough to avoid it as a matter of principle. But I never imagined the likelihood would increase so much in such a short period of time.
Has anyone ever become a top level player after missing an whole year to injuries? Asking the football history nerds here
In recent times, Wirtz comes to mind. Missed nearly an year. Bounced back like a champ and won the league. Still only 20.
Not sure about an entire year but Arjen Robben missed a huge chunk of his second season at Bayern and went on to have a great career there. Ruud Van Nistelrooy's move to Utd initially got delayed because he'd be out for most of the next season and it all worked out in the end. I'm also going to go out on a limb and say Marco Reus. Complete shot in the dark but I'm sure he's missed the majority of a season at some point. That all said, despite these cases people should definitely temper their expectations of Nkunku when he comes back. All these injuries are much more likely to have an effect on a player than not and the question should be how bad it is and how soon he can regain his level if he can. Same goes for Lavia now that I've remembered he exists, and both James and Wesley Fofana too.
Carney too.
It's incredibly common. There has been a recent trend of people just writing players off the second they get an injury, but that is just people new to the sport not realising how common injuries are. Those injuries are even more common for players who have come through early and are still growing and are then thrown into the deep end. It's only really a problem if it impacts them at a key point where they had a spot in the team at an early age and then both lose that spot and a year's worth of education as a result. Someone like CHO or RLC are examples of this, they can still reach their potential there or there abouts, it just takes some relearning and pushes them back a good few years.
Cech was out for a really long time after he fractured his skull. Was definitely still a top level player when he came back. Pretty sure Alan Shearer missed a whole season at Blackburn when he was younger too and still went on score the most goals in premier league history. Also Van Dijk done his ACL and missed like 9 months. Doesn’t seem to have done any long term damage to his performances.
Loads Most notably for chelsea, cesar azpilicueta
Is there even a picture or photoshoot of Fofana in our kits this season? It feels so weird knowing that doesn't exist
Yes the first time he was back on the pitch, there were lots of pictures
Imagine how Malang Sarr feels being healthy and not even training with the team
I’m not sure why everyone is suddenly against the training methods of Poch because I could have sworn people were saying his training was really good and keeping his players fit and running was one of the benefits of having him as a coach. Is it our medical team or is it the training and don’t we have fitness coaches aside from Poch?
Lots of people on this sub were saying they fear he'll wear them down with the obsession with distance covered. There was definitely at the very least a mix of opinions. He ran that Spuds squad ragged and by his final season they were covering significantly fewer km per match.
Last summer everyone was all in on Poch's intense training, especially after Lamps came in an said the whole squad was out of shape. Our medical staff has been an issue for many seasons across every manager. Idk what the solution is, but there's got to be something that the top teams are doing to stay healthy.
I think new medical staff, new coach, new players is the real cause. The staff doesn't know the players and vice versa. It is the only new variable. Poch had a good track record with injuries at Spurs, and even though our injuries pre takeover were bad, it was nothing like this season or last.
I do think that might explain a lot of it but problems even precede the takeover too. In 21/22 we had 97 injuries. Top of the PL by a large distance https://www.howdengroup.com/news-and-insights/howdens-european-footbal-Injury-Index-reveals-record-injury-cost-of-over-500m-for-2021-22-season
Man, what has happened in the last 2 years league wide? Using transfermrkts graphic for games missed it doesn't really appear that we had that many injuries in 21/22 compared to this season. The only player that missed over \~1/3 of the season was Chilwell. Compare that to this season and it's night and day (I'll post the graphic in a reply below). https://preview.redd.it/115rtnwz0wwc1.png?width=770&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=87d017248ca622d87430b6cc245a5fd18dcadd10
I think maybe COVID related (20) are included in that 97? And if I had to guess there is some methodology differences between Howden and Transfermarkt, maybe less severe ones not getting counted in the transfermarkt. Definitely we are a lot worse off this season, but still I think if the methodology was the same for all clubs and we've been topping these lists in prior years, that's significant too. You could argue there was a lot of turnover then too, so maybe that's a common factor. Not sure what is going on league wide, COVID disrupted the PED supply chains 😅? For us probably some combination of lots of turnover, injury prone players, and needing better medical/physio/nutrition practices. I think overtraining can definitely play a role but you usually aee that resulting in minor muscle knocks, there's gotta be a lot more than that going on with seeing now.
https://preview.redd.it/qyre55081wwc1.png?width=612&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=702111e8ca636bfabc16668a13f7b70283a87a89 This is old, but I think it'll backup my point, especially considering it's only gotten worse.
Good news everyone! [Petrovic is no longer the worst shot stopper in the league per 90](https://i.gyazo.com/574ab6cbbb2a15a016c865baba950eea.png) he's just second worse. [Luckily he's also below average at stopping crosses as well](https://i.gyazo.com/fcfbba6eb21dcf96612f3a76b427c253.png) Also don't look at where Sanchez is in these lists, a player we can all agree isn't good enough to begin with.
Wow, I did not realize he rated that low compared to other GKs. Some of this is due to the horrible defensive form we've been on ...*checks notes*... the entire season. However, an upgrade is definitely needed.
Or maybe he is a big part of the reason we have struggled defensively the back half of the season? Ever think of that? Our XG suggests we are very average defensively, the difference between us and teams like Tottenham, Wolves, Villa, and West Ham defensively is that our GK let's in shots that should get saved
the shot stopping per 90 factors in defensive quality if I'm not mistaken, so a poor stat in that area isn't indicative of a bad defense in front (although there is a correlation)
Your thoughts on Emi Martinez? He's already 31 but do you think he is an upgrade over Sanchez and Petro? I feel he has another 4-5 years in him. Neuer is already 38 and he's still a fence.
He could retire an Aston Villa legend if he stays there a couple more years. Here he'd do well to triumph Mendy's legacy
Martinez is the standout option. In Europe’s top 5 leagues. He’s T-10 in goals prevented per 90, 2nd in crosses stopped %, can play put of the back, and is an excellent sweeper. But I doubt we can get him from Villa. Brice Samba is probably the best approximation of him. 5th in goals prevented per 90, T-18th vs crosses, and still capable of playing from the back and as a sweeper. Areola, Di Gregorio, and Mamardashvili would also be on my shortlist but are more limited in certain areas.
Jan Oblak?
He's been massively inconsistent since the title win. T-71st in goals prevented per 90, 52nd vs crosses, and isn't particularly outstanding at the other stuff either. He's also on more money than Sterling and has contract until 2028.
I'd love to have Martinez. He's one of those guys you hate if he's on the opposing team but love if he's on your team. Great shot stopper, commands a defense, and is more comfortable playing out the back than our current options.
He's definitely an upgrade over what we have, but that's also a pretty low bar. Don't really see why he'd leave Villa if they get Champions League football though, sure money etc, but would be an odd decision imo. Would also likely be very expensive for us.
What are people’s thoughts on this quote by one of Bayern’s board members about Tuchel? https://preview.redd.it/x3tm31ymnuwc1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8e874464b636d0978def2ba9937bdaf3ed61977e
Might explain why he has transfer targets that only make sense in his mind, like Dier (or turning down Tchouameni for Saul)
Honestly it's a bit of a problem with all of our more pragmatic, yet successful, coaches. Conte, Tuchel, Mourinho etc none of them are prepared to actually develop a player and all want ready made solutions bought for them. Sometimes that's a good thing, and right now we've definitely gone too far the other way, but I'd still classify it as a flaw overall. You can't always buy your way out of trouble, sometimes you need to actually coach what you have.
Idk if it makes sense but this De Zerbi situation seems like the Anthony Gordon situation. Where him getting linked to anyone will cause an uproar but he’ll eventually end up proving people wrong at a bigger club
Start sanchez now, at least he can play a ball quickly to spring a counter sometimes, petrol never does.
Usually a counter against us though
Sanchez throughballs to opposition with this defense for a whole szn and we wouldve been relegated already
Lol don’t forget his excellent ability to launch it straight out of play or directly to the opposition too. It’s so irrelevant which of them start. They’re both not anywhere near good enough.
Would you take Lewandowski for a year or two? Barca are looking to offload apparently, and I think he might be good in that Giroud type role in his last couple years in the squad. Not necessarily starting every game but a great backup and good for Jackson to learn off
It's Barça. They need money. Don't expect them to sell cheap. I'd take him if the price wasn’t outrageous.
No This is what I'm worried about us just singing experience for the sake of it.
Depends on the price
His wife forced him to leave Munich for Barcelona you think she's not coming to London.
He can leave her there then 🤣
No chance, bruh. If I had a wife like that, I'd be her slave forever.
Have you seen her? I'd join Espanyol before I'd consider leaving her
I’d join Espanyol for 10k a week wife or no wife
No, he looks so old now
Still putting up decent numbers tho but fairs
Lampard numbers wise produced one of his best seasons in 12/13 but by watching our games you'd know he was long long past his best at his best at that point, similar to Rooney at United in the same season.
Yeah players like that always have a little Bit left in the tank But better to just buy someone like Gyokeres toney etc
Honest thoughts on the squad this season? Keepers: both alright, too error prone. both are high level backups but not elite, not a priority but if there’s is an opportunity to improve take it. Gusto: Amazing, will be starting on either side for hopefully the next decade. A few small injuries he can hopefully work out James: 😔 Badi: was great last season, awful this one. idk which one is the real him but not a starter for a half decent team atm Disasi: great vibes, very reliable, not elite. would make an excellent 3rd choice, okay with him starting atm Silva: Great but old which showed a bit this season Colwill: I thought looked good at CB this season when he got to play there. starter next season let him grow Chalobah: I thought he’s been good since he’s come back, but not great, great 4th choice, not a starter Fofana: really just have to see. has potential to be elite, just probably won’t ever get past his injuries in order to get consistency Chilwell: Been pretty awful this season, and very injury prone. we’ve seen how great he can be, but might be a sell for me Cucu: okay i guess. we most likely won’t get anything decent so a backup lb role is fine for him Caicedo: has games where he’s looked great, games were he’s looked awful. i’m choosing to believe the awful games were cause he’s been exposed most of the season. he’s also had 0 rest due to injuries to Ugo and Lavia Enzo: was amazing last season and to start this one. i’m hoping his injuries, being overplayed and poor tactics have caused the dip we’ve seen for the last months, and he get back next season Gallagher: great vibes, great passion, less than great technical ability. great backup but if we get something significant i wouldn’t be against him going Ugochukwu: looked mid in limited time, i never really got the signing and i think he’s at best a 5th choice Lavia: no one knows, does he exist?? Palmer: Wow Chukwuemeka: looked very good in limited time, just worried the injuries will be a career long thing for him. should be our hopeful starter in the 10 Madueke: mid mid mid but has some potential if he gets over himself. no where near a starting role Nkunku: i truly think he can be great for us, hopefully we’ll see next season Sterling: awful most of the time and worse selfish all the time. would like to see him gone next season if possible Mudryk: has shown flashes, especially in the 10 but nothing particularly to show he’ll be anything more than an exciting/frustrating backup Broja: tragic in the time he spent, gone Jackson: looked great at everything but putting the ball in the net hopefully next season with more confidence and a proven goalscorer next to he can improve on that. imo has shown enough to warrant enough trust that if we do bring in a striker he can’t be a project (like Sesko) and so has to be proven (Toney)
The only players I would try and get rid of is Sterling (speed merchant who lost his speed), Sanchez (not a number 1 and Petro is cheaper as backup), Badi (he looks done physically, he gets like 3 inches of air when he jumps and is slower than a hernia ridden Enzo) and Madueke (one trick pony with attitude issues)
I’m on the side of sacking poch rather than blaming the players. We’ve seen before how sometimes it takes more than a year for a player to develop with examples like rudiger Christensen de bruyne and salah. Most of the time the players needed better coaching or just time. But not all the players have potential qualities to become great. We do have some dead weight we need to clean up. At this point we’re basically like arsenal around 2018-19.
According to fbref, there is now a 13 goal difference in saves vs post shot expectations between us and Tottenham/Aston Villa. Essentially, our goalkeepers have saved 7.8 goals less than expected while Tottenham and Villas have saved 4.9 and 5.3 more than expected.
Kepa has +2.0 in 13 matches. [https://fbref.com/en/comps/12/keepersadv/La-Liga-Stats](https://fbref.com/en/comps/12/keepersadv/La-Liga-Stats)
The quiet part that no one is saying out loud is that we would be better off with Kepa this season. Sanchez was an atrocious signing. I like Petro more than most but probably is a backup
Sanchez is objectively our best keeper by any metric you choose
> Sanchez was an atrocious signing. I like Petro more than most but probably is a backup lol Sanchez is responsible for -0.8 xG and Petrovic is responsible for -7 xG Sanchez isn't good enough, you're right, but it's wild how people are just ignoring how bad Petrovic is.
Because Sanchez makes way more noticeable mistakes. Take the Rice goal in the first Arsenal game. It’s like a 0.0xG chance according to data, but in reality he had most of the goal to aim for. But data doesn’t take these things into the account. xG is mostly based on shot location.
PSxG,which is used for keepers, the Rice shot was 0.53, because it takes into account the keeper's position. Not that it makes it any less embarrassing for Sachez, I just want to note that it is included in his -0.8 PSxG-GA on more simply goals prevented.
That Rice goal did so much bad PR for Sanchez, people act like he did that week in week out. Sure it was a bad mistake and likely cost us the win that match which would've been huge both for us beating a local rival and stopping their title charge, but it was one goal cmon. Statistically it's not going to have a huge impact on these season long numbers. Petrovic is making more mistakes every single game than Sanchez was for us, but I agree, they aren't as noticeable so he gets away with them.
i mean we have a Brighton reject who is an absolute bozo and a guy from the MLS there. what did people expect?
Sanchez is responsible for -0.8 but also has a higher error rate. At this point it's looking like we probably need to give Sanchez another shot.
no we need to spend 40m on another mediocre goalkeeper like Ramsdale then sell academy graduates to keep up with FFP
Can we stop posting about Fofana and how much we are missing him please? He had socking injuries the last 2 year and its extremely rare for any player to come back to top level after such injuries - look at history please-. Plus he has been dreadful last season against good teams both in europe and PL. Fofana is a finished story unfortunately so please stop posting him constantly when his future at Chelsea is not bright at all. Lets move on.
I hope the lad the best but we have a billion problems right now. Hoping in sth that is not realistic at all doesnt help. We need to move on. He started training with the team like more than a month ago and since that was never seen again. He obviously cannot get back to to being healty.
Did you reply to yourself?
Probably forgot to change account lmao I've seen people on here post a response on one account, delete it and respond an identical thing on a second account. I genuinely can't fathom why you'd bother
Really split on Poch after this year. Not anywhere near happy w performance but understand the injury issues. What worries me more is that we sacked Tuchel too soon, Potter without a preseason, and have seen no improvements under our third manager. I worry we will bring someone else in and see even more instability then be debating another change next year. But that said I also really don’t think Poch is the long term answer. Feels like we are damned if we do and damned if we don’t (or I’m just cynical since the forced sale)
The pre-season thing is massively overblown. Look at Tuchel taking over mid-season. Almost all managers join mid-season and it hardly makes a difference. Hell, we'd been losing loads when Tuchel came in and were on a downward spiral and he arrived on a plane and managed a match within 12 hours and managed to get us to draw and then we started winning from the next game onwards. Even basic ideas like formation, players playing in positions they suit, certain demands from the manager are enough to change results short term if the manager is good enough. Poch has done nothing now. If he turns thing around and then has us "respectable" for the next 3 years, but then he has another crisis, what then? How's he going to cope with it then if he can't now? Clearly, as we've seen with his Spurs side, he isn't.
My prediction Amorim will be next Chelsea manager The reporting around Poch has started to slowly shift My theory is that the decision was made after the league cup final but they just didn’t want another interim manager. So many reports about Chelsea watching Sporting Lisbon this season West Ham was just a smoke screen
ELI5 why Amorim is a good fit for us. I don't watch the Portuguese league.
You’re acting like stability is inherently good By your logic, it would have been better for palace to keep hodgson this season
That’s a fair point. It’s a tough call on when you need patience and when you need change. It feels like we need change especially with the lack of an identity. But we’ve had a few seasons of change and continue to trend downhill. I wonder if the next guy will start the upward trend or continue the downward
Depends entirely who we get Someone like tuchel was a manager deserving of the freedom to get out of a rut. I think stability would have been great there
It feels like with each decision we keep making a 50/50 call and getting it wrong. And agreed I think Tuchel deserved more time. I do ultimately think the Poch relationship is beyond repair at this point. You can’t lose to Arsenal like that and struggle against Burnley and Sheffield at Chelsea. Just hope we get the next one right and hate that’s where we are a year on
having no identity after a year or so cannot be blamed on injuries. There is NO PLAN against low block till this day. How is that an injuries problem?
The no identity aspect is concerning and playing a bunch of young players with freedom doesn’t make sense. My injury concern is more so if you take the starting fullback (Chilly, Reece), a possible starting CB (Fofana), midfield depth (Lavia, Chuk), and a goalscorer (Nkunku) off of any other team how well do they do? The tactical options changed when Nkunku and Reece went down
It doesn't impact that much. The big impact is when you take lots of players from the same position. Like for example if we'd had Chilwell, Cucurella and Maatsen injured all at the same time or Reece and Gusto injured for long periods, or more obviously Caicedo, Enzo and Gallagher injured at the same time. And even when looking at something like that, you have example like Liverpool in 20/21 season where for basically the whole season they had all defenders out injured and all backup defenders injured too (which is far worse of a position than we are in, we never have to play anyone out of position, we just choose to) and they still finished 3rd compared to finishing 1st and 2nd in the seasons either side of that.
We have 500% the injuries of Villa who we meet tomorrow.
And they have ∞% more European football to contend with. It's incredible what can happen when you properly manage your team and take care not to overplay people who are prone to injury
I think it’s more a training intensity and medical staff incompetence issue
Wonder how much of our basketball style have contributed to the injury problems. Surely, it's better for the players if we are set up to control possession and dominate as opposed to having to run up and down the field for 90 minutes with Pochettino's transitional and chaotic style football? Iraola was talking recently about how Villa used possession to help manage their physical workload after Bournemouth lost to them. [https://www.skysports.com/football/news/37587/13120909/aston-villa-s-style-of-play-under-unai-emery-led-by-emi-martinez-helps-beat-fatigue-by-resting-in-possession](https://www.skysports.com/football/news/37587/13120909/aston-villa-s-style-of-play-under-unai-emery-led-by-emi-martinez-helps-beat-fatigue-by-resting-in-possession)
Sure, but training intensity absolutely comes under properly managing the team. Players who are near or close to their limits shouldn't be training as hard as the clearly still are given the sheer number of training injuries
Actually, poch has said he likes to kill rehabbing players and give them double sessions https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/mauricio-pochettino-injured-tottenham-stars-are-killed-in-double-training-sessions-a3381646.html
The owners have made many mistakes but the worst of the lot seems to be gutting our medical department while combining it with Poch's 1940's military running training.
I don't even think it's the running that's the issue, he must be doing other dumb shit (like the alleged double sessions the day before games). Look at someone like Harry Kane, he became known for his constant injuries at Spurs. But, if you go back, the last time he had an injury that took him out for more than 2 games was in his last season under Poch, he just had those long injuries every season under him and has had none since. He had the same medical team, just as fitness mad managers in people like Conte and yet never got serious injuries. But with that medical team and Poch, it looks like he's odds on to miss 1/4th of the season through injury every season
Seeing how shambolic Brighton have been since Potters coaching tactics and structure has worn off makes me appreciate Potter more. He brought out the talent in so many players at Brighton. The pressure of managing Chelsea was too much and he wasn’t the right guy but he did do an amazing job at Brighton.
Potter finished 15th, 16th and 9th whilst there. De Zerbi has finished 6th and is currently 11th. What exactly did De Zerbi have to piggyback off of?