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Chelsea 2020-2021: Campeones de Europa


ztejas

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Both teams played fairly solid defense, but I put the lack of goals on Frank's man mangement.  He played Pulisic out of position on the right side again and it was clear that Havertz and Werner were tired.  I really don't understand Frank shoehorning Pulisic into the right wing position.  Our best 10 minutes of offense was the first 10 minutes of the second half when he and Mount switched sides.  Werner received some good passes that he didn't control well, likely due to tired legs.  We didn't even use our full allotment of 5 subs and two of the four we used were around 90 minutes in (Werner and Puli).    

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5 minutes ago, Longhornfan1024 said:

Both teams played fairly solid defense, but I put the lack of goals on Frank's man mangement.  He played Pulisic out of position on the right side again and it was clear that Havertz and Werner were tired.  I really don't understand Frank shoehorning Pulisic into the right wing position.  Our best 10 minutes of offense was the first 10 minutes of the second half when he and Mount switched sides.  Werner received some good passes that he didn't control well, likely due to tired legs.  We didn't even use our full allotment of 5 subs and two of the four we used were around 90 minutes in (Werner and Puli).    

Pulisic has played on both wings his entire career. Playing him on the right is not playing him "out of position". Whether it's his better side of the pitch or not is a different discussion. 

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46 minutes ago, ztejas said:

Pulisic has played on both wings his entire career. Playing him on the right is not playing him "out of position". Whether it's his better side of the pitch or not is a different discussion. 

When a player often looks like and shows the potential to be one of the most dangerous attacking players in the game playing on one wing and is just slightly above average playing on the other wing, he's being played out of position.  It doesn't matter than other managers have tried him at RW when he was younger.  There's a very obvious difference in the quality of his play when on the left versus the right.  There are plenty of players who have been forced to play multiple positions to offer cover for their team or while they are growing into their game and managers are trying to figure out their best position.  That doesn't mean that later in their career they wouldn't be playing out of position if played there again.

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46 minutes ago, Longhornfan1024 said:

There's a very obvious difference in the quality of his play when on the left versus the right. 

I don't think he's far along enough in his career to make that claim. I think a lot of it depends on who he's sharing the pitch with.

Mainly though we are probably just disagreeing semantically so I'll leave it at that. If he was slotted at striker or CM I would call that out of position. I don't consider LW, AM or RW to be out of position for him because he has shown quality in all of those positions - he's scored plenty over the past 2 seasons as a RW.

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Puli been maybe a touch off today but he remains a nightmare for opposing teams to handle. You HAVE to send 2 at him and he often draws 3.

Some good movement in the last 15 minutes or so. Need to be a little sharper on attack. D looks pretty settled and confident.

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So... D has been great today. Just can't get it clicking in both phases apparently.

That missed ball from Werner might cost us 3 points on the day. Such a head scratcher. I wish we'd stack the box a little more on set pieces - seems like Lampard is playing for a tie.

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2 minutes ago, MoJames said:

Welp another clean sheet for Mendy

I'd credit at least half of that clean sheet to the defense today. Not sure Kepa makes that save on the late Rashford attempt but we made Mendy's job pretty straightforward today. 

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Something I'd like to see is for Lampard to quit handing Havertz 70+ minutes by default. He just hasn't really impressed yet and I thought Mount brought a lot of quality when he came in today. 

Make him earn his playing time. He has a bad habit of looking kind of listless out there. 

Werner was poor today, too - but he has already shown plenty to suggest that games like today will be the exception. 

I'd give MOTM to James.

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I don't love this lineup but today is as opportune a time to try and break it in as any I guess. Just hope it doesn't cost us 2 or 3 points.

Nice save by Mendy, great chance from Ziyech early on. Possession is still a little shaky in the back two thirds. 

Great ball by Ziyech - fantastic PK earn by Werner.

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As with any manager playing the 4th best team in their bracket, I Imagine he is hoping his guys can get the job done and knows if they don't, he has someone on the bench that can turn the game on itself. It used to be Hazard and Lampard before him. It now appears it is Pulisic.

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Also, Mendy is awesome. Ziyech is a badass. I thought CHO was all over the place but he put a good ball on net to help settle us in. We still have issues with giving possession away in the back half but having a keeper that actually bails us out when we need it makes a huge difference. 

I like playing Werner in the middle of the 3-3 look. Havertz could still stand to settle in a bit more but he showed a good amount of quality today including some nice runs towards the back post. 

Cut out the stupid bullshit and keep developing chemistry and we could position to make a run in the PL.

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Just now, MoJames said:

My ability to watch was way sporadic. But I agree with your take. Ziyech is so smooth. Werner up top makes way too much sense.

And today was without Thiago as well.  Great 4 point victory away.

I actually only watched the first 65 and checked the goal highlights after that.

Looks like we switched to a 4-3-3 because I could have SWORN we started the game with Timo up top by himself. 

I'd almost be curious to slot him and Tammy next to each other at some point.

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Missed the first 20' so bear with me...

1. I love this lineup. And I'm not sure why it took Frank so long to stick with the 4-3-3 but it's clearly our best look. Shift Wener to striker and slot Pulisic in and we would be playing our best possible XI. 

2. Mendy is so much fucking better than Kepa it's actually embarassing. I wish well for Kepa but holy shit that transfer might end up being one of the club's worst ever - at least in recent memory. His ability to pick the ball out of the air is such a boon and he plays with a very calm, collected assurance out of the back.

3. This back 4 with Chilwell and Silva is so much better than anything we trotted out last year. I think it helps that Reece is trending in the right direction and has really taken a step forward these last few games. He might be our best player on the pitch AGAIN through 45' this week.

4. Mount is a baller. That last try from outside the box was a little too cheeky but he is a very nice homegrown talent that plays composed, selfless football.

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  • ztejas changed the title to Chelsea 2020-2021: Campeones de Europa

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