Chelsea Banter Archive March 18 2020

18 Mar 2020 20:27:14
Ed002, Chelsea are reported to have 'made contact' with Barcelona over Phillippe Coutinho - please please Ed002 tell us it's not true.

{Ed002's Note - The discussion with Barcelona was over another player - but they are looking to offload PC.}

19 Mar 2020 00:24:02
Obviously getting my hopes up as it’s been mentioned him leaving this summer before but the other player wasn’t Ter Stegen was it Ed?

{Ed002's Note - No.}

19 Mar 2020 09:06:04
Could very well have been a Chelsea player that Barcelona are interested in, BillyGoat. Think Emerson and maybe Alonso have been of interest to Barcelona in the past. Also Willian and Pedro, though both are free agents this summer so I don't suppose they would need to talk to Chelsea about them.
Christensen's also been of some interest to them in recent years if I recall correctly.

I'm just not sure which Barcelona player Chelsea would realistically want.

19 Mar 2020 13:35:30
Marc Cucurella?

18 Mar 2020 14:59:32
Ed001, who is primarily responsible for Chelsea's poor defence? The midfielders, the CBs, the fullbacks or the GK?

{Ed001's Note - it is a team effort, but I would have to say that the coaching staff have to take a lot of responsibility too. Particularly on set pieces, which is the main weak spot. That has lowered confidence in open play and brought in errors. There is a definite lack of organisation on set plays. That is something that can be easily rectified, you can change things very easily and work on it in training without much difficulty.

The question is whether you need a set piece coach in to work on it or can the current coaches figure it out? A lot of it is basics, no matter whether you go man-to-man, zonal or a mix of the two. You always need someone in the near post area who is clever and good in the air. The right man there will head a large percentage of deliveries clear as so many go short. The rest will tend to differ depending on opponent, but it helps if the players take more responsibility for figuring things out. They are right there in the moment and should be able to pick out the particularly dangerous opposition players and assign someone to mark or block them, depending on the system used.

What has made a difference is Giroud, which shows a lot of the set piece problems were down to players, so the blame can't be wholly assigned to one area.

In open play, the way you play will always leave openings when you are on the ball. It is risk against reward. If you are going to win more matches than you lose then you have to take risks. Though I have to say the risks are increased massively by leaving Jorginho as the main midfielder playing deep when both full-backs push on. He lacks the mobility and defensive ability to perform that role alone. He needs help. Then you have Rudiger being too rash and chasing out to make challenges when he should be holding position or even dropping off. It is something that your most experienced centre-back can't be doing.

So all in all, it is a mix of things. Open style of play, mixed with struggles to sort out the set pieces and a lack of cover from midfield added to a defence that lacks a calm head in the centre. On top of that you lack a top class goalkeeper to bail out the team when it matters. It is going to be a case of incremental improvements, rather than flicking a switch and fixing it.}

18 Mar 2020 20:01:05
Rudiger and Jorginho are just two players I will never rate. Look at the difference Gilmour made their with legs compared to Jorgi we had two clean sheets. Think Zouma is massively underrated on this platform he is a monster at winning aerial duels his percentage is just below Van Dijk if I’m not wrong. Rudiger is 6’3 and struggle so much with aerial balls. Zouma and Giroud are essential for us going forward especially at set pieces. RLC would be a massive asset too once fit.

18 Mar 2020 21:39:37
I keep on banging on about leadership on the pitch.

Azpilicueta is a captain who leads by example, he's not a talker or organiser at set pieces. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but he needs another experienced player to step up.

Rudiger doesn't step up, Ed's right about his diving out of position - I think he's selfish defender. None of Zouma, Christensen or Tomori are talkers, you'd hope Tomori could grow into it, but he's apparently always been a quiet lad at all age groups. Ampadu could develop into the he when he returns.

It seems like something we need to invest in.

19 Mar 2020 07:39:21
So many things are required to make a good team.

Recruitment, management, coaching and players are probably the obvious ones but leadership on the pitch is something that is so important. No team can have enough players who are leaders. We got very spoilt for a long but successful period of time.

I always try and make my criticism of players at the end of the season and this season, if it ever finishes, will be no different.

18 Mar 2020 07:39:01
{Ed's Note - Ed001 has posted a new article entitled, Review Of The Day 18th March 2020