22 Jun 2020 15:25:21
First match back yesterday after a long lay off, a bit of rust was to be expected and, no matter who the opposition is, its aways difficult to break down such a deep defence.

One of the positives was the play of Mount and Kante. I'm hoping that Mount develops his all round game and starts to play a bit of a deeper game. There are aspects of Kovacic's game that he could learn from but he has the potential to be a much better player. Kante was exceptional, his ability to come back into the team after long absences, performing at a high standard, really is amazing.

I do remain concerned with our defence and GK, the players in front of the back four will, especially next season, chop, change and move around. It's really important that our back four and GK becomes a solid unit, at the moment it's difficult to pick our best CB partnership and that has been reflected in it changing a lot this season. I'd like to see Christensen and Tomori get a run together, I don't think Zouma has the same potential as he did prior to his bad knee injury and I don't rate Rudiger - at all. Eventually we are going to have to sign a top quality CB, but I don't think we'll see that this summer. I hope Ampadu comes back and does well, but his lack of mins at RBL is a concern.

James is obviously the future at RB (lets not criticise a player who came back from injury, a long break and only played a couple of mins too much) and we'll likely see a new LB come in. Azpilicueta remains a solid squad player, yes he's not the most natural of crossers of a ball, and often requires a couple of touches before putting the ball in the box, but he got a couple of assists yesterday and remains solid defensively. Along with Willian he has the most assists for us in the Prem this season.

As for GK, I'm not sure the trust in Kepa will ever really be there from the coaching staff, players or fans. I don't believe United would dream of selling us Henderson, especially with question marks over De Gea's form, but this is a position we need to sort out if we want to be really competitive again.

I think by the end of this coming season we'll be a Van Dijk and Allison away from being really competitive - problem is these players are rare and very tough to find.

1.) 22 Jun 2020
22 Jun 2020 15:49:27
Personally thought Kanté looked very rough yesterday lot of silly fouls that being said he is world class just looked a bit rusty. Agree with the point about Daves crossing however no way should he be a squad player he should be starting at cb he’s the best defender we have by a country mile alonso should be moved on he can’t defend he does offer a lot going forward but he can’t defend. Agree about James big future ahead of him is he stays grounded.

Kepa is a difficult one no one will pay close to what we paid for him so best option all round is give him anther year see what happens the ability is there but he needs to gain more confidence in himself the rest will hopefully fall into place. plus in all honesty has Chelsea fans we need to except somthing about this team and the way lampard plays we don’t have a world class defence but we do have a good forward line and excellent midfield I think next year we will score a lot of goals but we will still concede a lot the way the team plays and the players we have suggest that to me and I’m okay with that I’d rather see lots of goals then scoring one and sitting on the lead the point I’m getting at is taking a hit on kepa now with that in mind seems pointless especially when he may well come good.

Like you’ve said and I have really there the defensive phase of our play isn’t great Rudiger is just well it’s like watching somone without joints play football he’s so stiff on the ball james has the potential but he needs this experience at top level alonso and Emerson both fundamentally the same great going forward but can not defend Dave is good has good position but he’s legs have gone and he wasn’t the fastest anyway the other young lad lacks experience at top level too so defence needs a rebuild but that can wait.

Think with Ziyech and Werner comming in we will see a lot more of the chances we create being converted we will win most games but we are going to let goals in to but hey if that means winning 4/ 5 -2 most weeks I’ll take it I kind of have visions of us playing the way dortmund do next year after that look see what we need to build that defence then title challenge. But lamps doing the right thing can keep opposition out all game with best defence in world but if you don’t score pointless doesn’t matter if you let in 3 if you score 4.

2.) 22 Jun 2020
22 Jun 2020 16:11:59
I thought Kante had a couple of smart fouls, Grealish does get "fouled" a lot.

Azpilicueta being considered as playing CB in a two says everything about our current situation with CB's. Rudiger is actually quite popular at the Bridge, he uses his pace, rushes back and make last ditch challenges to the chorus of, 'Rudi, Rudi, Rudi'. There's no consideration as to why he had to rush back and make such a risky challenge in the first place, often because he got commited way-out of position. - and he's our experienced CB!

I think your right Lampsy, next season we'll score a lot and let in a lot. That's fine against Aston Villa etc. But against Liverpool and City, or the likes of Bayern in Europe? We will get caught out in the big matches. Look at PSG's front line, but there's a reason they never look like winning the Champions League. Look at Dortmund, there's a reason they fell well short of Bayern. You need that balance to be a top team, we really need to improve our defence to have any balance.

3.) 22 Jun 2020
22 Jun 2020 16:37:07
Two very constructive and fantastic posts lads.

I will be looking for a better balance in defence and midfield. I particularly want a natural left footed CB. It would also be good if he was a leader.

Very excited for next season.

4.) 22 Jun 2020
22 Jun 2020 17:01:03
I think Rudiger is taking a lot of unfair criticism. His a decent CB and probably needs to be paired with the right CB for it to work. I'm not saying his a world beater but the criticism is rather sad to read. He weren't at fault for yesterday's goal by the way.

Sadly, we don't have a CB that is right for it to work because the other 3 are also error prone and probably more so than Rudiger. I think judging a player after the lockdown break is unfair, yes he did overhit a few long balls but that's due to a lack of games.

However, Rudi probably makes the least mistakes alongside Zouma and is the likeliest to put his body in the line to block a shot. I'm glad Lampard appreciates Rudi's quality as he seems to be his first choice.

I think Rudiger and Christensen is the best combination. AC isn't defensively sound, however is probably the best ball playing defender in our club.

5.) 22 Jun 2020
22 Jun 2020 17:04:29
I don’t understand how people can say Kepa’s ability is there do you not realise he’s never had a save percentage of over 70%? He doesn’t come for crosses often because he’s short and doesn’t command his box or am I missing something about him that everyone else sees? Not to mention his brittle wrists?

Agree on Mount think he’s got the engine now that enables him to play the box to box role. I’d really like to see a Mount-Kante-RLC midfield soon.

6.) 22 Jun 2020
22 Jun 2020 18:19:51
Like I say, I think Zouma's ceiling has probably been lowered because of that knee injury. It's just taken something from his game.

Rudiger's use of the ball and willingness to take possession is poor, not just out of lockdown but generally; it's poor. I'm not sure if Rudiger is better than Tomori or Christensen right now, but I definitely think their potential is much higher. That's why I think we should be looking for a partner for one of these and not Rudiger.

I'm trying to think if there's one thing Kepa does well, he's save % is low, he doesn't command an area when crosses are coming in and holds onto very little. Yes, decent with his feet but GK'ing skills? Pretty poor. I think we have a lot of money commited in Kepa and we're spending a lot elsewher, e so we won't move on from him this summer. But, unless he takes a massive step up he won't / can't last beyond next season.

7.) 22 Jun 2020
22 Jun 2020 20:46:30
Fair enough J.

I respect your opinion, very well constructed. The beauty about this site is that everyone have opinions and it's nice to read another's point of view and it makes it fun.

8.) 22 Jun 2020
22 Jun 2020 22:10:27
Right back at you Shak, banter and discussion make this site worth coming back to. Can't have either without different opinions.

9.) 23 Jun 2020
23 Jun 2020 11:48:22
I believe that Kepa's amortized break-even value is £53m this summer - it is very unlikely that we would be able to sell anywhere near this figure so we have 2 options: loan or stick. I only think we'll loan if we get Henderson (which is very unlikely) so it looks like we'll go for a cheap option - Roman Burki / Pau Lopez / Ugurcan Cakir / Mike Maignan?