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Aston Villa vs Chelsea (FA CUP Replay) Wed 7th February 2024 20:00 GMT

We need to build on from this win. No wonder we're better w/o T. Silva and Sterling.

Silva is probably one of the best CBs of his generation, but age is not just a number in football. An experienced CB can bring leadership and experience in the static moments, but other than that he is more of a pain in the ass as long as the team is trying to play on the front foot and not in a low block.

A win at Palace on Monday and a positive result at the Etihad would sky rocket our confidence before the League Cup Final.

 
WhiteWall said:
Knackered.

It showed to me where the fitness levels are over a sustained period and brought into sharp focus during one game exactly what the necessary level of performance is and what the result can be for not maintaining that.

Their goal was a microcosm of our season. Midfield too gassed to press or track, defence slow to get our, marking space rather than getting tight and a soft goal conceded.

As great as last night was, play like this against Man City with that ending and from 3-0 up with 10 to play I still don't think we win that game.

We need to build on this by repeating this level of performance every week and work on developing our stamina in some key positions.
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How much of that do you put down to us not being able to rotate our midfield much at all this season?

When Villa threw on attackers at the end it would have been the perfect time to bring on a tall strong defensive midfielder, a human full-time whistle if you will. Unfortunately Ugochukwu is injured (as is Lavia, who whilst not quite fitting that description could probably have done a job), so instead we had to bring on defenders and attackers and go to a more defensive shape whilst hoping fresh legs up top would give us some breathing room.

I'm not knocking that decision, without adequate options on the bench I think it was the best course of action. But it reinforces the idea that maybe we fade a bit towards the end of games because Enzo, Caicedo, and Conor all play almost every minute available at the moment.

 
😆 I'm so glad to be so wrong...best I e seen Chelsea this yr....we could be in Europe if we play like that each wk to seasons end...we'll done fans for making noise...Leeds....erm....goodbye

 
hephzibah said:
Enzo remains who he is, he never lowers his game or increases his game. You either like him or you don't like him. 

Now Chelsea fans say it is a midfield of Gallagher, Enzo and Caicedo, so even if Gallagher spoils the party, it is a Midfield of Gallagher, Enzo and Caicedo, they must all take the blame.

Instead of removing Gallagher and playing a better midfield trio, they won't do that.
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They are obviously 3 great young players. I thought last night they finally played together in a cohesive way.

Enzo is a personal fave of mine, but he has been MIA of late. He CAN do so much more. That free kick was sublime.

I mean we beat Aston Villa because our midfield finally got their sh1t together and NOT because Thiago Silva was absent.   Silva was not stopping the midfield in any way. . . .

Gallagher finally scored a freaking goal. As an attacking mid like him should be scoring more – shooting more.  And with more shots on goal there would be more for our strikers to poach. Some easy casual tap-ins.

That midfield 3 BEFORE last night had scored a total of 2 goals [Enzo] all season and now they have four goals between them and Caicedo almost nabbed one at the end when Nkunku put him through.

Hopefully this is the tipping point. That those 3 players will have more confidence, take more shots and unleash themselves.

NOTE: ideally Palmer and Enzo and Caicedo would be the midfield 3 - but we tried that and realised that Palmer was not ready yet.

 
Strange we looked so good without our two most senior players.

Or is it?

 
Bebe1980 said:
Not as much as I would!

We only had the commentary of it on an LP (that's vinyl for the young ones) for god knows how many years!
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Ha,I had/ got one somewhere, i went to every round but couldn't get a final ticket. What i remember from the 'record' was the quote, something like- "Away to the left is the most incredible sight,The whole of the Stretford End is a moving sea of blue and white"

 
TheCeleryKing said:
They are obviously 3 great young players. I thought last night they finally played together in a cohesive way.

Enzo is a personal fave of mine, but he has been MIA of late. He CAN do so much more. That free kick was sublime.

I mean we beat Aston Villa because our midfield finally got their sh1t together and NOT because Thiago Silva was absent.   Silva was not stopping the midfield in any way. . . .

Gallagher finally scored a freaking goal. As an attacking mid like him should be scoring more – shooting more.  And with more shots on goal there would be more for our strikers to poach. Some easy casual tap-ins.

That midfield 3 BEFORE last night had scored a total of 2 goals [Enzo] all season and now they have four goals between them and Caicedo almost nabbed one at the end when Nkunku put him through.

Hopefully this is the tipping point. That those 3 players will have more confidence, take more shots and unleash themselves.

NOTE: ideally Palmer and Enzo and Caicedo would be the midfield 3 - but we tried that and realised that Palmer was not ready yet.
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Who? Palmer? Wasn't ready to play in the midfield? But Gallagher is ready?

You've got to get Palmer ready to play in the midfield. Even if Palmer is not ready, he's still better than Gallagher. 

We have other people who can play in other positions, but Palmer can play in the midfield.

 
I dont think it's a case of Palmer being "ready" or not.

His skillset suits deploying him in attack. The weaknesses in his game are many of things you'd want a midfielder to do. He's not strong, whilst he's a decent presser of the ball he can't track a runner or make a tackle. Moreover he's clearly a very gifted finisher, moving him further back seems a bit pointless to me...

I could maybe see an argument for not playing all three of Enzo/Caicedo/Gallagher against lesser opposition, but that's a different discussion really.

 
Scott said:
Strange we looked so good without our two most senior players.

Or is it?
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I'm not in that belief that if you drop Silva and Sterling you get a result! It's not as cut and dried as that! We would've won regardless!

The game was won in midfield and I think is down to the players finally getting it together!

If Poch has won the dressing room back again as it looked last night, then I f**king hope we can build on that!

Players wanted to play for that badge which is something that was lacking, and that transferred on the pitch!

 
Modueke said:
The game was won in midfield and I think is down to the players finally getting it together!
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Maybe I'm just seeing what I want to, but I thought we were able to push the CB's a bit higher and play out a bit faster without Silva.

Whether or not that's true though, I'd honestly quite like him to be phased out now anyway, we need to prepare for life without him at some point.

 
Sample size for games without is maybe a little low, and I haven't looked into who those games were against. But this didn't make for pretty reading for Silva.


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cfr95 said:
How much of that do you put down to us not being able to rotate our midfield much at all this season?

When Villa threw on attackers at the end it would have been the perfect time to bring on a tall strong defensive midfielder, a human full-time whistle if you will. Unfortunately Ugochukwu is injured (as is Lavia, who whilst not quite fitting that description could probably have done a job), so instead we had to bring on defenders and attackers and go to a more defensive shape whilst hoping fresh legs up top would give us some breathing room.

I'm not knocking that decision, without adequate options on the bench I think it was the best course of action. But it reinforces the idea that maybe we fade a bit towards the end of games because Enzo, Caicedo, and Conor all play almost every minute available at the moment.
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Please stop talking about the midfield if you want Gallagher in the Midfield. With all the players Chelsea have, how did Gallagher get into the starting line-up?

 
cfr95 said:
I dont think it's a case of Palmer being "ready" or not.

His skillset suits deploying him in attack. The weaknesses in his game are many of things you'd want a midfielder to do. He's not strong, whilst he's a decent presser of the ball he can't track a runner or make a tackle. Moreover he's clearly a very gifted finisher, moving him further back seems a bit pointless to me...

I could maybe see an argument for not playing all three of Enzo/Caicedo/Gallagher against lesser opposition, but that's a different discussion really.
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We've played Fabregas in the Midfield before. Palmer will be playing behind the striker, Fabregas also played behind the striker. Fabregas and Palmer are both not strong, they cannot make much tackles, but they can both pass the ball.

So why can't we play Palmer in the Midfield?

 
Fabregas was an elite passer of the ball, and his defensive work was largely underrated.

Palmer is essentially a wide striker, his passing is fine, but it doesn't hold a candle to Cesc's. His finishing on the other hand, is very good, he's probably one of the best finishers at the club currently.

I feel like a lot of your comments and complaints are largely centered around your dislike for Gallagher, which saddens me a bit, Conor is great, and it's good fun rooting for a cobham graduate. It's a shame you don't see it that way.

 
cfr95 said:
Fabregas was an elite passer of the ball, and his defensive work was largely underrated.

Palmer is essentially a wide striker, his passing is fine, but it doesn't hold a candle to Cesc's. His finishing on the other hand, is very good, he's probably one of the best finishers at the club currently.

I feel like a lot of your comments and complaints are largely centered around your dislike for Gallagher, which saddens me a bit, Conor is great, and it's good fun rooting for a cobham graduate. It's a shame you don't see it that way.
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Terrible response. You've said Palmer's passing is fine. So wouldn't you rather go for a player whose passing is fine than go for Gallagher who can do nothing.

I have said even if Palmer's passing is not good, he's still better than Gallagher. Do you disagree that Palmer is better than Gallagher?

You say Palmer cannot pass as much as Fabregas can pass, but at least you said Palmer's passing is fine. So it's better you have a Palmer than you have a Gallagher who cannot pass at all.

 
I can’t remember the game where we played Palmer in the Gallagher position, but it didn’t work out. 

I think Palmer is great – can we say ‘generational talent’ yet? – and in a few years I think he could play that Centre mid role.  He is currently a kid who has barely played 30 professional football games total. So. Breathe. Give him time.

I have also been very critical of Gallagher. I have not questioned his loyalty or his energy as that is really beyond reproach.  I questioned his end product.  Now he has his first goal of the season I can see things going differently. It is a confidence issue. It is an issue of luck. But we saw against Villa those 3 midfield lads finally bonding – gelling – working – it really does take time for a bunch of players who don’t know each other to work it out, especially if they are young and they have never had to ‘work it out’ before.  

I mean now, when we get a free kick on the edge of the box, I am like, we have got a player who can do that. He has done it before and he will do it again. We have a free-kick specialist. That is a great asset.

Now we need to be able to score from corners. AND not concede from corners.

 
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