I thought Mo header was back across the box not at goal.
Chelsea won a nothing game against a team who clearly weren’t that bothered (see lack of reaction to Virgil’s goal), and did so with a collection for freak goals and now the Chelsea project has been validated. Apparently
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I cared so much about this one that I forgot we even had a game today.
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Good pre-season match for the 25/26 season.
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I actually can’t be arsed to argue it matters so little to me I booked a train ride home instead of watching.
I think you are wrong and you think I am wrong.
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We can’t really expect players, who hardly ever feature, to perform when they play once a month if that, in a mismatched team no less. They won’t be sharp, they won’t be as fit and they won’t have any rhythm. This isn’t how rotation is supposed to be done.
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I thought Bradley and Gakpo both looked sharper today. Quansah had a miserable day, and not all of his own making.
I didn’t think the midfield trio looked too bad individually, but swapping all three just made the whole team look disjointed, even in the long periods when we were dominating possession.
I’m curious as to what Slot does for the Arsenal game. I would have thought that fewer changes might be more productive for the fringe players that do get time.
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Yes, because professional footballers are well known fundamentalist terrorists.
Get a grip, talk about arguing in bad faith. This is thinly disguised xenophobia/racism and you should be disappointed in yourself.
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Yeah, and I said in the game thread - their first goal looked like the sort of defensive mix up you can see early in a game when you have an entirely new midfield unit playing.
From there they scored a freak goal on their second, and their third was a penalty that came from a careless mistake when playing too quickly because you’re chasing the game late.
It wasn’t a great performance and few players will be happy with it, but there isn’t much to learn from it
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I think all that game today was confirm how Slot had it dead right all season. Elliott is an impact player , Jonesy a good squad player and Quansah still a novice.
It has to be goodbye surely to Nunez , Jota and Chiesa.
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Perfectly acceptable to drop points a week after winning the league, especially when making a load of changes.
Thought Quansah was really good, just very unlucky. Thought Gakpo looked a threat throughout.
There were some players who looked like they were playing with a hangover, like Jones and Trent, and others who showed that they’re probably not good enough to contribute to this squad, like Kostas.
But one thing I’ve moaned about before and think it showed again today is that Jota doesn’t contribute enough when he starts at 9. Another start, another performance where he might as well not have been on the pitch.
Fully appreciate that and said as much in the pre-match thread.
For what it’s worth we could have won comfortably today and I’d still think Quansah should be fourth choice, that we need another midfielder and that we need a number 9.
I do have my doubts about both Quansah and Elliott long term but that’s nothing to do with today.
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The writing is on the wall for Jota and Nunez. Need to get rid this summer and bring in adequate replacements.
Nothing really new to take away from that and you could’ve predicted how the game was going to go before a ball was kicked.
Little surprised at how much quality we lacked in that front 3 - Harvey was a major disappointment too as I really wanted him to show his worth, wingers that couldn’t beat their man and a forward in Jota who looks like a shell…no sharpness and someone that lost his physical edge a long time ago.
Positives: Endo, Kostas, Bradley’s cameo, Chiesa (reluctantly) getting his winners’ medal, and no injuries.
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I’m genuinely not sure about this. It’s felt as though in this entire second half of the season whoever’s played there has struggled, usually from the same issues. I wonder if it’s more of a system issue than an individual player quality issue.
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Diaz doesn’t struggle to get involved when played there the way Jota and Nunez have
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In the recent games he’s played that role?
I’m not talking about the earlier parts of the season, when yes he didn’t struggle, but neither did Jota nor Núñez as much either.
I think Nunez is the one we’ll offload, and bring in a top replacement. Jota has 2 years left on his contract, so I just think we won’t bother offering him a new deal and keep him as a back-up to reduce the upheaval in the playing squad. However, if a decent offer came in, I think we’d consider it. It’ll be tough as once we sign one forward, it’d be a difficult sell to bring in someone else and say to them ‘you’re going to be back-up.’
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