Could be. Good point.
That early goal really changes things for big sides as the opposition needs to come out and can´t sit in front of them more.
They do have plenty of options for now in midfield. The kid on the bench Barco is a bit of a wizard in my opinion though. Brilliant passer and I´m hoping he doesn´t settle for them.
He did, yes. I think he played there in the Carabao game as well..? Not sure.
I´d be surprised if they don´t make top four, but their CBs are still not that good, so here´s hoping.
I like both James and Gusto.
Would to take Gusto if he grows tired of being basically second fiddle.
But maybe there will be games in which they are both in midfield.
We could have tried something like Wirtz and Szobo behind the striker, with Kerkez and Frimpong as wingbacks (better than fullbacks at least), but hey so glad we swerved him because we didn’t want to give him control over Edwards and fucking Hughes.
To be honest, I absolutely hate wing backs, but he´s a club legend that did a good job at Germany with our star buy player. Seemed an obvious target.
Is that really the reason we didn´t get him? We have some weird ways of working.
Yeah, I like a lot of the Chelsea players, including the two you mention.
Interesting to see if Xabi settles on having one guy who starts almost every game, like he did with Xhaka at Leverkusen, and then switched up the midfield partner seemingly depending on the opposition.
So far that guy is Lavia. Which makes sense in terms of player type, have the guy in there with some ‘pausa’ to his game.
They play how we should play…the Alonso touch…
Some incredible chances the last few minutes. Gomez with a free back post header for Brighton, and now a double chance for Neto and Palmer.
I don’t think that is the reason we didn’t go for Alonso, it would appear to be much more of a stylistic issue with him being seen as much more of a possession focused manager.
All of the noise around Andoni’s selection was to do with his similarity in approach to Jurgen and I think so were the other managers that were linked.
Lucky goal but we take those!
We do! Game on!
Strong second half so far from Brighton.
Love that this silly fullbacks in midfield thing hasn´t made them more solid.
Have to play with the ball Xabi.
All right, excellent goal by Palmer. That should be it, even if Brighton have pushed them back for most of the second half.
There were a few Chelsea players cramping up after 75-80 minutes against Fulham, so I wonder if they’re not quite there physically yet.
They’ve spent much of this game sitting back, hitting Brighton on the break rather than trying to control them with the ball. Maybe still a work in progress in terms of what Xabi wants them to be, I’m sure he wouldn’t want to give Brighton this much of the initiative in a home game.
These foul throw are ridiculous.
You can throw it much further and flatter if you cheat.
Difficult to know what Chelsea will take from that. They looked good for long stretches but that was a bad second half
Yes mate.Salah from the right, Cherki No. 10, Ekiteke 9 and Pedro from the left. Hughes and Edwards have screwed us.
ManUtd looks the same. Nothing changed. Only intersting thing about them is Goldbridge ranting on their play.
Enciso has never really caught the eye for me for some reason…until last week where he was literally at the heart of everything good Ipswich did, and he just darted past Mbeumo like he wasn’t there.
What a goal, get the fuck in!
Fatty Shaw rinsed 