GURJ SS

Great performance and hopefully we can build on this and go on another run to secure a top 4 place, but Lamps took a huge risk with his subs, I'm all for giving youth a chance but just a bit of balance between youth and experience needs to be looked at; Watford with some luck could have made it 2-2. Very surprised to not see Jorginho come on, Gilmour struggled but I'm going to put that down to mismanagement because it really wasn't the game to throw him into. MOTM for me shouldn't be a debate, Pulisic is turning into a top world class player and ran Watford ragged. Mount was brilliant and Barkley worked his socks off and got an assist and goal; but I'm sure Pulisic left Watford's defenders with skidmarks.

Yep... My only issue with him Barkley regardless of if his plays well or not, (today he played very well) is for a player in the position he plays he doesn't see the ball enough when we're launching an attack, he doesn't drop deep and pick the ball up or make himself available for the defence to take up the pressure; he sort of hides behind opposition players, only when we're winning and look comfortable he'll look to call for the ball more. Maybe he doesn't trust himself to make the right choices in certain areas of the pitch which could lead to the opposition scoring, Sterling was the Same at Liverpool in he made some blunders and the first thing Pep did was stop him dropping deep to pick the ball up, which is totally fine as a winger but not as a centre mid. Today he took his goal well and I hope he can build on this performance, maybe he needs more self belief before being that guy who takes control of a midfield and wants the ball to make things happen all over the pitch.

Can relax now.

Barkley!

2-0, vast experience off and minimal experience on. Let's hope Watford doesn't take advantage of this.

Yep, it comes across as Lamps doesn't trust the bench enough.

Definitely, you know he's just going to keep it no nonsense.

If anything I think they had the most pressure on them, people were rubbing their hands at the prospect of Chelsea being dead and buried early on in the season, yet they surprised many by playing confidently and better than most other centre backs in the league. The fact is they performed when they were called upon and by that merit they should have had Rudiger and Christensen force their way back into the team and not simply walk back in; I could understand if they were players of great quality but our centre backs are so close in terms of overall quality that it can't be justified dropping those doing well for players who have performed worse. Does it point to Lampard not being strong enough or good enough to make the right choices? Halfway through a season he tore out the spine of the team and it's lead to inconsistent performances and many of those who he brought in have been far more inconsistent than the players they replaced; is it simply that Lampard got lucky that the right players were injured at the same time. Jorge, Kovacic, Pulisic, Willian and Pedro can play in-between the lines, and I'd say Mount and RLC aren't too bad at it to say we should avoid playing that way. I'd say it's better than constantly crossing the ball to just one target in the box. We're doing it right now against Watford, our goal came from playing in-between the lines yet we keep crossing, Pulisic won the penalty by keeping the ball on the ground yet we keep trying to get a perfect crossing right. For a player who played in a team that was known for organisation, the way he sets up set-pieces is nothing short of abysmal, I'm surprised JT hasn't made a call and asked him what's going on.. I'd agree and I think it's because we are just genuinely leaderless on the pitch, Dave is more of a captain that you'd have stand in, great worker but not the largest of personalities to boss things. Personally I think Zouma and Tomori are great together, I want to see Ruidger sold as I think at his age he should be the finish product but still looks like it's only his 2nd season as a first team player.

When I saw you say it yesterday I thought it was an overreaction, and I really don't want it to happen, and I don't think it will. I think if we don't make the top 4 we will keep Lamps on, which I think is actually worse. I do hope we get top 4 and he keeps his job, we need it even if for just public relations. His selection of players is baffling as times and he makes changes just when the starting XI is gaining momentum. But what worries me is how unbalanced his style of football is. Yesterday day we had Dave out on the wide right overlapping Willian and Barkley was pushed infield too, there was no protection at all down the right against a counter attack; there was no intelligence in terms of tactics. It's just gung-ho tactics, throwing everything forward without thinking about balance. The players that carried us when we thought we'd have a poor season and were our spine behind the striker were: Tomori, Zouma, Jorginho, Kovacic and Mount; 1 out of 5 started the game yesterday. When we were playing our best football all of Rudiger, Christensen, Kante and Barkley were not on the pitch yet they've found themselves on the pitch yesterday. Just crazy. James looked like a breath of fresh air with Dave even switching to left back and now we've gone back to trying to accommodate a left wing back in a fullback position (both Alonso and Emerson are wing backs and play best with a 3 man defence behind them). It's like when Lampard didn't have an option but fluke he picked the right team, but now he has options he doesn't have a clue which team to pick; maybe his very recent experience as a footballer is playing against him and he thinks the more known players need to be starting to keep peace in the dressing room, either way he's making huge mistakes at such a vital time in the club's journey to become a top 4 team again.

Every year teams are supposed to get stronger, that has stopped happening for a few years now. If you ask fans who they'd replace in their teams they'll give you a list longer than those they'd keep, there was a time when they'd only pick 3-4 players to replace because they acknowledged their club couldn't realistically get better players in at certain positions; now they'd gut their teams out because the quality just isn't there.

That's shocking. It also shows how weak teams have got in league, that we've lost more games than the current team in 10th place, and we're 4th.

I think it's a mental decision to play him at DM. Just because a player is quick and can win the ball doesn't mean he's a DM, that position is all about...well...positioning, and when your team has most of the possession then it's a vital position, one I don't think Kante has the right attributes to play; players like Jorge are built for that moment, they're able to decide in a split second which side the opposition is weaker down and release the ball down that wing. Pirlo was a master at it, and also because of Makelele having such ball winning ability this part of his game was hugely overlooked; as was Carvalho's when he'd step into midfield.

I think this defeat is particularly bad because we've sent a very clear message out to the rest of the league, much the same as a team like Arsenal does or Spurs, they make their weaknesses very very clear; every team has them but it's how well you hide them that matters. Ours is that if you put 2 banks of 4 behind the ball, a physical striker on the pitch and some height on the ball, then we'll fold like a cheap hooker getting punched in the stomach by a guy with boils on his face. We're lucky the league has changed in style and teams keep the ball on the ground more with short passing, 10-15 years ago we'd be getting beat week in week out. This team needs a shake up and fast, we need to go back to a triangle of Tomori, Zouma and Jorge in front of the keeper. Not only did Tomori and Zouma develop an understanding but Kovacic and Jorge had a very good understanding between each other earlier in the season and we need to find these pockets of understanding again, Kante is a great player but he's wasted sitting back in front of the backline, he needs to be winning the ball higher up the pitch but only in games we won't see more of the ball in. Giroud and Pulisic must start as many games as possible. Reese needs to be playing, even if that means Dave switching to left back (it's not like the left backs are doing well). For the next game I'd pick: Kepa; Reese, Zouma, Tomori, Dave; Jorge; Odoi, Kovacic, Mount, Pulisic; Giroud; Reasons - Kovacic can link up with Jorge to control the midifeld and also give cover to Reese and Odoi down the right. Dave on the left would provide cover for Mount and Pulisic to get forward. Odi and Pulisic are two wide men that will run at an opposition and are quick enough to get past their marker and put the ball into Giroud, and Mount would be able to join the attack as a late runner while being covered by Jorge and Kova.

That goal at the end... As much as we can blame Rudiger and he was hugely at fault we must also look everywhere else. It's just basic knowledge that when the fullbacks are pushed that far up the pitch then it's the job of the midfield to cover for them, and same goes for the fullbacks when the midfielders have pushed forward, we have zero communication and zero leadership followed by zero tactics which is why when it came to the basics they all found themselves out of position and on the wrong side of such basic and simple football by the opposition.

Thanks Rudiger, you could of either pushed up for offside or not let Yarmalenko on his left foot, you did neither.