It was quite clearly a 4-4-3 Boehly masterpiece.
Graham Potter | turns down Ajax job
- Thread starter horsechoker
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No, because the rest of the team wasn't set up that way? Kovacic and Mount were both played as 8s in a 3 man midfield and Havertz / Aubameyang were both further forward.
Chelsea's structure was set up to have a box of the wide CBs and the 8s with Jorginho floating in the middle. It was categorically a 3-5-2.
Don’t know what it is but I’m getting David Moyes vibes. Think Chelsea may be one level too high but I wish him the best of luck (actually I don’t)
Anyway, regardless it was still a strange lineup he selected.
It’s not like Koulibaly and Fofana were making their debuts. They’ve already played a few games together with the team. Koulibaly probably has more champions league experience than most of the Chelsea team.
Looked like he had two different game plans. 3-5-2 when in possession, going to 4-4-2 when out of possession
Anyway... Sacked in the morning?
On that we can fully agree mate - I just cannot understand how anyone can justify starting Azpilicueta at this point. He is a total liability in and out of possession. Offers absolutely nothing right now; genuinely a dogshit player these days.
It was definitely some sort of 3-5-2 / 1-3-4-2 in possession; hard to say what it looked like out of possession since Chelsea's counterpressing was generally very good.
1 game closer to the sack.
I'd say about 57 more to go.
I'd say about 57 more to go.
Looking at the heatmaps.... definitely looks more 5 at the back than 4.... Cucu and Cesars look similar... James and Sterling look similar(ish), but not as much as the wide 2 in the back 3.
Did he play a back 4? If so then why?! Are Chelsea’s owners forcing the manager to play a 4-3-3/4-2-3-1.
#PotterOut is trending on Twitter
Tbh feck knows. People are having to pull out heatmaps and training drills to understand wtf was going on. Not sure it’s a good thing not being able to identify Chelsea’s setup.
I don't understand this joke but people keep saying it everywhere. Is it an American sports joke?
Some fluff piece somewhere exposed a supposed inside story post Tuchel sacking and one of those stories was that Boehly wrote 443 on a board when trying to explain something to Tuchel. Or something along those lines.
Disappointing result today but at least it puts them in a good position for a high pick in the draft next year.
443 brilli
Tuchel wasn't innovative enough to use that formation. Sacked for same.
Much of the game when we were forward, Azpi and Silva were dropped deep with James and Cucu forward. I don’t remember Azpi and Cucu back wide with Silva in the middle while we had possession forward. When falling back Cucu gets back pretty fast.
I actually thought Chelsea played okay in this game. Salzburg scored with literally their one and only half chance but otherwise they were pretty terrible. Unlucky result.
Much of the game when we were forward, Azpi and Silva were dropped deep with James and Cucu forward. I don’t remember Azpi and Cucu back wide with Silva in the middle while we had possession forward. When falling back Cucu gets back pretty fast.
I wouldn't go off stuff like that. They make them based off the historical nature of the player (BBC-Sky for instance get formations wrong very often).
Heres you average positions.
An absurd ... something? 3 at the back though.
I wouldn't go off stuff like that. They make them based off the historical nature of the player (BBC-Sky for instance get formations wrong very often).
Heres you average positions.
An absurd ... something? 3 at the back though.
Thanks
Cucu was forward a lot on the left side. I did miss a lot of the first half driving home. Damn work during CL!
Thought Chelsea played very well, just found wanting in that final third.
It was a back 3, very much like the formation Brighton play with WBs playing like wingers in possessionI wouldn't go off stuff like that. They make them based off the historical nature of the player (BBC-Sky for instance get formations wrong very often).
Heres you average positions.
An absurd ... something? 3 at the back though.
You clearly have never watched Brighton play.
Sterling pretty much played the role that Trossard played for Brighton , under Potter.
I think Potter heard TalkSport slagging off ETH for his suit and thought…that’s one thing I can get right! (first bullet dodged)
Shame it was only a draw and the inevitable Moyes comparisons have started.
All part of being a manager for one of the big teams in the Prem.
Shame it was only a draw and the inevitable Moyes comparisons have started.
All part of being a manager for one of the big teams in the Prem.
Sadly a lot of are fans are acting rather delusional. Embarrassing really.#PotterOut is trending on Twitter
Like Potter, but hope he fails because I really want the Boehly cnut to fail
Think you’ll get you wish ….they’ll both fail, well at least in the short term, don’t think potter will last too long.
Nkunku (sp?) had a good chance or 2 didn't he? Not saying Chelsea played poorly, I only saw the 8m highlights.
Aside from that one lapse and goal it was one of the most lopsided games I’ve ever watched. I waited for the stats to see if I was seeing that correctly, but there was a large gap in Xg, we had 72% possession and good portion of it looked positive , especially in the second half. Aside from an odd mistake after a foul by Silva, we didn’t look even half troubled (and if Fofana was in there instead of Azpi even that goal doesn’t happen).
I thought the way we moved our shape around was brilliant. We opened up acres of space in good spots.
We lacked in quality making use of that space, and pulling Sterling for Pulisic was like voluntarily going a man down.
Gallaghers touch and everything else was extremely clunky at times. Havertz and Mount had those moments as well, but countered it with good moments.
Kovacic our best midfielder… easily. James our best player …. Easily.
Starting Azpi next to Silva… people think you can get away with it against weaker teams… but it only takes one odd counter…
That and pulling Sterling early would be my only managerial critiques.
Observation: RLC played very well. He is especially dangerous against tired legs, and he has trouble going a full 90 without picking up muscle injuries. Top level sub honestly seems his best role.
I was actually pleased with the first Potter performance overall.
I thought the way we moved our shape around was brilliant. We opened up acres of space in good spots.
We lacked in quality making use of that space, and pulling Sterling for Pulisic was like voluntarily going a man down.
Gallaghers touch and everything else was extremely clunky at times. Havertz and Mount had those moments as well, but countered it with good moments.
Kovacic our best midfielder… easily. James our best player …. Easily.
Starting Azpi next to Silva… people think you can get away with it against weaker teams… but it only takes one odd counter…
That and pulling Sterling early would be my only managerial critiques.
Observation: RLC played very well. He is especially dangerous against tired legs, and he has trouble going a full 90 without picking up muscle injuries. Top level sub honestly seems his best role.
I was actually pleased with the first Potter performance overall.
Easy mistake, the guy playing up front for them looks a little like Nkunku, but he plays for Leipzig, not Salzburg.
No, he had one half hearted header from the edge of the box off a decent cross. But Kepa caught it easy. Other than that it looked like were playing a lower tier team. We just couldn’t finish more. We had a ton of good chances, just a touch careless on a lot of them. One was called offside when it clearly wasn’t, but their goalie made the save anyway. He made 3 1 v1 saves. Which is either remarkable for him, or a point of criticism to us.
We played well though.
But yeah, agree with the rest of your post. Salzburg only created enough for 0.35 xG so it's not exactly right to say they had a few 'good chances'. A couple of half-chances at best and other than that they didn't offer any threat whatsoever throughout the whole game .
As far as the performance goes I'd say it was a very decent first outing for Potter's Chelsea but 3 points was an absolute must-have after losing the first group game so the result was horrid. Now we need to get at least 4 points against Milan to even have a chance of topping the group. At this point I'd be happy to just qualify to the knockouts from second place, but even for that there isn't much room for mistakes anymore.
But yeah, agree with the rest of your post. Salzburg only created enough for 0.35 xG so it's not exactly right to say they had a few 'good chances'. A couple of half-chances at best and other than that they didn't offer any threat whatsoever throughout the whole game .
As far as the performance goes I'd say it was a very decent first outing for Potter's Chelsea but 3 points was an absolute must-have after losing the first group game so the result was horrid. Now we need to get at least 4 points against Milan to even have a chance of topping the group. At this point I'd be happy to just qualify to the knockouts from second place, but even for that there isn't much room for mistakes anymore.
I find it a bit of a relief not to have to hate Chelsea any more. The feeling is hard to shake, admittedly, but my brain keeps remembering that you’re now just another English club with a quirky history, bought up by Big American Business.
You still have to hate them. They’re still Chelsea.
That bohemian club from Belgravia with the west end hooligans and a few cup runs? Those we got Ray Wilkins and Tommy Docherty from, who later stumbled onto some good times getting Ruud Gullit and Gianluca Vialli to play their sunset years there? Nah, I’ve got no beef with them.
Maybe it’s because I lived in West London for a while but I always found them amongst the most annoying fans in football.
Much of the game when we were forward, Azpi and Silva were dropped deep with James and Cucu forward. I don’t remember Azpi and Cucu back wide with Silva in the middle while we had possession forward. When falling back Cucu gets back pretty fast.
It was very obviously a back 3. Also Kovacic was the left sided 8; I'd be surprised if he had more than a few touches. He certainly wasn't a right sided pivot player.
What a horrendous twitter post. Sure, let's take a snapshot of a Tuchel game where only 1 midfielder out of 5 at the club could complete 90 mins. No Kova, no James. And then say it's indicative of overall structure...
Totally normal. It's the same reason I can't stand seeing Arsenal fans happy. I spent my entire childhood and majority of my adulthood living amongst them and I can't think of a fanbase worse than them
Totally normal. It's the same reason I can't stand seeing Arsenal fans happy. I spent my entire childhood and majority of my adulthood living amongst them and I can't think of a fanbase worse than them
Yup. Although weirdly the ground I lived closest to was Loftus Road and I never got wound up by QPR fans. Fulham fans seemed ok too.
There’s definitely something about success that makes some fans more annoying than others. So the upside of United’s horrific last 10 years is how much more loveable it’s made us fans
A game as boring, if not more so, than its predecessors.
Worrying decisions.
From the starting eleven to the substitutions.
I expected more boldness and freshness in Potter.
I think we're all more confused at the moment than before.
It's not a good sign.
Azpi and Silva?
Against one of the youngest and best organised teams in the competition?
Auba?
I want to see Fofana, Broja, another style of play.
Potter looked lost throughout the game.
It's early days but it looks like it's going to be a long and tedious road, what I'm least worried about is the result.
And we are last in the group.
Worrying decisions.
From the starting eleven to the substitutions.
I expected more boldness and freshness in Potter.
I think we're all more confused at the moment than before.
It's not a good sign.
Azpi and Silva?
Against one of the youngest and best organised teams in the competition?
Auba?
I want to see Fofana, Broja, another style of play.
Potter looked lost throughout the game.
It's early days but it looks like it's going to be a long and tedious road, what I'm least worried about is the result.
And we are last in the group.