Chelsea F.C. Thread IX

Kante is a doubt for the game against Palace. He messed up his hamstring so the midfield is gonna change. Lampard has felt safe playing the 2 number 8 midfielders with Kante sitting but would he be comfortable to do the same with Kovacic/Gilmour sitting?

Agree that it’s time Ruben started again. If he’s actually to get back to his best then he needs more minutes and in his natural position but I don’t see Barkley and Mount being dropped soon.

Kovacic isn't starting either.

Damn. He’ll probably go with the Gilmour/Barkley/Mount midfield that helped us win 4-0 against Everton but I don’t trust Palace to roll over and their midfield is more physical than Everton.

The Havertz and Rice rumours are heating up. Not against buying Rice anymore. WithJorginho on his way out and Kante’s persistent injury issues, he’s not a bad replacement and he can fill in at CB too. Tomori will probably be loaned out

I hate to say it but why don't we just save the money we'd use buying Rice and keep Bakayoko if possible?

I don't see if there is any improvement between buying Rice and keeping Bakayoko other than Rice is a Chelsea man through and through. I don't know how good Rice is at CB though but I'm guessing his time at DM would mean he's a better progressor of the ball than Zouma. Also it means Rudiger can GTFO.

It's a tough decision for Lampard with Tomori, he's shown promise but I think he should look at Klopp and what he and Rodgers did with Joe Gomez. Gomez was getting games at LB (a problem position for them and us) and Tomori could do the same, he has a similar skillset in that he's fast, strong and can progress the ball in play.

That being said I'd loan him out to a mid table team like Arsenal who needs a defender. [\b]

Literal heart in the mouth stuff for the last 5 minutes. Reece James has been a bit disappointing since the restart ngl. Was trying to give benefit of the doubt but I hope we didn’t promote the wrong youth product and sold Lamptey for nowt.

Also Tammy got the goal but what the hell was he doing at the end?? We easily could’ve lost because of him. He didn’t even bother tracking back after losing the ball either. Just stood there whingeing.

Zouma’s last ditch tackle as good as a goal at the other end and got the 3 points but wouldn’t wanna go through that again 😂

I don't think I'm a fan of Tammy's general body language tbh. If a pass doesn't go to him or its misplaced or whatever he's always moaning and throwing his arms in the air etc- fair enough its caused by a desire to score but as a striker he has to accept he isn't getting the pass every time. Especially when he's wasted a lot of very good chances this season (though clearly he's also scored a lot of goals).

And at the end there when he could see we were under significant pressure he does something like that- and then as soon as he lost the ball he just stood there and threw his arms up. Willian on the other hand who had played the entire match rather than about 20mins was still chasing around everywhere.

Wolves lost so top 5 confirmed if we win our next 2 games.

Hopefully City's ban isn't overturned so essentially that means we're gucci.