Brighton & Hove Albion 1 Chelsea 2

[paulw66]

4 hours ago, Sleeping Dave said:

He’s missed 155 days and 38 games this season through injury. Plus 2 games missed for suspension. 

He’s started 6 games for us all season and hasn’t played 90 minutes once. I’d say that’s pretty darn close to being a liability. It’s definitely not a player you can count on. 

When you put it like that..........

We can only hope that the recent surgery has worked.

4 hours ago, kev61 said:

 

It's not a coincidence that we ended on a high without Enzo and these two lads as the engine in the team

An Enzo who needed surgery.

Confident we see a much better version next season.

4 hours ago, kev61 said:

Yes. One thing that worries me he stumbled upon the pairing of Caicedo and Conor in midfield,it wasn't his design - remember he stuck Conor out wide!.

I do wonder where we might be if he'd had picked Gallagher in his proper position all season. 

3 hours ago, kev61 said:

 

Maatsen looked really good pre-season and then ditched.Chabolah has always looked reliable as a centre half but seemed to be down the pecking order.

Maatsen looked like a competition winner whenever he played a competitive game for us. 

And since returning from injury, Chalobah has been a regular.

3 hours ago, Bison said:

Such a shame we've not had this quality available throughout the season.

Skill and technique, doesn't turn the ball over every two seconds and a controlled finisher. 

Averaging a goal every 137 minutes in the PL, albeit from a small sample. 

Imagine how much difference he might have made, especially in the first half of the season when we failed to score at home to Forest, Villa and Brentford etc

3 hours ago, My Blood Is Blue said:

Also, quick question RE an elephant in the room we all seem to be ignoring/not seeing… have they actually put together a good young squad a

We've got an excellent group of young players. That much is obvious. 

A touch more experience, and one or two sensible additions, and we will have a very good team / squad.

Imagine where we would be if we'd had 20* starts each from James, Nkunku and Lavia? 

*not being greedy, just asking for just over 50%

2 hours ago, ROTG said:

In 2024 the team took 2/12 pts from the top 4 teams 

All of them away from home, and we nearly won 2 of those. We have also beaten the next 5 teams in the league in 2024, making up the rest of the top half 

The next step is to be better at beating the teams we should beat. 

[Mark Kelly]

Just now, My Blood Is Blue said:

 

Arteta, sadly, yes he does look like a good manager.

Just ask him , he'll tell you .

[johnnybozo]

11 hours ago, Ham said:

 

Great win today despite some outrageous use of VAR. 

Still, the same clowns spam this site game after game to spread negativity.

@johnnybozoWhy don't you just leave?  You clearly don't enjoy Chelsea winning or playing well. 

Because the best time I had as a Chelsea fan since Mourinho was when we had Lamps as  manager and had to use our academy. Now the team are full of clowns.

[paulw66]

3 minutes ago, johnnybozo said:

. Now the team are full of clowns.

Like James, Gallagher, Chalobah and Colwill?

[johnnybozo]

13 minutes ago, paulw66 said:

Like James, Gallagher, Chalobah and Colwill?

James made of glass now. Gallagher is hard working but incredibly limited. Chalobah is a donkey and Colwill is decent. 

[martin1905]

48 minutes ago, kev61 said:

The problem is he got lucky with Caicedo and Conor.Look I'm happy where we are so I will surf the wave of optimism with a degree of scepticism.

I agree mate.

There's far more negatives than positives this season, when you look at more than just the results. Something I have been consistent with all season. It's so easy to look at the points we have amassed since Christmas as say we're the 4th best team in the league but it's not that simple.

What happened to all the teams that were better than us in the first half of the season,  did we suddenly become better than them or did their levels drop ?

Are we suddenly better than Tottenham, Newcastle, United, Villa, Liverpool because Pochettino has had time to implement his system?

Do the amount of points we have since Christmas make  up for the performaves against Burnley, Sheffield United, Wolves, Liverpool, Arsenal, Brentford, Man United and the shambolic league Cup final in the same time frame?

Its always been about performances for me and building a solid foundation that we can move forward with. I've been consistent with this since day one.

This progress some keep talking about, have we really seen gradual progress with results and  performances getting steadily better? Have we witnessed us playing the same system and style of football with the team slowly getting used to the managers tactics,  which in turn, over the course ofnthe season,  improved the results and performances?

Did we get lucky with the timing of Enzo's injury? Some will say no because we were already performing better but were we? Sure we were picking up more points but it's only since Enzo got injured have our performance levels gone up, is that down to this steady progress under the manager or just plain luck?

It's very easy to point at stats and shout how we'll we've been doing and it must be down to the manager but there are so many more factors in play. If people believe our second half of the season is down to giving the manager time and that's all that was ever needed then fine, personally that's not how I see it.

I didnt see us start the season with a system and set style of play that allowed us to build a solid foundation, that we have improved on, that has been worked on, on the training ground which has evolved throughout the season to bring us to where we are now, in terms of our level of performance 

Now I may be wrong, I hold my hands up, maybe we have seen an evolution in Poch's football and we are playing so well because of it but I just dont see it that way. At all. And despite our recent results, and more recent performances I still have the same questions I had 6 games in and that is a worry.

 

 

[boratsbrother]

27 minutes ago, paulw66 said:

 

An Enzo who needed surgery.

Confident we see a much better version next season.

 

I doubt he'll be a first choice start most games, so will he accept being a rotation/bench player?  

Our injuries are finally clearing up, so next season we'll have Colwill, Chilly, James, Nkunku, Sterling, and possibly Chuck and Lavia as well, all wanting to start games most weeks.  

 

[paulw66]

1 minute ago, boratsbrother said:

I doubt he'll be a first choice start most games, so will he accept being a rotation/bench player?  

 

I expect he will be

1 minute ago, boratsbrother said:

 

Our injuries are finally clearing up, so next season we'll have Colwill, Chilly, James, Nkunku, Sterling, and possibly Chuck and Lavia as well, all wanting to start games most weeks.  

 

I doubt all of those players will be here next season. Lots of talk of Chilwell and Sterling being up for sale

[martin1905]

30 minutes ago, paulw66 said:

I do wonder where we might be if he'd had picked Gallagher in his proper position all season. 

Wasn't just Connor being played out of position.

We have seen him play pretty much as a striker, aimlessly running around trying a single handed press. That in isolation may have worked but when he allowed Enzo the freedom to do what he wanted, without the physical capabilities of being able to run back when he got caught high up the pitch, leaving Caicedo totally isolated.

Now, this would be bad but when you add in two gung-ho fullbacks it was nothing short of disastrous. We had Connor starting the press with Enzo being allowed to do whatever he wanted,  getting caught far too high up the pitch, along with both full backs, leaving Caicedo and the two centre half's completely exposed.

That was how the manager set us up for 90% of the season. It's quite clearly how he wanted to play.

There was none of Cucurella stepping into midfield, allowing one of the pivot to move into a more advanced position, inturn allowing Palmer to double up out wide, creating all sorts of attacking possibilities. We haven't watched that tactic evolve throughout the season. We witnessed an utter shambles tactically pretty much up until the last few games.

I find it very hard to credit Pochettino when I remember how he was setting us up to play football. How he showed zero ability to make changes when it wasn't working. How we couldn't do the very basics right and just how shambolic our football was. 

On the other hand, I have really enjoyed watching us recently, so much so I don't really care how we got to where we currently are and want to see it continue and hopefully develop.  100% credit him for the performances since Everton, most of them anyway, it doesn't even really matter if he would have done this if Enzo hadn't got injured but, not you I know, harping on about how much better we have been since Christmas is just, a bit much.

 

 

 

[boratsbrother]

3 hours ago, ROTG said:

In 2024 the team took 2/12 pts from the top 4 teams - that is reality and nothing to do with Burnley 

and is a reality check on the level of the team 

In all competitions we've played the top four teams 11 times this season.

The three times we've played the likey champions, we've drawn 2 and lost 1. All three games we held our own.

One good performance against Atsenal and one very bad one.

One decent game at home to Liverpool  in the league and one bad one away. A game which had their fans saying it was the best they played this season. A cup final in which we were the better side but lost.

2 draws in the league against Villa and an easy win in the Cup at their ground. We were also the better team in the recent 2-2 draw at their ground.

So, from where we were and still are, 2 bad games out of 11 against the best 4 teams is imho a very encouraging sign for the future.

Edited May 16 by boratsbrother

[martin1905]

30 minutes ago, johnnybozo said:

James made of glass now. Gallagher is hard working but incredibly limited. Chalobah is a donkey and Colwill is decent. 

How's Gallagher limited? He's built for the role he is currently playing. Sure he's limited if you want to play him as a 10 but that would just be stupid.

Not sure there are many, anywhere I'd swap Gallagher for, and all his apparent limitations, playing him in this system. He's built for it.

[martin1905]

@johnnybozo  Oh, and Chalobah has been very, very good since returning from injury.

Been hugely impressed with him. Right now he's 100% first choice and deservedly so.

Edited May 16 by martin1905

[paulw66]

50 minutes ago, martin1905 said:

@johnnybozo  Oh, and Chalobah has been very, very good since returning from injury.

Been hugely impressed with him. Right now he's 100% first choice and deservedly so.

He's really surprised me TBH. has ironed out the mistakes in his game 

[ROTG]

1 hour ago, boratsbrother said:

In all competitions we've played the top four teams 11 times this season.

The three times we've played the likey champions, we've drawn 2 and lost 1. All three games we held our own.

One good performance against Atsenal and one very bad one.

One decent game at home to Liverpool  in the league and one bad one away. A game which had their fans saying it was the best they played this season. A cup final in which we were the better side but lost.

2 draws in the league against Villa and an easy win in the Cup at their ground. We were also the better team in the recent 2-2 draw at their ground.

So, from where we were and still are, 2 bad games out of 11 against the best 4 teams is imho a very encouraging sign for the future.

What are you saying 6pts / 24 pts is good?

even if we had one all those game we would still be 10pts behind the leaders. 
 

long away to go for top 4 and even further for top two. 

Edited May 16 by ROTG

[Backbiter]

12 hours ago, Ham said:

Those dropped points against Burnley and Sheffield United are looking kinda important now. 

More importantly, if we hadn't let a 2 goal lead slip against Arsenal, we're pushing for 4th and they're already done.

Not to mention the VAR intervention that cost us a win at Villa.

 

 

[ROTG]

1 hour ago, boratsbrother said:

2 hours ago, paulw66 said:

 

I doubt he'll be a first choice start most games, so will he accept being a rotation/bench player? 

He was an ego buy of Toddles or Eggy and on £180k per week,  you can guarantee the company coach will be told to play him. 

[east lower]

30 minutes ago, paulw66 said:

He's really surprised me TBH. has ironed out the mistakes in his game 

Couple of dodgy moments yesterday though, but broadly speaking we’ve looked better with him in the defence.

[Ham]

5 hours ago, My Blood Is Blue said:

Also, quick question RE an elephant in the room we all seem to be ignoring/not seeing… have they actually put together a good young squad and are we going to need to put our hands up and say that maybe we got it a bit wrong in terms of those that built this side?

I’m not suggesting they got it all right or that we paid market value for each player, but the list of players that are looking like good signings/potential to be good signings is growing (appreciate some of these are still up for debate)…

Petrovic (24 years old)
Gusto (20)
Cucurella (25)
Badiashile (23)
Caicedo (22)
Nkunku (26)
Chukwuemeka (20)
Palmer (22)
Madueke (22)
Jackson (22)

Not me. I've championed the squad from day one. 

[Siidi]

1 hour ago, boratsbrother said:

In all competitions we've played the top four teams 11 times this season.

The three times we've played the likey champions, we've drawn 2 and lost 1. All three games we held our own.

One good performance against Atsenal and one very bad one.

One decent game at home to Liverpool  in the league and one bad one away. A game which had their fans saying it was the best they played this season. A cup final in which we were the better side but lost.

2 draws in the league against Villa and an easy win in the Cup at their ground. We were also the better team in the recent 2-2 draw at their ground.

So, from where we were and still are, 2 bad games out of 11 against the best 4 teams is imho a very encouraging sign for the future.

Funny how statistics can be spun 180 degrees to support an opposing argument. 

One of my biggest doubts about Pochettino is his ability to change things in big games to snatch a victory from the jaws of defeat or a draw. In that context, you can say the stats you've just shown prove my point. 
I am not saying these other managers are necessarily better. Still, Mourinho or even Conte would have found a way to win a few of those matches where we were initially comfortable or even on top, only to draw or lose. My worry for next season is that this part of Pochettino is unfixable. If I am right, then we will suffer similar results next season, I'm afraid. 

[paulw66]

58 minutes ago, east lower said:

Couple of dodgy moments yesterday though, but broadly speaking we’ve looked better with him in the defence.

I was too p*ssed to notice!

 

Think I was a few seats to your left

[east lower]

1 minute ago, paulw66 said:

I was too p*ssed to notice!

 

Think I was a few seats to your left

It was a little lively in the town centre, I noticed 😂🤣. 

Row A, great for when the ball was down our end but not so good for t’other end. 

Glorious afternoon down there though, not a cloud in the sky and pleasant temperatures. 

A few seats to the left was a chap with lots of tattoos, doing the zigger-zagger. Were you near him?

 

 

[paulw66]

1 minute ago, east lower said:

It was a little lively in the town centre, I noticed 😂🤣. 

Row A, great for when the ball was down our end but not so good for t’other end. 

Glorious afternoon down there though, not a cloud in the sky and pleasant temperatures. 

A few seats to the left was a chap with lots of tattoos, doing the zigger-zagger. Were you near him?

 

 

A bit further left. We were row C, near the side of the penalty area.

A long, late lunch in Cote Brasserie was our downfall. 

[east lower]

Just now, paulw66 said:

A bit further left. We were row C, near the side of the penalty area.

A long, late lunch in Cote Brasserie was our downfall. 

Drinking in the afternoon…….always seems such a good idea at the time! 🥴 🥳🤪🤢💤

[My Blood Is Blue]

Reece James has the joint most red cards this season, despite only playing 419 mins of football. Ha!

[paulw66]

2 hours ago, ROTG said:

 

long away to go for top 4 and even further for top two. 

8 points. 

Not a lot. 

2 hours ago, ROTG said:

He was an ego buy of Toddles or Eggy and on £180k per week,  you can guarantee the company coach will be told to play him. 

utter fantasy.