Chelsea 2019/20 is the worst team they've assembled in their history

Kick wrote:When did our history start?

McLewis wrote:Meh, Chelsea will be fine imo.

Abraham should be off to the races once he buries some chances. He looked all right, just needs to be more physical and combative. He looked cowed by Maguire and Lindelof, especially Maguire. Chelsea have a tradition of big, bruising strikers who bully defenders. Abraham isn't of that mold so time will tell if he will work up front. Too early to tell, but I like what I saw.

Lampard must settle who's going to be playing behind his striker. Pedro did well enough to warrant his spot on the right, but he's the only one right now. Willian will definitely get a spot as well when he's back. Pulisic looked better (to me anyway) than Mount, but not as good as Barkley, who probably shouldn't have been subbed off. Either way, I'm surprised Abraham got as much service as he did, even if it did wane as the game went on.

Kante will be back and I don't believe the talk of him not being in Lampard's plans. He's the best midfielder they've got and even at 50% he's invaluable to them. They need him back to 100% ASAP if that midfield is to function to the level expected otherwise, this type of loss won't be an outlier.

Zouma had a real mare obviously and Christiansen also didn't look all that assured as well. The crazy thing to me is that Rudiger, who got a mistake or 2 in him as well, was sorely missed. He reads the game much better than Zouma. Wouldn't be surprised if Chelsea's backline stabilizes when he returns.

As for Kepa, no keeper is going to look good with a leaky defense in front of him. He needs to find his voice more. Had very little chance on those goals though.

This was a hard hello for Lampard for EPL management, but he knows this league so well. The idea to give the youth academy products a chance to establish themselves is a good one and I think more clubs of Chelsea's stature should do it. Unfortunately, the price for that can be performances like this. It's a bump on a very long road. Chelsea fans gotta put this one in the rearview mirror and move on.

danyjr wrote:Except there is no pressure on this team to perform. The philosophy of this team has changed, they haven't been spending big on players for a few years now. They are already net €80 million on the plus side in the transfers. There is a shift with emphasis on building up the team from their infamous youth system and young players. And Frank Lampard is the right man for this job. With the transfer ban in place, it is the right thing to do.

If anything, I welcome this change. It is not going to be an overnight success but give it a few years and if Chelsea stick with this philosphy, it will start to pay off in the long run.