Post-match...

Fat Frank should not worry about others, and just worry about his team.

Chelsea are top of the league and look very well placed to get the top 4, if not more.

Yeah I'm with Lampard here. Although (so far) I've got a few of the young guys wrong, I expected CHO to play more & Abraham to struggle getting in front of Werner/Giroud, the idea we'd abandoned the idea of youth integration just because we had a big summer was nonsense.

And the idea Mount wouldn't get in the team regardless of who we signed was actually hilarious. I said at the start of the season he'd be prioritized to the point our own fans would start calling him Lampard's son on social media - I didn't expect it to start happening this quickly but I knew it was happening

Frank was never going to just desert youthful foundations and especially what Tammy provides as a frontman which his goals (scoring 15, the most non-penalty goals in his debut PL season is no mean feat), link-up and industry (makes himself a nuisance on opposition defence).

Without Tammy, we don't make top 4 last season.
Tammy & Werner are both goal-getters.
Frank been yearning for ruthless finishers in the box, would want them both in the team.

I'm thrilled that Chelsea is rescued from the depths of any further damage and despair caused by predecessors.
Such mistakes wont happen again under current management, due to making youngsters believe/know that there is a pathway and they have a chance breaking through.
Frank reaping the benefits of being a forward-thinking logical manager.


In an alternative reality...could have ended up with:

Hysaj over Reece James
Rugani over Christensen
Vecino over Mount
Higuain over Tammy
Paredes over Havertz

Not to forget about Kepa who the previous manager scouted and endorsed (with the help of Pepe Reina), deemed worthy of paying a record fee (There is copous amounts of evidence to substantiate that Sarri requested the club sign Kepa, before anyone claims otherwise).

Gone are days of such short-sightedness and short-termists managers.

The issue is we wouldn't have got top 4 without Giroud either, and with Werner coming in who's used to being in a two & proven to play well with a target man I expected Abraham to be the odd one out tactically. Nothing to do with him as a player.

Conversely because we let go of Willian without signing a direct replacement in terms of offering natural width on the right, as Ziyech's more of a wide inside playmaker, I expected CHO to get more minutes. Again not particularly because of him as a player, just fit a requirement tactically.

And yes Sarri is the devil, I know

Tammy's industry & pace sets him apart from Giroud (+ always improving with back to goal and link-up play), so of course Tammy was going to be favored.
Frank has always placed an emphasis on that, Giroud falls short of being able to energetically press for a sustained period.

4th was the position we were in from matchday 10 until the end of the season (three-quarters of the season).
Tammy put us in that position where we can be fighting for top 4 longer period (until he picked up injuries), in the first place.

True, does tantum well with Mount pressing from the front, but the pace advantage would be offset by the presence of Werner & Havertz (both faster) in the team, it's nice obviously but wouldn't make him a necessity on the ball. I expected Giroud to act as a conduit to the carousel of movement he was going for at the start of the season, similar to how Wenger used him at Arsenal. Anyway, I was wrong.