If you are interested the average player position maps (albeit based on touches so not a true representation) can be found - https://www.whoscored.com/Matches/1485240/MatchReport/England-Premier-League-2020-2021-Chelsea-Tottenham

Good stuff

Chelsea had less than a 1 xG, so even though I thought we were poor 2nd half and they were better in overall play I dont think a draw was an inaccurate reflection of a result.

Comment deleted by Site Moderator

Phenom - the xG was an accurate representation of the game, neither team created much and we created less

Greatteams - I agree, and the Liverpool result confirmed that mindset before the game as well

I think Chelsea did the right thing though. Attack more and we could have killed them off more on the counter

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True, just what I think Frank had in mind.

Next week worries me we will do the same and arsenal will be negative and force us a bit more, that could be a stalemate too.

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I thought Chelsea were good 2nd half and would have won if they played like that all game. First half we had them were we wanted them but weren't clinical on the counter.

We have to treat them like a mid table side - I don’t think they have the defensive quality to nullify Kane/Son etc and they don’t really have the attacking quality to punish us - especially with the lack of Auba form and supply.

comment by GTWI4T- some people deserve to get trolled (U6008)
posted 42 seconds ago
comment by Phenom- least knowledgeable spurs poster 2019/20 (U20037)
posted 41 seconds ago
True, just what I think Frank had in mind.

Next week worries me we will do the same and arsenal will be negative and force us a bit more, that could be a stalemate too.
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Yeah, that will be an interesting one for Jose. He'll have to set up on the front foot, cos Arteta won't.
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Yrah they were a bit more positive against us last time because we were in poor form going into it but the fact they're underdogs will suit them and it won't be as easy as it could be

I know it’s not popular to be positive pre-NLD; but at the moment we are better than them all over the pitch and it should be an easy victory. The fact that we are so hesitant is because we have be burnt so many times before

Comment deleted by Site Moderator

Less so this season I think though?

I disagree that we were set up for a draw. We were set up not to lose. There's a subtle difference.

The difference between this game and City was that we did not perform as well in possession. Chelsea did a better job of restricting this, esp. in the second half and were more aggressive than City.

They did well to limit our ability to attack, but at a cost to them as they were more circumspect in their approach, and even their line-up. Crosses in, mainly from their right was pretty much all they had.

We had Son mainly on the right which meant Chilwell was not so advanced so often, but we had Bergwijn on the right playing quite deep to stop the supply from Ziyech/James.

A good away performance at a rival (on 2 levels) but one where we can see plenty of room for improvement when we were in possession.

comment by Devonshirespur (U6316)
posted 1 minute ago
I disagree that we were set up for a draw. We were set up not to lose. There's a subtle difference.

The difference between this game and City was that we did not perform as well in possession. Chelsea did a better job of restricting this, esp. in the second half and were more aggressive than City.

They did well to limit our ability to attack, but at a cost to them as they were more circumspect in their approach, and even their line-up. Crosses in, mainly from their right was pretty much all they had.

We had Son mainly on the right which meant Chilwell was not so advanced so often, but we had Bergwijn on the right playing quite deep to stop the supply from Ziyech/James.

A good away performance at a rival (on 2 levels) but one where we can see plenty of room for improvement when we were in possession.
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I did reference in the OP that our primary goal was to not lose: but your initial statement is unnecessary semantics setting up for a draw is essentially the same thing as your primary tactic is not to concede - no team is going to set up for a draw and then not take a goal scoring chance if it arises

I agree that if we showed more quality in possession we could have come away with something; but with the way Chelsea played we had so few opportunities to showcase opportunity that our attacking transitions would have had to have been perfect which is unsustainable.

'I also thought the narrative after the game that Giroud would have finished Abraham’s chance were completely false and somewhat ridiculous. Firstly, Giroud is far from a quality finisher himself, it was one of the reasons Arsenal fans were so happy to see the back of him and epitomised by his feeble attempt from the Rodon mistake. Secondly, Abraham is unique in his ability that due to his quality movement, pace, height, strength and jumping ability he is able to get onto the end of crosses most other players wouldn’t get near – James’s crosses would have whistled over Giroud’s head/Giroud wouldn’t have been close to connecting to.'



On the money!
Good to see rival fan with a brain!

Leading the line is a thankless job and Tammy has done really well at it this season (including against Spurs, ran their defence ragged).
Without Tammy you lose the mobility, that ability to run the channels, the industry in pressing and creates space for others by occupying CB's + always improving (all that put together is why he's ahead of Giroud).
This is never taken into account when critiquing.

This here is symbolic of his improvement: https://video.twimg.com/tweet_video/Enq07tjXcAAHUZ2.mp4
Wasn't able to do that much last season.
Beyond me why he's been much-maligned (actually I have some suspicions).

Tammy is going to be very important to the success of the team going forward in short and long-term (and Frank is absolutely right in prioritising him over Giroud)
Those chances against Spurs weren't clear-cut easy chances.
No guarantees Giroud even reaches them and scores (he had similar chances to get on the end of crosses, against the same opposition in the Carabao Cup).

I think if Ndombele can show the same sort of form against Arsenal as he did in the Chelsea game he can unlock Arsenal with Son, Kane and Stevie B(or whoever plays in that position.

We should look to bully Belerin and Holding who might play should Luiz can't make it.

Those crosses from James are a CFs dream. And that why former epic strikers like Shearer, Wright and Hassrlbaink have all correctly pointed out that Tammy has to be getting on the end of those and at least make the keeper make a save. They have all rightly criticised his movement.

It's just a matter of opinion whether someone thinks Giroud would or would not get on end of a crop like that, but there is plenty of video evidence to suggest there is a decent chance he would.

Cross*

comment by SWTN - Judas is number 1 (U7916)
posted 1 minute ago
Those crosses from James are a CFs dream. And that why former epic strikers like Shearer, Wright and Hassrlbaink have all correctly pointed out that Tammy has to be getting on the end of those and at least make the keeper make a save. They have all rightly criticised his movement.

It's just a matter of opinion whether someone thinks Giroud would or would not get on end of a crop like that, but there is plenty of video evidence to suggest there is a decent chance he would.
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None of those players are 8ft tall though

comment by SWTN - Judas is number 1 (U7916)
posted 24 seconds ago
Those crosses from James are a CFs dream. And that why former epic strikers like Shearer, Wright and Hassrlbaink have all correctly pointed out that Tammy has to be getting on the end of those and at least make the keeper make a save. They have all rightly criticised his movement.

It's just a matter of opinion whether someone thinks Giroud would or would not get on end of a crop like that, but there is plenty of video evidence to suggest there is a decent chance he would.
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I think player pace, height and movement played a big part on Tammy getting on the end of chances that I don’t believe Giroud has the athleticism for. I don’t think the feedback of ex-footballing pundits is a metric to judge anything by based on the continual amount of stupid comments we see in the media.

Even as an aside, the respective xG for both the James crosses was 0.11 & 0.13 highlighting the difficulty of both chances. The one Abraham could/should have done better for was the missed attempt from the Werner cross but that wasn’t particularly easy either

comment by Edinspur (U1109)
posted 28 seconds ago
comment by SWTN - Judas is number 1 (U7916)
posted 24 seconds ago
Those crosses from James are a CFs dream. And that why former epic strikers like Shearer, Wright and Hassrlbaink have all correctly pointed out that Tammy has to be getting on the end of those and at least make the keeper make a save. They have all rightly criticised his movement.

It's just a matter of opinion whether someone thinks Giroud would or would not get on end of a crop like that, but there is plenty of video evidence to suggest there is a decent chance he would.
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I think player pace, height and movement played a big part on Tammy getting on the end of chances that I don’t believe Giroud has the athleticism for. I don’t think the feedback of ex-footballing pundits is a metric to judge anything by based on the continual amount of stupid comments we see in the media.

Even as an aside, the respective xG for both the James crosses was 0.11 & 0.13 highlighting the difficulty of both chances. The one Abraham could/should have done better for was the missed attempt from the Werner cross but that wasn’t particularly easy either
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They are not just pundits. They are three of the ever strikers to professional football. I think they a thing or two about goalscoring. Disingenuous to dismiss them as purely ts pundits.

And the xGis based on Tammy in position to head the ball. It doesn't measure if he could have been quicker into position In the first place, so the star is not a great indicator

Is Tammy faster than Giroud? Yes

Does that mean Giroud won't make better movement and timed runs in the box in comparison to Tammy? No