I wouldn’t say there is a stereotype about the players at all, apart from not producing as much talent as they probably could. If you’re good enough you’re good enough, the PL has players from all over the world.

About the fans and analysis though…

The one question mark for me over Pep has always been that he’s only ever managed teams with a massive advantage over the rest of the league.

At Barca he had Messi and possibly the greatest playmaking team ever assembled. At Bayern… it’s obvious, and so is City… Even at Barca B, they were normally either in 2nd or 3rd tier and that year were in 3rd tier, so were one of the best teams in the league they were in.

At City he inherited one of the best teams in the league and underperformed until he got 200m worth of fullbacks.

He’s never done anything like winning the CL with Porto.

Lol. You trolling? You think supporters of someone like Leyton Orient or Scunthorpe can’t get it up for the EFL trophy because they’re playing non-exciting competition? The quality may be higher in some competitions but quality of players does not effect how exciting the games are. Exciting games can come from anywhere.

If you support a team you’re supposed to be excited for all their matches.

Except he got completely pocketed by James, who is probably the toughest fullback he has met so far.

Well against Chelsea they had to be given a way back into the game and they looked like they had absolutely no chance of digging themselves out.

They looked completely despondent at how they were being dominated and were only buoyed by Sanchez’s gift.

That’s such a weird example to use. Neither team were really a long ball team. Chelsea did play more defensive and counter-attacking, especially in the away leg, but 2/3 of their goals and most of their chances came from splitting open Barca with good football, not a “long ball”.

The only goal that comes close to being a “long ball” goal was the last Torres one, and that was unintentional as it was just a clearance that fell luckily for him.

In England at least, you’re not looking long term enough.

The “top” clubs do change over time. It just happens on longer time frames then you’re talking about and will change again in the future. It usually takes decades but it can happen in shorter time frames.

Newcastle were a top, top club for a while in the 90s, then they were so shit they got relegated, now they’re a top side again. Spurs were mid-bottom half in the 90s. Blackburn Rovers were Champions in the 90s before it all fell apart. Forest were European powerhouses in the 70s. Ipswich Town won a European Cup also. Leeds were one of the best clubs around and in the “big 6” until a couple of decades ago. Everton have been English champions multiple times. Brighton have skyrocketed into the top-half of the top flight over the past few years.

Sheffield Wednesday and Huddersfield Town were top teams in the early 20th century. Portsmouth and Wolves were both multi-year champions in the 40s/50s. etc etc.

The competition now is also much closer than you are saying, Chelsea took their eye off the ball for a few months and plummeted to their worst league position in decades. That wouldn’t have happened if the competition from every club wasn’t so vicious.

Yes it is much, much harder to “pull a Leicester” as a smaller club, but it’s not impossible, as they showed us.

Also small bit of pedantry: Chelsea already were a trophy winning, top 4 team before their money. Seems harsh to put them in the same category as City there.

It’s not ineffective. It’s just as effective as possession based or tiki-taka if not more. Plenty of teams still utilise route one. When a team needs a goal with little time left they still usually go back to the long ball, because it is effective.

The problem lies in that it is more risky as well. While you get the ball in dangerous areas faster, your chance of giving it to the other team drastically increases also.

Possession based takes longer and produces less chances but if you are good at it you can minimise completely your opponents chance to score

Yes he’s been given 60 minute run outs up till now while he works on his injury resistance.

OP is an idiot, even with his stuttering fitness this is the only bad performance I can remember from him for years. Just last week he had Doku in his pocket.

Are you joking? This is prime football reddit recency dim-wittedness.

You make this post after the first bad performance he’s had in years.

James started getting his high rating because he completely shuts down every winger he meets, while also being one of the best attacking full backs in the world. The year Chelsea won the CL their attack pretty much ran through James and Chillwell.

You can also literally just look back to his last game where Doku was in his pocket the entire time he was on the pitch.

Gordon hardly cooked him through skill. James having an uncharacteristic error was his only chance tbh

Ludicrous post.

This is a really uncharacteristic performance from him today, but the whole of Chelsea just didn’t turn up, especially their few experienced players. Silva had a mare and Sterling was poor outside of his free-kick.

Inconsistent performances like that may be the price Chelsea pay the next few years for going all in on youth. James is still under 25 so is an unusually young choice for captain as well.

I suspect he is really going to blossom into his role over the next few years if he can just stay healthy. I’m hopeful for him with the very carefully managed return he’s had so far this time and with Gusto to share the load more.

Didn’t have Gordon pegged as a diver like that… you think you know someone.

Still made the most of a rare Reece James brain fart. Chelsea do not look set up right mentally today, they’re beating themselves with silly mistakes.

he was atrocious at penalties.

For one thing who judges a GK on pens anyway? For another, Cech is literally famous for being great at penalties.

Go re-watch that CL final I talked about. He saves one in normal time and a couple in the shootout, as well as diving the right way every. single. time.

Think Cech is severely underrated and left out when it comes to all time goalkeeper lists(in football lol).

I think pre-helmet Cech at Chelsea was arguably the best stretch of goal-keeping the world has ever seen. Even post helmet he pulled out games like the CL final against Bayern at Bayern where he was an absolute colossus between the sticks.

Is is just because Chelsea of that period is so hated that he doesn’t seem to get his due?

Tbf Palmer doesn’t have the physical speed of Gordon but he’s actually been really direct for Chelsea, He usually does it more with his passing but he can dribble too as that chance he made for himself dribbling through the middle of Man City on Sunday shows.

Think Palmer has actually been more of a central player than winger so far as well so I don’t think they’re the right players for comparison either. They could play together in a hypothetical 11, and may end up doing so for England in the future.

Is the Chelsea meme period ending? They’ve gone toe to toe with the big boys in the last few weeks and looked the part, they might be scary in the coming years

Is this the game of the season so far?

I was just making a bad joke

Good guy Raheem being punished for giving the fans back their “missile”

But ensuring Taylor doesn’t ref a Chelsea game is ensuring no-one gets special treatment.

As whoever is playing against Chelsea that day is bound to get it.