The last three or four games we picked were awful. So, the solution: we’ll just watch Leeds! Should be a fascinating matchup between a high-octane side that just want to outscore you and … Chelsea. The game is at 3pm EST. See you then!
The only difference between the Chilwell kick on Poveda and the Robertson kick against Brighton last week is ... that the Chilwell kick was more egregious?
Per Sporting Index, the total-goal projection for this one is 3.4 goals. Please reward us, O Whoever Would Reward Such a Thing. The clear matchup dynamic to watch is the Leeds attack (1.72 xG per game, second in the league) against the Chelsea defense (0.8 xG per game, best in the league). Another to keep an eye on: the Leeds press v Chelsea's patient possession. Leeds press more aggressively than anyone in the league (PPDA of 8.36), while Chelsea's average uninterrupted possession lasts for longer (12.3 seconds) than anyone other than City. I'm aware of the jinx potential, but: Should be fun!
Best Chelsea performance of the season? Best Chelsea performance of the season. This was their first-ish game of the season at close-to-full strength, and they totally destroyed a not-bad Leeds side. While Spurs seem like they're scraping together results to get into the title picture, this is the kind of performance that championship teams produce at home -- just a not-doubt-about-it gap in the quality of chances.
The Second Inaugural Metaphorical Spanish Ham Recipient: Mason Mount. He looks way better in the midfield, and slotting him back there not only improves his performance, it opens up a slot for one of the uber-talented attackers they've signed over the past two seasons. It's not easy being the coach's son, and I'm sure dad is gonna point out the negatives rather than focusing on the positives, but the least we can all do is throw the kid some kudos. This was fun, as always. Enjoy your weekends, and talk to you next week!
I’m sure you’re right about the value! But with Chelsea legitimately aiming for a title run, is it worth the loss in value to maintain the depth for the second half of the season? I need a title shares formula...
Just want it to be a matter of public record that I am a big Luke Ayling fan. Easily could've been an undead priest whose body was slowly decomposing on a hit HBO TV series and is also a fantastic fullback. Another really good one in the England RB pipeline.
Koch is bad, but I actually think Alioski might be worse. Feels like he's late-career J.R. Smith, does something cool once every 8 games but usually he just takes a bunch of bad risks
Leeds are subbing off a Germany international for a Spain international. Their opening goal was assisted by an England international. They were in the Championship last season. What a world.
Kind of funny how, looking back, most people thought Leeds' defense would be what translated most to the PL. They had 35GA in 46 games in the Championship! They're halfway there already with 3/4 of the season left to go.
The out ball to Mount to break the press has been on all day. He just keeps picking up the ball right around the left edge of the center circle, and then has 20 yards of space to run into.
Really nice performance from Chelsea so far, I think. Love Leeds but early returns suggest that their style doesn't really suit them when they're at a significant talent disadvantage.
I'd like to hear the group's thoughts on Kai Havertz's first-half performance. Do you remember ... anything? (Not saying this is necessarily a bad thing!)
Tbf Chelsea tried the 4231 for Havertz and it just wasn’t working. Though Unclear how much of that was because the wingers weren’t healthy, and they hadn’t gotten Mendy yet.
I've been pretty impressed by Klich every time I've seen him. His stat profile is a pretty good stand-in for how Leeds play as a whole: maniacal defense pressure, no concern for keeping possession, and constantly pushing the ball toward the goal. https://www.footballslices.com/stats/69638
ayling always reminds me of that red priest in game of thrones. also, as a straight guy, is this leeds team the worst-looking in the division? ayling, phillips, harrison, rodrigo...
I was thinking about this the other day. I think he has to, no? This is the best coaching job in recent memory, and I don't see what big club wouldn't want to play the way Leeds are playing.
I know I’m late to this but... A big club might pick him up, but I highly doubt he’ll be a success. I feel like tactical expertise is a surprisingly small amount of what it takes to be a good ‘top team’ manager. Bielsa has shown throughout his career that he isn’t so good at... something in his soft skill set. Things always seem to blow up at some point, and he doesn’t have the trophy cabinet to back up his rambunctiousness like Mourinho etc. There have been lots of recent examples of interesting tacticians who haven’t succeeded at big teams - Sarri (x2), Setien etc.
Weird one to judge because the demands of his position w/Leeds are so specific. But he's pretty active off the ball, and his passing is obviously pretty dangerous. I like him.
One is extremely detailed and specific, told through a translator. The other is a bunch of passive-aggressive jokes and generic enthusiasm, told in English.
Ryan do you think this is how Chelsea want to play with the attack funneling through Chilwell/James or has this developed due to injuries to Pulisic/Havertz etc?
I'm still having a hard time figuring out how Lampard wants his team to play. The Derby teams were whatever. Last year, they basically had no structure and played wide-open. Now, over the past month, they're shifting everything out wide but also mainly relying on crosses from the FBs, which, to me, is a way to retain some defensive positioning for the FBs while involving them in the attack. In other words: polar opposite approaches. Given the players they signed over the summer, I can't really imagine that Olivier Giroud starting was the plan. If we accept that there was a tactical plan behind the recent signings then I'd think the plan was to play the three new attackers plus CP all at once.
FBs can get forward, but need to give width and serve well. Encourages Timo/Pulisic/Zyich to either come inside and interchange with the Mount/Havertz or stretch vertically behind Giroud/Tammy who remain central. Still alot of just let the good attackers be good attackers, let people interchange.
I think it’s hard to say. Today was the first day the whole squad was healthy, and then Ziyech got injured. But in general I do think Lampard wants his fullbacks up and heavily involved. He often has a midfielder drop back with the CBs to cover - all of Mount, Jorginho, and occasionally Kovacic this season.
Pulisic, McKennie, and Reyna with goals for Chelsea, Juventus, and Dortmund today. Thumbs up!
And Adams started as a defensive mid in a draw against Bayern.
Slightly less exciting ...
Lol, fair enough. Though the better story lines are who is the No 9 and the fullbacks.
also, reyna was absolutely balling out! im this his calling best game in die schwarzgelbe
Timo Werner is gonna score like eight goals in five games any minute now.
This might be the best game I've ever seen Mason Mount play. We need to award a Metaphorical Ham at the end of this one, too, and he's about to feast.
It'll be a cute Father-Son moment if him and Lampard eat it together
We've been over this. Lamps is a turkey-eater. White-meat only. The drier, the better.
The only difference between the Chilwell kick on Poveda and the Robertson kick against Brighton last week is ... that the Chilwell kick was more egregious?
Poveda didn’t exaggerate going down after taking 2 steps
Shouldn't matter with VAR!
Timo Werner just hoarded about 40 expected goals from himself in a one-second span.
More excitement in the first two minutes of this one than in last week's entire match.
Per Sporting Index, the total-goal projection for this one is 3.4 goals. Please reward us, O Whoever Would Reward Such a Thing. The clear matchup dynamic to watch is the Leeds attack (1.72 xG per game, second in the league) against the Chelsea defense (0.8 xG per game, best in the league). Another to keep an eye on: the Leeds press v Chelsea's patient possession. Leeds press more aggressively than anyone in the league (PPDA of 8.36), while Chelsea's average uninterrupted possession lasts for longer (12.3 seconds) than anyone other than City. I'm aware of the jinx potential, but: Should be fun!
HT Stat Update:
Shots (on target): Chelsea 23 (10), Leeds 8 (3)
xG: Chelsea 4.11, Leeds 0.87
Final-third passes: Chelsea 88, Leeds 67
Penalty-area passes: Chelsea 15, Leeds 9
Best Chelsea performance of the season? Best Chelsea performance of the season. This was their first-ish game of the season at close-to-full strength, and they totally destroyed a not-bad Leeds side. While Spurs seem like they're scraping together results to get into the title picture, this is the kind of performance that championship teams produce at home -- just a not-doubt-about-it gap in the quality of chances.
The Second Inaugural Metaphorical Spanish Ham Recipient: Mason Mount. He looks way better in the midfield, and slotting him back there not only improves his performance, it opens up a slot for one of the uber-talented attackers they've signed over the past two seasons. It's not easy being the coach's son, and I'm sure dad is gonna point out the negatives rather than focusing on the positives, but the least we can all do is throw the kid some kudos. This was fun, as always. Enjoy your weekends, and talk to you next week!
(I kinda think Chelsea would be smart to sell Giroud in January. Value will never be higher, and they have a ton of in-squad replacements ready.)
Do Chelsea need to maybe value sales? Money doesn’t seem to matter much unless it’s related to ffp
Yep -- they make more money from player sales than basically any club in Europe: https://twitter.com/SwissRamble/status/1300321603763527680
Hazard and Morata and then youth players it looks like. Feels like hazard backed them into a corner, don’t know anything about the morata transfer
Money counts all the same, no matter how old the player you sell is.
I don’t know if Chelsea *need* to consider value when selling, but they definitely choose to do so.
*make
I’m sure you’re right about the value! But with Chelsea legitimately aiming for a title run, is it worth the loss in value to maintain the depth for the second half of the season? I need a title shares formula...
Maybe, but I don’t think they will if they believe they have a chance at the league
If you just kick the ball really high, Kurt Zouma will be the only player who can get a head on it.
Does Luke Ayling look more like a Game of Thrones character or does Kai Havertz look more like a Bulgarian assassin from an early Hitchcock movie?
Kai Havertz looks like he needs to eat. I'm worried a bunch of NGOs are going to show up making fundraising videos.
Def some non-speaking-role-in-an-early-Twilight-movie vibes, too.
Just want it to be a matter of public record that I am a big Luke Ayling fan. Easily could've been an undead priest whose body was slowly decomposing on a hit HBO TV series and is also a fantastic fullback. Another really good one in the England RB pipeline.
Barcelona are down, 1-0, to Cadiz at halftime. Cadiz have already beaten Real Madrid. Cadiz!
Had a conversation with a very angry Messi OUT Barca fan the other day. Too old, can't run. Should of taken the money and rebuilt.
Eventually at 40, Messi will make one hell of a defensive midfielder.
coutinho id trending on twitter
Llorente looks a lot like Koch out there. TBD whether that is a good thing or a bad thing.
Koch is bad, but I actually think Alioski might be worse. Feels like he's late-career J.R. Smith, does something cool once every 8 games but usually he just takes a bunch of bad risks
He's wearing no. 10 and playing fullback. He's good with me.
I mean isn't that the future of football
Arteta's right... just need to cross more
I found out recently that Draft Kings for soccer awards like a full-point for every cross you make. Stock up on Arsenal players tomorrow, everyone!
Tammy had like 0.5 xG. Not scoring isn’t that surprising, and I think it’s more of a positive he had multiple chances than a negative he didn’t score.
As an Arsenal fan, that comment by Arteta really frightened me.
More or less frightening than when he said "The day I decided to be a coach I knew that one day I will be sacked or leave the football club"?
Leeds are subbing off a Germany international for a Spain international. Their opening goal was assisted by an England international. They were in the Championship last season. What a world.
Is mason mount in the top 5 "coaches son vibes" in the PL?
Top 1 in the world, imo.
The terrible, thin goatee is a classic form of meek son-to-father rebellion, too.
Hahah brutal
Winks is underrated and declan rice up there too
I see Riqui Puig as a good one, too. Well, before it turned out that his coach actually hates him.
Scott Parker is the all timer tho
No. 1 and no. 2 all-time IN THE SAME MIDFIELD https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/west-ham-uniteds-mark-noble-and-scott-parker-news-photo/808882828
LMAOO wow look at those haircuts. i forgot about marky mark. not a skill to be found, just grit.
The only issue with Rice is that he'd also be Lampard's son, just on the wrong team
Lampard hugs Mason every morning at training whilst staring at Kai Havertz
Koeman juts lost to a manager who looks like Saul from Homeland. Messi for player manager until he leaves for greener pastures
I hope Klopp's not watching Cadiz's all at once 3 subs running riot V Barcelona. May take a bite out of his cap. "See, I'm just trying to help!"
Who would win a Cadiz V Leeds match-up that's what I want to know. The UEFA Europa Conference League could have legs...
Jack Harrison is actually the true xG felon
Kind of funny how, looking back, most people thought Leeds' defense would be what translated most to the PL. They had 35GA in 46 games in the Championship! They're halfway there already with 3/4 of the season left to go.
I'm liking the sounds the fans are making right now. Very spooky.
The out ball to Mount to break the press has been on all day. He just keeps picking up the ball right around the left edge of the center circle, and then has 20 yards of space to run into.
Really nice performance from Chelsea so far, I think. Love Leeds but early returns suggest that their style doesn't really suit them when they're at a significant talent disadvantage.
Plus their best spy is currently scouting ballots in the US
I'd like to hear the group's thoughts on Kai Havertz's first-half performance. Do you remember ... anything? (Not saying this is necessarily a bad thing!)
Next thing you know he’ll be paying the mascot’s salary
Kinda feel like Chelsea signed him without knowing what kind of player he is.
When he's a record transfer that's supposed to be a threat in the final third it is most definitely a bad thing.
No attacking presence. No shots on target. Just vibes.
either sign players to fit a system or build a system around good players. chelsea doing neither
Tbf Chelsea tried the 4231 for Havertz and it just wasn’t working. Though Unclear how much of that was because the wingers weren’t healthy, and they hadn’t gotten Mendy yet.
HT Stat Update:
Shots (on target): Chelsea 8 (4), Leeds 5 (2)
xG (per Stats Perform): Chelsea 1.40, Leeds 0.71
Final-third passes: Chelsea 42, Leeds 42 (!)
Penalty-area passes: Chelsea 7, Leeds 4
I've been pretty impressed by Klich every time I've seen him. His stat profile is a pretty good stand-in for how Leeds play as a whole: maniacal defense pressure, no concern for keeping possession, and constantly pushing the ball toward the goal. https://www.footballslices.com/stats/69638
Robin Koch might be my favorite player in the league. Also: might be the worst player in the league!
Welp.
Forcing your team to burn a sub within 10 minutes seems to play into the ‘worst player in the league’ aspect!
Fantastic goal from Lees. Not great from Mendy!
*LeeDs
Lampard walks into changing room: "Lads, I'm not losing to a guy who can't pronounce Ipswich Town." Lampard walks out of changing room.
Holy shit, that pass.
ayling always reminds me of that red priest in game of thrones. also, as a straight guy, is this leeds team the worst-looking in the division? ayling, phillips, harrison, rodrigo...
lol, backs slowly away from the computer ...
somebody have to ask the important questions.
No idea. Ask @netw3rk on twitter
he was aksing something similar yesterday
During this lull, I’d just like to say Peter Drury is an awesome commentator
If Bielsa can keep this up for two seasons does a rich club give him a chance?
I was thinking about this the other day. I think he has to, no? This is the best coaching job in recent memory, and I don't see what big club wouldn't want to play the way Leeds are playing.
I know I’m late to this but... A big club might pick him up, but I highly doubt he’ll be a success. I feel like tactical expertise is a surprisingly small amount of what it takes to be a good ‘top team’ manager. Bielsa has shown throughout his career that he isn’t so good at... something in his soft skill set. Things always seem to blow up at some point, and he doesn’t have the trophy cabinet to back up his rambunctiousness like Mourinho etc. There have been lots of recent examples of interesting tacticians who haven’t succeeded at big teams - Sarri (x2), Setien etc.
what big club will hand over complete control like leeds? he wants to control everything, same reason Poch won't go to Man united
Jose Mourinho got hired by Tottenham last year!
unpacking the psyche of daniel levy requires its own subreddit
A desperate one. Of which I feel like there are plenty
What about teams that have older stars that can’t/won’t run and press as much?
Does he go though?
“Just watch Leeds every week, they said. And they were right!”
I also recommend Take Us Home: Leeds United (doc on Amazon Prime)
Yes! Was hoping for this. What a matchup. Hope all are staying safe and doing well.
is Oli Giroud's handsomeness overrated?
Yes. I feel I only see straight men talking about how handsome he is.
My wife, who does not follow any of this stuff, in response to my "man that goal was pretty": "man he's pretty"
Thank you to Chad's Wife for completely destroying my anecdotal theory.
yeah i think maybe his handsomeness has taken on some sort of life of its own as well. like Giroud cant be mentioned without his handsomeness.
Bearded Pulisic on the “wrong” side is really throwing me off. I keep thinking it’s a Jorginho.
Is there anywhere to track live game xG?
The InfoGol app has it, I believe.
Just a biiiiit offside
Is Kalvin Phillips good or is he a young British defensive midfielder???
Weird one to judge because the demands of his position w/Leeds are so specific. But he's pretty active off the ball, and his passing is obviously pretty dangerous. I like him.
Yes
Top tier time wasting from Reece James
All that for that shot by Mount?
Zouma's PUMPED!!
Yes centerback Cruyff turn!!!
Now that I’ve seen an interview where Ziyech says he prefers his name pronounced Zi-yesh, it really bothers me when I hear it the other way.
Would love to see halftime speeches from each of these coaches. Can’t imagine how different they are
One is extremely detailed and specific, told through a translator. The other is a bunch of passive-aggressive jokes and generic enthusiasm, told in English.
Ryan do you think this is how Chelsea want to play with the attack funneling through Chilwell/James or has this developed due to injuries to Pulisic/Havertz etc?
I'm still having a hard time figuring out how Lampard wants his team to play. The Derby teams were whatever. Last year, they basically had no structure and played wide-open. Now, over the past month, they're shifting everything out wide but also mainly relying on crosses from the FBs, which, to me, is a way to retain some defensive positioning for the FBs while involving them in the attack. In other words: polar opposite approaches. Given the players they signed over the summer, I can't really imagine that Olivier Giroud starting was the plan. If we accept that there was a tactical plan behind the recent signings then I'd think the plan was to play the three new attackers plus CP all at once.
FBs can get forward, but need to give width and serve well. Encourages Timo/Pulisic/Zyich to either come inside and interchange with the Mount/Havertz or stretch vertically behind Giroud/Tammy who remain central. Still alot of just let the good attackers be good attackers, let people interchange.
I think it’s hard to say. Today was the first day the whole squad was healthy, and then Ziyech got injured. But in general I do think Lampard wants his fullbacks up and heavily involved. He often has a midfielder drop back with the CBs to cover - all of Mount, Jorginho, and occasionally Kovacic this season.
Are people really not sitting in the away end? Lol...none of us respect COVID enough lol