242 Comments

Can we all please share a moment of silence to reflect and offer our sympathies to the dumpster fire club known as Chelsea FC?

What a mess LOL.

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For the love of god, can somebody teach Martinelli how to slot a cut back to the pen spot?

How many opportunities did he miss to do that today where there were players wide open there?

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Kiwior needs to find a home. He doesn't make the bench even with Tomiyasu unavailable.

Word is he only wants a specific team if he leaves, or only a few options for a move. I hope he likes minor cup competitions in England.

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Whatever happened to all his admirers across Italy and Germany, Nigel?

You know the real experts of football , not soccer, or whatever else we the yanks watch.

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Aug 17
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But if you're in Kiwior situation, do you stay knowing you're 4th or 5th choice in your positions? Just with some hope of many injuries occurring?

Or do you go somewhere and play probably every week at your favoured position, and grow your career?

We fans all like depth so we don't have to worry, and it's not us paying him.

Not making the bench even with Tomiyasu unavailable makes me feel bad for Kiwior.

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Also would be nice to have a better option than Partey

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Improvements at LB and CF would be nice but not holding my breath

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😂😂😂We don’t need another LB

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Not saying buy a new one, just don't like Zinchenko there

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Tom,

Saliba doesn't need your defending him.

I wouldn't trade him for any CB in the world...

But football fans can still find individual errors and discuss it here.

You're always trying to win some point because I've embarrassed you so many times here due to your lack of football understanding.

I'm sure your knowledge of American sportsball is excellent, but this is a football blog.

I pointed out the problem at half time, and he did it even worse in the second half.

You have been busy trying to think of some funny, sarcastic comeback. Pay more attention when the match is on.

And for the record, playing thousands of minutes in the previous season not any kind of excuse for making a few unforced errors as a defender in week one.

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Actually, playing 5200 minutes last season, which for Saliba ended just a few weeks ago, might be exactly the reason why he left his passes short due to fatigue.

For comparison City CB’s clocked thousands of minutes less individually, not that you would know anything about leg muscle fatigue since hand jobs on park benches is the only physical activity you perform.

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Good win to start the season

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Doctor Mosquera took a wee bit too long to examine the neck of patient Havertz. He then attempted to hone his proctologist skills on patient Jesus. Shame, really.

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The ultimate praise for David Raya: He stayed switched on for 90+ minutes today. Class.

Co-men of the match: Saka and Havertz.

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Great start... but we still need some MF and forward signings (& outgoings) to be more competitive this season

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We need to complete Merino signing and we’re good to go. Another forward is merely a bonus although I can see us making such a signing last minute

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Raya still the king of high claims, and clean sheets.

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What did I say at halftime about Saliba giving the ball away at bad times with lazy passes.

He went on to almost gift them the equaliser in the second half too. They should have scored from there.

He needs to wake up. I hope the coaches make him watch the video of those mistakes.

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Yes, I’m sure waking up is exactly what he needs.

Although he did play 5200 minutes last season so maybe what he needs is a nap.

Incidentally 5200 minutes is 1800 minutes short of what a professional footballer should play a season, according to Arteta.

So maybe Saliba just had an off day.

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Very unlike Saliba. Could be due to our midfield getting run over by quick Wolves players and Partey being rusty.

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That's a very generous thought towards Saliba. Definitely all on him though. Especially the gifted shot at goal in the 2nd half. If that was Ben White in his first season, gooners would've chased him out of town.

Saliba still the best young centre half in the world.

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I have been saying Partey has fallen off a cliff. And we need 2 CMs and a forward alongside Calafiori. And Today was a big reminder. He was absolutely horrendous. The one thing you could rely on him was cute passes and breaking lines. But he didn't even do that and kept misplacing passes. He is done. We can't rely on him.

Saka and Havertz were great. Bukayo in particular created our most dangerous situations. Rice didn't look fit and he went off with a cramp anyway.

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He was excellent in the first half.

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Partey was class in the first half. Appeared to tire in the second half. For the first game of the season that’s not a big surprise and I don’t think is all that worrying considering we’re probably getting merino

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This is not an assessment from just this season. He was infuriating in the run in last season too. He looks like an oldman trying to cover the space. We are wide open when he plays. And after all that he lost the ball more times than I could count. He needs to be moved on.

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Yeah I don't think Thomas should be doing 90 minutes at this point..

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Good win but uncomfortable in certain moments. Partey and 2 CB had some shaky moments. Hope just the first game jitters and they're up to the pace in next game. 3 pts coyg!

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Positives:

-Result was solid

-Clean sheet

-Saka and havertz both off the mark

-Timber looked really good apart from his one lapse at the end

-Raya stepped up when both CBs had mixed games

- I think the subs were clever

Negatives

- partey dropped off in the second half. Probably should’ve been subbed

- both CBs a little sloppy

- Martinelli carrying last seasons form is a shame

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Mosquera needs to be retrospectively punished

He escaped the neck grab and then did that?

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Unfortunately wouldn't happen , supposedly the ref assessed both incidents on field already..

Disgraceful and disgusting acts, not cool for kids...

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