Just three games of football stand between Thomas Tuchel and his third piece of silverware as Chelsea manager, with Stamford Bridge hosting this League Cup semi-final first-leg.
The hosts are eight-time winners of this competition, though they haven’t lifted it since 2014/15, and whilst Chelsea has wobbled of late, they remain unbeaten in eight games (W3, D5). Even with home advantage, this won’t be a walk in the park for the ‘Blues’ as three of their last six League Cup home games needed a penalty shoot-out to settle affairs.
Although this game cannot go to penalties until the return leg at Tottenham, a nip-and-tuck affair can be expected after Chelsea had to overcome a deficit to avoid defeat in three of their last five home games.
On the other hand, Tottenham looks like a side transformed since the appointment of enigmatic former Chelsea boss Antonio Conte, who became Spurs’ first manager since the Premier League was introduced to go unbeaten across their opening eight league games (W5, D3). That confidence will serve them well again here, as Conte targets this competition as his best opportunity of a trophy.
The only side to win at the Bridge this season has been the rampant Manchester City, winners of this competition for the last four years running. If Tottenham can replicate that, they should feel confident of picking up some silverware for the first time since winning this trophy in 2007/08, although Spurs have visited Chelsea for two cup semi-finals in the last five years, losing both despite getting on the scoresheet.
Players to watch: Christian Pulisic equalized for Chelsea versus Liverpool on the stroke of half-time last time out, meaning five of his last seven goals came before the interval.
For Spurs, Heung-Min Son has an impressive six-goal contribution in his last seven appearances (G4, A2) but has only two goals in 14 previous H2Hs.
Chelsea only five times winners, I think; Liverpool and Man City eight times winners.
It’s nothing to do with getting more out of underperforming players it’s just getting more of all players. The games moved on Jose was great once but all things come to an end. It’s the time of Klopp, Tuchel and Pep and Conte
I’ve supported Spurs for over 50 years and I bet you can’t name a top quality side from our home grown products. Try it
They play much better football now tho than under the Fonz… if he is still there in 2 years let’s see where Roma are… in theory they should be top 4 challengers next season. If Spurs spend more money this summer than Citeh & Liverpool… doesn’t mean to say we should finish above them, at best it is hoped given time & other factors the gap between us should shrink…suspect this is where Roma are at
I disagree Kane & Son imho had their best season under Mourinho bearing in mind we had lost moose, Ericksen was spent, Rose & Walker long gone… I’ve seen a fair bit of Roma this season & ok they maybe 6th or 7th but they play an attacking brand of football… Mourinho is not without criticism partially because players these days don’t have the mental strength to be told how it is… the softer approach of managers like klopp, Tuchel & Pep tend to get far more out of under performing players or those not pulling their weight
Roma spent more than any other Serie A club in the summer, perhaps they needed to to close the gap on clubs like Inter. Jose is doing sort of ok, however nothing particularly earth shatteringly different to Fonseca in terms of league placing has ensued.
Premiership and Championship academies produce mainly players who will either play lower down the pyramid, go amateur or stop playing seriously altogether. It’s not like that’s any big secret is it?
I was referring to the enic era in which the academy has produced virtually nothing of note aside from Kane.
Gill definitely has something. Young, energetic, willing to take on player.
It’s frecking nuts.
Depends how far you care to go back, but it has also produced two world class centre halves in Campbell and King. In the last 25 years, has any other Premier League team done significantly better than producing three world class players from its academy? (I don’t know the answer and recognise that early 90s Manure certainly matched this).
It’s a falsehood that he improved Kane and Son who scored more goals combined in nearly all of the Pochettino seasons check Wikipedia. He alienated players at Spurs as he did at Rm Chelsea and Man Utd. Any failure was never his fault just the players
He has spent 50million more than any other Serie a club in the last window and both juve and inter have lost key players.
Jose will never get a top job again his time has gone and with all respect to Roma they are a prestigious but not a big club. When if Conte leaves he will not find it hard to get gainful employment at a big club.
Tbf he improved Kane and Son..he told a few players the truth and they couldn’t handle it. Is he spending loads of money ..not so sure Tammy Abraham and a full back so far.
We sit sixth with a set of very challenging fixtures ahead .
Im guessing Nunos remit was Top 4 as is Contes ..The squad is has huge amounts of dross in it…that is the reality.
Conte has 15 months left on his contract…do you think he will struggle to get another top job or we will struggle to get another top coach ?
Afraid not. The so called special one apart from earning a kings ransom was a waste of space. Bought in with the intention of qualifying for the champions league he achieved the lowest league position for the club since 2009. He improved none of the playing staff and his employment went the same way of his previous tenures at RM Chelsea and Man Utd.
Now at Roma despite spending considerably more than every club in Seria A in a league which has seen huge player disposals at both Juventus and Inter he is performing no better than the much derided Paulo Fonseca
Very true our allegedly world class academy produces little aside from an endless line of underfed midgets like Carrol, Pritchard, Winks and Skipp. The Levy apologists drone on endlessly about how Troy Parrot and Dane Scarlett will soon be galloping to our rescue. Really? It was a one shot academy that produced Kane and bugger all else of note.
You’re right, Jan and Toby have not been replaced. Sanchez and Dier stepped into the breach and Romero was finally an attempt to replace them. With him out, plus Dier we just don’t have the depth to cope.
We need another quality central defender with Rodon and Tanganga being loaned out to develop. The recruitment has been totally chaotic and without any plan. Let’s give Paratici more time but he has to earn his corn, but if he isn’t backed then he should walk along with Conte.
Someone please explain why Hitchen is still at the club? My theory is that it’s because he’s a committed Levy ‘yes man’ happy to take his wage and shut up, just as Daniel likes it. I mean who is Hitchen anyway ffs? Was he a highly rated scout at any point?
Tuchel got his tactics right, Conte just hasn’t had time yet to be able to find other ways of setting up and training it with them. He’s got a system working well with a certain group of our players. Any real departure from that, either with the system or the players and we are struggling so we are exposed to being worked out without scope to counter it.
Eric Dier gets a lot of stick some of it justified and some of it in my view a little excessive. However in his absence who do we call on? Last night it was the completely useless Tanganga who makes Dier look like Paulo Maldini. Tanganga is completely without any merit slow ponderous out of his depth and as he demonstrated at Palace an idiot.
If there is any evidence of our paucity in youth development while our London rivals academies have produced Reece James, Mason Mount Declan Rice, Emile Smith Rowe amongst others we are producing this turd of a player. Quicker he is back playing park football the better.
I just feel the blend of the two of them will only take the team so far, unless we stick a creative number 10 between them and the forwards, at the expense of one of the front three.
I would try and get Coutinho and stick him in there and get Dele and Belly out on loan to free up the wage space. Seeing as it all has to be done in a “pwudent” fashion…
Levy thought doing it on the cheap was a goer, thought he’d push his luck even further by not backing and then sacking Pochettino. Thought he was being clever by dismissing a regime that brought relative success in a small budget. Gone so well since hasn’t it?
I dread to think where we’d currently be if Conte hadn’t stepped in. We were that bad even with him in the dugout!
Mourinho spent too and lumbered us with dross.
None of Dele, Winks, Skipp or PEH are creative midfielders in the Eriksen mould. This is our problem, we don’t have one. We have too many CDM’s and no playmakers. Lo Celso was supposed to be one but is unsuited to our physical, fast league and has been a complete waste of money. Bruno Fernandez is one but Levy wouldn’t pay the rate. He can’t help himself at buying cheaper, duff alternatives to real players. What’s the betting he’ll do it again this window? The man beggars belief, he’s got away with it for 20 years and is actually getting worse. How can one useless little c#nt ruin the dreams of hundreds of thousands of fans, many who pay him huge amounts of money on a regular basis. It’s literally criminal.
More than anything is exposed the lack of depth we have, particularly in defence.
Nice imagery. Spurs need some player turnover for certain. Problem is that Levy has proven himself untrustworthy in doing that.
Spurs will need to do some spending up front. Quite a bit of it, just to change the face of this team and their trust in each other. These players certainly had no confidence in their teammates to step up and beat this Chelsea lot.
It will be good for Spurs and for the midfielders to have 2 more quick matches against the Chelsea lot. That is honestly the type of work that cannot be duplicated on a training pitch.
Skipp ties a lot of the midfield fabric together by always being available as an option. He and Hojbjerg do well together in that regard.
This first match vs Chelsea, both were so bogged down in chasing the ball – no time really to show any attacking strengths. These next 2 matches vs Chelsea will help them grow quite a bit.
You would have to seriously question why anyone would leave a regular starting spot at Chelsea to join us…
Levys only interested in CL football… cup competitions dont count… Conte may tolerate that for 6 months, but & it’s a massive if hes still there in September & no new players of quality are drafted in he’ll walk…. & we’ll be left with managers like Iain Dowie to select from…😉🤣
Well in fairness maybe some will cut Mourinho some slack… 2nt & v Watford was no better than some of the stuff he served up, despite the fact we spent a good few million in the summer…..
We are watching the carcass of the Poch team being eaten. The mismanagement of the club is staggering if football was the measure of success. Under ENIC< it isn’t.
Absolutely.
He doesn’t give a toss about the football and has a hide like a rhino. Sadly for us, he’s going nowhere. It gets more disgusting every year. Poch doing well for a bit wasn’t part of the ENIC master plan.
Liverpool play a completely different style to Chelsea…for a start Liverpool allow you more space between the lines…. we missed Diers ability to play out from the back & commit attackers… all too often when we played out from defence it was safe passes among the centre backs & full backs none of whom are comfortable in possession against quality opposition..& then when knocked long ball was lost & it was rinse & repeat… PEH didnt look great tonight & was careless in possession but then & again how often did Kane & Son give the ball away…? the first touch & ability to play the perfectly weighted pass has deserted both of them… we’d almost be better off just trying Moura as a central striker & sticking kane & son on the bench… at least Gill ran at a player with the ball. If we play, like we did last night against the gooners, you can expect a 4-0 defeat assuming they can keep 11 men on the pitch…
PEH looked short of quality tonight, he’s very capable of scrapping the mid table sides etc but tonight he looked like 15m from Southampton against a quality opponent. As much as I like both him and Skippy for what they bring, the midfield of Winks, Dele and Tangy against Liverpool looked more articulate against quality than those two tonight.
Please don’t think that I’m saying Dele should be in ahead of either of those two but Skipp and PEH are all about work rate and tenacity. There’s a clear lack of quality on the ball though when up against real players.
So why do we play Tanganga in the back three and Doherty at left wing-back? Levy wants top four so Conte is rotating for the league, or using those matches to show Levy how poor those outside the first 11 are.
A functioning autistic, with little empathy response to the repercussions of his actions? 🤔
Palace away was the eye opener, he’s now playing like he’s still traumatised by that day. What happened to the next big thing? Exposed to the top flight too soon, and in a dysfunctional environment…
Tanganga is part of the academy myth. He’s not ready for this level, if he ever will be. I like him but he needs to be loaned out, saving a few quid by shoehorning him in when he isn’t ready helps nobody…
Yeah I still don’t get that, at all.
Great call by someone p called Matt on the Talksports Sports bar with Jamie O Hara..dished it out with passion just about held it together while he punched holes in his own walls…’ Levy has killed our club’ he wasn’t just talking about tonight.
It already is, apart from for those that might be a bit slow…
The club needs to be sold mate, ENIC and Levy cannot handle the heat when expectations are raised.
They were happy to ride the Poch train, raking in the Champions League money but the upshot was always going to be that the mediocrity of the previous 10-15 years before Poch (briefly Arry) would never be acceptable again.
The problem for Levy is that it was all done at a relatively low cost under Pochettino. The reality of spending to win (as we’ve seen with the top clutch of clubs) has never been and never will be part of their business strategy.
So the only solution for the fans and possibly even ENIC is to find a buyer. If that doesn’t happen, things will gradually become more and more toxic, possibly even on par with Mike Ashley at Barcodes.
I’m not sure how this all plays out short, medium or long term but with ENIC as owners we will never be a long term top 4 club. Even if we do get in this season. It sort of explains why Levy tried to bring Pochettino back in the summer. I mean the man has no shame.
Find a manager who’ll get us regular top 4 on a shoestring? I doubt Conte wants that job long term anyway…
Conte speaks the truth. The level of the team has dropped, it has dropped since the period when Pochettino had us firing with a fresh albeit relatively cheaply assembled young side.
Then Levy decided to undermine all of that good work by not backing him or ‘the project’, leading to his eventual departure.
The level of the team has dropped because we never spent big, but we had a coach with a way of working with a young group. Remove both of those things from the equation and the outcome is inevitable.
The people behind those decisions is both headed up and led by one man, the club’s chairman. I honestly don’t understand anyone that either/or excuse this fraud or the failure to back Pochettino.
That decision alone has put the team’s progress back by about six or seven years, and that’s being optimistic. How long since Pochettino was sacked? Two and a half years or more and we still look way off. That’s not counting the 18months he had to limp on with no backing (but still reaching a Champions League final).
Conte is a classy manager and a classy guy who speaks the truth. He’s been brought in to try and help fix this complete mess Levy created. From a place when things were going rather ok at one time.
When Conte says the level has dropped, think of the only person responsible, Levy.
This is largely the same team they thrived in last season…. I.e. midfield lacked creativity & our right sided full back couldnt cross the ball yet these two are way, way off the mark… passes between the lines & to each other are often over or under hit when last season their relationship was telepathic…
They cant be depended upon either… taxi for both…😂
We .missed Dier tonight… I know unbelievable 😏
A leopard never changes it’s spots. I’m convinced that it’s not in his DNA to ever put the fans first. He’s like a machine with zero conscious.
We haven’t got a future, just more of the same. Spurs fans have to be sadomasochists.
And lukaku should of had a hatrick!
100% spot on but we know how it’s going to end….not what the manager or us suffering fans want but only what suits ENIC and Levy at this moment in time. They keep saying they are securing the clubs future…the only future they are securing is their own!
Levy doesn’t give a toss . He has an events facility and a football club to load up with debt…nice work if your a c=nt.
But will be as right as rain when the Argie squad is called up.
Absolute garbage..chasing shadows getting done by triangles down our left..we were abject..the gulf in class is evident ..the gulf in effort is not acceptable..CFC twice more and Arsenal..deep joy..
I’ve said before, he’s slowly been backing into a corner and when it goes wrong under Conte (through lack of backing in the transfer market) he’ll finally have nowhere left to hide and all fingers will point at him.
We left the handbrake on too and forgot to depress the clutch.
They also took their foot off the peddle I think.
Your comment made me smile but for all the wrong reasons I’m afraid.
It’s a shame that anyone does. If those fans just stopped going enic would soon sit up and take notice.
Levy will faff January away trying to sell our deadwood at silly prices, then he’ll run out of time as usual and there’ll be nobody decent left to buy (which means he doesn’t have to spend money and will get a pat on the head and a biscuit from his master). Rinse and repeat every transfer window, We’re stuck in a loop of enic induced madness.
I cannot see any way back for Levy and ENIC this January. They have to back Conte or it’s game over in my opinion. We need new players in the squad before we play the next two matches against Chelsea and the match against Arsenal. It’s no good Levy playing the same groundhog day tactic of leaving it all too late and then making a token gesture signing who adds nothing to the first team. This feels like the last hoorah for Levy and ENIC. Revert to type and they are deadmen walking as far as Conte, the players and the supporters are concerned.
So we’re playing a complete rookie in Tanganga instead of an experienced Welsh International in Rodon?
Tanganga is a walking disaster – he just doesnt understand the game. If we lose next three games to Chelsea and Arsenal and sign nobody then Conte will walk.
Missed who it was but he was spot on.
When ENIC finally leave (wishful thinking), there will be a reunion of managers (Managers Anonymous) put together for therapy sessions to help heal these guys..
I think they were fearful, at least the back three anyway – what’s the opposite of exuding confidence? A distinct whiff of fear?
The one where we gave away 2 goals.
The silver lining could be that Levy is forced to put his hand in his pocket and buy decent players for once. Or is that hugely wishful thinking?
What game were you watching?
Not great when our chance of advancing revolves around dodgy lasagna.
Exactly could have easily came out of that 0-0
Wasn’t that Theo from The Spurs Show?
Need a whole new back 4 haven’t replaced Walker Toby Vertonghen Rose still need a Erikson replacement Son been dreadful for weeks should just start Gill atleast he takes on players but every tome Conte has played him apart from tonight is at right wing so renders him useless..
👍
Time-wasting arseholes, and beyond the Board, it actually gets worse
I think the effort was missing as well. They weren’t up for it.
BBC sounds 5Live now, go back to 9.44pm.
The two goals were so easy to prevent, that’s so frustrating.
If people over 60 were the priority for the vaccine, then we spurs fans should be main priority for the tegridy weed, if it ever comes out. This is painful
Lads we’ve got a chance. If covid hits the Chelsea squad and the 2nd leg is called off, a football league panel can then award us the game 3-0 like Uefa did to our conf league opponents. We’re in this!!! Up the Covid!!!
Good tell us more .
We were technically inferior to them tonight. Our first touch, quick passes and tackles were atrocious compared to Chelsea’s. How can Premier League footballers be so technically poor!
Well probably not, but we can score one and make a game of it, I’ll settle for that.
Good!
Agreed, both their goals came from stupid mistakes from Tanganga at the base of the 3. Really need to sign some quality for this position.
The killer realisation for me is that the worse problem is who we get in next – the signings are getting worse.
Royal – flop
Lo Celso – flop
Ndombele – flop
Bergwijn – flop
Doherty – beyond a flop
Romero – fingers crossed
Gil – long way to go
Some of those were record signings I think, it’s terrifying – I don’t trust us to spend money if it is available
Levy getting a good pasting on 5Live now.
He gets bored.
Unless they go down to 10 men or we get a penalty I can’t see us scoring… 2nt was largely how we’ve been for the past 12 months
We’ll never sell them because Levy values them both at 70M.They’re here for the long haul.
I’ve been saying this for ages…shocking, we may as well just not take them..
The thing is, yes, they have a better squad than us, but when we play these sides we just seem to make calamitous errors, that if we cut them out we may have been in it more.
General rot set in.
Do you think we can score three and not concede ?
I’d settle for three against Morecombe.
N’Dembele and a bright 10mins when he came on and that was it….
On a side note, did anyone else notice that as well as being rubbish at corners and free kicks, we are now also bloody hopeless at throw ins?
But not having any decent back up strikers has served us so well for years now ……
Conte will be gone come the summer.
We scored two goals tonight.
We don’t have a first team
Kane & Son are knackered… take those two away & we couldnt score in a brothel… there were times we were playing with 9 men tonight
So once again Chelsea demonstrate the gulf in class between both clubs. Daniel will not care a jot because its only the Carabao and we are building, always building and he only cares about top 4. Ndombelly is just not up to it physically. Its one thing turning up against a flaky Newcastle side its another doing it against a title contender who don’t give you a second to breath. He didn’t know what day of the week it was and needs to be packed off to the Portuguese league