Reece James

The right side of the defense is a mess.

Uh, Reece James is playing in, in a sort of a midfield role as well, which I think, I don't think works.

Uh, you got Hato in that midfield role as well.

Obviously he's going forward, so many goals, and Martinez doesn't look the safe pair of hands that he has been-

Probably a lean on the d- the tie on the money line, a very, very small kind of interest in that.

But on the money line itself, looking at some props, Rogers obviously having lots of shots.

Cole Palmer not brilliant last week, but has been great this start of the season, and obviously Reece James and Hatate, as I said, playing that more advanced role, uh, are getting into opportunities to assist and to have shots more.

I think it's gonna be a very open game.

Uh, we don't actually, we, we don't actually have millions of center-backs con- considering we had loads.

I mean, we're yet to see, like, a Reece James play here, and I think he will at some point, so I'll be very interested to see that.

Um, right.

Pedro Neto at right wing-back.

I don't know how they're going to play.

Look, Barco is a midfielder.

Reece James is our captain.

So you could easily see Reece James and Lavia again with Barco coming on.

It's gone in the bin, and I'm here recording again because just as I finished, I saw that João Pedro has pulled out of the Brazil squad with an injury.

And we spoke about it in the game week preview yesterday, that he wasn't pictured in Chelsea training alongside Reece James and Caicedo, and this injury is probably why.

It makes him a major doubt for the Chelsea game against Brentford.

I say major doubt because we don't have official confirmation from Xavier Alonso yet that he is definitely ruled out.

Um, but beyond that, yeah, I, I think in midfield and attack, there aren't really that many decisions to make, are there? Because of, uh, player availability.

Um, certainly central midfield, I think likelihood is it will probably be Lavia and James again if bo- if both are fit because I don't see-- we don't-- we-- again, we don't have confirmation of exactly where Moises Caicedo is in terms of his health status, but I don't see him playing in this game and opening the door [chuckles] to Ecuador saying, "Well, let's have him for the next two and a half weeks." I don't think Chelsea want that at all.

He, he needs rest.

Um, so I'd expect them to be in midfield and then, you know, we've already discussed the front three.

So it's, it's something to watch.

Uh, we'll see what kind of reception he gets from the away fans at Brentford if he plays.

I think he's running out of time to show that he can be a regular in this team because once Caicedo's back, Reece James is in contention for that right back spot again.

Joshua Champong's there.

If you're going to play Esteval as a wingback, you need a very, very strong... right-sided centre-half who is happy to cover the space and be dragged out wide and comfortable 1v1.

We can't have that at the moment if he doesn't want to play Reece James there because the other defenders aren't.

Yeah, I think that's fair because there's so many.

You could have Rodgers left.

So hopefully we get to start, you know, see Palestra at Chelsea because I think he could be a really valuable signing across the course of this season.

In midfield, I'm going to go with Rhys James and another player, hopefully returning, Jordan Henderson.

It's wild to think that Jordan Henderson could end up turning out to be a little bit of a saviour figure right now for Chelsea.

You know, Henderson hasn't played football for a while.

He is not looked at as kind of a major first-teamer, but I've been highly unconvinced by Romelu Lavia.

I've been critical of Rhys James' performances, but listen, I think 10 out of 10 Chelsea fans are having Rhys James over Romelu Lavia if you have to pick one.

in the starting 11.

And my hope is with Jordan Henderson is just that now, that experience, that maturity, but just hopefully having someone, you just, either it's got to be drilled into the players, but especially those in midfield, no matter how advanced and progressive we want to be, how much we want to be on the ball, how much we want to attack and want to feed that front three.

Leave it at that, I wouldn't have a problem with it.

The incessant need to force him into midfield, and now also the conversation starting about Rhys saying, oh, Rhys isn't good enough in midfield.

Rhys James has proven he's good enough in midfield.

He just needs a capable partner.

You can't expect him to hold down a double

But I also think he...

I guess this is going to be a broader conversation.

I do think Rhys is not playing amazing at the moment.

If he doesn't start, it'd probably be Danny Welbeck.

And Reece James, apparently he's dealing with something.

He's always dealing with something.

So if you remove some of these guys, if you start removing, if you're already down Caicedo, if you start removing pieces here and there, You know, they changed up their formation and squad a little bit in the game against Hall.

Like if you want to go to a point where you're like Brentford over two and a half goals or something like that, I think that is also in play here because just what we see in this Chelsea back line, Brentford over two and a half goals plus 285 odds.

So a couple bets in there for you.

Yeah, I mean, if they're missing Reece James, Quesedo, and Jean-Pedro, those three are probably six best players.

That definitely

Chelsea were really poor at the back, which led to both the goals by Hull City.

And I think Reece James is a good shout-out in the Chelsea backline because he's been taking corners and all the set-pieces.

So if there's any player that you need to target in the Chelsea backline, it has to be Reece James.

Thanks, Raman.

Making sure I don't drop him.

Yeah, great calls there.

So yeah, some strong pickups in there.

Rhys James, something that Ramon had mentioned early on would be a good pickup from a Chelsea defensive.