Chelsea (A) | Post-Match Thread

Great job against Chelsea - clearly we were up for the game.

When we press as a team for the full 90 as we did against Chelsea, we're the best side in world football.

Let's hope that we can sustain this level of effort over our next 2 games. With a win against PSG - we might possibly even be on the way towards knocking them out of the C/L.
 
Salford_Blue said:
Admittedly, I didn't see the whole game, just the "highlights" on MOTD.

But I was wondering if, considering the previous three meetings, where Tuchel appears to know how to play against City, if the signing of Lukaku for them could be a mistake? Does he slow them down?

As good as Lukaku is, and as poor as the Werner has been, I think they needed more of a 'fox in the box', pacy, fast- footed player to feed off the fast paced breaks. A Gabriel Jesus type of player.

For me, I'm not sure Lukaku is their answer. Good if you put it over his head to run onto and he'll turn you every time if you go touch tight, but give him a couple of yards and as others have pointed out, he then just becomes a flick on merchant. Alright, maybe a bit sarcastic there, but you get my drift.
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Two of the City v Chelsea games were 2nd City teams. Too much got made of Tuchel having Pep's number.

I think Lukaku is a player who will score loads of goals against weaker sides but that is good. Chelsea fell down last season because they could not score goals so they'd dominate sides and end up losing.
 
Marvin said:
Two of the City v Chelsea games were 2nd City teams. Too much got made of Tuchel having Pep's number.

I think Lukaku is a player who will score loads of goals against weaker sides but that is good. Chelsea fell down last season because they could not score goals so they'd dominate sides and end up losing.
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I remember when Potchetino, Mourinho and Klopp "had Pep's number" too.

A nonsense football cliche.
 
It's funny how Chelsea has been such an important marker for us since Pep arrived. The centurion season, last season, and this season: always feels more than 3 points, it's the season, team shape and belief taking hold. Funny how that works.
 
JGL07 said:
I haven’t been there since the ECWC semi-final in 1971. I went a few times in the mid to late 1960s. It was a weird ground very dilapidated but with some character.

The first time I went, a group of us missed the kick-off despite leaving Manchester at midnight on the Friday night. We got drinking with some Fulham fans in a pub by the Thames and underestimated the time to walk to the stadium.

I used to hate watching Chelsea back then. They were always very negative and packed the midfield with hatchet-men and would smother the play. They were certainly the dirtiest team in the first division back then (alongside Leeds). This was demonstrated in the 1970 FA Cup final against Leeds United which was an exercise in brutality.

Remember when Fantasy Football League got a current referee to watch a video of the match and issue red and yellow cards as appropriate. There would have scarcely been any players left in the pitch by the end. I only saw the initial match. I missed the replay as I was in Vienna.
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First time was 66/67 0-0,also the ECWC semi 71 0-1 last time FA CUP win 3-0 71.
 
Not the result I expected but over the bluemoon. I think gaining 3 points against Chelsea nets losing 5 against Spurs/Southampton?
 
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chesterbells said:
Never been to Stamford Bridge but it always looks a small stadium from the tv coverage - but one where the fans seem really close to the playing service
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Definitely needs more of a run-off area at the ends. With players like Rudiger around it's a danger to opposition players when he dumps them into the advertising hoardings. As happened with Gabriel during this game who just happened to be lucky enough to get up and walk away unharmed.
 
Brightwell Bros. said:
It's funny how Chelsea has been such an important marker for us since Pep arrived. The centurion season, last season, and this season: always feels more than 3 points, it's the season, team shape and belief taking hold. Funny how that works.
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Saturday had definite vibes of the KDB winner at the Bridge in 2018 which really ignited our season, it was a similar statement performance
 
give it to gordon said:
Just watched the full match on City+1

City were amazing, Chelsea like to moan at the ref ever 5 minutes.

The commenter on City+1 needs to learn the players names lol at one point he called Eddy , Mendes !!! Unless he was so far behind as to what was happening on the pitch.
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I noticed this too - more so than usual. Jorginho, Azpilicueta, Kovacic, Rudiger, Alonso - every single decision. Did my nut in
 
Marvin said:
Two of the City v Chelsea games were 2nd City teams. Too much got made of Tuchel having Pep's number.
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Indeed. I think it is also fair to argue that the semi final and the league match against Chelsea were not our priorities at the time. We played the semi final on April 17, two weeks after the resumption of matches after the international break. In that time we had won a vital game at Leicester on April 3rd, then won at Dortmund 3 days later, lost at home to Leeds on 10th and then won in Dortmund on Wednesday 14th before travelling to London to face Chelsea. The week after the semi saw us travel to Villa Park in the league on Wednesday before heading back to Wembley for the Carabao Cup final against Spurs. With the league still open if almost won, two important CL matches played and a cup final it is easy to see why Pep had no choice but to field a side he would pick only in extreme circumstances. On 17 April City were up against fixture congestion as much as Chelsea.

The league match at the Etihad was played on May 8 - 4 days after the win at the Etihad over PSG had put us in the CL final. By now it would have taken a series of miracles for us not to win the league (it was ours for certain the following Tuesday when Leicester won at OT) and Pep clearly decided to rest key players and play a very unfamiliar formation. Even so the turning point was Aguero's awful attempt at a Panenka in stoppage time at the end of the first half which would have put City 2 up but didn't. I also remember a nailed on penalty turned down in the second half.

The CL final is fair enough. City were poor and Chelsea deserved to win but this game was no more proof of Tuchel's tactical superiority than the other two. Football matches are products of particular circumstances and the circumstanes surrounding the Chelsea matches last season were not favourable to City.
 
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