Chelsea (A) | PL | Post-Match Thread

[Mayor West]

Kinda makes up for the shitshow against Everton. Most people would have accepted a win against Everton and a draw at Stamford Bridge

 

[tolmie's hairdoo]

Such a bad first half, some are getting carried away with the gradual improvement after the restart.

It was still poor against a Chelsea team who could still have got something.

Pep needs to trust the players in their rightful positions.

We won't win anything this season playing with the team that finished the game.

Stones, Ake and Rico were fantastic.

Worry Haaland will not see out three years with us seeing so little of the ball.

 

[manimanc]

@geek24601

Not bothering no?

 

[manimanc]

Such a bad first half, some are getting carried away with the gradual improvement after the restart.

It was still poor against a Chelsea team who could still have got something.

Pep needs to trust the players in their rightful positions.

We won't win anything this season playing with the team that finished the game.

Stones, Ake and Rico were fantastic.

Worry Haaland will not see out three years with us seeing so little of the ball.

I like to think Erling is saving his goals for the derby but i know what you mean with him, he was isolated for long spells.

 

[warringtonblue]

I hope we never play that starting line up again! One shot on target in the first half.
Nice to see Pep using the subs early on though to change things. Walker deserved to be subbed for that throw in alone.

Nothing wrong with the line up, it was the formation that was all wrong

 

[svennis pennis]

Strangely feel like we needed a performance like that to get the season back on track.

It wasn’t pretty at all in that first half and looked like we might be on the verge of another Pep over thinking exercise. A mad attempt to bamboozle the opposition only confused our players more. Cancelo on the wing ahead of Walker was horrendous and won’t have given either player the confidence they so clearly need to get back into form.

However, Pep deserves credit for not sticking with it for 90 minutes like he has done in the past and the changes absolutely worked. As has already been said, a tough place to go and you could see from the players reaction at the end they were delighted.

I can’t help but feel we are missing a bit of leadership and really really wish Dias was fit and fighting himself back into the form and partnership he had with Stones. The guy is a monster and we really do need him back for the run in.

 

[tolmie's hairdoo]

I like to think Erling is saving his goals for the derby but i know what you mean with him, he was isolated for long spells.

Only we could have one of the deadliest strikers in the world and appear like we have a plucky Chris Wood working hard up top!

The lad is running himself into the ground and we need to give him a few more early crosses or go over the top of teams and show his pace.

 

[give it to gordon]

Didnt watch the game due to a migraine. Surprised my missus watched it ! First thing she said this morning was that Gallagher was a dirty sod. Also said that spitty said 'I wouldn't call him great' when talking about Micah.

Looks like my missus is really getting into see City, even said the game was boring lol

 

[Grassland Blue]

GREALISH to MAHREZ... GOAL! 0 - 1

We were shockingly shit in the first half. I like most thought we'd return to our strongest line up, with our usual shape. It was great to see Walker back on the right. Then I saw Cancelo advancing down the right, & then I saw Walker going down the right again & I thought I was seeing things!

The realisation then hit me that baldy had done it AGAIN! In a major match, he's made major changes to outfox the opposition by playing Cancelo as a right winger & Rodri dropping into a back three when attacking, but we AGAIN ended up flummoxing our own fucking players! :-/

My first half assessment was we were very average & Chelsea were good. It might also be a case of our poor performance made Chelsea look even better than they otherwise would have been.

Changes were needed at half time & I thought Cancelo would return to LB, with Bernardo moving out to the right. But Pep made personnel changes which I personally think was unfair, because I don't think the tactics & player positions suited us, not that any player played individually badly. It was the strange system that threw everyone.

In the second half we were far far better & playing a system we're more used to. We started brilliantly & had them on the back foot. The big shock was seeing a rapidly improving & dangerous Foden & Bernardo pulled for Grealish & Mahrez! I thought what the fuck!

But what the fuck do I know. Grealish to Mahrez... GOAL & three points! :-) They were let off the leash when they came on, & Chelsea didn't know what the fuck to do when both went direct & started attacking their defence. THIS is the Mahrez & Grealish I wanna see week in, week out, NOT the side to side, backward passing duo I've seen in recent times.

Lewis was brilliant AGAIN, as was Akanji. Stones was imperious & my MoTM if only for that world class goal-saving sliding block, & Aké was brilliant too. Haaland was mostly anonymous & KDB improved immensely with the change of personnel, our better positioning & the better tactics.

We need to quickly find our regular rhythm & get the likes of Philips & Gomez up to speed to help with the avalanche of games we've got coming.

It's good to get back to winning ways, because this season is proving to be a shit load tougher than most of us envisaged in August.

We play side to side and backward passes to retain possession and drag the opposing players out of position.
Thia tactic has worked well previously, however, because we have been using it for so long it has become somewhat stale and isn't working as well as it once did.
Other teams now seem to be getting at us more.
City need to mix it up a bit more and take a few risks.
I am not a fan of sitting on one goal leads either. Everton stole a point because of it and the Chavs almost did the same.

 

[Blu3m00n91]

Need to start playing Bernardo next to Rodri again. The amount of times that poor Chelsea midfield was cutting through was concerning