Chelsea (A) | PL | Post-Match Thread

[hilts]

football is not always rosy , sometime winning ugly is good enough in my opinion.

No shit sherlock, you are a font

 

[kinggoat64]

I had nine Carling watching the game the tenth was the best after the final whistle

 

[PragueBlue]

Nobody was really saying that when we were smashing 6 past the rags

The reality is a lot of our players haven’t been putting in good individual performances. I don’t think it’s down to the formation that Foden couldn’t trap a bag of cement tonight or that De Bruyne’s passing was well below par for his standards.

I don’t think it’s a system thing, I’ve seen at times this season to know we are brilliant when players are on top of their game. A lot of our players have been off the pace recently, for whatever reason.

I think when a lot of players are off the pace, it is most likely down to a system that they aren't comfortable with than that they have all mysteriously lost form.

When I saw the team selection, I thought it was a good line up, but I didn't realise that Cancelo was going to play as a RWB/RW and Foden as almost a LWB/LW. If we'd actually played a traditional 4-3-3 of:

Ederson

Walker Stones Ake Cancelo

KDB Rodri Gundogan

Bernardo Haaland Foden

Then we'd have played much better than the strange shit we served up first half.

I really believe that if we want to win the league we need to go back to a traditional back 4 with FBs supporting the wide attacking player and 3 in CM, rather than playing KDB pretty much up top with Haaland.

Rotate players in and out by all means but stick to a formation that works for us. Generally speaking we don't look great with KDB up top alongside Haaland and FBs playing in midfield rather than supporting the wide player. Stick with our tried and tested 4-3-3 and we'll win the league.

 

[Gobshiight]

He's better than Carney though it's not a compliment.

How lucky are we to have them both on!

I had to mute that 'debate' he just had with Carragher

 

[Rhapsody in Blue]

Does anybody here think there ABIT of unrest in the dressing room. Can't help but keep thinking this. Look abit disjointed just don't look like a team at minute. What you think guys. A really import victory and they all celebrated at the end but got a feeling there a few upset players for whatever reason.

No. I think Pep and the players know that this season is extreme with the world cup and that the team has to be rotated and formations changed regularly.

 

[Bill Walker]

How bad was Cucurella tonight, thank god we didn't sign him.

if he's worth 65 mill we seriously sold Zinc way too cheap

 

[cheekybids]

You could spend all night trying to work out what happened in that first half - we were all over the shop - and we weren’t that much better in the second half other than the 5 or 10 minutes before the goal.

But the moral of the story tonight surely is that we have four or five players who are bang out of form at the moment, whether that’s due to rustiness or attitude problems, and we simply can’t play them until they start to pull their fingers out.

Cancelo and Walker look well out of sorts, Bernado did very little again in a poor season overall, and Foden needs to sort himself out as he was embarrassing tonight. Will be interesting to hear what Guardiola has to say about their performances.

On the plus side Lewis looks absolutely at home this level and it shows what can happen when you give a player his opportunity. Hopefully we’ll see Palmer at the weekend. Stones was absolute class tonight and I thought Akanji did well when he came on as well.

A lot of these players have spent 6 weeks listening to wank advice from substandard coaches. A few more weeks of Pep & they’ll be back at the races. Hopefully all in form for the home straight.

 

[Lavinda Past]

Generally unimpressed by the overall performance tonight. KDB, Gundo poor, Foden, Cancelo awful.

Their keeper gifted us 3 points - if I was Potter, he'd never play fir me again.

Subs well timed (at last) and positive changes made. Good work by Pep. Hopefully plays a few youngsters and benchers in the cup game. The PL is more important.

We can play a lot better but it's 3 points and on to the derby. Let's give them bastards a hammering and put them back in their box

 

[coolcity]

You know what I love so much about De Bruyne? On his shit days he never gives up, he keeps going and always tries to get involved even if the outcome isn’t the best. Other players completely disappear to the point you forget they’re even playing. Not Kev. That’ll never be him. Hopefully he gets back to his best form soon enough.

I think people also forget he's not getting any younger, and it's going to be a long tough season.

 

[Muttley59]

Nobody was really saying that when we were smashing 6 past the rags

The reality is a lot of our players haven’t been putting in good individual performances. I don’t think it’s down to the formation that Foden couldn’t trap a bag of cement tonight or that De Bruyne’s passing was well below par for his standards.

I don’t think it’s a system thing, I’ve seen at times this season to know we are brilliant when players are on top of their game. A lot of our players have been off the pace recently, for whatever reason.

agree with you mate. they mustve got one hell of a rocket at half time, especially with pep hooking walker and cancelo. the atitude and will to win increased. When pep makes changes ( early enough ) it usually pays off

 

[Chi-town blues]

That pass 100m pass from jack was inch perfect, gets better and better watching replay.

 

[The Light Was Yellow Sir]

Job done!

Couldn't give a shit about reading a thousand posts saying how crap we were etc, it's not game for robots, and like any other human being players have off nights.

Only champions ride these spells and get through them.

Quite right. Just checked the results from the last 4 league wins and there is no mention whatsoever of whether we played well or not. “Look in the book” as they say in cricket!

 

[AlexWilliamsGloves]

What did Super Jack say in his interview?

 

[Bluesince1979]

I had nine Carling watching the game the tenth was the best after the final whistle

10 carling? Fuck me.

 

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

Pep loves Rico!

 

[bluegaz13]

and rightly so

That substitution and performance both first half and second half justifys nothing. The absolute shite performance first half was absolutely on Pep and playing numerous payers out of position in some bizzare fluid formation where quite a lot of the players incluing both Rodri and KDB didnt seem to have a clue where they were supposed to be at times.

It was the change in formation that immediately changed the way we played

Agree with most of this….but not sure we really changed the formation….more that we had players who were more comfortable in the system….namely Lewis.

 

[willipp]

Both Rodders and KDB need a rest and Phillips needs to get upto speed asap.

Yeah defo, he needs to step up now and show why we spent that money on him.

 

[Tricky_Trev]

It’s clear that we set up that way because we thought Chelsea would play 5 at the back. They didn’t. So why did we wait until HT to switch to the usual shape? It was also clear an hour before kick off that they couldn’t play 5 at the back with the names on their team sheet. Very weird to still set up with the plan for a 5-at-the-back Chelsea.

 

[BlumerMooner]

Pep loves Rico!

We love Rico!

 

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

What did Super Jack say in his interview?

Basically admitting that he has found it much harder than he thought he would amongst others things.