Chelsea (a) post match thread

[Dribble]

38 goals in his last 43 games. Nuff said.

And currently sitting 4th in the PL. Perspective...

 

[HarrytheBlue]

And currently sitting 4th in the PL. Perspective...

4th because of what seems like an unprecedented goals to shots ratio against us - not Sergio's fault. Whenever a team attacks us it feels like we're going to concede. We'll clear the first long ball into our box and the second, but third or fourth time we'll slice it or make a poor headed clearance leading to panic situations. It's only the fact that we have so much possession that prevents us conceding more. 38 in 43 - says everything you need to know about Sergio's performance. Football is a simple game (as someone once said). There's no great science to it.

 

[Marvin]

4th because of what seems like an unprecedented goals to shots ratio against us - not Sergio's fault. Whenever a team attacks us it feels like we're going to concede. We'll clear the first long ball into our box and the second, but third or fourth time we'll slice it or make a poor headed clearance leading to panic situations. It's only the fact that we have so much possession that prevents us conceding more. 38 in 43 - says everything you need to know about Sergio's performance. Football is a simple game (as someone once said). There's no great science to it.

I think the attack is more of a problem than the defence. I felt we struggled to score in last 3 games despite dominating them all possession wise. First was an og, and the 2nd only just creeped in. When I watched it on MOTD I wasn't even sure that one wasn't an og too. Aguero has got a fantastic scoring record, but he does tend to get bottled up by defenders. You could really see the difference when Jesus played in Feb. We had a player who had the pace to run in behind and dart into space for the little through balls from Silva that inevitably follow.

For me jesus will start next season, and I'd be very tempted to sell Aguero and buy a No. 2 striker because I feel you need to sell players who are past their peak. I might be wrong about Aguero. Once I make my mind up and state the opinion I tend to find evidence for it when maybe it's not there. I think that's human nature in everything and you have to be careful with it.

It's shame that Navas might be going back to Sevilla, because it does look like we have found a right back, or a player who can nominally play at right back, but spend the entire time attacking like a winger. I think Kompany will improve the defence a lot too, and I am sure he will play at Southampton after his performance at chelsea

I watched MOTD after the game and two things I noticed which I missed at the game. Sterling made the difference in the goals. I thought he'd had a good game, but his acceleration is exceptional. The way he 3-4 men out with a burst of pace was devastating. I think that's pretty much a unique talent he has. Guardiola has to continually work on that to make him do it more often. The other thing was their goal. Bravo got all the blame for it, but the defending leading up was poor, and to blame Bravo would be harsh. I don't think he could see the shot until it was on top of him.

 

[cleavers]

The other thing was their goal. Bravo got all the blame for it, but the defending leading up was poor, and to blame Bravo would be harsh. I don't think he could see the shot until it was on top of him.

...and Stones got a touch on it about 2 feet away, its certainly a weak shot, but the defending prior to the shot was terrible.

 

[SilverFox2]

We've all played footy at some level. You score against your mates in the park, but step up for your school or Sunday team and scoring becomes a whole lot harder. - the pitch is bigger and the goal looks smaller. Scoring is the most difficult football skill. Sergio has scored a monumental number of goals for us and is heading for thirty-odd this season. He never hides. All the top strikers in Europe miss chances. Sergio happens to have the best goals to games ratio in Prem history hasn't he ?

You certainly hit a raw spot regarding my inability to score at the level I played at.
I have no argument regarding Agueros goal scoring record and am collectively blaming all who shoot for the appalling success rate.

Presumably our rivals would have the same problems you describe yet they seem to be much better at first of all hitting the target then we do which of course reflects on our scoring.

 

[r.soleofsalford]

Navas cant tackle, cant dribble and cant score but has decent pace but you want him to stay. I will say, you cant knock his work rate, his energy in the last 5 minutes is as high as the first 5.
But the bloke next door has a dog and that fucker will run after a ball all day long, once it gets it, it has no idea what to do with it. which is pretty much what I see in Navas

Aguero The best goal to minutes score the premier league has ever seen you want to be sold ?

This isnt just about Bravo, its about any player who we see consistently having poor games. We cant sit in hope that all of a sudden the confidence fairy will sprinkle magic dust and he becomes the player we all want him to be.

imo the defence has been a shambles mostly due to Vinny`s absense and the Fact that our 4 fullback are for what ever reason of not being fit for purpose. it also come from midfield and lack of protection.

 

[r.soleofsalford]

Navas cant tackle, cant dribble and cant score but has decent pace but you want him to stay. I will say, you cant knock his work rate, his energy in the last 5 minutes is as high as the first 5.
But the bloke next door has a dog and that fucker will run after a ball all day long, once it gets it, it has no idea what to do with it. which is pretty much what I see in Navas

Aguero The best goal to minutes score the premier league has ever seen you want to be sold ?

This isnt just about Bravo, its about any player who we see consistently having poor games. We cant sit in hope that all of a sudden the confidence fairy will sprinkle magic dust and he becomes the player we all want him to be.

imo the defence has been a shambles mostly due to Vinny`s absense and the Fact that our 4 fullback are for what ever reason of not being fit for purpose. it also come from midfield and lack of protection.

And having Bravo in net

 

[HarrytheBlue]

I think the attack is more of a problem than the defence. I felt we struggled to score in last 3 games despite dominating them all possession wise. First was an og, and the 2nd only just creeped in. When I watched it on MOTD I wasn't even sure that one wasn't an og too. Aguero has got a fantastic scoring record, but he does tend to get bottled up by defenders. You could really see the difference when Jesus played in Feb. We had a player who had the pace to run in behind and dart into space for the little through balls from Silva that inevitably follow.

For me jesus will start next season, and I'd be very tempted to sell Aguero and buy a No. 2 striker because I feel you need to sell players who are past their peak. I might be wrong about Aguero. Once I make my mind up and state the opinion I tend to find evidence for it when maybe it's not there. I think that's human nature in everything and you have to be careful with it.

It's shame that Navas might be going back to Sevilla, because it does look like we have found a right back, or a player who can nominally play at right back, but spend the entire time attacking like a winger. I think Kompany will improve the defence a lot too, and I am sure he will play at Southampton after his performance at chelsea

I watched MOTD after the game and two things I noticed which I missed at the game. Sterling made the difference in the goals. I thought he'd had a good game, but his acceleration is exceptional. The way he 3-4 men out with a burst of pace was devastating. I think that's pretty much a unique talent he has. Guardiola has to continually work on that to make him do it more often. The other thing was their goal. Bravo got all the blame for it, but the defending leading up was poor, and to blame Bravo would be harsh. I don't think he could see the shot until it was on top of him.

Sergio gets doubled/trebled up on. Creates more space for others who generally don't seem to take advantage often enough. I do think the defence is a problem. take out W Cab's appearances and the goals to chances ratio against us defies belief. We're a top four team with a record of most of the on target shots against us going in. It is scarily bad. Sergio just scores and scores and scores. He's more than doing his bit if you ask me.

 

[Neville Kneville]

That would be results based and not process based. I'd like to see us starting to really show some ambition to create scoring chances when we need to - Guardiola had no problem with going more direct at Bayern last season when necessary so why is it such a problem here?

If we're struggling to create like we were in the second halves of the last 4 games, we need the striker to stay on the shoulder (not 15 yards inside his own half as he was on 3 occasions in the last 10 today when we could have countered), we need to get the ball in the box before the opposition have time to get set in position, we need to make runs in behind their wide players and we need to get more bodies into the box (instead of 5 players standing around the edge of it). We've done none of those things and it's arguably cost us 9 points and handed 5 points to rivals and 1 to that rag **** at stoke. It was the same shit in the second leg against Monaco as well - zero fucking intent and zero threat, either there's some seriously spineless bastards in this team or the manager needs to have a long hard look at the instructions he's giving them, we're better than this.

Since the takeover, City have been shite at 'kitchen sink' football. Even with Dzeko etc in the team.The rags, for example, had a period where they kept winning games from headers by Wayne Rooney. We often struggled to get Dzeko & Balotelli winning a header when chasing a game. They should have been unstoppable.

Unal & Gabriel Jesus are an interesting variant in that. Both attack the ball.

 

[domalino]

Navas cant tackle, cant dribble and cant score but has decent pace but you want him to stay. I will say, you cant knock his work rate, his energy in the last 5 minutes is as high as the first 5.
But the bloke next door has a dog and that fucker will run after a ball all day long, once it gets it, it has no idea what to do with it. which is pretty much what I see in Navas

Aguero The best goal to minutes score the premier league has ever seen you want to be sold ?

This isnt just about Bravo, its about any player who we see consistently having poor games. We cant sit in hope that all of a sudden the confidence fairy will sprinkle magic dust and he becomes the player we all want him to be.

imo the defence has been a shambles mostly due to Vinny`s absense and the Fact that our 4 fullback are for what ever reason of not being fit for purpose. it also come from midfield and lack of protection.

You have to laugh when reading comments like this.

Navas can't tackle - he's made more tackles than anyone in the team since moving to Right Back.


Can't dribble - well he quite clearly can. Does it all the time, too much sometimes.

Can't score - who gives a shit, he's the right back.



"The defence is a shambles" Well it's the third best defence in the league on form, only Spurs and United have conceded fewer goals than us in the last 10 games/3 months...so is it a shambles? No, of course not. it started out wobbly, but it's been fine for months now,