Chelsea - FA Cup SF | Post-Match Thread

Newman Noggs said:
Even after sleeping on it, I can't get clear in my head what I think about this. Pep is one of, if not, the greatest manager in football history so if we all knew that making 8 changes was not going to end well, then he certainly did. So the conclusion can only be that he felt he had to make those changes and hope that some of those players would stand up and be counted for once. The fact that they didn't (again) will, presumably, have told Pep all he needs to know.
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Playing Kev was a big dropped bollock imo with that amount of changes. He ran his spuds off in the week.
 
We done the hard work in the league & cups getting to where we are now
Surely it not to hard to pick the strongest team & subs for the last few games
No one can convince me it ever a good idea to make 8 changes and play a weakened team in an FA Cup semi final
We came up wanting against against Leeds so it was always going to end in tears yesterday
 
Yes the changes did not help, mendy should not start in important games. other things i dont want to go into.
But IMHO it was down to foden not starting. Since arse semi final last year nearly every big game which foden does not start we lose. Foden needs to start in these games.
This one is down to pep, if he wants to give squad players a game there are plenty left in the premier league for that.
 
Bill said:
the two most important trophies to English fans are the League and FA cup . he's just made 8 changes in each. total disrespect .
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I think he struggles to get his head around the significance of the FA Cup.

The (real) treble has also gone with that defeat.
 
The quadruple was always highly unlikely. Too many things had to go our way to win it. Note that the players who played vs Dortmund struggled: Kevin injured himself, Dias and Rodri weren't great. It was a fantasy to hope that the team from Dortmund would turn up at Wembley and beat the shit out of Chelsea. We struggled even against West Ham the previous time we travelled in the CL and had less than 3 days to prepare.

Let me point out three major problems which have stopped us.

First, Aguero has been barely available all season. To play all season with just one genuine striker (Jesus, and he missed 2 months as well) is a bit too much even for an excellent squad like ours and a great manager like Pep.

Second, Sterling hasn't been in form this season and has fallen off a cliff over the last 6-7 weeks. So, we are missing not only Aguero's, but also Sterling's contributions in the run-in: that is, the goals and assists of our leading goalscorers from the previous 3-4 seasons. That we hoped to win everything without both of them contributing goals in the run-in was a bit naive in hindsight.

Third: Kevin's injuries. We managed to do well without him in February, but the likes of Bernardo and Gundogan played a bit too much and Pep has to be careful with their playing time in the most important part of the season. It didn't help that they started all 3 games during the international break.

Besides, Jesus has had a start-stop season. Plays his best game vs Leicester, but is on the bench vs Dortmund, which, let's face it, has probably disillusioned him to some extent. If he can't start a big game when Aguero is out, has he a good future at the club at all? Would we have been worse off with him on the left and Foden on the right?

Given our problems, especially Kevin's injury, we'll do well to win the PL and very well to win also the league cup. If we managed to win the PL + the CL without Sergio and Kevin, and with Sterling in a very poor form, that would be Pep's best achievement ever. In any case, Pep and the lads will try to do their best.
 
alexmcity said:
The quadruple was always highly unlikely. Too many things had to go our way to win it. Note that the players who played vs Dortmund struggled: Kevin injured himself, Dias and Rodri weren't great. It was a fantasy to hope that the team from Dortmund would turn up at Wembley and beat the shit out of Chelsea. We struggled even against West Ham the previous time we travelled in the CL and had less than 3 days to prepare.

Let me point out three major problems which have stopped us.

First, Aguero has been barely available all season. To play all season with just one genuine striker (Jesus, and he missed 2 months as well) is a bit too much even for an excellent squad like ours and a great manager like Pep.

Second, Sterling hasn't been in form this season and has fallen off a cliff over the last 6-7 weeks. So, we are missing not only Aguero's, but also Sterling's contributions in the run-in: that is, the goals and assists of our leading goalscorers from the previous 3-4 seasons. That we hoped to win everything without both of them contributing goals in the run-in was a bit naive in hindsight.

Third: Kevin's injuries. We managed to do well without him in February, but the likes of Bernardo and Gundogan played a bit too much and Pep has to be careful with their playing time in the most important part of the season. It didn't help that they started all 3 games during the international break.

Besides, Jesus has had a start-stop season. Plays his best game vs Leicester, but is on the bench vs Dortmund, which, let's face it, has probably disillusioned him to some extent. If he can't start a big game when Aguero is out, has he a good future at the club at all? Would we have been worse off with him on the left and Foden on the right?

Given our problems, especially Kevin's injury, we'll do well to win the PL and very well to win also the league cup. If we managed to win the PL + the CL without Sergio and Kevin, and with Sterling in a very poor form, that would be Pep's best achievement ever. In any case, Pep and the lads will try to do their best.
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We only have about 10 games left
Why not play our strongest team yesterday?
Senior players,will be fuming that we tossed away a great chance for getting to a final
 
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