Chelsea post match thread

[uwe rosler 28]

Liked the look off the 2 garcias the 2 forwards and the center half really impressed me defensive wise bit shaky on the ball but defensively had costamin his pocket big future!

 

[BobKowalski]

Enjoyed the first half. Second not so much. But not a surprise and the kids did okay with Tosin the stand out. We got screwed over with that tie so screwing them back was fine with me. Not sure why people go on about 'we must sack Pellers' given he has been sacked already. As for Willy. Didn't rate him from the get go given he is about 3 feet tall and not looking forward to see what he does in the final next week.

Will the season blow up in our face? Fuck knows but there is nothing we can do about it now apart from pray and I'm starting with a request for Hart in goal for the final. Waste of time but I'm giving it a shot.

 

[Jamoid]

Martin Margetson
Simon Tracey
John Burridge

Did we play with a keeper?

 

[Marvin]

There is no chance in hell this team can win CL. Even if we manage to get past Kiev, we will get destroyed by anyone in the next round. FA cup was chance to win silverware, something this club cant brag to have plenty of to just ignore. If this is how he treats FA cup I am scared of what team we will have in Mickey Mouse Cup

Kompany, Hart and Aguero are world class players, but the midfield is so weak we can't handle the better Premiership teams let alone the best of europe.

I think we will beat Kiev because they may fear us and give us too much respect but after that it's hard to see City getting much further.

 

[come-on-barney]

Yes, and they lost.

Shit - when did they do away with second legs?

 

[Hungarian blue]

Loved the partnership the two Garcias had today, though defensively even Aleix was a bit short (fitness or just ability wise, but this will improve with age), and Manu had to play on the right wing leaving Zabaleta alone which was just weird selection from Pellegrini.

Still, those who think this will hamper the youngsters development or confidence, just check Manu Garcia's latest tweet, or the support and the fun Barker and the other lads are having on Twitter. This will go down as a great memory for everyone involved.

 

[Jamoid]

Surely a strong team today would have been better as we have more chance of winning the FA cup than Champions league

 

[Peter Doherty]

Shit - when did they do away with second legs?

Oh, I thought they lost.

 

[Decepticon]

Some people seem to miss the point today

We were made to play this game today after requesting it to be played either Friday or yesterday and were told to fuck off

If it was Rags, Liverpool, Arsenal they would have agreed

This was the club putting 2 fingers up at the FA and BBC and finally grew a pair of balls IMO

We have CL in the Ukraine not fucking Paris and then a final to play followed by an away game at anfield

Fair play by the club today

Finally someone's talking sense here.

 

[baildon blue]

A

I wouldn’t normally indulge in a bout of public Pelle-pummelling … but right now, I’m thoroughly disenchanted with Manuel.

Off the top of my head:

a) He came across as petulant and precious with this prolonged hissyfit about a 24-hour delay. He practically announced pre-game that he expected to lose.

b) Yes, we may only have 13 fit senior players … but we have a wealth of talent coming through and he has refused to try and bed them in all season when he has had plenty of chances to do so. Throwing them in as a lump against Chelsea isn’t ideal … or very smart.

c) Having said that, I thought the kids did well for the most part … but Manuel’s formation and tactics were woeful and he sold those kids down the river. 4-4-2? Worse still, time and time again today, Chelsea played a simple one-two to get behind our backline when we stepped up. It was schoolboy tactics … watch the rerun and count how many times a Chelsea player running on to a simple short pass got them in on our goal. That was Manuel’s dopey gameplan, not Chelsea brilliance. They knew exactly how we would set up our backline and how easy it is to unlock it because we don’t track the runner.

d) Willy and MDM … no other manager would have brought those two to our club. They are Manuel’s old pals. MDM has been atrocious since his deal to go back to Argentina fell through in the summer. Denayer is out on loan and we have MDM treading treacle? MDM had one small purple patch for us during his time here … the rest of the time it’s been an old pro getting one last big payday courtesy of his old oppo. He’s too old, way too slow and is just going through the motions. Willy is awful. Just awful. Too slow to get down, too timid to challenge where it counts and his positionial sense is lousy. He was definitely at fault for three of the goals today and arguably culpable in all five. He saved a penalty but it was a poor take by Oscar.

e) If he plays Willy in the League Cup Final, we are already at a disadvantage … if he employs the same tactics he did in the league game against Liverpool we will get thumped. And does anybody feel confident that we are going all the way in the ECL based on our present form?

f) So this season has the potential to turn into a trainwreck unless Manuel gets a grip. We may well end up struggling to hang on to fourth in the league … and there is the nightmare scenario where fourth may not even guarantee ECL if Chelsea go on and win the ECL again and Liverpool win the Europa League (they would both go into next season’s ECL and one country can only have a maximium of 5 places: http://www.theguardian.com/football...s-if-english-teams-win-both-european-trophies ) If we don’t have ECL football, we will struggle to land our summer transfer targets and Pep will start at a huge disadvantage if he only has the Europa League to aim at.

As things stand right now, I think Manuel needs to ditch the gung-ho stuff, start picking teams with an eye on how the opposition play and deploy a bit of pragmatism. He will either go out as a charming man or a daft old goat :)

He's not bothered .
Looks like he gave up in January 2015 .
Why he's still here you can blame those Barcelona lads .