Chelsea post match thread

[Walking on the blue moon]

Proud of the youngsters today. Although most of them are not ready to be a first-team regular yet, hopefully they can be gradually introduced over the next two or three years (going on loan abroad would be great too). Despite the scoreline, I felt rather happy as some of them were even better than I expected (e.g. Tosin, Faupala and Manu). Senior players should have done more than usual to help the youngsters though.

Granted this match is not an ideal scenario to throw in so many of the EDS players, but if they could come out of this test with a stronger mentality and a greater desire to improve, most of them would have a great career ahead. After all, learning how to recover from failure is as important, if not more important than learning how to win.

 

[Walking on the blue moon]

1. Ask him why he picked only 1st team players in the previous rounds anyway ?
2. Ask him also why he did nothing in the half time when everybody could see that the storm was coming ?
3. It woulb be so disasterous if Dinhio and Sterling have to play for 45 mins ?
Finally i like to mention that we are playing against Kiev and Liverpool not against galaxys best team in the next games.

1. He had too much respect for cups until he finally realised the FA did not deserve such respect.
2. Couldn't say he do nothing, rather he was not a tactical genius that could turn the tide with a large bunch of youngsters, and that he was reluctant to sub on senior players.
3. It would be absolutely a disaster if one of them got injured in that 45 mins, considering our luck this season.

Would also like the point out we have lost against Stoke, Everton, West Ham and Leicester recently, which are no better than Kiev and Liverpool.

 

[vmsuhail]

That is a shocking stat and like you I can see #50 coming Sunday. I just can't see how we are going to handle the energy of Liverpool's midfield especially if Coutinho is playing.

It's shocking what it has come to. Even discounting injuries, our team to play in the COC final is better than Liverpool. They are only a mid-table side and yet we are the ones that are SCARED to face them. A lot of it is down to our manager.

 

[bluetonium]

Well done to the youngsters, great energy and some good talents on show, in truth we competed for a half against a one of Europe's best teams, but lost it in a five minute window at the start of the second half.

Thought Willy was not helpful with, from what I could see, no communication and a complete lack of presence to help the team out. Good penalty save though, doesn't make up for the rest of his flapping.

Thought A Garcia was particularly decent. He looks like a pep player if ever I saw one, and highlights exactly why you don't need to be burly and tough to be a defensive midfielder, if you're neat on the ball, have a high workrate and not afraid to challenge, that is more productive than watching the play pass you by. Thought Tosin did well too to not buy Diego Cheater's best attempts to fall over thin air in our box.

Said to my dad when we were watching the game, at least we've been beaten fair and square without the ref having a say. Two minute later penalty given against us for a shoulder charge, when their lad actually handled the ball going in to the challenge. Good to see the consistency in ability for the ref to drop clanger at any moment.

However, all the discussion on Pellegrini and our selection yesterday can only be answered on Wednesday and on Sunday. We did this for a reason. Beat Kiev and Liverpool and it is justified. Anything else and he's got nowhere to hide.

 

[Walking on the blue moon]

I didn't agree. I never agreed. I thought it was a fucking stupid idea and I said so. We were never going to win the CL. Our objective has been to improve in it, year on year, and we have done so by topping the group. We had two chances of silverware this year and we've just binned one of them... the larger one. Liverpool will doubtless raise their game next weekend and that's our season gone with no trophies again. Our inept manager would normally have got sacked last season, so he's determined to make sure it goes out on a low this season.

Topping the group is not progress enough. We've stalled in the round of 16 for two years already. This year we finally had a realistic shot of going through to the quarter-finals, but our form and injury means we have to field a vastly weakened team yesterday to ensure a win against Kiev. Personally I would happily give up an FA cup trophy for a place in the next round of CL.

 

[Walking on the blue moon]

I think that, for the majority of us here, the FA Cup is a best club cup competition in the world. Always has been. The Chimps League has gotten a little more tolerable now that we're in it (haha) and it's also fun to see the best styles/players/managers go at eachother. Still, if one competition had to disappear off the face of the earth, and it was out of the FA Cup or Champions League, then I know what my answer would be and it doesn't take much thinking about.

For this particular scenario, though, in my opinion we need to consider these points:

1. Our injuries means we have 13 senior players fit and they're all knackered (with the exception of Kompany.)

2. The FA have, in the past, enjoyed good relationships with the rags, the dippers and arsenal... which leads me to believe that had this happened to them in the past, then the FA would make an alowance, providing that no one else was disadvantaged to an unfair degree.

3. I have been unable to come up with a suitable reason why this fixture could not be moved to the Saturday (the only reason is TV profit as far as I gather.)

4. Pellegrini and the club felt disrespected and while we maintain a dignified silence in most instances of injustice... 13 knackered senior players and 4 competitions... the gaffer felt now was the time to make a statement.


Now, when I saw the line up I knew what everyone else knew... there was a very high chance we were going to get killed out there. What was going to be interesting was how we would approach our own ball possession, because that would dictate just how high the %chance was that we would be slaughtered. Pellegrini set them up to try and play some football, so at least it wasn't guaranteed that we would be destroyed (because if we had tried to park the bus, and defend 4-4-1-1, super deep, we would most certainly have been.) Chelsea were in a position where putting everything into the FA Cup was good for them. A strong Chelsea side at home, looking for some consolation to a topsy-turvy season. This game would have required some luck, no matter what side we fielded, as our form is far from good.

Truth be told, we needed more possession in order to save some stamina. But that's neither here nor there... the boys were brave, and worked hard. We don't promote our youth in order to harness strength, height and speed... genetic traits that would lend itself well to the under-siege match. We promote to harness technical and tactical astuteness and discipline, and that's what we saw out there from the lads, in the glimpses that one gets from youth debutants, away from home against Champions League opposition. They showed what they work on at the EDS/academy levels and they did it while defending quite well in the first half.

Second half was when that predictable hiding came. And it was not surprising that it was down to ball-chasing that we were tired and vulnerable. What was surprising was that our the sources of our demise were not anything new, for the most part.

-Who hasn't seen Caballero make a handful of calamitous efforts in 90 mins?
-Who hasn't seen dreadful marking from Demi and Kolarov?
-Who hasn't seen us try to play a high line with no pressure on the enemy ball-carrier?


So yeah, we got battered, but it wasn't entirely unavoidable. We had a small chance of success, with some luck. I would have had us as the underdogs even with a strong team out, given our form and Chelsea's particular circumstances at this moment in time. I'm proud of the boys from the EDS and I'm proud of the work we're doing there. There were flashes of combinations and little overloads from those kids that were just brilliant and I think that if we use them sparingly to supplement rotation, they would have a ball with the likes of Yaya and Magic Dave.


*I know this next bit won't be too popular but fuck it...*

I'd like to add too, that in our particular circumstances, at this point in time, if I was manager and doing what's best for the club, I'd most definitely play the stronger side in Europe. We have a League Cup final, a recurring theme/psychological barrier to break when trying to pass Chimps League 1st round KO stage (and no better chance to move past that than now) and most importantly, we have a winnable Premier League. The FA Cup will always be the better cup but in this specific case, I'd make an exception, and I'd expect any City gaffer too.


When Pellers said he was going to do this, I too was angry with the FA and gave my full support. Now that it's happened, I'm hurt from the hit we took. And it was indeed a painful hit, particularly because the scoreline looks so bad. But I'm not about to turn on the boss. And anyone who thought that we 'just threw the match' should watch it again as punishment haha

Haha great post!

 

[stonerblue]

Just got back from the game, i'm not bothering to read 60 pages, i can get the jist of it from the last page. i can't believe so many are criticising players or the manager for this game. Pellegrini told us exactly what would be happening prior to the game, it was essentially an exhibition game and you can't take much if anything away from that game. The kids gave a good account of themselves in the first half but couldn't maintain that level and fell to a vastly superior side in the second half.

Fans were in top form today. Proper away day that. with no moaners in the crowd and plenty that were just up for a laugh singing and even mocking ourselves like the days from before the takeover and before we started to turn into rags. Would love a similar atmosphere at Wembley but there's ero chance of that happening

Great post in a sea of drivel.

 

[George Hannah]

...However, all the discussion on Pellegrini and our selection yesterday can only be answered on Wednesday and on Sunday. We did this for a reason. Beat Kiev and Liverpool and it is justified. Anything else and he's got nowhere to hide.

Aye, that's the rub alright. Win and it was shrewd prioritization in the face of injuries and fixture congestion. Lose and it was a day of dark disgrace when the competition, our club's reputation and the loyalty of our fans were sacrificed on the altar of corporate marketing and brand management.

 

[Bozzie]

Proud of the youngsters today. Although most of them are not ready to be a first-team regular yet, hopefully they can be gradually introduced over the next two or three years (going on loan abroad would be great too). Despite the scoreline, I felt rather happy as some of them were even better than I expected (e.g. Tosin, Faupala and Manu). Senior players should have done more than usual to help the youngsters though.

Granted this match is not an ideal scenario to throw in so many of the EDS players, but if they could come out of this test with a stronger mentality and a greater desire to improve, most of them would have a great career ahead. After all, learning how to recover from failure is as important, if not more important than learning how to win.

Pretty much how I felt. Not an easy test for those lads to face the experience of the team Chelsea fielded but they'll be better for coming up against Costa, Willian, Fabregas, Ivanovich etc. With the exception of Zabaleta and Fernando I didn't think our other three experienced players provided much help fir the youngsters.

 

[mekonmcfc]

Disgusted in Pellegrini yesterday, he has disgraced the club. The price of being a top team is playing lots of games in all competitions. Chelsea played in Europe on wednesday and again played a full strength team against us. We are never going to win the champions league so why not play the weakened side in Kiev ?
Our young players did themselves proud in what was always going to be a good hiding. The senior players let themselves down. I think Fernando probably only one with any credit, and if he doesnt play Hart in the final then he can go on sunday and let Kidd finish the season.