Chelsea post match thread

[stonerblue]

So did I bar the distribution. Up against Costa and having to play alongside Demichellis can't be easy for any defender let alone a kid making his debut.

Certainly an interesting debut for him against Costa but he handled him very well

 

[BluessinceHydeRoad]

I think quite a few posters are very near to saying what I believe and what I will say out loud. Pellegrini's selection on Sunday was not an act of defiance but an act of desperation in the impossible situation the club had been put. Even so, had he been able to play Joe in goal and Vinnie with young Tosin in central defence City would have been right in the game with a real chance. Those kids played exceptionally well and were let down by our obsession with defending the 18 yard line while ignoring runs from midfield and by some very poor goalkeeping indeed. But with 4 vital games in 10 days the club had to "prioritise" and could not risk Vinnie in all four.

 

[ancoats]

Still a fan of pellers then mossiside? Will you still be should we lose next two games?

its on a knife edge for me with pellegrini and he could easy fall on both sides. we are a million miles of the first 5 games when we seen manchester city winning 5 and 5 clean sheets and everybody said it was a 1 horse race for the title. but from that moment we are a shamble of a team and will be lucky to get 4th place and win anything with pellegrini stay in the club. its a dead man walking your getting the boot in the summer so why should I care I will still get my 12 months pay off and a pick of clubs wanting me

its a puzzle why keep him on till the summer it could end up with nothing and Europa league at best that's why the 2 games are going to get him the sack if we lose. you can not have a unhappy manager and squad at this stage of the season both players and manager know its going to be big changes in the summer so am still getting my money win lose or draw. that giving it all 110% for the club is bollocks when you see yaya walking around and pulling out of the tackles and also the back 4 without Kompany and zabba is the worst in the league and the 2 top teams beatings home and away and 6 points clear of us shocking

for me a stand in manager till the summer with 12 league games will have more of a impacted and maybe fire up the players can it get any worst than the last 20 games we played under pellegrini
even if pep number 2 that he will bring with him at the club could come in right now and just settle things down and get us playing

 

[ancoats]

I think quite a few posters are very near to saying what I believe and what I will say out loud. Pellegrini's selection on Sunday was not an act of defiance but an act of desperation in the impossible situation the club had been put. Even so, had he been able to play Joe in goal and Vinnie with young Tosin in central defence City would have been right in the game with a real chance. Those kids played exceptionally well and were let down by our obsession with defending the 18 yard line while ignoring runs from midfield and by some very poor goalkeeping indeed. But with 4 vital games in 10 days the club had to "prioritise" and could not risk Vinnie in all four.

4 vital games in 10 days the club had to "prioritise" and could not risk Vinnie in all four

that is why pellegrini is a crap manager and under pressure we should never be down to bare bones am sorry he's had 3 seasons to sort out the back 4 and every time we press the panic botton and signed a last min players.the strikers we let go in the summer and without replacement and then forgot to add Iheanacho in the champions league squad leaving us with just aguero and bony knowing aguero is only a game away from a injury. the start of last season you could see we was never going to win anything and pellegrini lack of a plan B and holding the line when defending was on show from the start and easy to undo by teams we was a shamble last season and nothing really change even with big money signings only KDB can hold his hands and say he added something to the squad

 

[mosssideblue]

Are you saying the players are deliberately downing tools?

Not saying that at all. The point I am making is that I do not believe how you can simply say the manager is at fault when there are many factors, which IMO include:

Players on the decline both physically and mentally
Players not being robots, able to play at peak performance week in week out
Squad depth not that deep, coupled with injuries to key personnel
Only needing one or two off their game to bring the team performance down

I'm not in anyway trying to absolve the manager of any blame, but I strongly believe he is not solely to blame.

I'm not asking you to agree / disagree with my opinions as they are simply my opinion. I feel though that many on here are so set in their beliefs, they cannot accept any other reasoning.

 

[mosssideblue]

its on a knife edge for me with pellegrini and he could easy fall on both sides. we are a million miles of the first 5 games when we seen manchester city winning 5 and 5 clean sheets and everybody said it was a 1 horse race for the title. but from that moment we are a shamble of a team and will be lucky to get 4th place and win anything with pellegrini stay in the club. its a dead man walking your getting the boot in the summer so why should I care I will still get my 12 months pay off and a pick of clubs wanting me

its a puzzle why keep him on till the summer it could end up with nothing and Europa league at best that's why the 2 games are going to get him the sack if we lose. you can not have a unhappy manager and squad at this stage of the season both players and manager know its going to be big changes in the summer so am still getting my money win lose or draw. that giving it all 110% for the club is bollocks when you see yaya walking around and pulling out of the tackles and also the back 4 without Kompany and zabba is the worst in the league and the 2 top teams beatings home and away and 6 points clear of us shocking

for me a stand in manager till the summer with 12 league games will have more of a impacted and maybe fire up the players can it get any worst than the last 20 games we played under pellegrini
even if pep number 2 that he will bring with him at the club could come in right now and just settle things down and get us playing

A) how do you know he will be sacked if we lose the next two games?
B) who would you suggest is brought in to replace him at this stage in the season? (and is available)

 

[ancoats]

A) how do you know he will be sacked if we lose the next two games?
B) who would you suggest is brought in to replace him at this stage in the season? (and is available)

A I don't I just think he should go
B somebody from pep coaching team that he will want at man city when he comes in the summer

its just feels like everybody at the club given up on this season and the manager lost all control. from the look of things from the outside in players are just going through the motions and maybe looking at getting away for the summer already and when players start to look at whats going to happen next then its game over for me if there minds are not of the job how can you get the best from them. pellegrini is a dead man walking and knows it and the club just giving him the boot out of man city with 12 months paid up in full he's looking for a new job and not looking at what is happing at Manchester city why should he

 

[Dribble]

Not saying that at all. The point I am making is that I do not believe how you can simply say the manager is at fault when there are many factors, which IMO include:

Players on the decline both physically and mentally
Players not being robots, able to play at peak performance week in week out
Squad depth not that deep, coupled with injuries to key personnel
Only needing one or two off their game to bring the team performance down

I'm not in anyway trying to absolve the manager of any blame, but I strongly believe he is not solely to blame.

I'm not asking you to agree / disagree with my opinions as they are simply my opinion. I feel though that many on here are so set in their beliefs, they cannot accept any other reasoning.

I'm as open minded about our decline as the next fan, but the slant of your post seems to be putting the emphasis of 'fault' on the players as the manager has no control over what they do once they cross the white line when I would beg to differ.

A blip is a blip. Every team has its off days and periods of bad form, but over the last two seasons bad form for us seems to be the rule rather than the exception.

Players on the decline both physically and mentally

Manuel's been here long enough to make changes to the playing staff who are 'both mentally and physically' on the decline. If this is the case why wasn't this identified and the players replaced?

Players not being robots, able to play at peak performance week in week out

No-one is saying players are automatons and should be able to play at their peak week in week out and this is why we have squads. Yes ours is decimated by injury, but we have more than enough quality from those who are left to be performing better than we have been and I'm not just talking about since October either.

Squad depth not that deep, coupled with injuries to key personnel

We have a squad of 25 players (the same as everyone else) that near enough every team in the Premier League would swap with. Other teams have injury concerns with key personnel too, ours may be worst than most at the moment, but what was the excuse for last season's less than inspiring showing? Blips happen, but when it becomes a frequent pattern, at what point do you start to look beyond probably the strongest squad of players in our history?

Only needing one or two off their game to bring the team performance down

Again this is why we have a squad as cover for injuries, loss of form, suspensions and fatigue, how that squad is managed is a totally different question.

I know you say you are 'not trying to absolve the manager of any blame', but why isn't the managerial factor included in your 'fault' list. I'm not set in my beliefs, I just call it as I see it as the time for excuses passed a very long time ago and judging by their actions, our owner and his team think the same.

 

[East Level 2]

They'd have had about the same chance of beating Chelsea as beating Dynamo Kiev away in Russia, I would reckon.

Why would we be playing Dynamo Kiev in Russia?
A poor political insult towards Putin or geographic and political ignorance.

 

[The perfect fumble]

Why would we be playing Dynamo Kiev in Russia?
A poor political insult towards Putin or geographic and political ignorance.

It's a big pitch, the away end's in Belgorod.