closed Chelsea 3-0 Bournemouth

[Barbara 15,149]

We dealt very well without Costa and Kanté. I was especially worried about the pivot because Bournemouth are no pushover. They tried and  I think we defended very well overall. I know it's trendy to say Cesc and Matic don't work in the pivot, but I think we were very well posted throughout the whole match. Matic will never play Kanté role as well as he does, but we dealt well with everything. And their best two chances had nothing to do with either player. Luiz was also very solid - again. It's becoming routine for him and that's something I didn't think I'd live to see.

I suspected Conte wasn't going to play with Barbshuayi after his presser on Thursday, although like many, I thought it would be the case of playing 3-5-2. Fact remains Pedro worked perfectly as a striker. It was no false 9 BS, he literally played as a striker and alternated a few times with Eden. Costa is very physical and while he moves well and has a decent run on him, Pedro offers something else. He's quick and I lost count of how many times he made those runs. The assist and his touch for the first goal were both sublime. Cesc does make it look very simple and easy.

Hazard was my MOTM because seriously, that's football porn. He was on fire and it felt like he couldn't be dispossessed unless fouled. And that touch for the save by Boruc (even though the referee had just stopped playing) was something else. He had 13 take-ons today - the most by any player this season in one single match.

I felt bad for Barbshuayi even if Conte wanted Tibo to kick the ball out so he could come in. That was already at mark 90'. There's no way for the boy to make progress and get used to things if he plays at most a couple of minutes (or seconds) every other match. If he isn't what Conte, loan the boy, sign him off, but don't let him go to waste like that...

All in all, it was a great match, one I thought we would win with scratch another 1-0 win with a lot of effort. It looked effortless to be honest and I really don't know what can stop us (other than injury tragedy).

Great job, boys and Conte.

[Cosmin 2,484]

We all thought this was going to be tough as hell. It wasn't. I was very surprised to see Bats not starting. This thing was a whole new strategy for us this season. Conte decided to give them the ball, which I don't think they were ready for. He didn't trust Bats enough, so he only counted on Eden, Willian and Pedro's pace & technique. Also, by letting them have the ball he didn't give them space and the chance to catch us on the counter. That meant that Cesc was never exposed. It was brilliant from Conte. 

And, once again, the players showed up and trashed a tough opponent. I am wondering how Conte keeps them so motivated. This is our 4th clean sheet in a row, by the way. 

This is better than anything that we could've imagined before the beginning of the season. I mean, who would've imagined David coming back and playing so great? Who would've imagined Costa turning into such a nice guy and yet scoring like a machine? Who would've imagined us trashing the champions, City, United, Everton, Spurs, Soton and so on?

 

[quickpassnmove 924]

good defending from us, not enough from Bournemouth, exceptional Pedro goal... win.

not the kind of lineup you want to see as an alternative to Diego and Kante.

I don't want to jump to conclusions on Batshuayi, but Conte is going with PL experience here. On the bright side, this match showed us how dangerous Hazard and Pedro can be.

I would say that Hazard has never looked more dangerous than today. Hazard looked so dangerous today, that it might be a lesson on giving him a totally free role wherein he is never obligated to stay on the left.

[Azpinator 2,325]

If you're a Chelsea fan and still have reasons to moan about after this, then I feel sorry for you.

[Jase 43,479]

Can I just say that Tony Gale was a moaning bitch on commentary? Constantly complained how every player should have been booked for every challenge and hell, he even wanked about Wilshere late in the game!

[Captain Ahmed 528]

I'm looking for the test

[Chelsea Buzz 487]

4 hours ago, quickpassnmove said:

On the bright side, this match showed us how dangerous Hazard and Pedro can be.

I would say that Hazard has never looked more dangerous than today. Hazard looked so dangerous today, that it might be a lesson on giving him a totally free role wherein he is never obligated to stay on the left.

On the telecast shown here in the States, the analyst commented on the Bournemouth fellow trying to defend Eden with the ball at one point in the second half, "he looks like he is expecting kittens trying to defend Hazard"

[cosmicway 1,252]

We are 90% champions.

[CFC_SLO 3]

We are 90% champions.

Far from it m8. Maybe in 2 club BBVA shit league, but not here.

Sure, we are looking good, yet we're not even halfway with Liverpool and City only 2 wins trailing behind.

Luckily these 2 play each other in the next round. Boy a DRAW would be orgasmic there!!!

[Muzchap 8,966]

11 hours ago, Jason said:

Can I just say that Tony Gale was a moaning bitch on commentary? Constantly complained how every player should have been booked for every challenge and hell, he even wanked about Wilshere late in the game!

The guy is a fucking embarrassment- Wilshere is a dirty bastard and I'm glad he went off... 

[xPetrCechx 13,546]

What A Result! 

[jernej93 565]

8 hours ago, cosmicway said:

We are 90% champions.

We are currently 0,0% champions and we should continue with this attitude. This is PL and we still have 20 games to play.