closed Atletico Madrid 1-2 Chelsea

[cosmicway 1,252]

5 minutes ago, BlueStorm1003 said:

I love this from MARCA:

"Porque pocas veces se ha sentido tan pequeño el Atlético de Simeone. Diminuto, para ser exactos. El Chelsea era más alto... y tenía a Hazard. Absolutamente indetectable, el belga se adueñó enseguida del flamante estadio rojiblanco para convertir el partido en un monólogo 'blue' ante el que lo peor fue la falta de respuesta. En cuarto de hora había tenido dos ocasiones y había habilitado a Morata para otras dos, pero lo más cerca que anduvo de la red entonces fue cuando estrelló un disparo en el poste. No está mal, pero no es suficiente. Porque sin gol no hay paraíso. Ni siquiera en el jardín de Eden."

This is my own translation.

It's few times that Simeone's Atletico has felt so small. Diminutive to be exact. Chelsea were taller...and had Hazard. Absolutely undetectable (Unstoppable would be better, but undetectable is the literal word being used here.You get the idea), the Belgian took over the brand-new red and white stadium immediately to transform the match into a 'Blue' monologue (I really don't know how to properly translate the last part).  In a quarter of an hour he had 2 chances and had created two more for Morata, but the closest he got to the net was when he had hit the post. Not bad, but not enough. Because without a goal there's no paradise. Not even in the garden of Eden.

So he 's not happy Hazard did not score a goal. In the replay !

[Jase 43,479]

30 minutes ago, Strike said:

What a refreshing away performance. 

Apart from the error by Luiz, we were solid and completely shut them out of the game. Created a few good chances going forward too.

There was also that big chance for 2-0 Atleti just before HT. Thank god that went wide!

[Jase 43,479]

 

[BlueStorm1003 539]

8 minutes ago, Blue-in-me-Veins said:

What a fantastic song for Bakayoko and N'golo.. mad catchy. 

 

 

 

Thank you, now I've got this song stuck in my head 

[Jase 43,479]

 

[Amblève. 4,995]

44 minutes ago, Jason said:

Think Torres also won a corner from a counter attack in the 70-something minute.

Think it was a freekick pretty centrally around the 18 yard box which Luiz skied

[Magic Lamps 11,449]

10 minutes ago, positivefootball said:

We will look better with Drinkwater instead of Cesc.

Imagine drinkwater as the no.10 in a 352 behind Hazard and Morata that spunds sp unlikely it is almost funny. But given how subdued Cesc was even against a poor Atlwtico team it might be wortg a try even though i would rather play willian or pesro in the 10 then. But on the other hand, adding drinkwater to that team would make our midfield absolutely...well, watertight.

[Alabama 1,992]

Conte post match comments please... 

[Jase 43,479]

8 hours ago, positivefootball said:

We will look better with Drinkwater instead of Cesc.

It's tough to say because let's face it, Fabregas is one of our only very few creative players in the team. Without him, we tend to look lost in the final third. Think the reason he has been poor is because he has played a lot of games recently and we know he doesn't do well when he's not mentally/physically fresh. Hopefully Drinkwater recovers ASAP, so Fabregas' game time can be better managed.

[Jase 43,479]

Oh, another match where we went 3-5-2 against a top opposition, another one where we controlled the game and didn't get overrun in midfield. Definitely need to see more of this, especially against the big teams.

[mccg 1,528]

Great European away performance ,glad circus clown Luiz moment did'nt screw us ,Hazard+Morata as predicted will be amazeballs ,now Pedro+Willian gotta lift there level again to aid the team and moment going forward,

[Jase 43,479]

 

 

 

[Sideshow Luiz 2,310]

I much preferred when Cesc was the deepest lying of the 3 CMs.  Having Bakayoko there negated his ability to charge through midfield with the ball and it left Cesc a bit exposed defending in the wider areas.  Also, having Cesc as the deepest allowed him a little more time on the ball to spray passes around.

 

[Belgiannutt 3,201]

Amazing team performance. Dominated Atletico for the majority of the game. Loved the energy we brought into the game. 

Really loving the 3-5-2. Morata-Hazard great partnership. I like that Hazard was higher up the pitch and played really close to Morata.

I think it also makes it easier on Morata that he has a player really close to him to lay the ball off to when he was under pressure. 

Bakayoko and Kante were great. They just cover so much ground. 

Fabregas struggled a bit with the pace of the game but still he was important getting the ball into the feet of Hazard-Morata when Atletico were sitting deep. Worked really hard aswell on the defensive side.

Solid at the back. 

Shout out to Alonso for the movement and composed pass to set up Batshuayi. 

 

Great result. Great performance. Frustrating though that we're already playing City on saturday. Not a lot of rest and this win took a lot from our players. 

[kmk108 1,186]

I had to watch the match after work. Here’s my highlights:

First sight I like the kits. Wish it would have been a monochrome crest and no red on the Yokohama Y

With everything going on with Costa, I completely forgot about all of the other storylines going on in this match.

Hazard was ready to go from the start. Great plays taking on defenders and great link up play with Morata. Nice cross to Morata and a good redirecting header. 

Too late on subs. Atletico started to gain control as soon as their subs came on. I could tell we were getting tired. And City is on Saturday. 

Luiz with another ridiculous foul to give away the penalty. Two straight matches with potentially costly outcomes.

What a passing play to set up the winning goal! Right at the end of the game! What a result!

100% healthy and on our game, I think we’re one of the 4 best teams in Europe.

It’s games like these that I missed last season. 

[Thor 2,121]

I would have been happy regardless of the result. I know some of you may disagree, but how nice is it to be the team controlling the game, dominating possession, and creating the majority of chances. 

Say what you want about being tactically sound, and sitting back when needed, it is nice to be the team that can turn it on and control the game. In the end, this is what translates over many games if you keep doing it. Having more chances, creating more, having more possession will always help. Say what you will, but Barca, Bayern and Real are a testament to this. Great teams can do it all. 

Am I thankful for all the big games we won regardless of how we've played? Yes. But I believe this is a step to making us a more dominant side, a more consistent side, and a more consistent side against other top opposition. 

We dominated today, and aside from the penalty and one good chance by them, they created nothing. Extremely positive seeing as how we played last time we went up against them. On the back foot, defending, conceding possession, and for what? At home, we should never be playing like that. The fact we did this away from home, amazing. 

And some of you were pathetic slating Luiz after the penalty. It happens. The clown, and joker comments coming out again. Apparently 1 bad game in 15 games allows for that... Just so happen his two bad games came back to back this time. He was our best defender last year. 

[OneMoSalah 8,614]

Honestly think because of the level of opposition this game was almost on par with the game against Everton at Stamford Bridge last season in terms of high level performance. David Luiz made an arse of the first half effort but honestly we were always in control, always looked threatening, the 352 worked a treat so kudos to Conte for having the balls to change from the title winning system as well. Hopefully more of the same against City

[The Skipper 20,593]

39 minutes ago, Thor said:

Just so happen his two bad games came back to back this time

He was the best player on the pitch before his red card against Arsenal.