The Chels

He was... except against United lol

True and I guess we are used to playing without a striker but I can't help but feel pessimistic!

Would be confident of winning if we had Remy but now I think we'll be playing for a draw.

Since when does doubtful mean out? I'll believe it when I see the team news.

Izzy Brown in the squad then

But JT's mostly played in a low block and with a fast partner (Carvalho, Cahill) so his lack of pace isn't often exposed. My fear with Zouma though is that when he is pressed by the opposition or in a slightly difficult position he will just concede possession because he can't do much with the ball. I noticed that somewhat against Maribor who are hardly great. He seems to have to put in a lot of effort to play even the simplest of passes, never mind when he's under pressure. Personally I'd prefer to see Jose developing a defender who has the physicality and good technical ability like Christensen.

They're both quite poor on the ball which instantly limits their potential IMO. It's not something you can really improve.

When did Messi play for United? :confused:

Why, 'cause he did a rabona?

To be fair Willian's English has come a long way and Filipe's is already excellent, but I guess the likes of Oscar and Costa probably don't feel the need to learn the language since we have such a big Portuguese/Spanish speaking core.

You'd think people have never watched football before with the way they're saying 'our team is much better than theirs so it's an easy win'. Lol personally I wouldn't be surprised if they got something out of the game especially if we play too defensively.

'Basic defending' that leads to most of the opposition's threats and goals coming down our right flank where there is usually acres of space as Ivanovic casually backs off into the box or when he is in position allows the cross in anyway. And there is less danger when the opposition are running at a winger (which was in some attacks Dom Solanke yesterday) just outside the box than when they're running at a DM shielding two defenders?

I wonder if Jose instructs Ivanovic to drop narrow and become a 3rd CB since he does it all the time. It obviously helps with the aerial battle in the middle but it gives the opposition wingers so much space and means our right winger has to defend 1v1 often. Do that against Di Maria and we're in big trouble.

I think he probably needs to adapt to defending 1v1 more. At Atletico the fullbacks are hardly ever isolated 1v1 since they always press in groups and outnumber the wingers, meaning Luis could afford to miss the first challenge as somebody would be there to mop up with the second. Committing himself here was risky though but I'm sure he'll learn, and apart from that misjudgement he had a good game.

He only just started training again and now he's out for another lengthy spell. Really unlucky.

A few posters on a Chelsea forum = most people who watched the match? Mustn't have been many people watching!

Right... Sorry for having an opinion different to yours. It is very tragic and deeply regrettable.

So I should rewatch the entire game and tally every one of his mistakes just to satisfy you? Well he made the wrong decision (in and out of the box) and lost the ball at least three times in the last 20 mins from what I remember. He did skim Rojo a few times and even though this was mostly followed by bad decision making he apparently had a 'fantastic' performance because of this lol

Thanks for that insightful contribution. I'd agree with their assessment. Neymar's selfishness would've really pissed me off if I were a Brazil fan but I was more interested in the Chelsea players - not sure what game people here were watching if they thought Willian played well.

He lost the ball on countless occasions, ran the ball into the defender or out of play several times, and made the wrong decision many times particularly in the box. Defensively he was good (as always) but on the ball he was worse than he was at Man City. The positive reviews I assume are coming because he was on the winning side.

Luis and Oscar completely shut off Argentina's right flank (which included Messi) in the second half. Really good play.

1v1 the only skill Willian ever does is the one where he shuffles the ball onto his right foot and puts in a (poor) cross. Can't believe Rojo kept getting done by that. He must be pretty crap because Willian has been so predictable and wasteful on the ball with really poor decision making all game.

You can never criticise his physical play and determination but positionally not great. The two times they got through (Wilshere and Sanchez) where they could easily have scored if their first touch was better came from his poor positioning once again.

He's won the fans' award not the official POTM. Still a nice achievement though.