MrExcalibur100

Why do you choose to ignore the fact that he just came back from a muscular injury. Why do you choose to ignore the fact that Jose's tactical error of switching a player lacking match fitness to the wing backfired when he was doing perfectly fine through the centre? It was an error that few noticed but it cost us dearly. Why do you keep banging on and on about this? Let's even assume that Hazard was 100% match fit, which he wasn't, he is a young player that made a mistake. Why don't you cut him some slack, eh? The kid has been the one carrying our average attack for majority of the season while the others have been ridiculously inconsistent and downright appalling. Let's not make a mountain out of a mole hill.

(1) Go watch the matches against Dortmund (2nd leg) or Bilbao or Atletico or any team that plays a high press against Madrid. All they do is press him high up the pitch and he either loses it or misplaces a pass. The guy is getting old and it shows. (2) I've felt this way for the past 6 months. Again, has Thiago ever done anything of significance for a full season. This season is literally Thiago's first season in his career of being a first team regular, but still he only completed 20 games. Koke has distinguished himself for two seasons running now and is one of the most integral players in the 2nd best team in Europe. He is a well rounded player who is capable of doing everything Thiago can do albeit with less flair. Maybe you're blinded by Thiago's skill on the ball but it's obvious that Koke has been better than Thiago this season and is a better player. It's up to Thiago to prove otherwise.

He is better than Xabi who is only a shadow of the player he once was. He was a weak link that Guardiola could have exploited, but his obsession with possession football couldn't allow him to. I don't think Thiago's presence or absence was the most crucial aspect in Spain losing in the Olympic games. They just didn't take it seriously. As for the u21 championships. I watched it and I think Isco and Illaramendi were Spain's most impressive players. Thiago was very good, but he won the golden ball because of his hattrick in the final. Isco was outperforming him prior to that. And let's not dwell too much on youth tournaments. Performance wise for their respective for their respective clubs this season its Koke then Isco then Thiago. But Thiago has had injury problems. Anyway, Koke and Thiago are both fantastic players but for reasons stated above, I believe Koke is the better player. Difference. Thiago needs to perform at a high level for an entire season first. Koke is the lynch-pin in one of Europe's strongest sides. And on the issue of young players, my 3 best 23 and under players are Hazard, Pogba and Koke. What are yours?

Koke is a better all round player but Thiago has better technique and flair. That's literally the only advantage Thiago has over Koke from what I've seen of both players. And Koke is one of the fittest out there while Thiago suffers fairly serious injuries every season. Also, Koke has been the better player this season, Thiago is yet to prove himself over the course of a full season. Saying Thiago is much better is bull. I don't think either of them are either more or less better than each other. It's close, but I believe Koke is the better player because of the physical edge he has over Thiago and the fact that his game is more well-rounded. Thiago is more of a luxury player. And I say that as a fan of both players. Xavi :"Koke is an extraordinary footballer," "He has everything: talent, physical ability, he is a footballer of the present and the future," Xavi added. "He has been marked out as the conductor of Spain's orchestra for the next 10 years. "I have a special affection for him because we play in the same position and I think he is an extraordinary player."

That's your opinion really and I'm sure most people will disagree with that. As for Thiago being better than Koke, that's pretty subjective. Can you provide some evidence backing your claim?

The 6 defenders thing is bullshit anyway. Luiz is basically a DM nowadays and was always going to play as one especially with Lamps, Mikel and Matic unavailable.

The question is the second half of your comment one of Mourinho's strengths? According to Diego Torres' book (probably bullshit). Mourinho, in his time in charge with Madrid, hardly ever did any "static attack" training. i.e attacking build-up while playing possession football. Mourinho's thing is setting up the team to play the way we did at City. Defend well and counter-attack with pace. It's how he won the league with Madrid.

This is why I'm rooting for Atletico among other things. I hope they do the double.

Not so accurate. He can literally play anywhere, that's why I like him. CM, right wing, left wing, left midfield, right midfield, CAM.... He's brilliant. Another thing I like is that he combines physicality with brilliant passing range. He is a robust playmaker, not a light weight like so many others like him. He also, as we've seen, delivers good crosses and has a fairly decent shot. Almost a perfect player and he's only 22. Certainly one of the best young players in the world. Let's hope he doesn't go to Barca. They will turn him to a tiki-taka playing drone. They destroy anyone who doesn't fit into their philosophy.

Benzema might be one of the most naturally gifted strikers out there but he has nothing on Costa because of his finishing and inconsistency. Like Skipper said, ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^, he scores an amazing goal but misses sitter after sitter. And that's what makes Costa a better striker. He puts in consistently good performances and scores more goals than Benzema, who plays for a more talented team.

Yep. Benzema's finishing is awful and I don't see Mourinho going in for him. Cavani is unattainable. Costa is the best option out there. He was very impressive tonight

I don't know why this is relevant

It's a success. Anyone who thinks this season is a failure is indeed clueless and needs to give up watching football right now.

Yes, Hazard is no left back. Especially one who just got back from a muscular injury. It's credit to him he played the full game and looked fairly sharp in attack. The left back, Azpilicueta should have been in position. It's not the first time Azpilicueta's lack of concentration has caused us recently.

There is a reason why he made those mistakes because he was just coming back from a muscular injury. It's not a mistake he makes many times and he has improved massively on that part of his game. Like I said, this has less to do with Hazard than Mourinho's tactical error. Why switch a player lacking in match fitness to the wings when you know he could get exposed because of this VERY same reason. And look above you. One guy has already typed that Hazard was chiefly responsible for the loss. Perhaps I should ignore it next time and treat it as an exception and no the rule.

Hazard is the scapegoat today. It normally takes turns on TalkChelsea. When people calm down and reflect, then we can see it wasn't really Hazard's fault. As for his comments after the game, they are completely irrelevant and hardly disrespectful to the club. The French frame questions in such a tempting way to get him to say something wrong because they want him playing over there. And if he said that, so? The comment was fairly factual. It just goes to show how political correctness and petty nonsense has replaced even common sense in football

I'm not surprised that Hazard had trouble tracking back today. I called it prior to the match that there was no chance he was going to be at his usual level today. There is just no way an attacking player, especially a winger, is going to be out for 2 and a half/3 weeks with a muscular injury and be amazing. Look at bloody Ronaldo in the first leg vs Bayern. He was shite. Bloody awful and made no impact on the game. He was just returning from a knee injury and it showed. Same thing today. Hazard has already showed in the past that he is more than willing to track back and cover the fullback, but after suffering a calf injury, it's almost impossible to do that. That must have been the thinking behind Hazard starting as a 10 today, to preserve his energy and not to aggravate the muscle. WHY OH WHY, Jose felt it wise to switch him to the left is beyond me. That's the main issue here.

Probably the biggest pile of horseshit ever typed on this thread.

bullshit. A calf injury affects you running. He should never have been switched to the left wing in the first place.

I don't think it's that straight-forward though. Guardiola took over the treble winners and made them worse. Mourinho took over the 3rd best team in England and made them much better. Losing to an Atletico side who are a stronger and better team than us, a team that hasn't lost a single game in the CL all season and that has only lost twice in their domestic league. Costa, Turan, Koke, Villa, Courtois, their entire back four, and some genuine quality off the bench in Diego,Rodriguez and Garcia. They are a formidable TEAM. As for last season in Madrid: It's well known Mourinho had already lost the dressing room. The players were not playing for him anymore but for their fans only. There is no shame in losing to THAT Dortmund team last season. That was a great side. Besides, Madrid kind of redeemed themselves in the 2nd leg, and if not for the poor finishing of Higuain, could have turned it around. This is more to do with the squad not being strong enough (yet) than Mourinho, I'm sure you already know that. But I do agree with you about the Azpi thing. It was wierd and un-called for. We had to start that game on the front foot. Trying to "stabilize" and build from there only suited Atletico because all they needed was the away goal. They didn't have to win, so Jose takes some of the blame.

We praise Jose Mourinho for his tactical brilliance but it has to be said, his tactics in combination with poor defending as a team have cost us today. I've been a Chelsea fan before Mourinho and I will be one after. Having said that, we NEED stability at this club and Abramovich and the board have decided that Mourinho is the man to bring that stability. This is my opinion on the game: (1) Playing Azpilicueta, a RB as a right winger just reeks of overly-cautious tactics, especially since we have better attacking options on the bench. We have an in-form goal-scoring Ba, Schurrle and Oscar, who always plays well in European competition. It simply makes zero sense to play that way in a game we HAD to win. (2) Switching Hazard from the centre to the left wing was just asking for trouble, especially since the guy had just recovered from a calf injury. Mourinho made the right decision playing him through the centre initially, but switching him to the left meant he had to do a lot of running to track opposition runners. Hazard got exposed on two occasions as a result. (3) Bringing on Eto'o destabilized the team defensively. That sub was too early and lo and behold, the guy gives away a penalty. A double whammy. Those were the most obvious errors made today, but I guess it happens even to the best of them. Now to problems beyond his control. The midfield pivot of Ramires and Luiz is beyond a joke. There is little to no creative spark there and their defensive contribution is surprisingly poor. They left the back four exposed on many occasions today. It's a shame because Lampard and Mikel were suspended for the game and that Beast, our best midfielder, Matic is cup-tied and his absence showed today. We can't beat them without our absolute best team. They are just too good for anything less than that. That was my greatest fear going in to this game, the pivot. But congrats to Atletico, till the penalty, it was fairly even, but at 1-2, it was virtually over. There is a reason why Atletico have not lost a single game in the CL this season. Hazard, Schurrle, Oscar, Azpi........All these guys playing in the knock-out of the CL for the first time ever. They will grow together. To make it to the semi-final is a fanstastic achievement. I'm proud of the boys, the manager and the support. We will be back with a top class CF next season and a top class CM to pair with Matic and then we can push on for the biggest titles. We just haven't had enough this season.

Oscar and Schurrle were options. No one forced him to play Azpilicueta as a right winger.

You know how hard it is to run with a calf injury? Blame Mourinho for switching him to the left were he had to track runners.

Exactly. Or he should have remained in his central position. How can people blame him for that? Were the fuck were our fullbacks?

Bullshit. You clowns shouldn't start blaming Hazard for this. Can't you see it's not really his fault? He is just coming back from a calf injury and can't track back properly. Blame the manager for switching him from a central position to the wings were he has to track runners. STUPID move