MrExcalibur100

Or the guy who did a "reverse" Nazi salute? Go figure.

I think I finally understand Mourinho's thinking behind starting Azpiliceuta at RW. Oscar was apparently injured, so he decided that instead of starting Schurrle, he was going to use him as an impact sub because of his pace and also because he played the full 90 mins vs Liverpool. Add to the fact that Salah was cup-tied and that we were always going to play a 4-2-3-1 and not a 4-3-3 because of a shortage of bodies in the pivot position, we only had 3 realistic options to play behind the striker. Hazard, Willian and Schurrle. So it was more of a shortage of options than anything. But when was Oscar allegedly injured? The day before the match, because it was never spoken about in any presser.

You need to calm down seriously.

The football we play just has to be better really. How do you explain the fact that we played better football last season with less resources? The line-up yesterday was quite frankly ridiculous. Jose seems more concerned with not losing than winning and it shows. Our general build-up play when we play against lesser teams we are expected to play has been appalling for most of the season, tbh. There is simply zero fluency and we have been relying far too much on the individual brilliance of Hazard. How do you explain the fact that teams like Everton and Liverpool play much better football than us. Look at the flair/ball-playing players we have : Hazard, Willian, Oscar, Schurrle, Salah, Matic. Most teams in the league will die for those players. This is why Roman has signed these type of players for Chelsea. To play good football, not to play with Azpilicueta at right wing. That's a joke and a slap in the face to Schurrle and Oscar and to our so-called "evolution". Taking sentiment out of it, the fact is that through out his career, Jose has never built a team that plays expansive possession based attacking football. It's almost always counter-attacking football. Now this is all fine and dandy when you are winning stuff, but when the trophies stop coming, people will get bored very quickly. Jose said we should judge him by what he will do in his second coming and that is what I'm going to do. The excuse of having the "physical" and less "technical" players like Drogba, Essien, Ballack, Malouda and so on no longer holds water. The job of a Chelsea manager, and any manager at a big club is to win trophies and play attractive football. We have taking massive strides in the former which is brilliant, but we have failed woefully in the latter. And that could soon become a problem for Roman and that is what I fear.

That wasn't so in some of the earlier fixtures but he's been far too cautious in some big games this season. Azpilicueta at right wing with Oscar and Schurrle on the bench is inexplicable in a champions league semi-final. Jose is still to prove that he can set up a team who plays expansive possession football. I'm still to be convinced that that will change even if we bring in a Diego Costa and a Gundogan. He couldn't do it at Real with a superior squad of attacking talent. His league-winning, record-breaking squad was largely a counter-attacking side. Diego Torres' book claimed that Jose hardly ever practiced possession based static attacks in training and as a result, Madrid struggled against teams that were happy to sit back. He only ever prepared counter-attacking tactical plays. Of course, most big teams find it tougher against teams that defend deep, but it's interesting to think about, considering our struggles are exactly that this season.

The tactics were far from fine. I've already pointed out the errors I thought were made in that game (IMO) on the "Mourinho thread". But then again, that's the difference between managing a Bayern or Madrid for example as opposed to a Chelsea. At a Chelsea, any slight tactical error, tweak of the formation/line-up or mistimed substitution can look really bad.

Aye. Just ignore the bullshit. It will die down and it's inevitable. Some of the headlines I'm seeing are hilarious and predictable. The guy compared us to Real Madrid for god's sake, lol

The sad thing is most of the criticism doesn't even make any sense. The last thing that crossed my mind after that game was not "oh, Eden's made a mistake". It was "we aren't good enough to beat them without our best team" "Jose's tactics were far too cautious and were even downright ridiculous for a CL semi-final".

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.