MrExcalibur100

Let's not forget how the board failed him last summer, the same board that is now singing his praises. Our transfer window was an utter failure. He got none of his targets. To say Antonio has been a god-send is the understatement of the season. Only God knows we're we'll have been without his tactical nous. Almost half of today's starting XI is not European top club standard but Conte made it look much better than it actually is. Let's not forget that.

When you watch a game like today, you have to wonder if Bakayoko and Kessie is what we really want next to Kante.

Either 3-5-2 or just bloody play Fabregas with Kante. Let me be brutally honest here. Cahill, Alonso, Moses, Matic are 4 first team players that shouldn't be starting for us next season if we want to make any noise in the Champions League. Because they either lack quality, consistency, technique or all 3. Costa's lack of technique (ball control) and decision making is a problem as well. I wish Conte will have a word with him and tell him to keep it simple when he's so far away from goal. Conte also needs to tell Luiz to cut out his silly vertical passes to the opposition keeper. He's not Fabregas and it rarely works if it's not being hit to one of our wing-backs.

I don't understand why we're going for Bakayoko either. Bakayako next to Kante is going to produce the same results in these sort of games. Every big team plays with a midfield controller except us. City - Gundogan United - Carrick (Notice how they've improved with him) Arsenal - Xhaka Tottenham - Dembele Dortmund - Weigl. Sometimes Tuchel even plays Weigl and Gotze as his midfield two. Madrid - Kroos, Modric. I can go on. We have Fabregas on the bench doing what exactly? The mentality of some of our fans need to change too. This myth that if we don't play with two defensive midfielders, (one of them currently playing like shit), we will get destroyed vs good team is a lie. At least if Fabregas started today, we could have hurt them more. After the first 30 mins, I already knew we weren't going to win the game.

I thought Crystal Palace won the midfield battle against us just recently.

If Hazard played for a better team (i.e a team with more technical players and was comfortable on the ball), he won't have to play with scraps in these sort of games. We all know it. This side isn't giving him a platform to express his ability. It's pretty obvious. Hazard, Pedro and Willian all suffer when Fabregas is not playing right now. And it's not just about Fabregas. The entire XI we started with today severly lacks technical quality. For those who watch a lot of other big teams in other leagues, the technical deficiencies in this team is obvious.

The biggest problem in terms of our attacking play was we lost the midfield battle. When you lose the midfield battle, you struggle to build meaningful attacks. Wanyama and Dembele utterly dominated Kante and Matic. That has to be the most lopsided margin of domination I've ever seen in a big game. Then Tottenham went 2-0, conceded possession and were happy to play on the counter-attack. We didn't do squat for 90 mins

It's not just an off day because there are fundamental problems with this team and some of them aren't good enough. Let's not brush it off as just an off-day despite our recent form.

I'm not even mad. Let's not forget how our board failed Conte in the transfer window. Right now he's making lemonade from lemons. Lemon players that is.

Which kind of tells you that this team isn't good enough and we're riding a wave. We're in bad need of new players. Some of these guys are mid-table players.

Just as easy for Spurs as it was in their last game vs Watford. I'm done watching this predictable bullshit. And Conte hasn't yet made a sub? It's like he wants to lose. Weird.

And this is the mentality I'm talking about. I think it's the Mourinho effect. Scared shitless about what they can do to us. Not what we can do.

Bayern, Madrid, Dortmund, Barcelona City, even United. None of them feel the need to play with two fucking holding midfielders, one of them who is only capable of playing well for a dozen games a season. All the top teams except us prioritize technique wtf are we so scared of?

This is the worst midfield performance I've ever seen in my life. The duo of Matic and Kante is dead. It should never show its face again. Without a midfield, your whole team is useless. Both defence and attack.

Are you fucking kidding me? Our biggest problem in this game is how completely non-existent our midfield is. This bullshit of being scared to play Fabregas needs to stop. It's just pussy mentality. You don't see the other top European sides scared to play their less physically capable CM's. They prioritise technical ability. We don't. That's why we look like a fucking pub-side out there.

They are were they're supposed to be when the midfield behind them is non-existent.

Fabregas and Willian on at halftime please. Matic can fuck off. Pedro can't hold on to the ball when pressured.

Where were the people that justified Matic's inclusion ahead of Fabregas? Have you not been watching the last 5-6 Chelsea games?

Matic, Alonso, Cahill and Moses shouldn't be starting for us next season. Imagine this team playing like this against decent CL competition? We'll get embarrassed.

He's an ex-Bolton player afterall

Without Fabregas in midfield, we're fucking hopeless in our build up play. It's been the same way for a few games now. But, no Fabregas can't "defend" .

Look at Alonso and Cahill just backing off there. The gods of backing off.

I agree with Costa. He's not that gifted technically but he brings a lot. Others I will not name out of respect for our 13 game winning streak, don't look like Chelsea quality players with their shocking technical ability.

Some of our players are just not good enough technically. It's a problem that must be addressed in the summer.

Victor Moses needs to wake the fuck up. Passing back when he shouldn't. Getting cut out by Rose. He needs to relax. It's a big game but they're not Barcelona. It's Spurs.