sapper245

Was at the game and thought Kennedy held his own against a good england under 21 winger Redmond, it was nice to see someone bombing on past on the over lap and gave Hazard and willian extra options.
Even put a great ball into the box which Costa stood and watched while standing on the penalty spot.

Call me crazy but I actually liked the move to LB. It could turn out to be a stroke of genius or a complete & utter failure but for at least he's trying something new for once. A proper attacking fullback can impact games almost as much as wingers. Dani Alves, Alaba, Lahm, Marcelo, Maicon, Ashley Cole etc were all invaluable to their respective teams and the majority of them didn't even begin their careers at fullback.
I'm not not fully convinced by Kenedy as a winger. He lacks the close control, ball retention and passing abilities of Eden, Pedro & Willian at this stage of his career. You look at his strongest attributes pace, strength, workrate and maybe fullback would be the best position for him to play. His one-footedness & previously mentioned deficiencies would be less of a problem in that role. I mean at least he's getting game-time.

Can't we be happy that we have a young exciting prospect who can play more than one position? That we now have actual proof that Jose is in fact able to surprise us all, something we have been crying out for. That he is using the squad beyond the usual suspects. Since when is it so unusual for wingers to play wing-back anyway? Why all this over-analyzing? The kid got a great experience and we won, so we are ruining him? If anything he earned himself more game time by proving he can be good in more than one position and be useful tactically.
The more I think about it, the more I like what Jose did. It was VERY rare for him to make such a call in a premier league must-win game. It also shows that if you're good enough no matter your age, you will play.

Was at the game and thought Kennedy held his own against a good england under 21 winger Redmond, it was nice to see someone bombing on past on the over lap and gave Hazard and willian extra options.
Even put a great ball into the box which Costa stood and watched while standing on the penalty spot.

they really should given our lack of quality cover in their positions anyway. If they turnout just as they should, we might not even have to buy more hyped and expensive youngsters like Stones or Pogba in their positions. What impresses me most about Pasalic is his consistency. Apart from a a handful odd games, he racks up a 7/10 performance every week with a goal every 3 or 4 games. He could still improve on his tackling and passing but his confidence and ability on the ball is excellent for that age. IMO there should be much space in midfield for him next season. We should revert to 4-3-3 as it suits us best whilst Fabregas, Mikel, Ramires, Oscar all should not be starters at a club like Chelsea so there should be chances for him even if we sign some other mids.

In the air defiently he's hopeless but the other two aren't anywhere near as bad as is made out, if I had to pluck examples out of thin air, his part in Schurrles goal at The Ehtiad last year and his part in the move where Hazard had that guilt edged chance at the Same stadium this season.You're last line I can't argue with, we haven't had two top strikers here at the same time since Drogba and Anelka before they tailed off.

Exactly. Ivanovic made us all think that it was some sort of Mourinho tactics to be a crossing aimlessly.

thought he he had a pretty good game, nervous start which is natural but i thought he grew more confident as the game went on. on the plus side did you notice how well Azi did bombing down the right with pace and not putting aimless crosses into the box.

Surprise, fabregas does something in attack when oscar is on the pitch. Fabregas should pray he stays on.

He is already better than Ivanovic and can only improve his game. Come on Jose, take another step in the right direction and start him and Azpi so we can have additional attacking outlet in our two 'natural' full-backs.

Our style of play is so much like it was in his 3rd year of his first time here, play got very stale and predictable. Also some of the players played every match last year. Even after a summer break the might still be mentally tired, after the season finished we flow off to Sidney ffs.

We are all blaming Mou and that's correct, but we should also not overlook what the board did wrong.

Jose:
It was the first time since I've joined this forum that I could not defend Jose, I always did.
Some decisions are just not acceptable.

1) Remy: 4 EPL games, 0 minutes. Last season he scored so many crucial goals for us, and many as a sub. Hull City and Stoke winners already gave us 4 points. But he played Falcao, Kenedy and RLC instead of him. If you can't win your manager's trust by scoring so many goals in so little minutes, what you then have to do? I would not be surprised if he asked for a late transfer this window.

2) Azpi out instead of Ivanovic: Yeah I understand he thinks Ivanovic could be scoring goals like he did in the past, plus that he defends set pieces better. But taking out our best defender and letting our weakest defender on the pitch was basically suicide. After the game, I think he mentioned Ivanovic as ''the player who stayed on the pitch from minute 1-90, that he actually should've subbed'', so hopefully he did not mean Eden and is actually planning to punish Ivanovic.

In the end I trust Jose will turn this around, we will start winning again but he needs help from the board and his star players.

Board:
Pathetic, the ''one out first then one in'' have costs us so much time. Example: first selling Luis and then struggling to get a deal done for Baba, end result: overpaying for a 21yo talent. The board seems so obsessed with making profit, more busy with buying youngsters to loan them to Vitesse etc than actually strengthening the first team. Yes the new stadium is a good excuse/reason, but you should balance ambition and these restrictions. Arsenal is the best example of how you fail.

Jose said after the title win in April/May publicly:'' I want to buy a striker (Falcao), defender and midfielder to give the players some competition''. And what has the board done? Fuck all, absolutely nothing till the end of August, 31 August now and we have zero improvements. Pedro was a good one but a very lucky situation, United should've handled better. Compare our squad to last season and we've lost 2 leaders and motivators (Cech, DD) too and you need to replace that with quality.

The players:
JT - Natural process, you can't expect a 34yo to get better year after year. Hopefully he can recover some form soon.

Ivanovic - pathetic, you guys already described it the best. He should be a back up CB+RB from now on.

Cesc - always defended him but currently I can't. His salary is so high, he is brought to be a leader, a difference maker, he should take responsibility. But currently he is hiding. Last game was better, took some shots and almost scored, he should improve soon.

Matic - declined in form since the beginning of 2015, he needs a faster player next to him as him and Cesc are both slow. Matic basically has to cover for Cesc and JT, that's too much. Ramires/Zouma/Mikel are temporary solutions but I'd prefer a top class b2b like prime Essien next to him.

Hazard - I don't agree with what you guys said that he can't carry a team, in fact he carried us from Jan till May. Sometimes I think he is tired of being a one man army, but if you want to be the best you should always take this responsibility and currently he isn't. I think the arrival of Pedro helped him a little, same effect as Cesc and Diego last year, we might need another WC player next to him (Pogba) to get the best out of Hazard again. But as the main man of the team, you should be able to motivate your self more than he's currently doing.

Azpi, Zouma, Courtois, Cahill - Great guys who are performing as usual, they don't need extra motivation. Just check Azpi's goal celebration for example, a true blue warrior and my future captain.

Willian and Diego - You can see they are trying hard. Diego had some good games, just check his sprint for his goal last game but he's currently getting little help from Eden and Cesc. Willian did not have the evolution I hoped for, he's not even on his best form like last season. His goal scoring attempts are overdone cause he feels threatened, but he is working hard and fighting for every ball.

Pedro - great addition, very good already. 1 important goal and 2 important assists, he will only get better but you can't expect him to carry the team as a new guy.

Falcao - finally scored and that was a classic Falcao goal. Hopefully this gives him confidence as 80% of the old Falcao is already a top top striker.

The football is so predictable to the point of you now how the game is going to pan out from minute one. The back four pass the ball to each other for ages, one of them will make a ten yard burst and will either pass it square or give it to Fabregas. Fabregas then either plays a long ball to Costa who's being man marked by two centre backs and if he holds it up he has little or no support. Or Fabregas passes to Ivan who's cross never beats the first man. Ivan is then out of position leaving the opposition acres of space to break out. Hopefully Baba will at least bring some shape and solidity to the team with Dave moving back to right back. If Ivan plays against Everton (surely not !) then the rumblings of discontent will get louder and i can only see it ending one way.

After some sleep - I'm still not sure what the problem is
I still think something is happening behind the scenes
I look back to the start of last season and how we played - so I know Mou can coach attacking play
He was so proud of the Schurrle goal - but after the defeat to Spuds - something changed and it's never been the same since
I really hope he decides to remove the shackles
I think the players are genuinely bored and frustrated at the defensive shape and want some freedom to go and attack.
I guess that's where Mou is frustrating - one freak result should not define the future.

Precisely this. His squad management is extremely poor. He is the extreme opposite of the tinker man. He uses his starters/untouchables to the point of absolute exhaustion while almost completely neglecting the squad players. some of the players we lost due to frustrations over lack of game time could have easily been avoided but he loves his untouchables too much that he finds intelligent rotation and squad management a taboo.
No one is asking him to become the tinkerman 2.0 but a bit of balance does have its adavantages.

I love away days I must confess.
unless it`s against a big side who happen to be extra hard to beat at home. I`m always happy with an away tie..i`m 12 grounds away from joining the 92 club. but unfortunately Walsall isn`t one of the 12.i was closer to the 92 before teams like Grimsby,Wrexham,Darlington,Halifax etc got relegated out of the football league.
I love the charm of a shitty lower league stadium. the despair in the eyes of the less fortunate natives,the lunatic fringe of colourful local characters .the familiar aroma of old decaying wood,kidney pies and stale piss. the magic of the cup.
the bescott stadium isn`t as old as some..it looks like a MFI,IKEA or B & Q store from the outside...inside it looks like it was assembled with the products from such stores.typical 90`s lower division produced football ground,with the pillar obstructions being the most noteworthy feature..they really stick in your mind like "wtf were they thinking" when they constructed it. you still get the same kind of characters that lower league clubs attract tho.

It will like going back to the 1970's lol the toilet will pissing against an old corrugated fence lol.

What's the point in dribbling if your end product is shit? If he can't improve in that area I'd rather see Oscar play there.

Bit like most wingers these days.

I'm a big Willian fan.... his play in central midfield yesterday was excellent, ok he missed a sitter but so did Costa. he missed 2 chances right opposite where i was sitting in the second half. He was lively and link up play and distribution was good as was his tracking back. I think Oscar will struggle to get his spot back.

Townsend is more of an attacking threat than Willian. He HAS to watch Pedro's performance yesterday. Costa's goal would have never come about had Willian been playing there instead.

Willian does put fear into opposition. I am not sure how you gathered that conclusion. Even players that don't score like Townsend, full backs hate coming up against direct and fast players. I am a massive fan of Bolasie but you do realise Bolasie is known for the same thing Willian is doing. A lot of dribbling, going past players but poor end product...

Don't make me laugh Willian has never been a goal scorer or assister even when playing in shit leagues what do think will change now at 27?? Oscar on form is way better than Willian in every aspect bar dribbling. Oscar is a better pressed of the ball, better striker of the ball, has better vision, and can actually score goals something very important for our number 10 to do since we only play 1 striker

I see Man City actually signed the one season wonder Otamendi, I think he will be another Flop at city! not convinced by him at all.

Fucking vultures the Mail aren't they!
Soon as they get an 'inkling' about any unsettlement around him, they're straight in! Fuckers!
JT must not leave our club to anyone! He has to remain Chelsea captain until he retires! ... I've had to look on while Lampard, Cole and Cech have left for rival clubs (Cole not so much), but JT is the only symbol left at Chelsea! Seeing him leave would be heartbreaking!