Bir_CFC

We won't win the midfield and we won't outplay them. Either we play on the counter or long ball.<br /><br />I actually think starting Ba is a good idea since I don't see how else we intend to go at them while still keeping it tight at the back.

It's pathetic just cause Jose doesn't play him people are now using that to say Ryan isn't a good defender. My criticism with him has always been his offensive contribution. I can't recall the last time he was found wanting in defence.<br />Azpi started out a little lost but he did very good overall but I don't see why Bertrand would have been a weakness.

Happy for his goals and performances but most of all as others have mentioned, while he's not at his old best (don't think he'll ever be) but he's actually gaining respect of his opposition now. Teams will actually have to scout him now and won't just write him off prior the match. Dare I say, some defenders may even start dreading facing him again. While I still don't think he's good enough for Chelsea in the future, but at least now he's adding value to the team. That's more than what we've had for a good while from our striker position. That's good enough for me, I'm not going to bump up my expectations too much.

You might get 2nd, I'm going to be playing my youngsters and won't care if I loose every single remaining match.

awesome stuff, i'll look out for the stuff you pointed out when i watch them next

I was focused on him a lot the entire match and the run he made for the goal was probably the 20th that type of run he made. He can be as effective without the ball as he is with it. He is different from all our other AMs, and he will only carve out a larger and larger role as the year goes on. He's still young, he can become an excellent player, a key player for us. Like someone said before, we should try him on the LW and Hazard on the RW a few times. Hazard was very good last year at RW as well, plus Schurrle doesn't really need to link up too much to be effective so no help from Cole won't hurt him as much as it does Hazard. Whereas on the right, Ivanovic and Cesar go forward a lot better than Cole which will help Hazard.

Nice goal, similar to Lukaku's yesterday.

great night for him and for belgium, very happy for him and belgium

He still needs to improve his back to the goal play. I still don't see a big improvement here, he's still getting goals like he did last year. Against City he had a chance to run at the back 4 and destroyed them but for the rest of the game he was very very poor. Ball kept bouncing off him, wasn't able to hold the ball and link up with others, nor was he able to win any headers. For such a big guy he's poor at headers imo. Unless he improves these aspects, he'll remain at best a second option at Chelsea, a player who would make a great sub off the bench. He is still far from being a complete striker, or rather far from possessing the attributes required to be this Chelsea's first choice striker.

Not really, my 18 y/o striker is better. Brox!

Yup exactly. I even think Isco will have have a larger role than Mata sooner rather than later with the Spain NT.

He's the Lukaku of AMs. Very young, big, strong, very direct but still raw. Everton will def be fun to watch this year. <br />You'd have to say though they should play counter attack instead of possession with the kind of attackers they have.

It's not his natural position. It's not his forte. He's a wide player. And using pre-season games especially just because he scored from a ST position is not exactly a strong evidence to support the claim. Him playing there was just more of an experiment before the season starts. Nothing more. I actually think second striker is his best position. He's played wide in the youth teams but his play style is very much of that of a second striker and not of a wide player. Even when he started on the left in the youth team he always moved central and down the middle, provided no width at all.He plays like a Jovetic.

Yeah, Ivan has been one of the better performers so far this season, hence why Azpi can't get a game. He'll get more chances in due time.

Surely your players are to blame. You had more possession and created more chances but couldn't finish them. Win bonus wouldn't improve his players' ability but only their effort, and considering your team still outplayed his, it's surely your team at fault. You go into matches hoping your tactics and players are able to create scoring chances, but if they can't finish those chances it's not cause your opponent was given a win bonus.

Term is this your first ever home loss?

I have a dilemma. This was supposed to be the year I play a lot of my young guys, I have so many. I never had ambitions to win the title so this season and possibly the next one was just supposed to be a transition to a newer crop of players. But now I'm in the thick of the title race. On one hand, you can't pass up a title surely but on the other hand I don't want it to be a waste of year for my younger players' development. When I saw my result today, I was like ok now I'll just focus on my young guys cause I lost the title, but X-Rated managed to loose so I'm still top lol. Wish we could loan the younger players.

I don't see how it's embarrassing. They are KDB fans, what's wrong with them just wanting him succeed regardless of where he plays? They just want to see him play. Not like they are saying they are Chelsea fans, their allegiance probably lies elsewhere but are KDB fans. Similarly, I cheer for Galatasaray only because of Drogba. That said though, they shouldn't be talking shit about Jose and Chelsea, that's def out of order.

Amazing work. This is how stats should be looked at, in the context of the match and situations and not on their own.

well mou ran up to him as well, so to some extent it was the polite thing to do

Luiz was amazing. I couldn't even keep count of how many attacks he thwarted by being so proactive. A dominant performance from him really. Ramires is our best finisher. Lamps should have got one more. Oscar was meh in the first half but he was great in the 2nd. Schurrle played with a lot of confidence, very good performance. I also love that he's able to actually pick out people on his crosses instead of just firing them in blind.

Amazing finisher. Neither were easy chances and he buried em both.

Lukaku's ability and talent were never in question. His strengths at this moment don't align with Chelsea's playing style. He could have stayed and improved as 2nd or 3rd choice but it's better to be first choice at Everton. I have no problem with the loan move. He'll improve with his build-up play and his back to goal hopefully playing at Everton, because that's what he needs at Chelsea. Everything else he already has.

He got a yellow card, surely it was for the altercation and not the "foul" on Vertonghen.

Wasn't he already back in training? I remember reading it somewhere.