CHOULO19

Keepers don't really make that much of a difference and they really aren't that much apart, imo. In CM, are Allen and Gerrad really that much better Schneiderlin and Corck? Not for me, I think they are pretty even, in fact for the football they are trying to play, I'd take the Saints duo. On the other hand, Southampton have the better fullback (probably the best in the league), the better wingers in Rodriguez and Lallana, and most importantly, they have the much better defense.

Strikers aside, how is Liverpool's starting XI better than Southampton's?

Everyone was slagging him off in the first half but I just didn't think he was that bad, in fact, I thought he was the least bad of the attacking four. Yes, things weren't really clicking for him on the ball, but off it, he was the only one making great diagonal runs and runs down the flank and creating spaces.

Exchange Lambert and Suarez, and Southampton would be, imo, doing better than Liverpool are doing now and challenging for the title and Liverpool would be below utd.

Turend on the magic in the second half. I know Shirley got the hat-trick, but Eden was my MOTM because he changed the match. Because it is the EPL; there are no weak teams.

So that's what clinical finishing looks like...

Impressive clinical finishing from Shirley, something we haven't seen in a long time in a Chelsea shirt, but Eden is the player who changed the game. He was simply magical and he was my MOTM. Special mention to Cahill who was yet again incredibly solid. Meaningless stat: The last three hat-tricks in the EPL have been scored by a Chelsea player Or just let Billy make all the pre-match talks

We won. Arsenal lost. What else matters?

PS: Petr Cech can probably send in better deliveries from set pieces than what we've seen from Shirley today.

Three words: Off the pace.

https://vimeo.com/87881296

Well can't you dine in instead?!

No! We'll concede half a dozen goals if we play that....too much space between the two CBs!

Talking out of experience?

Chin up, mate. I'm sure you did much better than you thought you did. It's nothing that hasn't happened to everyone before. Usually, you don't want to do sports or anything that brings up your adrenaline before an exam. But you're an incredibly bright boy, one test does not by any means define you.

so sorry to hear that, mate. I know that not much can be said to make you feel better right now, but stay strong and remember that time heals everything.

That was exactly what was needed from him and Jose would be very happy with him. We had practically nothing of the possession in the second half before he came on. What he was supposed to do is keep the ball and string a few passes together. The objective was not to counter attack, the objective was not to concede a second which we would most likely have had we continued to play like we did in the first 18 minutes of the second half. Reread my post to TOPTB and just let those numbers sink in:

Defensively he did well yesterday, but his decision making on the ball at times is just

Was his type of game yesterday and he did very well. Took his goal well and was unlucky not to get a second when Muslera pulled off that amazing reaction save.

In the first 18 minutes of the second half we completed just 32 of 48 attempted passes. Then in the next 20 minutes after Mikel came on, we completed 91 out of 108 attempted passes. I'm not saying that was all down to Mikel, but he played a big part in that transformation. They were killing us at the start of the second half and we weren't able to keep possession for our life. It does not matter whether Mikel's passes were forward or backwards as long as we kept possession and killed their momentum. We would have most likely conceded a second had Mikel not came on.

Don't get where the criticism comes from, he came on to do a job and he did exactly what he came on to do. He killed the Gala momentum, kept the ball and gave us a lot more possession than we were having. Before he came on in the second half, the game was being playing in our third and we weren't putting together more than 3 passes in a row.

I thought he started the game well and played a role in us dominating the first 30 minutes, but in the second half, especially towards the end of it, he just looked like he didn't have the legs to carry on. He was literally walking the last ten minutes of the game. Was very surprised that Jose didn't bring Oscar on for him.

The goal aside, I thought he had a very good game, especially in the first half. I've never seen a defender dominate Drogba in the air like JT did. Granted it's now a 35yo Drogba, but still, he did very well in the air.