CHOULO19

This was not my analysis what so ever, it was Jose's: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gltFCXVX1fg "I think the first half was very easy to play. Lots of space. Not real pressure from the opponent. The opponent loosing easy balls in the first phase. And we had an easy first half to play and we didn't. We had the ball, we had space, we were not aggressive with the ball we also lost the ball immediately after we recover it..." So take it up with Jose since "you and him think alike" Ryan, mate, there's no need for that. The "discussion" is not nearly that serious as to call someone a cunt.

Hahahahaha

The manager of the month curse, of course! Here, read these: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/303647-barclays-premiership-awards-a-blessing-or-a-curse http://www.twtd.co.uk/blogs/17053/[blog]-the-manager-of-the-month-curse--myth-or-reality/

I agree with the general notion. We have suffered against weaker teams who park the bus and did better against teams that let us play, but it just wasn't the case in these games! Against Newcastle, especially in the first half, we were allowed time and space on the edge of the box for all of Mata, Oscar and Hazard but we always misplaced the final pass. Newcastle committed men forward and only left 4-5 players behind the ball and there was spaces behind them but we always messed up the transition. 5-6 of the 8 passes Lampard missed in the first half, IIRC, were when the opposition were in transition. Jose said: "It was easy in the first half. We had lots of space and no pressure and we did not take advantage of that. We deserved to lose, Newcastle didn't deserve to win, but we deserved to lose." As for Schalke, in the away game, we played the 'smaller team role' as you called it by giving them the ball and playing on the counter. "In Germany, they had the ball because we gave it to them" (again a direct quote from Jose). They had 60% of possession. But we sat deep, denied them going through the middle after scoring an early goal. Then we scored two more when late on when in both cases Schalke had all 10 men in our half. For the game at the bridge, they came here looking for a draw. They sat very very deep despite having a couple of early chances through our own mistakes. They had 11 men behind the ball most of the time and we hardly created anything in the first half. Had we not scored through a GK mistake, they probably would have done the same in the second half and the score line would not be anywhere near 3-0. They defended ten times better than Newcastle but we showed up with fighting spirit against Schalke unlike Newcastle and we a had a bit of luck which you sometimes need (and deserve as Eto'o deserved his luck for his effort).

^^ Phew! That was a close one!

That reason being that they've only played twice against the top 6 teams. They have played some good football, there is no denying that, but they have also looked very average at times like at the weekend against Liverpool.

I see Jose was in a joking mood

He misplaced his passport which made him late for his train. Something that can happen to any human being. As a result, he missed a training session. He didn't play in the match, we won without him and he will be back in the squad for Saturday. There is no commitment problem, there are no character problems, there is no issue to talk about. End of story.

That's the whole point, though, and that's why he'll only ever be a good squad player and never starter material for a top team like Chelsea.

Well he didn't say when was the last time he played a good through ball. I agree that Oscar is not as "creative" (I hate that word!) as the likes of Mata and Hazard, but to say he has zero creativity is just unrealistic.

If anyone's wondering (I doubt it, though), the reason why he hasn't featured for Seville the past 2-3 weeks is that he's injured. Jot sure when he will be back.

Another 90 mins in the EL. Scond time in a row, now. Valencia beat st. Gallen 3-2 away.

Jose about this game: "Gus has a great chance to show hoe much he loves Chelsea by letting us win"

I actually don't mind Frank starting this. WBA at home is his kind of game.

But the Newcastle game really wasn't. There was absolutely no pressure on our players in midfield and tons of spaces, especially in the first half.

Mikel on the Schalke game: http://www.chelseafc.com/news-article/article/3527746/title/mikel-putting-things-right

Just yesterday, he played a through ball between two defenders for Willain for the second goal. It's just very rare that we play a through ball behind the defense since most teams defend deep against us (and because our strikers don't make those runs). When was the last time anyone in our team played a through ball in a central area behind the opposition defense?

You don't know who Paes is?! And you call yourself Indian!!!

And the award for the "non-issue/pointless debate" of the week goes to...

Went to a play after class. It was awesome!

Well that was before the shiti-taka...

I agree. But very very few players can perform consistently at the age of 22, so we should give him a couple of years to reach that stage. That said, I must admit that I have been disappointed with Eden so far this season. Not because he has been that bad, but because I simply expected better from him this season.

It was a simple move that all strikers make. Garry had absolutely no awareness of where Aguero was and makes the wrong decision and ends up breaking the offside trap. A mistake he's done countless times when we play a high line.

Garry got beaten with very simple movement by aguero and ended up playing him inside. Yes, Cech could have done better although it was a world class finish and you would not expect your average goal keeper to save it. But the error was in why Aguero was one-on-one with Petr, and that lies on Garry's shoulders.

You mean Garry Cahill error.