CHOULO19

Of course you have every right to criticize AVB but I am a firm believer that the manager knows the players much better than the fans do. Cole was not started because he was not 100% fit while Lamps seems to be leading the revolution against Andre. Essien has not played full 90mins since returning, the manager obviously thought that he could not keep up with the pace of such game. You have to realize that Andre is in a position where some players don't want him at the club and unfortunately for him, the ones who do believe in him include Bosingwa and Meirieles.

I'm surprised Blackman managed to play today, he was with the CL squad yesterday.

We had 58% possession and 15 goal attempts and almost all Napoli Chances came from individual defensive mistakes.....we weren't that bad.

I didn't watch but reading those posts, I think it must have been one hell of a match. I am so proud to be a Chelsea fan at this moment.

I meant by tactics our approach of the game in terms of how players position on the field, the tempo, our defensive and offensive strategies....not the line-up. Cole coming on had nothing to do with how the match panned out, and fir the record, ashley only offered two things in the match: That goal-line clearing and awful defending for all other Napoli attacks. The performance might not have been up to CFC standards, but it was perhaps the best possible from this squad of players under those circumstances and with such low confidence and moral.

Not mention that he got his tactics spot on imo. We were able to absorb their pressure in the first half and score and in the second half we dominated them up until that horrendous piece of defending.

Cech Iva-Cahil-Luiz-Rayn Essien-Romeu Mata Danny- Drogs/Romelu -Malouda Our main problem at the moment is that we don't have a striker on form and Danny has yet to convince me that he can play as a lone striker.

Actually that is what is frustrating me the most. We had just as much chance as Napoli and much more possession. We dealt great with the match especially tactics-wise but the inability of our players to find the final pass or find a proper finish is very annoying because we should've got a draw at the very least.

Are you kidding? Theo could take lessons from Salamon in finishing.

Shhhh..be nice, we need them to sell us Cavani!

No reason he can't play with a broken finger, I remember Lahm playing at the 2006 World cup with hand in a cast. I just feel bad for him, a broken finger hurts like hell!

I imagine Andre is not at all pleased with David, that third goal cost us a lot especially that we probably got the equalizer had we not conceded.

It wouldn't be a surprise, they have the best squad by far. If it hadn't been for the genius that is Conti, they would've had it in the bag already.

http://www.chelseafc.com/page/LatestNews/0,,10268~2619709,00.html

“Chelsea has to be in front of everybody to get the result. The manager is doing his job by deciding who plays and we as players have to do our job. Read More http://www.fulhamchronicle.co.uk/london-sport/london-chelsea-fc/2012/02/22/chelsea-defender-backs-underfire-boss-andre-villas-boas-82029-30383609/#ixzz1n7d7CUaT

The dawn of the Australian revolution rises now!

I love this man!

By that standard, Raul should jump off a bridge.

Every since my firefox spell-check add-on stopped working, my posts are suffering!

That is an insult to the number 4!

We had two defensive midfielders in Raul and Rami. I know that this isn't the position they usually play, but tonight this was their role which they failed to do properly. Essien did not do any better when he came on and is obviously not back to form (if he is ever going to be) while Romeu is not ready for such a match especially that he has not been getting regular starts lately.

Well said.

I totally agree. Andre got his tactics right, the start of the first half where we managed to absorb the pressure and counter, and the start of the second half when we completely dominated are evident to that. Individual errors (and a weak midfield) cost us the game.

Excellent point. Danny really disapointed me today, I was expecting (maybe unrightly so) much more from him on the wing. But even more desperately we need a clinical striker. If we had a player like Van Persie ( or even Daren Bent dare I say) we would've gotten something out of this match. We had at least a dozen chances that were begging for a proper finish.