BlueLyon

Well with 3:5:2 we had zero width. That allowed city to throw everything in middle and completely dominate us. Last year, they dominated us too, but here is a difference. With 3:5:2, we strenghtened our defence, but had absolutely nothing in attack. With 3:4:3 we punished them on counter. We benched Moses and Pedro for another defender and Cesc who is too slow for city players. As you say in a way Azpi instead of Moses makes sense, BUT IF we had to revert to such defensive tactics just to cope with their offense, never even thinking about our attack, thats a prety clear statement Conte and co admited we cant defeat them at all. City is amazing team this year, but sooner or later teams will stop them. I guess next year they will be realy unbeatable. However yesterday we didnt even try. From first second we allowed them to say they are the best. And thats not acceptable from PL champions at home. Its too negative. Dont make them better than what they are. Realy good team, but they still have Delph, Stones, Otamendi and Fernandinho who can get exposed. Not mentioning Aguero was not even playing. Real would blast that defence in another dimension, not saying we have quality of real, but with proper character we could defeat them on counter. I rather have lost 2:0 and trying realy hard to win than 1:0 and sit in front of goal whole game.

They were pressing us well and we had problems with that. Obviously we didnt play as negative as against city, but neither was there big desire to win that game. We only put real pressure on them in later stages, but then Luiz got that red card and that was it. It was game at SB and we should have them in full control, but they were as close to winning that game as we did. It wasnt as bad as city, but we could have done much more to win the game, it was realistic to take 3 points. Games like these will decide if we will fight for title. Never mind we had 3 games without win against them. certainly that one wasnt one-off. We struggle more against them than we did before and the whole point is that we should be improving every season. We didnt have problems except for odd game against them for few years now. But now they started to press us more and we seem unable to handle that. We have players very capable of playing offensive and attractive football. Against Atletico, I was inspired that Conte made subs indicating we want to win that game. Away at one of best teams in europe. Thats the kind of phylosophy you want. And it paid off. Only to see it all blow to city. Anyway the season is long. Im curious how we play against spurs, liverpool, city and united.

I agree playing Azpi was crucial if we were about to park the bus. In fact our defending was brilliant considering the quality of city. We nearly managed to get a draw. But everything else was crap. Playing Azpi instead of Moses gave clear indication we wont attack, and with Azpi and Alonso on wings, Pep used his own fulbacks Walker and Delph nearly in midfield. Because our fullbacks were so poor in attack and city didnt even need to mark them. Our whole team defended basicaly, except for Eden. For a match at SB, I think thats as ridiculous as it gets. Despite the quality city has, we should go braver in this match. All in all the only reason this kind of football is tolerated is IF we get a good result out of it. If we lose, its bound to have critics left and right. And rightfully so. Games like these vs city when we dont get a result are clear indicator what fans think of such tactics when they are not blinded by the win. I want the team to give it all on the pitch and go for the win every game. At least try your best ffs. We have played counter attack for ages now, but for example under Mou the first time, we actualy played when we needed to. We could go toe to toe with any team in the world and we had that fear factor that we can kill off anyone at SB. If this counter football is what Chelsea wants to continue to play, at least do it with proper way, not letting City rape us at our own stadium.

Absolutely agree. But it comes down to the point I couldnt care less about result at the moment. Its also about the way we play. This is what bothers me. We might have lost to atletico, I would applaud players for that match. On the other hand, city one was big clusterfuck of everything wrong. Even if we won with fluke goal, I simply dont accept being so weak at home. We allowed them to play their way from get go. Hell even shakhtar and liverpool (before Mane's red card) put in more fight and desire to win. I would accept this since it was two days after atletico game, but hey we played same against fcking Arsenal at stamford bridge. Its kindoff embarassing to go into game with such low mentality. There is no excuse to play fluid football against good teams in PL. Only two matches I would accept going all defensive are city and spurs away. Every other game, we should play our own way and try to control the game. Possesion, I couldnt care less if city had 70%. Its what we do with those 30. On saturday, we had no plan, no attack, no movement, no idea, no desire. And it was at HOME when the mentality should be sky high after atletico win. But instead we reverted back to defend all game style. Let city run riot on our stadium. And dont think for second last season was any different, we were outplayed twice by both spurs and city. Yeah we managed to win three times, but as I said, that only pays when you actualy win. If we hadnt, everyone would agree we got completely outplayed. Its not realy about our players. They are more than capable of controling the games, but its something else. The mentality has changed within the squad and its been a while for most of players to automaticaly play this way and hope for the best. Cant remember how many games have been in past three years when (most) players genuinely could give shit in certain games. Aside from results, I hope we will one day actualy PLAY against top teams. Thats why atletico game was so enjojable. Not the result. We actualy coped against top top team, that didnt happen in years now.

If we had any desire to win the game Moses would play. Instead we went for full defence, "hope we score a fluke and defend lead" type of tactic. It works sometimes but I hoped we will change that by now and try actualy playing games. Hell we were quality against arsenal in past years, but recently even they easily stop us with high press. We have top players. The day we will believe that we will become top european team. But now everytime someone good comes and we revert to bunker tactics. Its one thing to come with tactical plan of counter attacking and entirely different playing bunker with no attack. Now Im not sure if thats down to players or coach, but subbing AM9 for Willian instead of Bats was ridiculous.

Talking about Mendy, its actualy funny because Bakayoko and Batshuayi are big big friends with him, if we ever tried bidding for Mendy, Im quite positive he would end up here. But instead we went all in for Sandro and ended up with nothing.

You forgot new RW. Willian is awful and Eden needs someone to linkup with. As for today game, it was disaster we benched Moses. His runs can help our attack alot, even if he has no end product. Azpi was defending whole game and Alonso couldnt get past middle of pitch. Thats on Conte for picking such defensive and cowardly lineup at HOME.

Yup there was defense and then Eden and then nothing. Honestly after seeing today game, I expect Eden to leave if this is the way we go against top teams. He had ZERO support. City had not only Silva and DeBruyne, but Jesus, Sane, even Fernandinho and BOTH fullbacks coming up and linking. Eden was only with Morata and after the sub he was alone. I guess thats down to Conte because against Atletico, we were linking much better.

I actualy think our defence was good. City has some world class attackers and their way of play can kill off nearly anyone. And we let them attack us and attack us whole game, only thanking the defenders it was only 1:0. IMO it was one of better defending displays I saw considering the calibre of opponent. Now if our midfield and attack would do their job, we wouldnt be under pressure all the time and we could score some goals. BUT everything else was beyond shit. The attitude, speed, transition, passing, movement, substitutions,...I can only imagine we couldnt prepare for game and players were tired. But thats no excuse to play like this. Our offense was completely non existent and our tactics reverted to that defend whole game and score a fluke goal. I guess Atletico game was just one-off. Because its either that or players simply dont give a fuck. Willian was beyond embarassing, but everyone else played in second gear, not trying anything to change something. There was defense and then nothing. No midfield, no wingers, no attackers, no playmakers...just a bunch of players who were defending whole game. Bottom line, if we intend to play like this, whats the point signing nice technical guys like Morata. It was plan to bring him and players like him so that we can play more with possesion and creativity. Today was just the same old bunker with zero attacking plan. In that case Diego brings more on the table than whole team today bar the defenders

Jesus vs. Moses. The first real test.

Its waay too early but yeah PL will come back on top sooner or later with all this money. Cant fucking wait for that. Time to end spanish domination. Hopefuly italians get their shit together aswell and we will have proper CL once again.

Yup, thank you

My two cents. Comparing with the games I saw last season, he is impressing me even more. One thing I was unsure was that he didnt look as dynamic and quick compared to Fabinho. His reactions werent as sharp, but good enough for most ligue 1 teams. He had massive potential, however I didnt expect him to adjust so quickly. He is a mix of strenght and agility, exactly what we needed. He still dwells on the ball bit too much and I miss more of his dribbling runs forward, but he is fantastic in defense. He realy adjusted to PL, his tackling and interceptions give Kante bit easier job and chance to move forward.

Anyone has gif when he shielded the ball on his own against two atletico defenders near the corner flag? Such balance and strenght, I thought he will fall but he kept standing and standing. Amazing player. This is what I like about him that Neymar will never have. Fight for the ball and not look for fouls with dives.

Lol Bats looks like he is still dissapointed about his fifa rating haha

This. It was such a good game overall and yet people find something to complain. And its not just about Luiz. Every year so called fans throw shit on our players the moment something goes wrong. Two years ago it was Eden, last year Costa, Luiz is in and out in this competiton every year. Its all positive to point them out if they have poor games, but to call them silly names and then worship them few weeks later is pathetic. Stick with them in good and bad or dont support them at all I guess.

Moses was brilliant today. And it was away in CL against atletico. Man, at this rate Conte will make Drinkwater play like Modric lol.

Its Gianluca Conte, Antonios bro, he is assistant at Chelsea

Nope, they simply wouldnt talk to media about him if they didnt like him. Thing is Costa hurting Chelsea was merely media trick. He gets along with players which is most important thing. He helped us win countless games and yes despite few games he missed due to cards, he rarely hurt the team. Several player have bust ups, doesnt mean they should be sold the same second. Its that same temperament that also makes them quality players. I wasnt happy how things went during summer, but that was after our season was finished and we had replacement before new season. Since january he wasnt as great as before, but that could be for number of reasons. And YET if you go back, his presence still helped us win many games and everytime he scored he celebrated in proper way, with plenty of respect to us, the fans. He clearly still liked the club. What went between him and Conte, its up to them. Fuck the media and their reports, unless either comes up and explains it all, I wont blame either of them nor shoud you, because neither you or me knows the truth. Anyway as I said it, Costa is gone. Personaly I will be thankful for what he did, he did alot for this club, arguably only Hazard was on same level during both title wins. Yeah he was a cunt, but he was our cunt. He played that way and in most cases it was opponents who got hurt for that, not our club. I see no damn reason on disliking or hating him because thats a thing of past now. He brought titles and happy memories to me during last three years and thats only thing that matters. As for you, if you wish to dislike him ok, but he is out, nothing will change. Personaly I simply prefer keeping the good picture of him and laugh whenever he makes something stupid and admire him when he scores wondergoals. Better than having sour feelings or calling him cunt every time I see him on tv or internet.

Lol I laughed hard when I saw it on tv haha

Fantastic game...cant remember the last time we were actualy in control against a top team in europe. Regardless of result, I would be proud even if we lost. But the win is even sweeter. Good game on both ends, we played like a team, our midfield stood their ground, we were composed in defence and our attack was quick and efficient. We could easily score one or two more. Brilliant performance, hopefuly we show similar against city.

Meh still having grudges over him or? Conte and Diego made peace, aswell several players stated they will miss Costa. But yeah, you must clearly know more about him than his teammates lol. He was our top scorer in past 3 years. We won 2 titles massively thanks to his goals. 2015/16 everyone was below average, makes no sense to point out only Costa. If so then, we should get rid of entire team... Its funny how everyone sees only events of past few months. No, its actualy sad. There were so many great moments Costa gave to this club and, yet people always go and point out the few bad moments. Typical negative thinking. Costa is now gone and his role at chelsea is over, that it. Personaly I think its good to find the good points in everything, I will remember him as valuable player for Chelsea, one that helped us win many games. He was not the most pleasant character, but thats why he was so good. He was the exact player no one liked but at same time everyone would love to have in their team. Like it or not, he was big big character in our dressing room and judging by players, a positive too. Im sure he will do well in atletico and I wish him all the best, but hopefuly never against chelsea if we meet in future heh. The whole society is throwing us the "nice" guy ideals, but sometimes its good to have a different, rebelious or bad guy character in squad. It certainly makes life more interesting that way. Judging the whole three years with Costa, cant say it was dull. So many funny and provocative moments that made seasons even more interesting. And on top of that, also two PL titles. Not a bad for someone everyone here says he almost destroyed Chelsea seasons. The media certainly did great job making you believe their story. Then you see Eden, Cesc, Tibo,...picking only the best words about Diego...

Anyone knows ihow possible for Eden to start the game? I heard he wont, but not sure if source is reliable...

Say what you want, he gave everything for Chelsea in 3 years, helping us come back on top of England. His character was questionable, but in a way it was perfect. Gave something else to this team, something I think despite Alvaro's goals, we are still missing. Oh and his chant...there wont be equal for a player for a while I think. Thank you for everything and good luck Diego Diego Diego

Very solid performance, but he needs to take on players more, considering he is very skilled player. All those little tricks he makes and then passes backwards wont realy help him. On another note, due to his small frame, he will have to learn how to trick refs because he most probably wont bully through defenders. And I would hate it if he became such player.