Chelsea Legend 11

The bar I was at when he was preparing to come on. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10154528297435694&set=vb.734530693&type=2&theater

Sheesh! You'd think we lost or something. I don't often comment before I watch the game again but judging from the comments in this thread you'd think we were playing against pylons who had no business being on the pitch. The phrase 'No Game Is Easy in the Premier League' is not just some cool tag line, its truth! Every week there will be new challenges and difficulties. I thought the first half Leicester played well and took away the middle of the pitch, the only areas they didn't press us hard were on the flanks. That in turn made it difficult for Costa, Fab, and Oscar to receive the ball in areas where we could hurt them. Schurrle was lively in the first half but he had no finish whatsoever... It kind of hurt us a bit because most of the attention was towards the middle of the pitch, and our left flank didn't have the right numbers going forward(only Hazard at times) Leicester did a great job counter attacking all game mainly because the first pass to initiate the counter was accurate and biting. When they switched it to the right flank, on a few occasions, Brana was far too narrow and had they delivered better crosses could've hurt us. They cut off our valves of Matic, Oscar, Cesc and forced us to look for other solutions. In the second half it appeared to me that we were playing a higher line and looked to commit more bodies forward, the problem was we still couldn't work the ball to our central players and got caught on the counter too. For me every game is won and lost in the middle of the pitch and we didn't get the commanding performance from Matic or Cesc; they were good today but not entirely imposing. Had it not been for a motm performance from Ivanovic we wouldn't have had the cutting edge to get the victory. Leicester City had a fantastic game plan... Thibault Courtois is world class. Eden Hazard drifted in and out of the game but scored that all important clincher to relieve pressure. We can't play him centrally for fear of him getting marked out of the game. Diego Costa is a match winner! We FINALLY have one! A guy who doesn't score the 3rd and fourth goal in a route, but scores game winners and first goals... I can't tell you how important it is to have a true match winner. Even if he just scores 15 more goals like today(winners in a tight game) we'll be champs, I have no doubt about that. Ivanovic is a warrior, gonna be hard to displace him in the side. Azpi, RIGHTFULLY didn't get too far forward to expose us at the back. It looks like our width is gonna come on the right side this year, LB will stay home if the first two games are any indication. He was great again today... Luis is gonna have a hard time finding games if Brana and Azpi continue in this fashion. Good win against a side we didn't know an awful lot about...Those games can be nervy and this was no different.

Different set of circumstances. Courtois is the future and we need him to sign a new deal.

He's third choice. How many games did Demba Ba not make the bench?

He has to WIN the position.

Leicester: Courtois; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta; Matic, Fabregas; Schurrle, Oscar, Hazard; Costa Hate to say I told you so... Jose likes stability

Many who have watched Jose work in the past can attest to the fact he doesn't like changing his back 5 at all. Courtois comes in and until he's settled in the side I don't see another change in the back 4. Luis will have to wait a minute.... Another hint not working in his favour is the penny he was given for practice at the Bridge today. Luis had the same coloured penny as Ake and Mikel... May be looking into things but we'll just have to wait and see.

Wouldn't surprise me one bit if we see the exact same lineup as Monday. Most seem to think the only change will be Luis for Azpi, I'm 40/60 on that.

I'm not sure of that. I love Van Ginkel he looks more like a jack of all, master of none. CM who doesn't do anything exceptionally... I think if he goes on loan to Milan it can help his development quite a bit, whereas staying at Chelsea, especially after a year of no football, could really stunt his growth. Mikel plays the type of game that doesn't necessarily need a lot of match sharpness to deliver if called upon. I'd rather have a guy who's played in big games on the bench than a guy who is 21 yr old who hasn't played a lot of football let alone top flight. This is a title challenge we need experience on the bench, although having said that I wouldn't mind having Van Ginkel on the squad as an option either.

How good do you reckon Van Ginkel can be?

I must be the only Chelsea fan left who likes every player on the squad except Torres, he's about the only guy I would cast away no questions asked. Mikel is still useful and often comes up big in the big games, I like those types.

But when you sign up you can't use the promo.

I don't know man, an attacking trio of Sturridge, Balo and Sterling looks pretty nice to me! Liverpool have done better than expected replacing Suarez, I thought they were going to settle for Remy, Balotelli is a huge upgrade there.

its 1/4 odds down from 1/5

I don't think any Chelsea fan would be upset if you were right or wrong. He's been a long standing incredible player for us, if he continues great, if not who can be upset by what he's given the club?

A little melodramatic don't you think? Chelsea fans in Peril over JT having yet another great year?

LOL...

The balance he demonstrated at Burnley was another level. Messi like.

I agree he had a good game v Burnley but I need more end product and less flash now.

100%

JT didn't look great but Cahill was equally poor. Awful clearances and panicky defending.

Calm down... Why are you going off the rails over nothing? I already acknowledged he had a fantastic year in the system we played last year, do you think he's the type of CB that can lead a line if JT breaks down? I don't and judging by your 'rock' comment neither do you. So where are we then? We need a JT replacement because the pieces we've assembled at the club don't really fit the mould. (rock in the back, anchor, stopper type) I think this is an important year for JT and the club and its shaping up like Cahill in the next in line to be our JT figure, I don't feel comfortable with him in that light. He's great when we play a low block and is well supported with the two holding mids but pretty poor at holding a line let alone a high line like it looks like we're doing. I watched every game we played last year twice at the very least, I don't need anymore Cahill footage to know what type of player he is. Pogba, on the other hand, is a guy I really enjoy watching youtube clips of because he's an exciting player.

I don't deem it harsh at all. He was good last year for sure but lets not ignore the fact that the way we set up last year aided our defense immensely. If we are moving towards a more attacking/possession game I really think Terry and Cahill will be exposed. God forbid it but if Terry has a serious injury do you really trust Gary Cahill to be our no.1 CB with Brana and Zouma fighting for no.2? Really? What if Terry starts to play to his age? Are you comfortable with a backline of Cahill, Brana and Zouma? Lets be real here, put aside your personal bias of him being British, he's just not that good.

Brana is looking like our auxiliary defender. We need a real rock back there...

This may be the return of AVB's defense, high line and horribly exposed... I really don't trust Cahill as our no.1 defender should Terry's decline be rapid this year, hell I don't even trust him as our no.2 defender. JT isn't gonna be Terry forever, we need to get a big figure next to him pronto and Cahill isn't it for me at least.