robsblubot

The problem with Fabregas isn't only that he can't run; as stated above matic is slow too. However, Fabregas is slow and weak, and can't tackle, and can't win aerial duels, and has little work rate and tires easily, and on occasion, lacks concentration. Reminds me a lot of Mata. It is quite evident that Fabregas' deficiencies lie in mental and physical areas, not technical. It's the manager's prerogative to be willing to deal with a player of such characteristics or not. He may change his mind or not, but I personally don't feel not playing fabregas is something crazy.

Aside from leaving 3 Liverpool players onside to score the first you mean?! Watch it again - our line is clear and well done aside from Cahill being asleep. While I agree he want terrible he wasn't good either.

Matic is actually big and slow but what's fabregas' excuse?! Big fat ass?! Sorry but that's been taken already... Iva

yeah perhaps the subs did not have that much time to do anything. I thought he should have changed right after we lost the momentum mid second half. I can certainly understand not to change when we scored and were playing better, but that died out later. Yeah getting worried again... second game in a row for hazard who looked pretty much like beginning last season. Hope he turns it around though. The irony of this game was that with all the talk about Luiz coming back, and it's Cahill who is involved in both goals (making a clear mistake in the first).

On the game: good second half - worst after the substitutions. Disgraceful first half though - there is no excuse for that kind of display. However, we don't have to concede 2 goals every time we play poorly. Either the team is great and then Conte is not good enough by employing his so italian and defensive tactics, or the team is weak and conte is going to be a genius if he gets top4. Remember that the club signed Conte knowing how he plays.... I personally don't think it had that much to do with tactics as the players were just not working hard enough off the ball and that directly affected passing - more difficult to pass when no one is close to receive the pass. Our squad may not be worse than Liverpool's (I think it is), but it is certainly not better. Coutinho is also in a far better moment than Hazard, which makes us a bit predictable atm as he is our only player with creativity and flair in the squad - notice that this is not detrimental to the other players as they don't build the squad do they? Oscar and WIllian are little workhorses, and it's not their fault the club built the team around them both; for me it's too much of the same thing. We missed hazard in the second half though. The team was better, passing better, but hazard was average... so he had another poor game in my book. His crosses/passes into the box were pretty bad. Most of the time they they didn't even clear the first man. Aside from the flick to matic, can't really remember anything remarkable he did. BTW, Ivanovic is currently in the unplayable category (Mikel has been there for years).

players have gone back into their shells - momentum is gone.

keep playing like that and we will tie this shit

get in! fantastic play by matic good pass by hazard as well

yeah I am so sorry, forgot he's completely useless if Oscar doesn't pass the ball to him.

yeah he's been decent, but I think he can do better too. That was the worse passing I've seen in a while. All midfield players failed big time. kante and Oscar look more alive but are just as poor when it comes to passing. Hazard has been absent again - need to move more and participate more. If middle is struggling you drop back and help. Forget the goals, this was very very poor... complete domination. Looks like what we did against swansea in the first half. I don't think much of this squad to be honest. Don't think it's that much to do with tactics because the players should be able to pass the football, no matter how much pressure they have on them.

not a single chelsea player is playing well for me - not even Kante. We can't do anything with this quality of passing.

Goal was mostly chaills fault playing 3 lpool players onside. but we've been very poor - struggling in all areas. need to do better

Hard to understand why Oscar comes along over and over again in this discussion. KDB was a youngster with loads of potential before he went to germany where he polished his game returning as the real deal... very common tale. I know I know same age, but Oscar was just at a different stage of his career. Jose and whoever accepted his plea to sell KDB were dead wrong and it's actually hard to find ppl who sided with Jose on that one. At the very least you have to have options in a squad and that's what we've been lacking for so long. If players have slumps (like last season), the team has a slump (like last season). Now if you think KDB can do the B2B and the tackling that Oscar does, you are a fan and a fan of the wrong team, I'm sorry to say. Concerning Mata... IMO Jose was right in selling him esp for the amount of money we got. I am really not a fan and to me he was a one trick pony who can give you that moment of magic for a minute and be a liability for the rest of the game - a player for a different era. Not contradicting myself, he'd be an interesting player to come off the bench, but his reputation and wish was to be a starter.

And he did have a pretty bad game. Completely clueless as to when to pass and when to finish, doing the wrong thing or neither most of the time. The resolute fans complain he did not receive the ball, but for a great player (that he is) he's not that great finisher, so I'd be far more interested in how many passes HE MADE. And that is where he disappointed me... perhaps he was a bit selfish having had a great game before, and tried too hard to solve the problems on his own. However, that's what great players must have: the discernment as to what to do at a particular time to best help the team.

obvious and multiple fouls on him for me and anyone really. However, and it is a big however, there was no reason to incur into that risk. There was no reason to wait and/or invite the pressure that caused it. I don't think he's done it on purpose, nor was it a mental mishap. Rather, it was just Gary showing his technical limitations: it just took him a bit too long to fully control the football there. Smart players see that and exploit - it will happen again.

perhaps... but that has nothing to do with matic.

what mistake?! Are people that crazy around here? If he's supposed to win those tackles on every match then we are fucked!

good performance with a great assist on top of it and under pressure too. Great defensively helping with possession and interceptions. Another player who can do no good for this god forsaken forum.

had a good game against Swansea - helped provide the complete domination we had until the mishaps. Guy is just disliked here for no reason - yes he has to play back because he lacks final third quality but that's hardly a fault, but rather a characteristic. Kante is just as bad going forward if not worse.

^^ true Oscar is absolutely incapable of playing with his back to the goal, which a CAM must do from time to time. He must be facing the opponent goal at all times, making runs from the midfield, and that is what a number 8 should be doing, like Lampard used to do. I can certainly see him growing in his new/old role. many positive changes with conte - good stuff so far.

I disagree that losing concentration is DL deficiency. It's his mentality which includes not only concentration, but also positioning, and decisions. He brings fantastic technique for a CB, but at some hefty cost. I hope Conte can help David become a better player; something I was sure Blanc was incapable of doing. 3 in the back in the PL would be very interesting to see... Personally I think it's going to fail big time for two reasons: width and (mostly) pace. I share Jose's opinion in that a back four is the best way to cover the corners of the pitch and provide constant double covers without needing to shift player's positions. Something that we are completely incapable of doing as Kante is our only deep midfielder with pace Oscar has some. Matic and Fabregas are slow and Mikel completely immobile. The defenders, aside from DL himself lack pace tremendously. 3 in the back can work. I've seen fantastic teams play like that, but it demands all mobile players both in defense and midfield and we just haven't got them.

correct Thiago had been suspended after picking up a silly yellow a match earlier - Thiago was breaking down in a different way. The players were under tremendous pressure especially considering that was one of the worse brazilian sides I've witnessed-and I've seen pretty bad ones. Had they played anyone of quality prior to the semis and the worse would've been avoided. The particular problem of the partnership of luiz and thiago is actually very simple: they are both the same player, ball playing CBs and very technical. Both make tons of mistakes, but Luiz has the crazy hair.

he wasn't great obviously but people who see the game know the game was lost (and is won) in midfield. He should've had the discernment to know he should've stayed back to avoid the worse, but that's exactly the thing he lacks. His importance in the outcome of that match is greatly exaggerated.

sorry but that's unrealistic. there is nothing in the past years that imply we can compete with the clubs you cited. All it shows is that we *must* find "the finds" if we are to have a chance at competing. Buy younger and if the player develops into a star, great! if not, no worse than today and you try again. (btw Conte's saying is disingenuous: players aren't just better or worse than others, they are different having different virtues and deficiencies) we approach the transfer market as a huge club would, but we just aren't one.

while I agree with your overall idea that DL return isn't terrible, I do about our staff though. A wide gulf separates the likes of of djilobodji and koulibaly... do you rate ageing terry, cahill, and ivanovic so highly that only a 50m CB could possibly replace them? I speak for myself, but I sure don't think we need 50m buys to improve the team. However, I do think Chelsea staff indeed need 40-50m buys to improve the team, and that worries me. Yes Kante was great, but he wasn't a find! he couldn't be any more on display - it was just a matter of convincing him of the project (Conte did that) and paying him enough to match the opposition. What I want from chelsea staff is to find the already good players (not kids) who can immediately contribute and then improve eventually becoming important players. Not to only go after the key players of the other top sides, that's just too easy and difficult at the same time.