kellzfresh

The reason we struggled against Spurs was because of their intense pressing. We couldn't handle it. And when we press Spurs back, they have dembele, wayanma, rose who are strong on the ball and could dribble out of pressure. While we have only Hazard who can win fouls. If we get Bakayoko, it could help but our wingbacks still need to be able to compete with the pace, power and ability to hold the ball under pressure of the Spurs own wingbacks. If we had a striker that is good in the air, we could easily hit a long ball straight to him, but we don't have this either. This bad combination throughout our team has made pressing from big teams our biggest weakness. That's why it's so easy to pin us back for very long periods in our half, when all it takes is to chase Cahill, Alonso, Matic, kante, costa, Pedro, and they all kick the ball in the air or lose possession easily.

Our website is throwing back digs at Manchester United and Mourinho since Conte won't respond to him.

From your description, he is like dembele for Spurs. That will be good, someone who can hold his ball under pressure, two footed, and most importantly can dribble past opponents through the middle of the pitch and carry the ball forward to help the attack. (Essien used to do this for us,) You only have to watch our match against Tottenham to know how important these type of midfielders are.

Its sad, but I'm beginning to think he's going. He already attempted to leave in the summer but we didn't let him now China has the money, something fishy happened in january with the China rumors, it seems inevitable. I hope we get mbappe to replace him. But I'll not be against getting lukaku back. He already loves the club, maybe his passion will improve his performance.

The last match against Stoke strengthened the case for mbappe imo. He's incredible. He could be better than costa in a short while. He makes runs off the ball like costa, hes by far a better dribbler than costa, Hes by far better in linkups as Hazard will receive back most of the numerous passes he lays to costa when he runs for the return pass. He has better control of the ball under pressure and along with hazard will provide another crucial player in attack that is good under pressure. He's very good in the air and can contest with defenders for air balls where costa is a disaster in. Azpilicueta can play a high ball from defence into mbappe when pressed and we still maintain possession. And we could actually score more headers. Costa is useless in this aspect. He can replace costa when he goes on his second half of the season poor form. And most importantly, mbappe is a goalscoring machine. 13 goals in his last 12 games is no joke.

Manchester United are enjoying a long unbeaten run in the league stretching back to October. It has lifted them all the way from 6th to 7th.

Even though we ground out that win, I think we played well overall today. We hit the post twice, grant made 4 very good saves, we scored twice and Stoke had one shot on target all game from a soft penalty. All this without hazard and Costa having a mare in the first half, it was a good, well fought performance.

What has happened to Costa ??? He's been so poor, I don't even know if he's necessary in this match anymore or we should just bring on fabregas

Damn, I overrated this arsenal side. Without carzola in midfield, they’re sh*t

I just found this on Twitter I hope this isn't true. Those ManUnited thugs

One of the most annoying moments for me. Our midfield would have been set for years

This is true. We may not need a ball playing midfielder if we have a dynamic midfield who can dribble past opponents and carry the ball into attack like essien used to do for us. In an ideal world, I'd want Verratti/modric who can pass, and can dribble away when he is targeted or under pressure but these types of players are difficult to get. So a ball carrier like dembele/nainggolan would be perfect and improve us drastically. At least teams like tottenham wouldn't bully us in midfield like they did before.

Sorry, the last paragraph was a statement I made. I don't know how that got mixed up in the quote. I was saying that we criticize Conte sometimes but we can clearly see the difference in attacking between our team now than under Mourinho. The performances against rostov both home and away were regular occurrences. Exactly, he always brings on fellaini or mikel to close out games instead of going for the next goal. It has cost them points against Everton, Arsenal, Stoke and almost conceded in the last minute yesterday. He still hasn't changed this cautious approach. And eventually many manutd fans will be frustrated by this.

I watched the match against rostov and it was a sour performance. I don't know how long ManUnited fans can keep up with this. They are used to attacking football under Ferguson (chanting "attack, attack, attack" during match days) and didn't like LVG because of the poor quality football and lack of goals. Statements like this are becoming normal on redcafe: We criticize Conte here sometimes but watching ManUnited reminds me of how poor we could be in the past sometimes. Especially running out of ideas near the box

https://mobile.twitter.com/ChelseaAlerts/status/841513991742619648/video/1 https://mobile.twitter.com/ChelseaAlerts/status/841513991742619648/video/1

I've watched about 10 Monaco matches and Mbappe is the one I want the most. He makes runs off the ball like costa, is energetic, but still wins balls in the air, takes shots from outside the box, has fantastic ball control under pressure, has good link up play, 11 goals in his last 11 games, so he's no slouch in finishing. And most importantly, his dribbling style reminds me of Thierry Henry. He's the guy we need from Monaco. He'll be one of the best strikers of his generation, Anyone can bookmark me on this.

I want 3 players. Mbappe (PRIORITY!! incredible talent, only 18, makes runs off the ball like costa and has Thierry Henry esque ballcontrol) Mendy> Alonso (bcos of speed and better fantastic crosses) Fabinho >>>Matic in attack (he can provide Matic tackling and better passing, better attacking movement, better at holding the ball under pressure)

Thank goodness we've already played Leicester. They're definitely back to last season form. Mancity, Arsenal and tottenham haven't played them yet, this is no longer an easy 3 points anymore

Exactly. He's been poor since 2017. I knew he had poor ball control, but in the beginning of the season, he used one touch passing to runners a lot instead of holding unto the ball and loosing it these days like torres. I hate the fact that he doesn’t know how to open up an angle for a shot. In the 50th and 63rd minutes he had chances to open up the angle and shoot, but instead he tries to dribble more, loses the ball yet again and in the second instance looks for a penalty after taking another touch instead of shooting. He's a major reason why it looks like we just pass around the box without penetration. He needs to behave like a striker who love to shoot instead of behaving like a defender afraid of shooting.

When Mourinho has hazard as an opponent his game plan is tailored to stopping him playing. When he has him as a player, it's exactly the same.

Well we could be out now against Tottenham. That was the toughest of the teams because of their pressing. Hopefully we pull of something at Stamford Bridge

What a player. And hes still young, Just imagine how good he'll be once he gets his shooting right like today. Love him

I know he's poor in the air, so we can't get any outballs, I know he has a poor first touch and ball control, I know he rarely takes shots from outside the box, I can cope with all that but what I don't like is him refusing to shoot when he's near the box. Sometimes it's like he's allergic to shooting

Fantastic today, dribbling into the box and taking shots. When he's in the mood to dribble, he can be devastating