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Mata was ok. WE just cannot have Mata and Lampard on at the same time. If Mata goes put Mikel or Essien in the there and that frees up Ramires. Ramires baby sitting Lampard means less chances of scoring for us.

That goal was fucking annoying. It shouldn't have happened. JT was holding the line of defense on that kick, Lampard in his infinite wisdom decides to put everyone onside and then did this half ass jump, without heading the ball, subsequent result was the inevitable goal. He was non existent in the middle, doesn't pressure the ball and when he got the ball, he gave awful passes and lost possession. Whenever he's there, Ramires can't push forward and we do not get to support the offense. I mean why does he have to start every game? This is rather annoying and becoming embarrassing. The part that gets me is why does Lampard run in front of attackers carrying the ball, then stops and stands five yards or so off the attacker, while pointing fingers at everyone else on what to do on defense instead of closing down the attacker? You either tackle the ball or get the fuck out of the way.

When we suck we suck. We wasted all that time playing Lampard. Now we were chasing goals 15 mins to go. Of course you are going to open yourself up for more goals.

When we suck we suck. We wasted all that time playing Lampard. Now we were chasing goals 15 mins to go. Of course you are going to open yourself up for more goals.

Why Jose? What the heck was Lampard doing there for so long? He was a liability and everytime he's played we such in the middle. He lost the attacker on that goal as JT was defending the other guy.

Jose must be the stingiest coach alive. Imagine the line up of Obi, Essien and Ramires in the midfield and David,Cahill, Aspi and Ryan in the back to defend a two goal lead. Whoa!

Well if Lampard will let others play, we will see more of Essien.

Hahahahaha! I feel you about the GK situation.I loved Hilario, but his name precedes him, it was always Hilarious watching him in goal.Its was like a box of chocolate, you never knew what going to be in it. Lol.. Its reality check for Arsenal Fans with King Jose back in town.

Very informative.

What are you talking about. Chelsea played a fantastic game. We were just unlucky with goals in the first half. They deserved to win this game.

This was going to be our toughest game of the season so far and we came through.. Whoa Torres. I'm impressed that Jose M. was able to turn him around. What five other coaches could not do, Jose did. Even Benitez his old coach was not able to get him into form. Jose is a master class, They should call him Jesus because he has raised Lazaraus again from the dead. He did it for Milito in Milan, Terry at Chelsea, Pepe at Madrid, Benzema at Madrid Materazzi and many more... Whoa!

Whoa! Fernando Torres comes through.

Lampard should have been a sub in this game. He really left a hole in the middle for Fernandinho and Silva to run the middle. Those misses in the first half cost us this win.

Let DM keep talking about Jose M., while their buddy the "chosen one" is sticking up the ol' T.

Good game. 2nd half was much better. Seems like Torres is back to his old self. He needs to get back to three weeks ago asap.

Any links?

Daily mail?

JT playing zone by himself and still stuck on glue and placing everyone still onside. JT was the closest defender to Barkely, but like I've said above because he was non committal, and was the closest defender, Luis made a decision to pick up Barkely or deter his open shot attempt from the edge of the box. But the confusion arose when Schurlee left his mark, Everton #11 and jumped in front of Barkley, but then stopped suddenly after Barkely side stepped him, leaving Barkely to make a run into the box, before sending a side-footed pass to Osman when eventually crossed the ball to Jovetic. JT's final position. Ended up not marking anyone in particular. Moved a total of approximately 5 yards without purpose or direction. Even Ivanovic who was trying to mark four guys ran further and faster than JT, who ended up marking no one in particular. Mind you Juan Mata was on the right from where Schurrle came from and was not involved in any defensive activities.

To borrow from the visual display in the front page, JT put every one onside. Just look at his positioning and the position of the rest of the Chelsea defense. This was the moment before the ball was crossed by Osman.

Ok I had another analysis on a different site. I just finally saw this this today,. I disagree that David was the culprit here. there's enough blame to go around. But I didn't have the advantage of using screen captures to visually support my analysis. There is enough blame to go around. If I were to pass the blame around, I would firstly fault Petr for trying to restart the play after catching the ball with less than 30 seconds or so left in the game. With as much experience as he has, I would have expected him to hold the play for all the players to advance up field. Instead He tried to counter attack with a roll out to Sammy Eto'O, who was clearly not match fit and was not able to catch up to the distributed ball. Sammy lost possession and Ramirez got a rebound first touch that got away from him. The lost ball got to Naismith, who then passed to Barkely and the build up the play, after a series of ball exchanges between the Everton players from the right side of the field for Everton attack. Of the two CDs, JT was at fault. He was noncommittal to marking Naismith and played zone in a critical situation. This was the reason Luis stepped up to mark (pick up) Barkley (#20) who was atop the box with an open shot on goal. The pressure made Barkley change his mind. However, Schurrle ran across the 18 to mark Barkely, leaving Mairales open and cutting off David in the process. Schurrle screwed up the whole defensive marking tactic for that moment. Barkely side stepped Schurrle to advance into the box while Schurrle stupidly froze, and decided to ball watch, instead of keeping up with the ball. This single move placed David into a no man's land. Ramirez now tried to pick up Barkely, while both David and Ashley Cole balanced the defensive set up. However, Barkely flicked a right footed pass to Osman on his right side, and Osman subsequently slid-crossed the ball into the six yard box. Instantaneously, Ivanovic found himself marking both Naismith and Jovetic, while also watching Shurrle's man (Mairales), atop the box. Meanwhile JT was still marking no one to the left of the Pk. spot and still playing zone. Everton (#23) Coleman, Ashley Cole's man who was the wide-man on the right for Everton, Recognized JT's non committal and decided to draw JT's attention by making an inside run. JT in his infinite wisdom decided to leave Naismith for the third time to mark Coleman, who was without the ball and clearly offside. JT's decision to drop further into the box placed both Jovetic and Coleman onside. Both were clearly offside before the pass. JT's decision to leave the zonal marking, left Ivanovic stuck between Jovetic on the outside, Naismith on the inside with Coleman too, who was on the inside of JT. Mairales was also lucking to the left of the PK spot. Hence the one against four and your subsequent confusion. Chelsea could have still bailed out if JT had stepped up. But he remained in a zone marking absolutely no one in the six yard box. This placed both Everton players onside, with JT in a no man's land. Osman crossed the ball over to Jovetic on the left, who placed the ball back into the center of goal for Naismith to head home. In hind sight Ashley Cole could have tracked Coleman as both Ramirez,and Mikel were covering the left side of the box, while Schurrle was stuck out of the box ball watching. Mata watching all these action on the right of Chelsea defense and offering no assistance to Ivanovic.

Good observations. Long term Chelsea fans will tell you, this is Jose's way. I remember when Chelsea fought this protracted battle with Man U over Mikel and he came played a few games and was relegated to the reserves. Look at him now. Everyone seems to forget that Chelsea has had no style since the changing of the guards. Different managers and different philosophies. We have to have our own style instead of continuing on the same path of packing the bus and playing for counter attacks. This style is not going to get us someplace. We have young players and a new squad, we need to develop our own pattern. Spain has their pattern and their top teams plays in the same format. Does England and English players have a pattern? We can't play like Spain, we are not Spaniards, nor are we Madristas or Catalonians. I wish people will let the man build his team and give us another team for another ten years. People seen to forget that the team Jose left was the one that won all these trophies for Chelsea. Before Jose we had no team. New team new philosophies and newer ideas. My two pence.

That is what is got AVB fired. Playing high line with JT and cahill. Especially JT and his lack of pace. But if teams sit back, we have to push up. But the moment we lose the ball its counter attack and an opportunity on goal.

Good game. We played too cautious in the first half. The game opened up a bit more in the second half. Mikel scored, a miracle. This must be a sign of good fortunes to come. However our strikers should take Mikel's goal as a challenge. LOl