well for the wise people talking about pre-season, there must have been something very wrong with my eyes because the team performing today and the team that perfomed the other matches prior to this was very different in the intensity and the way they approached the match - which was expected, except for those people who think pre-season is the new World Cup. We aren't sharp yet - but made huge progress there imo - and I concede our defense looked even worse than it normally does. Ivanovic had one of the worst matches I've seen from a Chelsea player and unfortunately for us, he can play 10 matches in a row like that and nothing will happen, even if we sign a LB.He's untouchable and it's one of the few things I think Mourinho has been doing wrong. He totally lost the plot with Iva. As the team isn't sharp and the physical condition isn't ideal our slow defense got further exposed - not only by Ivanovic, but by everyone. There had been numerous mistakes made by all back for, from losing 1x1 and getting raped by a winger, to slowness and wrong timing. I expect some serious improvement as the weeks go - they were just as shaky the first few weeks last season, but even with the improvements, it doesn't change the fact we have a way too slow team. Yes, team, in general. It's not only about defense and midfield. With the exception of Willian, Hazard, Moses and Ramires, all our players are either slow or just have standard pace. Willian and Hazard are still far, far away from their best physical condition. Hazard - because he's a slow starter (has nothing to do with him arriving fat to pre-season as some people implied today and in other occasions) and Willian because he had a whole Copa América, shorter vacation and if we don't take care of him properly, we'll burn him out. It'll take both of them a couple of weeks, if not more, to get sharp. That leaves us with a ridiculously slow team as Ramires and Moses are clearly bench players. Fabregas is already a slow player and he's one of those players that couldn't be farther from being sharp. Except one good game - I guess against PSG, not sure - where he had been decent, throughout all of pre-season and carrying on today it's clear he needs to take a few steps towards an ideal condition. It doesn't mean he's useless, the root of all our problems as some people have been saying or implying. He's just off form. Just like Hazard, Willian, Azpilicueta. The only in form players we have right now imo are Oscar, Moses and maybe Terry. Matic and Cahill are almost there and the rest are taking their sweet time to get there (which is sort of expected). It's hard to talk about Costa. He seems to be fine and he looks like his usual self form wise, but you never know with his hamstring, so I won't put him in any group. Still with all those physical problems, Ivanovic existence (allied with Mourinho stubbornness and blindness) we were quite competitive today, a very different team from pre-season and I think we'll get things going soon. I'm far from hitting the panic button, I don't understand those who has already decided our season within a few friendlies and one official match. We could end up the season trophyless or with a couple of them again, that's not the point. The point is it's way too early for you guys to come to any conclusions about this team's chances of winning anything this season. Yes, we still have the same problems as last season. As far as I remember we still won the title with some very comfortable lead. Start spouting bs about us winning nothing at least in November. You won't look as clueless as you do now if you actually wait to see how we and the other teams fare for real.
