Chelsea 2-1 West Brom

[Blue Armour 4,168]

Judging by the first two games? Yes.

Stop asking for so much.

My favorites are the ones where he's living dangerously on the offside line, waiting, waiting, waiting for the pass, all tension ready to make a run...looking at his teammate, giving every hint possible he would like the ball and 19 seconds later the pass is made and all I can think of is why doesn't XYZ just make the pass earlier? Because the delay totally negates Torres' ability get behind the ball. Instead he's quickly surrounded and hence the dribbling.

Totally agree...I remember one instance when Kalou was dribbling in front of the d box, he could've threaded a pass to Fernando, and instead proceeded to take a shot...I could even see Torres cursing in the background..

Am a massive Didier fan but felt he came in at the wrong time,and shouldn't have been in for Torres...Might be a nice idea to play Didier as a sub-winger in 4-3-3 rather than change the system to 4-4-2 and confuse the rest of the team when both play together..Josh/Yossi should've come in at some point....

He got the win though, so I can't complain any more....

[the Blues 11 19]

I'm confused but didn't Chelsea win today? Sure, it wasn't the prettiest performance ever seen but it was a win. Give WBA credit for playing pretty well for most of the match. BTW, Lamps and Drogba weren't great today but I still believe in them.

[Beast 85]

Goal.com gave Drogba a rating of 7, Torres got a lower rating i think, lol.

[laura90 556]

As much as I appreciate optimism, I dont get how anybody can say its not bad, we won. Victory after bad performance is sweet when you are aware that your team can play better, but we are not.

- Our scorers, besides goals were completely useless

- Our midfield had no creativity while Josh and Yossi were benched

- It seems nobody either cant or dont want to cooperate with Torres.

- MOTM is our goalie Hilario

- No trace of attractive attacking football we are supposed to play. Not many from today line up are able to play attractive football since they lack pace, creativity, they cant pass not even think about crossing and they are slow and predictable. Easy to defend. If AVB introduces attractive football with these players he will surpass Mourinho even if he doesnt win anything. But he has to start with line up first.

- Mata, Modric, Hazard...We need them all. Wont happen, I know

- And we played against WBA . Neither team in EPL is like walk in the park but it is WBA. There are no many easier opponents out there.

- It will take some time to repair damage from bad decisions taken in the past.

[nullabletype 987]

Judging by the first two games? Yes.

Stop asking for so much.

My favorites are the ones where he's living dangerously on the offside line, waiting, waiting, waiting for the pass, all tension ready to make a run...looking at his teammate, giving every hint possible he would like the ball and 19 seconds later the pass is made and all I can think of is why doesn't XYZ just make the pass earlier? Because the delay totally negates Torres' ability get behind the ball. Instead he's quickly surrounded and hence the dribbling.

I imagine it to be much like this in Kalou's head.

Looks at Torres begging for the ball. Looks back at defenders flooding back. Looks at Torres begging for the ball. Looks back at defenders flooding back. Looks at Torres begging for the ball. Looks back at defenders flooding back. Looks at Torres begging for the ball. Looks back at defenders flooding back... Finally makes pass. Torres has players all over him.

[eldo 868]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/chalkboards/1506j98NK1Tmc96C3IlQ

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/chalkboards/iP3C2jkaeW11ZMJ5P32o

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/chalkboards/A608HVnuY290467e7E17

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/chalkboards/Pz13T75W5Ng7535T4Ha6

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/chalkboards/4Y6012W6jw901232218d

Wow look at this.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/chalkboards/4I6281VQM64glZB568GK

[lionsden 4,689]

I'm not a fan of AVB's high line of defence system. It was exposed on many occasion against Stoke and WBA. The scoreline would have been different but thanks to Cech and Hilario. It can only work risk free under 2 conditions

A: Pacy defenders (Terry and Alex are slower than a 1829 steam train)

B: The opposition lack pace, width and penetration.

AVB should seriously review his defensive tactics and use it only when appropriate.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

I predict we'll win 2-0 or 2-1, we average two goals a game in the EPL vs Foster.

:eyebrows:

[Eluwande Yomi 15]

http://www.guardian....98NK1Tmc96C3IlQ

http://www.guardian....jkaeW11ZMJ5P32o

http://www.guardian....VnuY290467e7E17

http://www.guardian....75W5Ng7535T4Ha6

http://www.guardian....2W6jw901232218d

Wow look at this.

http://www.guardian....1VQM64glZB568GK

http://www.guardian....98NK1Tmc96C3IlQ

http://www.guardian....jkaeW11ZMJ5P32o

http://www.guardian....VnuY290467e7E17

http://www.guardian....75W5Ng7535T4Ha6

http://www.guardian....2W6jw901232218d

Wow look at this.

http://www.guardian....1VQM64glZB568GK

Shit, that last one scared me! Thats a passing team! Only if we were like them!

[DYC. 7,542]

I'm not a fan of AVB's high line of defence system. It was exposed on many occasion against Stoke and WBA. The scoreline would have been different but thanks to Cech and Hilario. It can only work risk free under 2 conditions

A: Pacy defenders (Terry and Alex are slower than a 1829 steam train)

B: The opposition lack pace, width and penetration.

AVB should seriously review his defensive tactics and use it only when appropriate.

Agree. If we're gonna play a high line, Ivanovic and Luiz have to be the CB duo. But I don't think a high line suits the PL so I wouldn't use it at all.

[Ed de Goey 0]

Awful yesterday.

Same old shit.

[Tomo 21,684]

Can we just take the batteries out for two minutes.

Yes it was not the best performance but 3 fucking points, aint winning while playing shit suppose to be a true sign of champions? plus how many teams have started slow but gone on to win the league, id rather we pick up momentum then start steaming then run out of steam. Plus we hopefully have new players in, Josh, Romeu and Lukaku to start playing more and Mata hopefull (touch wood) and more coming in. Not to mention Danny's return from suspension.

Last season we played some awfull football, that cannot change overnight, in 09/10 we played some of the best football the league has ever seen but we didn't go from that to awfull over the summer, we started 10/11 the same way with back to back 6-0's playing great football turned out we were just on a title rebound, but we still playe good football in September but after the Villa Park game the football gradually went down in standard then we saw the dross football from December on.

So like last season Andre will have to gradually improve the standard of football as it won't just happen overnight.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

http://www.guardian....98NK1Tmc96C3IlQ

http://www.guardian....jkaeW11ZMJ5P32o

http://www.guardian....VnuY290467e7E17

http://www.guardian....75W5Ng7535T4Ha6

http://www.guardian....2W6jw901232218d

Wow look at this.

http://www.guardian....1VQM64glZB568GK

Good on Swansea. Rogers is a good manager and has done well to keep them playing well like that.

On our Chalkboards, there's no real surprises..

[lionsden 4,689]

Good on Swansea. Rogers is a good manager and has done well to keep them playing well like that.

On our Chalkboards, there's no real surprises..

But Swansea doesn't have Modric and Mata or players of that quality yet play far more superior football to Chelsea whose players salary budget alone can buy 10 Swansea FC clubs including the manager and owner whose net worth is merely £20m. This Chelsea team reminds me of England National team. Strong on paper, but piss poor on the pitch.

Bottomline is, we don't need Modric or Mata to string 5 passes together vertically and create chances. . . if Lampard, Ramires and even Mikel cannot execute what Swansea midfield, whose collective market value is not up to £10m, achieve week in week out (forward accurate passes) then it's a real shame.

[eldo 868]

But Swansea doesn't have Modric and Mata or players of that quality yet play far more superior football to Chelsea whose players salary budget alone can buy 10 Swansea FC clubs including the manager and owner whose net worth is merely £20m. This Chelsea team reminds me of England National team. Strong on paper, but piss poor on the pitch.

Bottomline is, we don't need Modric or Mata to string 5 passes together vertically and create chances. . . if Lampard, Ramires and even Mikel cannot execute what Swansea midfield, whose collective market value is not up to £10m, achieve week in week out (forward accurate passes) then it's a real shame.

Swansea are inconsistent.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

But Swansea doesn't have Modric and Mata or players of that quality yet play far more superior football to Chelsea whose players salary budget alone can buy 10 Swansea FC clubs including the manager and owner whose net worth is merely £20m. This Chelsea team reminds me of England National team. Strong on paper, but piss poor on the pitch.

Bottomline is, we don't need Modric or Mata to string 5 passes together vertically and create chances. . . if Lampard, Ramires and even Mikel cannot execute what Swansea midfield, whose collective market value is not up to £10m, achieve week in week out (forward accurate passes) then it's a real shame.

Agree, they play better football than us, despite their smaller budget.

2 reasons can be put down for that:

1. The influence of Brendan Rogers, who's a good manager and encourages them to play in such a way.

2. They do not have such pressures to be as successful as us. Of course they have to fight to stay in the PL which is a mission in itself, but unlike us, they can afford to drop points here and there (if you get my point?)

But you are right about comparing us to the NT.

[lionsden 4,689]

Agree, they play better football than us, despite their smaller budget.

2. They do not have such pressures to be as successful as us. Of course they have to fight to stay in the PL which is a mission in itself, but unlike us, they can afford to drop points here and there (if you get my point?)

I agree that there's a universe of difference in both club's ambition and pressure to succeed. However my point is that with the quality of players we have, simple and accurate 5 yard passes vertically to Torres/forward 3 to create chances, play at higher tempo shouldn't be a difficult task. These are professionals that have played in top flight football for years we are talking about and not some amateurs from Sunday league. No?

The lifeless, boring and amateurish football we played for most of last season and this season so far is simply unacceptable. Think about it how will modric and mata improve us significantly if we continue to play lethargically with no meaningful movement from midfielders and front men to create spaces to receive a pass which is the most important aspect of attacking football. Our players just don't understand the concept of attacking football and unless they adopt and internalize a different strategy to the one they have been used to, modric and Mata wouldn't make much difference.

[dodojojo 510]

Swansea probably don't have an entrenched core of ultra successful players who have played together for years either. So they are more likely and more inclined to change their football according to the wishes of the coach. AVB has a much harder job in this sense.

Watching the first two games, it's like AVB and Torres want one thing but the rest of the players on the pitch are caught in no man's land and can't wait to revert to NORM. Hence this strange situation where Torres is good individually and yet no end product by him or the team. The discomfort is there. And I'm talking about football, not personal stuff.

Torres will fail if he's leading the transition charge alone. Hopefully as the team selection settles after the transfer window, having more new players who aren't tethered to Chelsea's recent past will speed up the transition. Will Mata, Modric and Sturridge be enough?