5 things to learn from today

[Tomo 21,733]

1. David Luiz is a must against any half decent opposition, especially Arsenal. i was worried when i saw him out of the lineup, you can go on about him making a few mistakes if you like but would he have made as many mistakes as any of our backline did today? Infact i will go as far as saying the first, second and fifth goal would have been prevented. The 2 RVP goals he would have intercepted (especially the first one).

2. Bosingwa must never play a big match again, he has played against Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool a combined 14 games and we have won twice (one of them he came off the bench late on) and lost 11. I said it before he returned from injury and it was laughed off infact people blamed that stat more on Scolari but it is proven now beyond doubt that Bosingwa at right back in big games won't win us any points.

I cannot believe this is a coinsidence, especially when we do much better against the big teams when he does not play (IE he did not play when we won 6/6 against the "big four" in 2009/2010 and even more so considering the fact our record against the "big four" prior to his arrival was unrivalled).

3. Juan Mata and Frank Lampard are class, if the rest of the team today played half as good as this duo Arsenal would not have touched us.

4. Romeu has to start playing reguarly, i am by no means a Mikel hater far from it but Romeu is more suited to the way AVB wants to play and is a battler, has big game player written all over him and is made for games against Arsenal especially.

5 We are not ready to play big teams at their own game, i said a few weeks ago we have a long way to go before we take on the likes of Arsenal at the you shoot we shoot match and i got pasted for it, they have been doing it for years we have just started. For the return match at The Emirates atleast we must go back to the counter attacking rough them up tactic that got us 6 points against them with relitive ease in 2009/2010. It works against Arsenal it makes sense.

[Blue Armour 4,289]

1. David Luiz is a must against any half decent opposition, especially Arsenal. i was worried when i saw him out of the lineup, you can go on about him making a few mistakes if you like but would he have made as many mistakes as any of our backline did today? Infact i will go as far as saying the first, second and fifth goal would have been prevented. The 2 RVP goals he would have intercepted (especially the first one).

2. Bosingwa must never play a big match again, he has played against Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool a combined 14 games and we have won twice (one of them he came off the bench late on) and lost 11. I said it before he returned from injury and it was laughed off infact people blamed that stat more on Scolari but it is proven now beyond doubt that Bosingwa at right back in big games won't win us any points.

I cannot believe this is a coinsidence, especially when we do much better against the big teams when he does not play (IE he did not play when we won 6/6 against the "big four" in 2009/2010 and even more so considering the fact our record against the "big four" prior to his arrival was unrivalled).

3. Juan Mata and Frank Lampard are class, if the rest of the team today played half as good as this duo Arsenal would not have touched us.

4. Romeu has to start playing reguarly, i am by no means a Mikel hater far from it but Romeu is more suited to the way AVB wants to play and is a battler, has big game player written all over him and is made for games against Arsenal especially.

5 We are not ready to play big teams at their own game, i said a few weeks ago we have a long way to go before we take on the likes of Arsenal at the you shoot we shoot match and i got pasted for it, they have been doing it for years we have just started. For the return match at The Emirates atleast we must go back to the counter attacking rough them up tactic that got us 6 points against them with relitive ease in 2009/2010. It works against Arsenal it makes sense.

Really agree with point number five...AVB should be more cautious against teams like that, so as to avoid any unnecessary complications...

[Peace. 4,352]

Good post Tomo.

And oh, we should start every game with only 10 men on the pitch, from now on.

[tnchelsea 79]

Completely agree.

Also we should stop playing with a high line defence with teams that have pacey wingers. Gervinho destroyed our defence with his blistering runs.

[ZanSnake 1,211]

Also, imagine there is only 9 me on the pitch wearing blue

[Bear-Felix 16]

Can't really fault anything you said although I'd like to steal your thunder a bit and add something

6) Brana is not a CB, I genuinely can't remember the last good performance he put in there, He is a solid back-up during an injury crisis but should be 4th choice CB

7)Sturridge will take time to get used to himself being a winger.

[Ollie 4,400]

Can't argue with anything there. Still not convinced about Luiz as a CB tho but he couldn't of done worse than the 2 that did play. Never rated Bosingwa, he's good against shit, he's like Kalou but in a different role.

Oh and Malouda's time is up too. Sturridge had a bad game but he's still young, that's gonna happen.

[termninja 5,290]

There's 1 thing I really hope Andre learns.

DROP THE FUCKING HIGH DEFENSIVE LINE AGAINST TEAMS WITH FAST PLAYERS!

[CHOULO19 24,332]

I'm not a fan of high line defending, but I have to say it had nothing to do with any of the goals we conceded yesterday:

1: No covering from Iva allowing gervinho to drift behind him

2: Bossingwa should be executed for this one. I saw the goal 4 times and I still can't see where he was. Sturridge shares the blame as well since it was the LB who scored.

3: Unacceptable defending from everyone involved in the play. Especially embarrassing for JT and Iva.

4: A combination of dreadful back pass from Malouda and an unlucky slip from JT.

5: Counter attack from Arsenal when we had everyone in attack in the added time, can't really blame anyone. (Though I still think Petr should've done better)

[madalista 30]

I'm not a fan of high line defending, but I have to say it had nothing to do with any of the goals we conceded yesterday:

1: No covering from Iva allowing gervinho to drift behind him

2: Bossingwa should be executed for this one. I saw the goal 4 times and I still can't see where he was. Sturridge shares the blame as well since it was the LB who scored.

3: Unacceptable defending from everyone involved in the play. Especially embarrassing for JT and Iva.

4: A combination of dreadful back pass from Malouda and an unlucky slip from JT.

5: Counter attack from Arsenal when we had everyone in attack in the added time, can't really blame anyone. (Though I still Petr should've done better)

precisely.....i dont see why people are blaming the midfield. and the call for romeu to be the main dm is a bit premature. the kid is good but we where getting overrun in midfield in the everton game till mikel came on for mceachran. our main problem yesterday was from our defenders and wingers too. arsenal were coming thru the wings

[EskWeston 696]

5 We are not ready to play big teams at their own game, i said a few weeks ago we have a long way to go before we take on the likes of Arsenal at the you shoot we shoot match and i got pasted for it, they have been doing it for years we have just started. For the return match at The Emirates atleast we must go back to the counter attacking rough them up tactic that got us 6 points against them with relitive ease in 2009/2010. It works against Arsenal it makes sense.

If we were to have played even slightly better we would have won yesterday. There was no pressing of the ball, our passing was poor and we were sloppy in defence, even Cech was well off his game. This has nothing to do with how we are set up to play. It was just a very bad day at the office, it shouldn't happen but it did.

I don't think we should over analyse that game, all we can take from it is to not put in a half assed performance again against a top team.

[Badboy 1,526]

Brilliant Analysis Tomo. The only thing i would add is Torres, he had one of the biggest shockers i have seen in a Chelsea shirt for a long long time. He was hiding the whole match, he bottled it and people have not noticed because he did not get involved in the game at all he was non-existent. At least Danny was receiving the ball then giving it away, i would rather a player do that then go through a whole 90 mins in hiding. The fans only noticed he was playing when he got caught offside in the 70th minute and that is shocking. A game as open as that and against a German defender who was playing terribly for Arse , he should of had a field day. Mata and Lamps were playing well behind him and he had no excuse that was shocking and the sad thing is people have not noticed, its almost as if he was stealth or he was camouflaged.

[GodZola 630]

If we were to have played even slightly better we would have won yesterday. There was no pressing of the ball, our passing was poor and we were sloppy in defence, even Cech was well off his game. This has nothing to do with how we are set up to play. It was just a very bad day at the office, it shouldn't happen but it did.

I don't think we should over analyse that game, all we can take from it is to not put in a half assed performance again against a top team.

Agree EW, if Cech had his eye on the ball yesterday instead of staring into space we would of won the game & all the negatives would not of surfaced! Fans tend to over react after a bad defeat which is understandable but if we look at our 3 defeats more closely then things are not as bad as they seem. We should of beaten Utd - no question, the ref was atrocious against QPR but the 9 men were fantastic & we deserved atleast a draw, yesterday at 3 - 3 we were pressing for the winner, Mata had a chance that if it was on his left foot we would be in the lead but Maloulda then gives Arsenal the 3 points. I still say not one of our players performed to anywhere near there ability Mata & Lampard I will give credit to, Meireles too but he should of started, AVB is a very intelligent guy & will no doubt mull over the many mistakes yesterday, including his own & begin to put it right.

My point is if just some of our players would of turned up yesterday then we would of won that game comfortably, Arsenal are about as poor as I've known, RVP is keeping them above where they should be, which makes this defeat worse but this was by far our worst performance this season yet we still could of won the game.

Lastly fans need to look at the bigger picture, AVB is slowly changing the way we play & for me the right way so there are going to be set backs along that path before we start getting things right on a consistent basis, defeats like yesterday will help AVB address some of the problems so in some ways a defeat can have a positive impact to our season, especially with it being only 10 games in.

AVB has categorically stated that he will not change his philosophy in how we play & I am right behind on this, I'd rather see us win 4 - 3 in an entertaining game than watch us win 1 - 0 in a drab affair. It might be a challenging season but it can still be a successful one.

[Kojo 4,676]

I'm not a fan of high line defending, but I have to say it had nothing to do with any of the goals we conceded yesterday:

1: No covering from Iva allowing gervinho to drift behind him

2: Bossingwa should be executed for this one. I saw the goal 4 times and I still can't see where he was. Sturridge shares the blame as well since it was the LB who scored.

3: Unacceptable defending from everyone involved in the play. Especially embarrassing for JT and Iva.

4: A combination of dreadful back pass from Malouda and an unlucky slip from JT.

5: Counter attack from Arsenal when we had everyone in attack in the added time, can't really blame anyone. (Though I still think Petr should've done better)

Number 2, the defence line was to the right where the play was, if bosingwa sticks to the left where santos runs in. Then bosingwa is leaving huge space and gap for players to make runs into freely. Danny needs better work rate and should if stopped him.

[True_Blue 469]

I agree with the high defensive line it does not work,but we weren't used to it ever that is why it is not working.Luiz leaves his heart on the pitch and we should have started him and JT as CB's and Ivanović on the right.We should start Boswinga when we play a training match and sell him in the summer for a bag of crisps.My nan is faster and a better ''winger'' than Malouda.He plays well against Wigan when we are 6-0 up or in games that we have control.In his time at Chelsea he had half a decent season the rest of the time he was made look good since the other players were brilliant.I would sell him now for nothing,we were just never meant to be Malouda.Anelka is a player that has no worries in life,he has won everything a football player can.He nailed so many women in life that a game vs Manchester United in the Final feels like a Sunday league match against your mates.He doesn't have desire to do well and i hope we can offload him too in the summer or January.Kalou is a strange one,he scored more important goals than any of the players we want to offload.I admit he can't be always marked as a ''young talent'' he had more than enough time to make it but didn't.I will remember him as a good player for us and i hope if he does leave that he makes it big elsewhere oh and by the way mate try and not miss empty goals while you at it.Villas Boas is the man we need,we play very very good in the attack and i am pleased with his tactics.On a different day we would maybe draw against Arsenal or even win.His tactics against QPR is something FIFA will use to write manuals on how to play with two men down and a blind ref.If there is anything i would add it is the fact that our supporters are turning into spoiled big headed cunts pardon my french,and we should be fucking thankful to be challenging for all the titles every year.Other teams fear us we made it big but i guess the times when Derby County could beat us with ease are long forgotten.

Oh and never drink and drive,especially if your are hanging on the back window vomiting your arse off.

Regards TB

[LDN Blue 7,903]

Anelka is a player that has no worries in life,he has won everything a football player can.He nailed so many women in life that a game vs Manchester United in the Final feels like a Sunday league match against your mates.He doesn't have desire to do well and i hope we can offload him too in the summer or January.

That's a bit unfair isn't it?

[True_Blue 469]

That's a bit unfair isn't it?

You didn't really get the point.

I didn't meant to say that he doesn't want us to do well or that he is not trying enough.I meant to say that he has achieved everything possible so that he doesn't really have anything to play for anymore.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

You didn't really get the point.

I didn't meant to say that he doesn't want us to do well or that he is not trying enough.I meant to say that he has achieved everything possible so that he doesn't really have anything to play for anymore.

Ohhh, I see! Yeah yeah, I agree for sure.

Definitely don't want to see him granted a contract extension, not that I think he wants one anyway.