Chelsea 2-1 Man City

[Henrique 9,133]

http://www.guardian....art-of-comments

stupid article:

1- David Luiz is not portuguese; the Chelsea fans love him and they are not stupid enough to think he was the problem of our defensive system.

2- Lampard scored a Penalty in the middle of the goal and that seems enough to consider he is far from finished. He is finished as a starting XI material playing 2 times in a week and that penalty doesnt change that.

3- we lost against MU, Liverpool and Arsenal at home, and after a victory against a 10 men City's side suddenly we become "a match for the big boys".

We are 7 points behind City, thats a big gap, and we still have a lot to improve if we want to do something special in UCL.

[Hd123 5]

Posted this in the Sturridge thread, but going to repost in hope of getting a response from a city fan.

"Chelsea showed us a lot of repsect by playing like the away side ! Their celebrations at the end spoke volumes , Chelsea are pinning their hopes on a injury prone 34 year old forward , and sturridge who will never be a 10 goal a season player ,we have aguero,dzeko and balotelli already with 30 goals between them,no contest."

From Bluemoon. I just... how ignorant can people be?

[francozola 2,040]

hahaha well I guess City fans can be as daft as the Scousers

anyway I agree with Henrique. Lampsey's penalty doesn't mean he should be starting. Meireles should definitely be a starter over him. The way the media have been reporting the win... it's as if Lamps singlehandedly dragged us to the win. His two contributions in the match were: a decent pass to Sturridge and scoring the penalty.

[Hd123 5]

I disagree. Lampard should start in the Wigan game. Maybe rest Meireles or Ramires for the Spuds game. Same with Drogba/Torres. Possibly Mikel on for Romeu, we don't want a young lad playing too many matches and getting winded too soon, especially as he has a key part to play in our season.

[Henrique 9,133]

Posted this in the Sturridge thread, but going to repost in hope of getting a response from a city fan.

"Chelsea showed us a lot of repsect by playing like the away side ! Their celebrations at the end spoke volumes , Chelsea are pinning their hopes on a injury prone 34 year old forward , and sturridge who will never be a 10 goal a season player ,we have aguero,dzeko and balotelli already with 30 goals between them,no contest."

From Bluemoon. I just... how ignorant can people be?

he was wrong about Sturridge, but he has a point about the rest.

[Henrique 9,133]

I disagree. Lampard should start in the Wigan game. Maybe rest Meireles or Ramires for the Spuds game. Same with Drogba/Torres. Possibly Mikel on for Romeu, we don't want a young lad playing too many matches and getting winded too soon, especially as he has a key part to play in our season.

We need another man in that position, I dont think replacing Lampard for Meireles is such an improvement. Meireles should be a squad player.

[francozola 2,040]

I disagree. Lampard should start in the Wigan game. Maybe rest Meireles or Ramires for the Spuds game. Same with Drogba/Torres. Possibly Mikel on for Romeu, we don't want a young lad playing too many matches and getting winded too soon, especially as he has a key part to play in our season.

Well against WIgan, sure. But in general and especially in the big games he shouldn't start anymore.

[robdog 2,084]

I bet those fools are still trying stop Mata on the left flank. That was simply magical. two thugs right there to stop Juanny Cash & he nutmegs Kompany. Awesome display..My favorite moment

[Hd123 5]

I bet those fools are still trying stop Mata on the left flank. That was simply magical. two thugs right there to stop Juanny Cash & he nutmegs Kompany. Awesome display..My favorite moment

Do you have a gif or a video link to that? Massive play by Mata, I think Kompany is still unsure just what exactly happened to him.

[francozola 2,040]

quick highlights:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFQhvFOb1n0

[bluephoenix 1,125]

After the last couple of performances I would quiet certainly extend DD's contract for the next 2 years for sure...

[Hd123 5]

After the last couple of performances I would quiet certainly extend DD's contract for the next 2 years for sure...

And that's why you're not managing CFC

He needs to show consistent form, even if below his prime days, but throughout the season. Or at least for months. A few games is not a big indicator yet, but I do believe DD still has a few years with us.

By the way, were we not 12 points from City just prior to the Wolves game? Just shows how quickly points can be gained (or lost), and we are still amongst the title candidates despite a harder fixture list in the following year.

[DONI. 1,291]

Player ratings ESPN

Petr Cech - 7

Hardly had much to do apart from pick the ball out of the net after he was expertly rounded by Balotelli in the second minute. On the few occasions City took pot shots from distance, the Czech goalkeeper showed clean hands.

Jose Bosingwa - 8

Had his hands full with David Silva in the first half, but as Chelsea looked to press forward in the second 45, the Portuguese full-back provided an excellent outlet down the right, and whipped in some delicious deliveries, which his team-mates failed to capitalise on.

John Terry - 7.5

Stood strong at the back for the Blues. Despite a troubled season so far, Terry's performances on the pitch have been very good.

Branislav Ivanovic - 6.5

At fault for City's goal when he let a through ball slip past him into the path of Balotelli, but the Serbian international recovered strongly and defended well for the rest of the game.

Ashley Cole - 7

Steady if unspectacular game from Cole. Defended well, but failed to get forward as often as he would have liked.

Oriol Romeu - 8.5

The Barcelona academy graduate's star just keeps on rising, and he repaid the faith shown in him by manager Andre Villas-Boas with a mature and composed display in the middle of the park. Took awhile to get settled but once he did, the 20-year-old was immaculate in his distribution, exhibiting a good range of short and long passes. Also showed remarkable poise despite his tender years, and was never hurried despite the pressure from the Citizens.

Raul Meireles (off 73') - 7

Did well to net Chelsea's equaliser when he made a late run into the box and finished Sturridge's cross clinically. But otherwise, the Portuguese was sloppy with his passing, and could have been sent off after putting in a number of late challenges before halftime despite already being on a yellow card.

Ramires - 9

Man of the match on the evening. Ramires was absolutely unstoppable, and never stopped running hard at the City defence. Latched hungrily onto every loose ball, and his direct play eventually saw Clichy receive his marching orders, after Ramires was hacked down while charging forward.

Daniel Sturridge (off 84') - 7

Clever work down the right led to Chelsea's equaliser, when he jinked into the box before delivering a perfect cross on his weaker right foot. However, Sturridge struggled to get in the game at times, and will be hoping for a better performance next time out.

Juan Mata (off 84') - 8

Like many of his team mates, Mata started the match slowly, but when he did come to life, he was Chelsea's most creative player. Set the tone for his side's second half performance when he danced past the City defence on numerous occasions just after the restart.

Didier Drogba - 8

Failed to get on the scoresheet, and wasted a number of good chances, but credit has to be paid to Drogba for a hardworking shift up front on his own. Never stopped battling for high balls, and put his strength to good use by holding up the ball while waiting for support to arrive.

Subs

Frank Lampard (on 73') - 7

Was presented with the perfect chance to make an impact when Chelsea were awarded a penalty in the 82nd minute, which he smashed straight down the middle. However, apart from the well-taken spot kick, Lampard was a virtual spectator for the 20 minutes

[francozola 2,040]

^ Very accurate ratings and descriptions. Don't understand some of the crazy praises that Sturridge got. Yes, he had a couple of wonderful players but he disappeared from the game for long periods at a time.

[Hd123 5]

The thing that makes a top player a top player is that even during a bad game he can change the scoreline with something unexpected out of nothing. And that's what Sturridge did, twice today, even if he was lucky for the second one. He also raped Clichy at every opportunity.

As for ivanovic being at fault for the goal, I disagree. There is a certain fullback who's supposed to be covering. Ivanovic had Milner to worry about and Bosingwa was alone with acres of space and no opposition player to mark other than Balotelli. So what did he do, he went in the other direction, that moment can only be summed up as

[francozola 2,040]

The thing that makes a top player a top player is that even during a bad game he can change the scoreline with something unexpected out of nothing. And that's what Sturridge did, twice today, even if he was lucky for the second one. He also raped Clichy at every opportunity. As for ivanovic being at fault for the goal, I disagree. There is a certain fullback who's supposed to be covering. Ivanovic had Milner to worry about and Bosingwa was alone with acres of space and no opposition player to mark other than Balotelli. So what did he do, he went in the other direction, that moment can only be summed up as

Agree about Ivanovic. I place the most blame on JT because he came out and didn't get a control on Aguero. He should have at least brought Aguero down and given away a fk. Can't believe he came all the way out and just let him keep the ball. Ridiculous. Bosingwa was day-dreaming too but I feel like JT was more at fault for needlessly rushing out so early and when the situation changed when Aguero turned and was facing the goal, he didn't do anything to stop it.

And yes, I'm not criticizing Sturridge for that. What I meant was... Romeu, Ramires etc deserve more credit imo (as regards to being the MOM or "Star Man" or whatever) because they were more consistent. imo anyway

[Hd123 5]

Not the best game from Ramires today. Worked his socks off -to be expected of him of course-, made some good runs too. I think he was far too wasteful with possession until they went down to 10 men to warrant a man of the match performance. Romeu immense again for me.

[Badboy 1,526]

That was superb, i really hope AVB drops the high line idea now ! If i was a city fan i think i would of lost the will to live with Drogba's time wasting at the end lol that would wind any opposing fan up, he literally wasted the whole of stoppage time plus a few mins before that.