Closed West Brom 1-0 Chelsea

[Santiago. 1,500]

AVB is tactically poor and should have dealt with the players he had and play to their strengths, which will ultimately lead to his downfall

[Laylabelle 9,539]

Newcastle can go level again with us if they win...we've gotta a better goal diff but still they've appeared suddenly

[Aussiedan 154]

Fact is we didn't deserve anything from this game, West Brom were the better team. Corner count was 14-5 to West Brom, they has more shots at goal and more possession up until they scored.

West Brom controlled the game, we only created chances on the counter attack, which Sturridge wasted two great opportunities.

Rubbish performance. 4th spot looks hard now.

[xPetrCechx 13,580]

33 Years....

[Sheva. 5,373]

AVB is tactically poor and should have dealt with the players he had and play to their strengths, which will ultimately lead to his downfall

He is playing to their strengths, he's stopped with the high-line and he's using the same 4-3-3 the team has been using over the years.

What more?

[Kojo 4,676]

I was at football today, had to miss the game, i wasn't even surprised about the score. But let me guess was this just another example of the typical shite we play?, like at Wigan this season?.

why wont the season just end...

[Beirut_Blues 306]

Next season lads chop chop...

Some ppl can smell Rafa, why would anyone smell Rafa?

AVB's success is next season... In fact, the talk ever since he took the job was always long-term. The question is do the fans have patience? Patience to not play CL next season?

I don't mind Europa League next season - it could even be good for us assuming the old guard is dumped it would be great experience for the rest of the team - they'd enter the CL the following year with fukken hunger and talent it's making me hungry!

[Ortiv 42]

AVB is tactically poor and should have dealt with the players he had and play to their strengths, which will ultimately lead to his downfall

what "strength" could you possibly see in this team?

Drogba: can't batter even mediocre defenses anymore

Lampard: did he play today?

Essien: still far from his old self

Cole: low battery

in all honesty, what tactical maneuver could AVB possibly have done today?

[ulsterchelsea 3,221]

I was at football today, had to miss the game, i wasn't even surprised about the score. But let me guess was this just another example of the typical shite we play?, like at Wigan this season?.

why wont the season just end...

Pretty much, i personally thought that the man in your avatar was one of the few half decent performances tho

[Kojo 4,676]

Yeah but they still finished second last season and they had no problems in getting into the top 4. We've added Mata and you would of thought we would of easily got into the top four like last season. This just really deflates the whole situation and i blame the coaching and the man management skills.

Spot on, his man management skills are awful, i don't think he's ready to manage a big club. We have decent players, even Meireles is much better than this, okay he isn't class and shouldn't be part of our long term plans at all but he's a good squad player but he's playing like a liability, as goes for most of the squad.

[Madmax 9,219]

He is playing to their strengths, he's stopped with the high-line and he's using the same 4-3-3 the team has been using over the years.

What more?

Indeed. It's like people expect the manager to come up with some exotic formation they've never heard of so they won't have to wake up to the fact that 1) these players can't be trusted to even do the basics right and 2) they don't want to play for someone who doesn't take their shit.

[Santiago. 1,500]

what "strength" could you possibly see in this team?

Drogba: can't batter even mediocre defenses anymore

Lampard: did he play today?

Essien: still far from his old self

Cole: low battery

in all honesty, what tactical maneuver could AVB possibly have done today?

----------Torres----Sturridge---------

-----------------Mata------------------

-------Essien----------Ramires-------

-----------------Romeu-----------------

Bertrand----------------------Ivanovic

-------------Luiz-------Cahill-----------

I honestly and logically cannot think of a better formation and lineup than that

[Kojo 4,676]

Pretty much, i personally thought that the man in your avatar was one of the few half decent performances tho

Want to know why that is?, cauase Michael has passion and actually cares, as for the others who just want there money, i'm not going to any Chelsea games till this problem is solved out, i'm not having my players playing like shit and not caring, it's not about the winning it isn't, but why can't we just put up a fight?, we just seem to not care.

I really wish Wilkins or someone was still here to help with the squad, Di Matteo in my opinion is a bad choice, he's a good manager but what do the players see him as?, i doubt he's highly respected even if he was a great player for us.

[Billy. 2,742]

Didnt see the game can somebody tell me how we played

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Some quick points:

• Cech and Cole were outstanding
  
• A strange performance from our fans. Very noisy at times but at others subdued. I, for one, have lost my voice from screaming my heart out for the club.
  
• I can confirm the fans were singing 'sacked in the morning' and 'don't know what you're doing' to AVB. I wasn't happy with that at all and started an argument with several morons around me.
  
• We're absolutely shit
  
• The difference between now and last season is that we now have no desire whatsoever. We can't even create chances at the minute.
  
• West Brom = full value for the result, but we made them look good.
  
• However I had a great day, spent some quality time with the old man and got a retweet off the Official Club Twitter page! Now to repeat it again on Tuesday and see a horrible season get even worse...
  

[zolayes 14,489]

Indeed. It's like people expect the manager to come up with some exotic formation they've never heard of so they won't have to wake up to the fact that 1) these players can't be trusted to even do the basics right and 2) they don't want to play for someone who doesn't take their shit.

please keep repeating this post Jai . you have it exactly spot on.

[carefreeluke 27]

suggest you watch the game again ,,,,he made the least effort of any and he is supposed to be the fucking leader

I suggest you watch the game again. It's the the way AVB is setting us up to play, not the players. It's been the same for months. Why slate Lampard? Mata was poor, everyone was poor.

The tactics don't work, AVB is trying to use the same tactics he used at Porto but they don't work here. To get the best out of everyone, you need to play a system that works. It was very much the same under Scolari, Scolari in his last few months as manager persisted with the same tactics. We were poor, nobody was playing well which was simply down to his tactics. Hiddink comes in, chooses the right system that suits the players, we win the FA Cup, we win every game but one (I think it was) in the Premier League, minutes away from getting into the Champions League final.

I know AVB wants to play a certain way but it's not working out. He needs to make changes.

[Sheva. 5,373]

Didnt see the game can somebody tell me how we played

Shit. We did create 2 great chances, but Sturridge fucked both of them up. Sigh.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

Want to know why that is?, cauase Michael has passion and actually cares, as for the others who just want there money, i'm not going to any Chelsea games till this problem is solved out, i'm not having my players playing like shit and not caring, it's not about the winning it isn't, but why can't we just put up a fight?, we just seem to not care.

Couldn't agree more. He's spent so much time not playing, he's come to value when he gets to. Unlike most our players he doesn't take it for granted, playing the game he loves, so when he's called upon he'll try, try and keep trying.

[carefreeluke 27]

We've started re building, Mata, Sturridge, Ramires, Romeu, Cahill, Luiz, Bertrand, Courtois, De Bruyne. The first lot are now some our best players. Of course, we need a few players in the summer but the majority of players still have a lot to offer. We should be slowly easing the younger players into the team.

The difference is, players no matter how old they are will struggle when tactics or the system is not right. When Scolari was in charge, most of our most important and better players were a lot younger than they are now, i.e Lampard, Terry, Essien, Drogba, Cole, Anelka, Malouda etc. For the last few months under Scolari as a team we were very poor, nobody was playing well which was simply down to Scolari and his tactics. The players weren't performing because of the system being used, it's the same now. People have a go at the older/senior players but then how do you explain Mata, Sturridge, Ramires, Romeu etc not playing well?