Closed Man City 2-1 Chelsea

[Blue Armour 4,289]

I don't mean comfortable as in we were bossing the game. We clearly weren't. But city were very obviously struggling to create anything at all. Everytime they went forward, we cleared it and they had to come at us again.

True, Silva was very quiet ...It was Nasri running the show for them today..And of course that Tevez..I just knew he would be back in time to face us...Him, Van Persie (and previously Torres) always sting us when we go up against them

[misschief 24]

Fact is we'd strung a few surprise wins together and got giddy, so losing comes hard and trust me, no-one's more pissed off than me. But let's be honest, we were kidding ourselves werent we? Hand on heart we havent got enough in our squad to compete anymore.

That performance tonight - against quite frankly a poorly performing City side (and thank fuck because on a good day they'd have embarrassed us) - shows us it wasnt about AVB or 'player power', its about an inadequate squad up against the United's, City's (and right now, even Arsenal). We've had a slow puncture for so long now we're lucky the wheels havent come off completely.

[Henrique 9,133]

I don't understand why there has to be Torres talk every game, he did alright, mis controlled the ball a lot... but still an ok performance.

No need to over analyze anything.

Because the guy is a flop.

[capriccioso 2,545]

This marks the end of the new manager honeymoon period. We've got a hard slog ahead of us now. We can still sneak into 4th place and make the semi finals of the Champions League, those are both achievable goals. We can also win the FA Cup. I believe :blue scalf:

[FranklyFrank 103]

All I can say was NOT A FUCKIN PENALTY. He had a reflex to block his face. Stupid ref wins not Manchester Shitty.

[francozola 2,040]

All I can say was NOT A FUCKIN PENALTY. He had a reflex to block his face. Stupid ref wins not Manchester Shitty.

Whenever you raise your hands like that, it's a definite penalty. That's why defenders are told to put their hands behind their back, to avoid these reflex moves

[The Big Drog 1,110]

I think we've seen many Chelsea performances like that down through the years, we didn't play particularly well on the ball, we set up to defend and we defended well and we managed to nick a goal, seemingly out of nothing. The difference here was that in the past our team were able to hold onto such a lead, these days the side isn't as strong, as quick, as agile as they once were.

A criticism often leveled, and quite right so, at our midfield has been a lack of creativity. That is a fair criticism because it is true, our midfield 3 has never been overly creative, however what you couldn't accuse them of is a lack of drive, each Chelsea midfielder was a top caliber athlete, rather than passing the opposition off the pitch, in their pomp they would bulldoze the opposition off the pitch and a lot of that drive came from midfield. These days Lampard's legs are on the wane (and he was caught badly for Nasri's goal), Meireles is painfully average, Ramires has the running power but lacks the technique, and in any case was stuck out on the right wing, Mikel was never very agile to begin with and these days Michael Essien's mobility more closely resembles Mikel's rather than that of his own in his prime. Romeu seemed to fall out of favour after his poor cameo against Man Utd, if that's what it took for him to fall out of favour then by that logic we should never see Essien again because it was a horror show out there.

In terms of positives, Petr Cech did well in goal. David Luiz was superb at the back, he has been quietly getting better and better this season, his performance against Napoli was one of true class and it was matched by his performance tonight, Gary Cahill also looked accomplished alongside him. Fernando Torres also looked good, buzzing around, he was clearly in the mood and he gave it his all, had a few classy moments and quality touches, never got the support or service near the City goal that his general play warranted.

All in all the result is not an unexpected one. Though yes it is a tough defeat to accept given the manner of it, the decision to award a penalty was debatable at best and that spurred City on to their equalizer and seemed to deflate our players somewhat. With Arsenal winning tonight and moving into third it seems to position Spurs as our main rivals to the 4th spot, they picked up a point tonight and have had a good lead over us for much of the season, Saturday's game is absolutely pivotal if we are to play Champions League football next season.

[Strike 7,217]

I think we've seen many Chelsea performances like that down through the years, we didn't play particularly well on the ball, we set up to defend and we defended well and we managed to nick a goal, seemingly out of nothing. The difference here was that in the past our team were able to hold onto such a lead, these days the side isn't as strong, as quick, as agile as they once were.

A criticism often leveled, and quite right so, at our midfield has been a lack of creativity. That is a fair criticism because it is true, our midfield 3 has never been overly creative, however what you couldn't accuse them of is a lack of drive, each Chelsea midfielder was a top caliber athlete, rather than passing the opposition off the pitch, in their pomp they would bulldoze the opposition off the pitch and a lot of that drive came from midfield. These days Lampard's legs are on the wane (and he was caught badly for Nasri's goal), Meireles is painfully average, Ramires has the running power but lacks the technique, and in any case was stuck out on the right wing, Mikel was never very agile to begin with and these days Michael Essien's mobility more closely resembles Mikel's rather than that of his own in his prime. Romeu seemed to fall out of favour after his poor cameo against Man Utd, if that's what it took for him to fall out of favour then by that logic we should never see Essien again because it was a horror show out there.

In terms of positives, Petr Cech did well in goal. David Luiz was superb at the back, he has been quietly getting better and better this season, his performance against Napoli was one of true class and it was matched by his performance tonight, Gary Cahill also looked accomplished alongside him. Fernando Torres also looked good, buzzing around, he was clearly in the mood and he gave it his all, had a few classy moments and quality touches, never got the support or service near the City goal that his general play warranted.

All in all the result is not an unexpected one. Though yes it is a tough defeat to accept given the manner of it, the decision to award a penalty was debatable at best and that spurred City on to their equalizer and seemed to deflate our players somewhat. With Arsenal winning tonight and moving into third it seems to position Spurs as our main rivals to the 4th spot, they picked up a point tonight and have had a good lead over us for much of the season, Saturday's game is absolutely pivotal if we are to play Champions League football next season.

Sums up the night in one post

[Santiago. 1,500]

My stick with Essien was the fact that after the game, he went up to Nasri and hugged him. How is a fan going to react when we see that? It is now even more difficult and appears to be out of our reach for a Champions League spot and he's laughing and smiling with Nasri??

[Strike 7,217]

I don't mean comfortable as in we were bossing the game. We clearly weren't. But city were very obviously struggling to create anything at all. Everytime they went forward, we cleared it and they had to come at us again.

Thats true but being chelsea, I don tink dats gud enough....anyway

Spuds next on saturday.....absolutely vital

[The Big Drog 1,110]

My stick with Essien was the fact that after the game, he went up to Nasri and hugged him. How is a fan going to react when we see that? It is now even more difficult and appears to be out of our reach for a Champions League spot and he's laughing and smiling with Nasri??

Worse still, after the penalty was awarded against him he didn't protest at all, infact he took his position outside the box and highfived somebody (camera didn't show who), far from being distressed, he showed up moments later on camera grinning, his performance was so poor and his actions so odd that had this been cricket he would probably be investigated for match fixing, of course Im not saying that's what happened, rather Im just saying that Essien's demeanor and performance were nothing short of bizzare.

[francozola 2,040]

I agree the grinning irritated the shit out of me. I know Michael is a happy guy and he usually always has a smile on his face, but when a player does something as stupid as that at such an important time in a crucial match when we were winning, at least try and seem pissed off with yourself ffs

[Strike 7,217]

OUT

bosingwa

meireles

essien?

torres

IN

sneijder

de bruyne

van der wiel

striker

the best part of an event is the anticipation of it.....i cant help but think of next season (thursday nights)

[Strike 7,217]

Chelsea fans look away....

Arsenal have only 2 tough teams left...chelsea and manc...damn evrtn yestrdy

Spurs are even bettr off.....aftr d chelsea game dis weekend they hav virtually a stroll-in-the-park of a run-in....

Whereas us blues have spurs ds wk, arsnal next month and liverpool on may 6....officially worried about 4th place...v shud b lukin to win the champions league I guess

[Blue Armour 4,289]

Whenever you raise your hands like that, it's a definite penalty. That's why defenders are told to put their hands behind their back, to avoid these reflex moves

True. Its the same kind of penalty awarded to us when Lescott raised his hands in the reverse fixture.

[Madmax 9,219]

Doesn't change things much, if you ask me. Still need the wins against Spurs and Arsenal.

[Strike 7,217]

Doesn't change things much, if you ask me. Still need the wins against Spurs and Arsenal.

I wonder if v had prevntd some of the late goals agnst manc, villa, wigan, manu, arsenal, liverpool ...we would b okay wit a draw in those matches......fine margins

[kingofchelseadom 41]

I agree we are 5 points behind Spurs and if we lose on Saturday then there is a slim chance of us qualifying for Champions League.I think the only way we can possibly qualify is if we win the Champions league

Yep and that will be near impossible.