Closed Chelsea 2-3 Man City

[Kojo 4,676]

My views:

Not a bad performance, not a good performamce either.... but there was no consistency.... our play was either really good at times, and then extremely poor at times.

Ivanovic's tackle was idiotic, and he only had to make it cuz he was out of position and was well beaten by kolarov on the wing. Some people on here are saying that it only happened because Savic wasnt sent off..... NO ... it only happened because he was out of position, got beaten and made a desperate dive,,,,he did not know there was someone in behind him.

Mikel was NOT good today, and in general, he doesnt have great attributes for a DM. He has talent, and therefore has a few really good games every season, and thats what some people keep referring to, but on a macro level, he makes too many errors, is not commanding, not fast either and is not the sort of personality that would command the role of DM..... he is too soft and too comfortable at chelsea. And too slow.

Other players also dont perform at times, and are slated maybe a little less, Mikel is slated more often as he is tiring to watch, atleast for me.... everytime he gets the ball , i dont expect anything special from him, and he has delivered on that front. Last season we all saw Romeu... And OMG.... i suddenly realised thats exactly what we need.... I dont care if he is dispossesed a few times( Romeu), but his contribution to the game is far greater when compared to sideways and back passes after wasting time....

Torres looked good and will do well this season.

Ramires was best today when he drifted into the middle, and the goal also came from there. He isnt a RW and it eats me from inside why a manager who i want to see succeed always plays him there.... I was frustrated by Sturridge last season for his selfishness on the right, but he deserves the RW more than ramires.

Romeu.... he is a mystery. Why is he not playing?

Lastly, as a club we need to ask ourselves.... Are we playing Lampard in the Double pivot as a semi DM simply because he is Lampard and a club legend? Why not play him as an AM and have him play lesser games or be a super sub at times? Instead play Romeu or Ramires in that position.... it will definitely strengthen that area.

Our defending was bad. There is no other way to say it.... the 2 goals from outside the box should NOT have been allowed to happen, and the Nasri goal too caught the entire defense standing around asking eachother how did he score that so easily and without any challenge whatsoever?

So ... to sum up.... Atleast now RDM knows what he should concentrate on for the next 7 days... and then make the necessary alterations and tactical changes....

Now its up to him.

Ps,,,, not a mikel hater.... but i really had a laugh during the game when once mikel passed the ball to ramires on the right and made a run on the right wing.... ahead of ramires...leaving no one in the middle.

About Lampard, fully agree, Lampard will not play a double pivot for the rest of his life. He's attacking orientated, he should be an option for our CAMS, obviously if we put him on the right or left then he will be rotating.

All we did last season was hold out, and did everything we could. And then people thought Lampard is our new future DM. Lampard will not track back for the rest of his life, his instincts are to get forward and score.

[Kezza 1,965]

Just pissed fuck face Nasri scored

[Kojo 4,676]

Just pissed fuck face Nasri scored

Honeslty, it couldn't of been a worse score sheet, all the 3 cunts i would put down first not to score scored.

[Sheva. 5,373]

Can't believe Tevez scored against us again, fucking hell, that's why i badly wanted him to leave the Premier League.

[Peace. 4,352]

I just want to speak about the refereeing. Yes, on most of the 50-50 challenges, the referee was whistling in favor of Manchester City. Yes, he should have whistled a foul against Savic some seconds before Ivanovic get sent out. It is undeniable that the outcome of the match has been influenced by this red card.

Although, we should quit the moaning like if we were cry babies. At times it's getting embarrassing. Sometimes it goes one way, some other times it goes the other way. We must not to look the other way : while the referee had his share in our defeat, the ones we should blame is us and nobody else. Yes, the game should have been stopped before Ivanovic lost his mind. But what on earth was he thinking to when doing this tackle ?! The referee might have get it wrong 30 second beforehand, even though this doesn't justify by any means what Ivanovic done ! It was a deserved red card every day of the week.

Had his mind stayed sane for those few seconds, I am pretty sure we could have won the game. The serbian takes a big share of the blame. Then comes our defenders and especially our captain. He was at fault on the two first goals : on the first one he made a bad clearance ; on the second one he stood there looking Tevez run past him. Our wonderful midfield two has also to take his share of the blame. It didn't function. Lampard was of none help in the defensive duties and Mikel was frail and kept losing the ball. When you have an almost non-existent midfield in front of your back 4, you can have the best defenders in the world, they would still have a very bad day. There is also the tactic set by Roberto Di Matteo. Had he decided to put in another defender to balance the team, we would have been more solid in defense. Don't get me wrong, I am not slating him because he chose to keep playing an forward-minded game, not at all ! I am just stating a fact.

So, before crying over the refereeing, we should first look at what wasn't good in our side, and draw the right conclusions from it.

[OneMoSalah 8,889]

Branna was sent off and it was the right decision imo. I think we need a PROPER right back. Not a center back converted to a right back. Not just because Branna was sent off, just as you seen he was beaten to the ball by Kolarov of all people, hes literally one of the slowest full backs ever. Plus going forward hes too indecisive, he looks like he wants to cross it in, decides not too passes it backwards.

[BlueJewel 56]

Branna was sent off and it was the right decision imo. I think we need a PROPER right back. Not a center back converted to a right back. Not just because Branna was sent off, just as you seen he was beaten to the ball by Kolarov of all people, hes literally one of the slowest full backs ever. Plus going forward hes too indecisive, he looks like he wants to cross it in, decides not too passes it backwards.

The last time we had a proper right back, he didn't turn out quite so well. For the temporary right back solution, I'd prefer Hutchinson or Chalobah who put in decent performances at right back during preseason.

I was quite impressed with the selection today, against all the doom and gloom that preceded this match I think Chelsea gave a fair account of itself. In the first half, I don't remember Cech making any decent save, City had a lot of the ball but couldn't get it to Aguero and Tevez, the former had a very quite match in my opinion.

Mikel is a decent player a few bad games doesn't change that, I'd have wished though that Di Matteo would have made his substitutions earlier. I'd have personally subbed in Essien/ Mereiles for Mikel, Sturridge for Mata and Cahill for Ramires at half time. Ramires was on a yellow card and as such couldn't fully commit into challenges and risk a second booking.

[OneMoSalah 8,889]

The last time we had a proper right back, he didn't turn out quite so well. For the temporary right back solution, I'd prefer Hutchinson or Chalobah who put in decent performances at right back during preseason.

I was quite impressed with the selection today, against all the doom and gloom that preceded this match I think Chelsea gave a fair account of itself. In the first half, I don't remember Cech making any decent save, City had a lot of the ball but couldn't get it to Aguero and Tevez, the former had a very quite match in my opinion.

Mikel is a decent player a few bad games doesn't change that, I'd have wished though that Di Matteo would have made his substitutions earlier. I'd have personally subbed in Essien/ Mereiles for Mikel, Sturridge for Mata and Cahill for Ramires at half time. Ramires was on a yellow card and as such couldn't fully commit into challenges and risk a second booking.

What so if we played against United you'd be happy with Nani/Valencia up against Chalobah or Hutchinson........ I don't think so.

[Naked Mole Rat 437]

The ref's decision right before Ivanovic's sending off was a right one. Torres was just trying to make the most out of the situation because he knew a: Savic was already booked and b: he couldn't get to the ball before the defender did. Watch the replay again, and you'll see that Savic is obviously the better positioned of the two, and Torres doesn't even attempt to move around Savic or anything, but instead he barges right into him and then goes down fairly easily. To be honest, it was a very, very smart play by Torres, but the ref was in the perfect position to make the call, and he did. The ref actually did us a favour a couple times during the game like when he didn't anything about Luiz who was shoving and kicking Tevez in and around the box because he had lost his temper and when he didn't send Ramires off for a foul on David Silva. So, no complaints from me.

[BlueJewel 56]

What so if we played against United you'd be happy with Nani/Valencia up against Chalobah or Hutchinson........ I don't think so.

Why not? United will probably play Valencia or Jones at right back, none of whom are naturals in that position. I'm not against getting someone like Debuchy or Azpillicueta, but should we fail to sign either I'd not be too worried I think Chalobah, Hutchinson and to an extent Ferreira would be adequate cover for Ivanovic.

[Billy. 2,742]

didnt see the game but saw our goals Torres goal was nice hope he keeps it up, didnt think we would win it today to be fair roll on next week.

[Shak 22]

Mikel had a poor game, he's had a fairly pathetic preseason.

Mikel's never been a great midfielder for Chelsea, apart from last season under RDM, he's been a weak link in our team...so no surprises if he has absolute shite games.

We should of added another midfielder by now. I'm surprised we didn't bid on Asamoah, who ended up joining Juventus for only 16 million.

[Tomo 21,751]

Chalaboh? Maybe Hutch at a push but Nathaniel is 17, lets not rush through another one.

[BlueJewel 56]

Chalaboh? Maybe Hutch at a push but Nathaniel is 17, lets not rush through another one.

Chalobah did quite well in preseason, I don't think he should be first choice right back, but if there are no transfers at right back he can fill in when Ivanovic, Hutchinson and Ferreira are not available. Players develop at different rates Chalobah is an obvious early bloomer he's already a lot bigger that most premier league right backs at 17, it wouldn't hurt to give him a tryout when there's a suspension or injury crisis.

[xPetrCechx 13,582]

The ref's decision right before Ivanovic's sending off was a right one. Torres was just trying to make the most out of the situation because he knew a: Savic was already booked and b: he couldn't get to the ball before the defender did. Watch the replay again, and you'll see that Savic is obviously the better positioned of the two, and Torres doesn't even attempt to move around Savic or anything, but instead he barges right into him and then goes down fairly easily. To be honest, it was a very, very smart play by Torres, but the ref was in the perfect position to make the call, and he did. The ref actually did us a favour a couple times during the game like when he didn't anything about Luiz who was shoving and kicking Tevez in and around the box because he had lost his temper and when he didn't send Ramires off for a foul on David Silva. So, no complaints from me.

That's the reason that i don't want to see luiz starting.

[Ollie 4,400]

Luiz showed his rash side again today indeed. Shoulda gave away a pen in the 2nd half then just kept kicking out. He goes in very recklessly and although he's a very good player, he'll always get us pulling our hair out that's for sure.

[Blue-in-me-Veins 4,067]

some people need this week to be the fastest week of their lives just so when we win vs wigan this match can be put behind them.

[Ollie 4,400]

If we fail to beat Wigan, it will be bedlam here.

[BlueSanti 290]

It is no shame to loose against better side. Sure it hurts because it is still trophy but it is nothing decisive in our season.

We are not greatest team in Europe yet and we wont become one again just over night.

Acutally we had very solid first half but Brana got sent off. That's football, so heads up and lets go for three points against Wigan.

[KonohasOrangeFlash 2,607]

Relax. We should beat Wigan.