Closed Chelsea 1 - 4 Atletico Madrid

[Blue Traveler 256]

I wonder how much whiskey the team had the night before.

definitely though they had smoked something before the game! and i won't fancy if Luiz was the provider!

[dumps 284]

I disagree with you because Lampard was excellent in that position last year for about 20 games. Chelsea are 2-0 in the league with Lampard starting in that position this year. Lampard was one of our best players last season over-all. I'm also sick of everyone picking on Lampard no matter what. He played poorly today but so did pretty much everyone on the team.

I don't know where this idea that Chelsea played so brilliantly against Newcastle comes from anyway. We were barely able to create any chances all game. We played fine and deserved to win but the same e leacould have been said in our games against Reading and WBA.

Also, you didn't say "Lampard shouldn't be a key player anymore", you said "Lampard should be a sub every other game" which is ridiculous.

I agree, last season he was good. he wasn't incredible, and showed clear signs that he was declining as a player (could have much to do with the tactics of AVB as well). and this season, I wouldn't say hes been that good. against Reading and Wigan, i would personally say he played as i described...

i feel that when hes in the team he doesn't do much with the ball and his off the ball play just doesnt work with our current team. he does moce in space to help a player move the ball away, but this is normally a pass backwards rather than forward, and his passes are not looking good. I feel with another player sat with Mikel we would be better off.

Raul did alright in that position against Newcastle. i would like to see Ramires there, with some time nad trianing, i think Oscar could be affective there. Romeu is another option as well.

Likely his fitness is letting him down a bit as well, which is possibly why we see him fouling more often, simply because he cnat keep up so just takes players down, thats just an guess though.

The experience nad presence of lampard is priceless though, which is why im saying there is a time and place for him at the moment, whether its a sub appearance or just playing for 60minutes.

and ya, i think he should start he odd game and be more of a sub at the moment.

[Badboy 1,526]

We have to accept that we're going to get fucked over in certain games purely because of the players we have. We don't have a team full of physical fighters who can win league titles and European cups with pure physicality anymore. Players like Mata, Hazard,Torres, will have off days and when they do they don't really have much to offer, the power based players like Ballack, Essien and Drogba could have a physical battle if they were not firing on all cylinders when it came to football skill. These players are different and they don't have a plan B so there will be games when we get trounced like tonight. Athletico were the better team DEAL WITH IT !

[warnie_666 1,081]

It isnt so much about Hazard, Torres. They werent even in the game in the first 20 minutes cus Ramirez and Ivanovic were getting raped on the right side. Literally raped!! It was game over after 2-0. David Luiz was shit. And Ramirez was responsible for third goal failing to track Falcao.

Falcao...Damn what a player this guy is. 5'10 but when in the box he is a Giant!!

[Justin_3d 1,140]

Meh, I did not care much about this.

Watched a bit the first half, losing 3 to 0 and I did not cared.

A milk cup that is mostly won by smaller teams.

[OneMoSalah 8,778]

Played shit. Shining light was probably Oscar tbh, looked like he could of done something for us. He also got stuck in and credit to the boy as he looks stick thin, he did well enough against a team of big players who had some physical players in their lineup.

[capriccioso 2,545]

Thank fuck I chose to skip this and watch the Vuelta instead.

Badboy is right, by buying technique over physique we have to accept that we won't win too many trophies.

This game will show us the future for us against big teams.

[Strike 7,217]

atletico just took a piss on us but i don't think it's anything to worry about. just have to concentrate better in defence against quick counter attacking teams.

[KonohasOrangeFlash 2,607]

Hopefully this was a case of lacking the hunger and not turning up rather than Atletico exposing our deficiencies. Falcao was probably the difference. I hope some have now seen what Falcao is all about. This is why I would have signed him in less than a heartbeat. He is the best Striker in the world and only needs half a chance. On top of that he is a big game and clutch player. I remember Spike said if we bought Cavani he would be our next Drogba. Fair play to him but I thought to myself "No, Falcao is the man you want for that". Since then Falcao has done nothing but destroy teams and prove me right time and time again. It's a shame I can't see us buying him due to his high price.

Ramires on the right is not working in our new style. I can't understand why he keeps starting. I hope Oscar starts as he looked good in posession and could help us do more with the ball. RDM could have brought on Moses. We lacked width again and I hope next time he can bring on Moses and/or Marin.

Ivanovic probably had the worst game of his life. His crossing was horrendous. Luiz is one player I'm getting tired of. I, like many others, like his overall bubbly, happy personality but on the field he is the CB version of Bosingwa. There is only so many times I can tell myself that "Luiz just needs to work on his decision making, he has potential and can become great". He doesn't seem to be improving one bit. To be honest, he's a downright idiot a lot of times. Cahil is without a doubt better than Luiz and should be starting no matter what.

Our weakness is quite obvious. We are susceptible to pace and good counter attacks. At times like this I don't know why we don't just hire more/better defensive coaches and do intense defensive sessions with the whole team and teach them how to defend as a unit. We couldn't even do some basic defending. The defense needs to stay back and not follow the others up the field. Leave the attacking to the attackers and midfielders. The defence should not be that high up the pitch because we are slow.

Our double pivots are a big part of our defence being so shit though. Mikel is too passive. He'll never be great in an attacking system as he doesn't have the agression and to put it simply, his footballing mind is slow. Lampard, well the double pivot is just not his game. I do not see where he fits into the starting 11 anymore. He isn't fast or technical enough to play as an attacking player anymore and doesn't have the defensive discipline to play in the pivots. We should have hijacked the deal for Javi Garcia.

Torres looked like a Ghost. There are two sides to his performance. Firstly, the service simply wasn't there. Hazard was quiet and Mata looks tired and out of ideas. He needs a break to recharge physically and mentally. Although the service was poor, it's frustrating to watch Torres lazily drift around. He expects everything to be played to his feet. He needs to make better runs. I was watching Falcao and his runs were great (even though the service to him was much better). He is so threatning and has a fear factor to him. Torres doesn't create much himself. His mentality is also too fragile and he is too quick to start moping and lose interest.

I hope we look back on this game as a pivotal moment in our season. A game which gave us a harsh reality check but perhaps the kick in the arse we needed. RDM needs to rip into the players and drill it into them that the Super Cup performance was pathetic. I hope we are pumped and ready to make it up by destroying QPR.

[Henrique 9,133]

I think we have to worry about our defence, right now I dont think any of our CB is playing in a world class level.

Luiz and Cahill were both awful tonight, Terry was outclassed by Reading's forwards, Ivanovic is doing terrible defensive mistakes as a RB, I dont think he will do better playing as a CB.

Luiz+Cahill is recipe for disaster.

[Kezza 1,965]

We have to accept that we're going to get fucked over in certain games purely because of the players we have. We don't have a team full of physical fighters who can win league titles and European cups with pure physicality anymore. Players like Mata, Hazard,Torres, will have off days and when they do they don't really have much to offer, the power based players like Ballack, Essien and Drogba could have a physical battle if they were not firing on all cylinders when it came to football skill. These players are different and they don't have a plan B so there will be games when we get trounced like tonight. Athletico were the better team DEAL WITH IT !

Couldnt have said it better myself. Shame majority of people here don't think rationally.

[FormerRussianSpy 163]

Exactly, I was out and about most of the day today but I caught the first half. Falcao completely ripped DL and Cahill a new arse with his movement on and off the ball. The back 5 had no marking on the counter and no organization against build-up play. Sure, you can blame RDM for the tactical mistake of completely misjudging Atletico's play style, but I think there is much more to be said about how static our back line has looked. I don't know the solution, but it seems like a problem.

That being said, I think this will be one of the few occasional nights when most of players coincidentally all have a bad run of form. We got slapped and had little to answer with. It's gonna happen. Time to move on and sober up for the beginning of the CL. Reality check couldn't really have come at a better time. We have a couple of weeks to regroup and get real

[Strike 7,217]

Our weakness is quite obvious. We are susceptible to pace and good counter attacks. At times like this I don't know why we don't just hire more/better defensive coaches and do intense defensive sessions with the whole team and teach them how to defend as a unit. We couldn't even do some basic defending. The defense needs to stay back and not follow the others up the field. Leave the attacking to the attackers and midfielders. The defence should not be that high up the pitch because we are slow.

Our double pivots are a big part of our defence being so shit though. Mikel is too passive. He'll never be great in an attacking system as he doesn't have the agression and to put it simply, his footballing mind is slow. Lampard, well the double pivot is just not his game. I do not see where he fits into the starting 11 anymore. He isn't fast or technical enough to play as an attacking player anymore and doesn't have the defensive discipline to play in the pivots. We should have hijacked the deal for Javi Garcia.

the thing is when we are on the ball, ivanovic, cole and lampard get forward to help the attackers. now this is good as far as we have controlled possession but as soon as the ball is lost and atletico start streaming forward, we are just chasing shadows. too often in the game, luiz, cahill and mikel were left to face a 3 v 3 counter-attack....

we really need to work on getting our defensive shape back as quickly as possible after an attack.

edit: if newcastle at home was deemed as a worthy enough opponent to field bertrand and meireles, why not Atletico in a neutral venue? would've helped us stop few counters yesterday

[capriccioso 2,545]

Alright lads.

We'll come up against teams that don't have the best striker in the world that don't score 2 world class finishes in the first 20 minutes. No need to get worried here, we were simply ripped apart by the best striker going around. No shame in that.

There aren't any Falcao's going around the Premier League, or Champions League.

[Justin_3d 1,140]

Hopefully this was a case of lacking the hunger and not turning up rather than Atletico exposing our deficiencies. Falcao was probably the difference. I hope some have now seen what Falcao is all about. This is why I would have signed him in less than heartbeat. He is the best Striker in the world and only needs half a chance. On top of that he is a big game and clutch player. I remember Spike said if we bought Cavani he would be our next Drogba. Fair play to him but I thought to myself "No, Falcao is the man you want for that". Since then Falcao has done nothing but destroy teams and prove me right time and time again. It's a shame I can't see us buying him due to his high price.

Ramires on the right is not working in our new style. I can't understand why he keeps starting. I hope Oscar starts as he looked good in posession and could help us do more with the ball. RDM could have brought on Moses. We lacked width again and I hope next time he can bring on Moses and/or Marin.

Ivanovic probably had the worst game of his life. His crossing was horrendous. Luiz is one player I'm getting tired of. I, like many others, like his overall bubbly, happy personality but on the field he is the CB version of Bosingwa. There is only so many times I can tell myself that "Luiz just needs to work on his decision making, he has potential and can become great". He doesn't seem to be improving one bit. To be honest, he's a downright idiot a lot of times. Cahil is without a doubt better than Luiz and should be starting no matter what.

Our weakness is quite obvious. We are susceptible to pace and good counter attacks. At times like this I don't know why we don't just hire more/better defensive coaches and do intense defensive sessions with the whole team and teach them how to defend as a unit. We couldn't even do some basic defending. The defense needs to stay back and not follow the others up the field. Leave the attacking to the attackers and midfielders. The defence should not be that high up the pitch because we are slow.

Our double pivots are a big part of our defence being so shit though. Mikel is too passive. He'll never be great in an attacking system as he doesn't have the agression and to put it simply, his footballing mind is slow. Lampard, well the double pivot is just not his game. I do not see where he fits into the starting 11 anymore. He isn't fast or technical enough to play as an attacking player anymore and doesn't have the defensive discipline to play in the pivots. We should have hijacked the deal for Javi Garcia.

Torres looked like a Ghost. There are two sides to his performance. Firstly, the service simply wasn't there. Hazard was quiet and Mata looks tired and out of ideas. He needs a break to recharge physically and mentally. Although the service was poor, it's frustrating to watch Torres lazily drift around. He expects everything to be played to his feet. He needs to make better runs. I was watching Falcao and his runs were great (even though the service to him was much better). He is so threatning and has a fear factor to him. Torres doesn't create much himself. His mentality is also too fragile and he is too quick to start moping and lose interest.

I hope we look back on this game as a pivotal moment in our season. A game which gave us a harsh reality check but perhaps the kick in the arse we needed. RDM needs to rip into the players and drill it into them that the Super Cup performance was pathetic. I hope we are pumped and ready to make it up by destroying QPR.

I been saying that shit for ages about Torres.

But people love to make excuses about him all day long.

[capriccioso 2,545]

Torres was never going to do well in this match.

First off, aside from Euro 08, he's never had a good cup final, and second, he's playing his beloved team.

[FormerRussianSpy 163]

What kinda fucked me off a bit was the lack of a defensive contingency plan. Why play a slow defensive back four (one that is very effective in PL play) against a team that is absolutely one-dimensional. Atletico has two nasty wingers that can outrun any full back and a world class striker between them. They scored or at least got the ball past cech on every 3 v 3 counter. How did that not occur to the coaching staff?

[capriccioso 2,545]

Because we stopped caring when it was obvious Falcao was on another planet to everyone else on the pitch?