Closed Chelsea 1 - 4 Atletico Madrid

[Joker10 946]

They're a superteam.

We're an assorted selection of past it players and future prospects.

Even if our future prospects turn out to be world class there's no way we can play like Barcelona. What are we going to do when we're playing Barcelona or Real Madrid or Bayern or any of the other European teams that are light years ahead of us? Pass the ball about and pretend we're Spanish? No, the only way to beat those teams is to select 11 massive, fast, physically unbeatable players and get them all to stand about 10 yards out from our own goal.

Your statement: "by buying technique over physique we have to accept that we won't win too many trophies."

My counter: I used Barca and Brazil successful history to counter your argument. Quite honestly there is no evidence of Physical players> technical players as a formula for success, contrary more evidence to support the other. The game of football has always been about technique.

Physical players> technical players is a English/British mentality, look no further then England NT to see how much of a fail this mentality is.

No one said we should play like Barca or pretend we are Spanish ffs technical players /=/ Barca or Spanish players.

The last sentence in your post.....never mind i am not even going to comment.

[Heisenberg 1,824]

Stop with 'Technical players' please , Balance is the key , I would love to have a team like this against QPR :

Cech

Azpi-Cahill-Terry-Cole

Mikel-Romeu

Mata-Eden-Bertrand

Torres

May sound a bit defensive, but its not , Romeu has great passing ability and is better at defending than Lampard , Mikel is on form , two good matches from him , he must start , Mata will rest , he could miss the game but if he plays he'll be fresh and Bertrand must be a regular starter now he proved to be a very good player , a team that has technical players up front and physical players in defense , why not ?

[gary gordon 1,777]

Next game formation

Cesar--------Cahill---Terry-----Cole

---------------Meireles------------------

-----------------Oscar-----------------

Sturridge-------Mata---------Hazard

-----------------Torres--------------------

[TrippingStep 336]

We played like it was a friendly game and they played like it was an european final.

I didn't understand many things.

Mata was collecting the ball very deep and I didn't understand why Hazard played a lot with his back to goal quite high in the pitch like a big holding forward moving from left to right especially as there was no one playing around him, what was the idea

I don't know if the belgian commentator was joking or not when he said the players had a party in the yacht of Abramovitch the day before

[BleedsBlue 1,549]

Money cant buy passion or desire.I hope the team does better next time and hopefully NEVER play like this again.

[Madmax 9,219]

Well that was humiliating. Not going to single out indiviudals because everyone had a nightmare. All credit to Atletico, we were simply not at the races today. You're not going to have a good night if you gift goals to players of the calibre of Falcao.

[Madmax 9,219]

Money cant buy passion or desire.I hope the team does better next time and hopefully NEVER play like this again.

You don't half overstate things much, do you?

Look back 3 months to know what 'passion and desire' means.

Shit happens, that scoreline isn't a true reflection of our quality.

[BleedsBlue 1,549]

You don't half overstate things much, do you?

Look back 3 months to know what 'passion and desire' means.

Shit happens, that scoreline isn't a true reflection of our quality.

Ivanovic had given up to even run.

[Heisenberg 1,824]

Our players lacked Desire , its totally true , does that mean that they will do the same against QPR ? No , we were 'out' against Atletico , it happens it he world of football , the players have to win against QPR.

[Ortiv 42]

The annoying aspect of this result was obviously the fact that this team is much better that what was on show. :banghead: On the bright side, there's no harm in learning the hard way. Atletico showed us how lethal a cohesive and organized team can be. While we have seen glimpses in the last few matches, this game showed we still have a long way to go. Here's hoping this life changing humiliation evokes a response from RDM and the players, leading us into a glorious trophy laden era. KTF :blue scalf:

[Madmax 9,219]

Can you make this same argument for the Arg-Ger game of the 2010 WC?

What is the point you're trying to make?

I'll make my argument clear - a one-off result doesn't indicate the true abilities of a squad.

[Heisenberg 1,824]

Ashley Cole ‏@TheRealAC3

Wellll that was a lesson, absolute joke no fight, desire, passion, and a big reality check!!!!!! #sorrycfcfans

Ashley resumes the situation perfectly.

[Beigl 1,387]

Very,very poor game,i hope that doesn´t result in poor games in the BPL.Falcao is a extraordinary striker wow.

[Beigl 1,387]

Very,very poor game,i hope that doesn´t result in poor games in the BPL.Falcao is anextraordinary striker wow.

[Jase 43,479]

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

What I fail to understand here is that why couldn't we be more conservative in the game especially with the full backs. I know the full backs are extremely important these days to provide options going forward but it's like whenever we are on the ball, both FBs have to go forward and leave us with only 3 players at the back, as you pointed out. We would be better off if one FB goes forward, the other stays back. Two going forward rather aimlessly is just plain suicidal when we get hit on the counter, as we've already seen under AVB. And it doesn't help when you have Ivanovic who possess such a snail pace that any ball gets played behind his back and we are screwed. Happened so many times yesterday and it's unbelievable. Furthermore, I don't even know why he should go forward anyway. His crosses are so appalling that it just drives me mental every single time.

Said this before, Atletico Madrid did what we failed to do all night long. They attack as a unit and they defend as a unit. When they went forward, they attacked in numbers. 4-5 players all going forward, offering off the ball movement, creating space for others etc. When they have to defend, they retreat into their shape and keep things tight and compact. When they have to pressurize us on the ball, again they did it as unit, they hunt down in packs. Their defence was hardly troubled all night and Courtois was almost literally a spectator in goal.

From our perspective, we did none of that. All the good work from the Newcastle game just went out of the window completely. When we attack, there's only like 3 players or so going forward while a few others just jog into the field of action. Same thing happened when we had to defend. All the defending were left to the players behind while those further forward just jogged back and hardly looked interested in breaking a sweat to help out the defence. And perhaps the worst part of all is, we did not pressure Atletico Madrid whatsoever when they have the ball. We just backed off and allowed them time and space to turn and run at our defence. Think this situation was perfectly summed up towards the end. They had the ball and we didn't even put pressure on them whatsoever. We just allowed them to pass the ball around and run down the clock. Just absolutely pathetic!

[Spike 12,049]

I for one thinks it a good thing that Chelsea were thrashed by Atleti. Everyone including the players and the supporters thought that Chelsea would sail through this match, given the Chelsea's form in the BPL. This loss brings the boys back down to earth and I expect to come back with a vengeance. To route QPR would only prove this to me.

[Milan 17,835]

Another question is - where were our supporters?

Courtois looked pretty arrogant to me.

[Hysteria 159]

Another question is - where were our supporters?

Courtois looked pretty arrogant to me.

Why?