Closed Chelsea 1 - 4 Atletico Madrid

[Santiago. 1,500]

PS

WHY \

THE

FUCK

DOES

ROMEU

NOT

PLAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!?

[communicate 2,703]

PS

WHY \

THE

FUCK

DOES

ROMEU

NOT

PLAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!?

I don't think he is part of RDM plan,

[Henrique 9,133]

Surprised there's no "RDM out" thread yet...

If we play like that in two matches in a row I will start one myself.

[Santiago. 1,500]

-----Sturridge/Torres-----

Hazard---------------Mata

------Oscar--Ramires----

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

Moses in for Mata. Lampard in for Oscar. Mikel in for Romeu.

[bababoom 4,478]

If we play like that in two matches in a row I will start one myself.

You're unbelievable, please fuck off.

Sloth and Term x have both been embarrassing, overreacting or what...

[Henrique 9,133]

You're unbelievable, please fuck off.

Sloth and Term x have both been embarrassing, overreacting or what...

You should fuck off, because if we play like that in next 2 matches he deserves the sack, because the peformance today was the worst I have ever seen from a football team.

[cousin benson 76]

It could have been 8-1, Chelsea just didn't turn up tonight, not interested at all, Atletico however seemed to care and that's why we lost. I'm not really that upset though, disappointed yes, but the League and CL are more important. None of the players seemed to give a damn...

[JDY 1,290]

The most telling thing about tonight's game was how badly Atletico exposed our double pivot.

We had zero shape in a formation where shape is most vital. The 4-2-3-1 relies on the box formed between the two deep central midfielders and the two centre backs. It was non existent for the most part, Lampard in particular was a liability positionally.

You can buy all the attackers in the world, but if you have no foundation to defend and supply these attackers, you are going to struggle.

But nevertheless, Atletico were good tonight, let's just hope RDM and co learn from these mistakes. We are still very much work in progress which some people are forgetting.

[bababoom 4,478]

You should fuck off, because if we play like that in next 2 matches he deserves the sack, because the peformance today was the worst I have ever seen from a football team.

Typical plastic fan, please go back to supporting Palmeiras or whatever fucking Brazilian team you support,.

[cousin benson 76]

I think the last time we lost badly in a final was against Man U in 94', FA Cup....i remember crying and sitting under the table [as a child!]

[zolayes 14,489]

If we play like that in two matches in a row I will start one myself.

we should start an Henrique OUT thread

[bababoom 4,478]

I think the last time we lost badly in a final was against Man U in 94', FA Cup....i remember crying and sitting under the table [as a child!]

That's probably what Term x and Sloth are doing right now...

[GeeMon 34]

Sadly this is my first post, but Ivanovic is really off to a poor start this season. The third goal his positioning was horrible and he just looks awkward all the time.

He was always a definite starter for me, but so far this season (including pre season) the arrival of Azpilicueta could be very important.

We seemed to lack any of the creative flow we have at least been getting in small segments in the games so far this season. Just need to get things back on track and continue to show improvement in the fluidity of our game.

Very well played by Athletico Madrid.

[Superblue 6,333]

Right my thoughts after tonights game. I left it for a couple of hours to try and calm down and post with a clear head so here goes:

• A lot of people on here have highlighted the worry that we will get annihilated on the counter attack by good teams this season with the current personnel. Tonight has certainly highlighted those worries. However lets just consider that no one else has Falcao in their team. Everybody thought Newcastle would expose us and they didn't so let's not completely push the panic button just yet! I think that we can cope with the way we have set up this season domestically because the majority of teams we can 'boss' and outscore. The problems this season will come in Europe, playing against teams who I think will be more clinical in their counter attacks.
  
• Our pivot should have been strengthened this summer and wasn't. For our formation to work, IMO we need two defensively minded midfielders which will negate the threat of counter attacks, whilst given the platform for the players in front to play and attack. Long term, we need to buy a mobile, disciplined and defensively aware midfielder - M'Vila, Witsel, Tiote spring to mind. Essien five years ago would be the perfect player now for that role. However short term I would look at Romeu lining up alongside Mikel to give a greater balance to the midfield. If Robbie sees Romeu as too inexperienced for a two man midfield, then it has to be Ramires or Meireles as an alternative to give the midfield a bit of energy and dynamism.
  
• So where does this leave Lampard? Well, I personally am worried that Lamps will never properly adapt to the pivot. Tonight's game showed this perfectly - He still plays like he is in a three man midfield, with his first move to look to attack. This obviously leaves Mikel, never the quickest or most mobile, exposed and Lampard doesn't have the stamina to get up and down the pitch as well as he used to either. For me, we have to start phasing Lampard into a squad player. He still has a role at the club this season because I think he can still play in the pivot against weaker teams where we will be on the offensive for most of the game. I love Lampard and will always regard him as a legend, but I do believe that if this is Lamp's last season at the club, it may be to the benefit of the club moving forward. Similar to Drogba, I think he is too big a personality with too big a history at the club to accept playing a peripheral role at the club.
  
• In terms of with the ball, I did think Mikel used it pretty well tonight and was looking to get the ball forward much of the time rather than backwards. This is a positive, and I think he could flourish alongside an energetic ball winner alongside him.
  
• I have praised Robbie a lot of times for some of the tactical decisions he has made since he joined but he dropped a ricket tonight. In the first half anybody could see we were struggling to break through the middle of Madrid's team. Bringing on Oscar just gave us another playmaker who's first thought is to look to go through the middle. It packed even further what was an already congested centre of the park. Robbie should have brought on Moses or Sturridge at half time to give us width. They happily tucked their full backs in and let us pass the ball out wide to the right because they knew we were no threat with Ivanovic out wide on his own. Having a player who could give us a genuine threat out wide would have stretched them more, and THEN left more space in the centre to try to expose.
  
• Ivanovic and Ramires were very poor tonight and offer nothing together offensively on our right side. I'm looking forward to seeing Azpilicueta over the next few weeks hopefully settle in and provide some stiff competition to Ivanovic and push him. With a more solid, defensive minded pivot, a defensive winger will no longer be essential. Ramires has started the season in poor form also so if we do continue playing with a defensive minded winger for the forseeable future I would currently have Bertrand over Ramires.
  
• I hate buying in January so unless we have key injuries, I would actually prefer us to keep this squad throughout the season and make any changes next summer when better value can be had.
  

[Henrique 9,133]

Typical plastic fan, please go back to supporting Palmeiras or whatever fucking Brazilian team you support,.

Try another thing, because ever since I joined this forum i read such a stupid thing.

You are the one overreacting, calm down, go to bed, sleep, drink some tea, after that you will be able to understand a sarcastic post. If this dont work, maybe you need to get wiser.

ps: you are the plastic fan, because last season you were supporting AVB while he was destroying the club.

[magic weeds 446]

We played like snails. no urgency no nothing. this allowed Athleti to regroup and park the bus, then hit us on the counter. Our players did not help either. Luiz and Ivanovic were dreadful. No one could even press for the ball when we lost it.

Why does RDM bring on Oscar when the game is lost? He thinks the kid will save us? Give the kid a starting role and you will see what he can do. Not when we are loosing.

Oh boy, how we were poor. C

[Rowan_Osborn 58]

Don't get me wrong, I would of loved for Chelsea to have won the game, but at the end of the day this was a meaningless game and i would prefer such a shocking performance to have happened in a game that meant little. We were embarrassed by Falcao but were also poor in defence; the first, third and fourth goal were all caused by poor defending. Not many positives to take form our performance but as Cahill said this result was down to very poor performances rather than lack of ability.

[Henrique 9,133]

we should start an Henrique OUT thread

Henrique is a legend. There is no TC with no Henrique.

zolayes, you always say you dont care when we lost like we did, but I noticed you are the most active member in this topic...