Closed Chelsea 2-2 Juventus

[edetarod 2,155]

so gutted for Oscar, all his brilliant work stolen by that shitty goal at the end

that goal should have always been the winner...ALWAYS

very dissapointing, all that vibe from his goals are suddenly gone...

[JDY 1,290]

Now, with all said and done, I cannot understand how people can question chelsea's back line, especially when attackers come pushing through the middle. The defense is fine as they were (all three) in CL last season. What needs adjusting still is the midfield--it's all in the midfield always unless your defense is allowing free headers etc. BTW, when you play more attacking minded players, your defense will naturally be more exposed (by math alone). Ins't it what chelsea fans wanted anyway?

Agreed. I have no major problems with the defence, the odd mistake here and there will always happen. But when your midfield gets so so easily bypassed every time you are bound to make more mistakes. The shape in the midfield is all over the place defensively, the gap between the central 2 is far too big and Juve (and other teams) have exploited the space very well. People wonder why our flanks also get exposed aswell. When gaps are created in the middle, naturally your defenders try to close the opposition down, thus leaving big gaps on the wings for them to move into. Juve could've been far more dangerous had they focused down the flanks more after drawing our defence in.

By the way, Vidal was exceptional today. An aggressive ball winner that is mobile enough to get around the pitch whilst being tactically sound is just what we need in the midfield. 9 successful tackles, 3 interceptions, 3 key passes. Impressive stats.

[dumps 284]

another thing. how exciting is hazard and mata combination?

ill be honest, i thought it was going to be a drogba torres situation with those two. im so happy! when they are both on the pitch, our attacking looks a lot more pormising with good build up. and they would do so much better as well if they didnt have to rely on this awful defensive mentallity of RDM.

RMD must change his mentality and use more of our wide range of attacking players. we can be so much better. our defence isnt as bad as people say, its jst a bit inconsistent. plus if RDM was more attacking ,we wouldnt have to worry about letting in a couple of goals because we'd have scored 5 or 6

[HRiver 1,512]

Yeah Chelsea defenders are really awful! Only Cahill is a genius who sits on the bench because every chelsea manager thinks Terry and Luiz are better...

So, these guys won the CL last season, but you no longer think they are good because super-f*-cup game?

They are. Terry is no longer good enough, Luiz isn't good enough either, and neither is Ivanovic. Cole and Cahill are our only good defenders imo. And it's not because of one super cup game. Remember Man City? Terry and Luiz got humiliated in that game.

So that's two super cups we lost, thanks to our defence. If we had better defenders, probably we'd have won at least one of the cups.

[Sheva. 5,373]

Why are people complaining about Ramires at RW? if there's any game to not complain about him there, surely it's this one.

He and Ivanovic did well on Asamoah, he dropped to midfield a couple times and helped win the ball back. Still shit attacking wise, but not a bad game from him

It's no coincidence that Juve were far better when Ramires and Oscar came off.

[OneMoSalah 8,886]

Robbie didn't identify the main problem which was them having more numbers in midfield where they totally dominated the game in the second half. If he had deployed a formation with sufficient enough central midfielders we would have been able to prevent Vidal and Marchisio finding so much space. Anyway blowing the 2-0 was a pain in arse, we should of had a pen and won at least 3-1.

[dumps 284]

Why are people complaining about Ramires at RW? if there's any game to not complain about him there, surely it's this one.

He and Ivanovic did well on Asamoah, he dropped to midfield a couple times and helped win the ball back. Still shit attacking wise, but not a bad game from him

It's no coincidence that Juve were far better when Ramires and Oscar came off.

i would be confident in Ivanovic dealing with it alone. if moses/mata or anyone else was at RW, we'd have been better going forward, and they can also still offer some defensive cover, but i dont think it was needed in that game. look at Ash and Hazard... it was fine, and we were dangerous down that side.

I like Ramires, and this is what annoys me, im sure we all like rami, but we hate that RDM plays him there. stick him next to mikel and we'll be laughing.

[Sheva. 5,373]

i would be confident in Ivanovic dealing with it alone. if moses/mata or anyone else was at RW, we'd have been better going forward, and they can also still offer some defensive cover, but i dont think it was needed in that game. look at Ash and Hazard... it was fine, and we were dangerous down that side.

I like Ramires, and this is what annoys me, im sure we all like rami, but we hate that RDM plays him there. stick him next to mikel and we'll be laughing.

I hate when RDM plays him there, but not today, it was acceptable imo. And Ashley Cole is pretty different from Ivanovic, he can stop anyone, Ivanovic can be beaten quite easily.

[TheCount 146]

Some of the comments here are just retarded,

80odd million spent on "passing" "creative" "barca -esch" players and they still cant give torres a ball to save their lives,

Deos no one eles see that Torres has to drop back and get the ball himself or he simply wont get the ball?

Never seen such a bad and confused midfield and tthose saying put sturrige in now instead? good jesus.

[peppinhojuve 1]

and now we see the juventus stadium, hopefully it will be another good game, but this time it will be harder for you out of the house

[Spike 12,049]

Always look on the bright side of life. Life can seem pretty shirty, but at least we aren't ManCity. Always look on the bright side of draws, at least it wasn't a nil-nil bore.

[robsblubot 3,595]

Agreed. I have no major problems with the defence, the odd mistake here and there will always happen. But when your midfield gets so so easily bypassed every time you are bound to make more mistakes. The shape in the midfield is all over the place defensively, the gap between the central 2 is far too big and Juve (and other teams) have exploited the space very well. People wonder why our flanks also get exposed aswell. When gaps are created in the middle, naturally your defenders try to close the opposition down, thus leaving big gaps on the wings for them to move into. Juve could've been far more dangerous had they focused down the flanks more after drawing our defence in.

By the way, Vidal was exceptional today. An aggressive ball winner that is mobile enough to get around the pitch whilst being tactically sound is just what we need in the midfield. 9 successful tackles, 3 interceptions, 3 key passes. Impressive stats.

On the same page here... I want Mikel to improve and still believe he can. Lampard shows worrying signs because of his lack of moment, but then again, beginning of the season is specially tough on older players (lack natural fitness). Juve midfield is very strong (physical strength as well).

They are. Terry is no longer good enough, Luiz isn't good enough either, and neither is Ivanovic. Cole and Cahill are our only good defenders imo. And it's not because of one super cup game. Remember Man City? Terry and Luiz got humiliated in that game.

So that's two super cups we lost, thanks to our defence. If we had better defenders, probably we'd have won at least one of the cups.

Let's agree to disagree then. Defense is the responsibility of the entire team, starting with Torres. Also, team mechanics are always a bit off in the beginning of the season.

Robbie didn't identify the main problem which was them having more numbers in midfield where they totally dominated the game in the second half. If he had deployed a formation with sufficient enough central midfielders we would have been able to prevent Vidal and Marchisio finding so much space. Anyway blowing the 2-0 was a pain in arse, we should of had a pen and won at least 3-1.

Right on! That's probably the main reason he plays Ramires on the wing, so he can/should join in the middle. It's not working though. It's a new system with more attacking-minded players. It's gonna take some time. And yes, Juve are a good side.

Concerning the second goal, something was off, perhaps they tried the offside trap? Luiz was playing stopper and chased someone up the field, Terry was marking someone else and then Quagliarella got all alone behind the defense line. I don't blame Mikel for the bad pass though; they had plenty of time to reorganize. Difficult to know who's fault it was since we don't know how RDM organized the defense; who should be covering or following Quagliarella. Were they man marking?

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

Robbie didn't identify the main problem which was them having more numbers in midfield where they totally dominated the game in the second half. If he had deployed a formation with sufficient enough central midfielders we would have been able to prevent Vidal and Marchisio finding so much space. Anyway blowing the 2-0 was a pain in arse, we should of had a pen and won at least 3-1.

This is exactly it. We were almost always out-numbered in the midfield 5-4 which inevitably meant that someone was unmarked . http://www.uefa.com/newsfiles/ucl/2013/2009489_tl.pdf

Our double pivot actually did quite well to limit Juve's chances despite being outnumbered Our advantage should have been to go wide and we tried it but our team is not really set up for that as Torres isn't a real target man and seems hesitant to get into the spaces he would need to get into to score and Ramires is not good at crossing to say the least. (His 33% passing rate today is just awful).

[meetdoscar 335]

we might not have had a good midfield but we certainly had oscar he totally outplayed pirlo both offensively and in defense. Intelligent thinking by RDM to wrap pirlo(i did not even notice him) with oscar thats why i still say RDM is a genius as a tactician lets wait, be patient and see how the team will play after he is done with it. He made one of the best midfielders in the world look worst than malouda at age 32

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

On the same page here... I want Mikel to improve and still believe he can. Lampard shows worrying signs because of his lack of moment, but then again, beginning of the season is specially tough on older players (lack natural fitness). Juve midfield is very strong (physical strength as well).

So, last game Lampard's form was worrying because he joins the attack too often and this game it was because of his lack of movement? Of course, the statistics say otherwise. Lampard ran 10846 metres in the game, that's more than any other Chelsea player. His movement today was excellent. He initiated a number of good attacks, he passed well, he linked up well with Oscar, Hazard, and later Mata,he timed his runs well, he defended well. He did exactly what he was supposed to do. He had a very bad game against QPR but he played very well today (especially considering that Chelsea were outnumbered in the central midfield).

[bluephoenix 1,131]

haven't seen the match yet but did have a glance at Oscar's goals ... it was jsut amazing

the second was just too good... sad we couldn't capitalize on those 2 goals ...

[robsblubot 3,595]

So, last game Lampard's form was worrying because he joins the attack too often and this game it was because of his lack of movement? Of course, the statistics say otherwise. Lampard ran 10846 metres in the game, that's more than any other Chelsea player. His movement today was excellent. He initiated a number of good attacks, he passed well, he linked up well with Oscar, Hazard, and later Mata,he timed his runs well, he defended well. He did exactly what he was supposed to do. He had a very bad game against QPR but he played very well today (especially considering that Chelsea were outnumbered in the central midfield).

Fair enough he ran a lot, but did his runs work? Did his tackles connect or were they a bit late? Was he always in position? He's 34 yo and it is the beginning of the season, so I just think he's not 100% yet. That was my point.

His fitness levels will drop eventually though, but the coaches at chelsea will spot that before we do.

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

Fair enough he ran a lot, but did his runs work? Did his tackles connect or were they a bit late? Was he always in position? He's 34 yo and it is the beginning of the season, so I just think he's not 100% yet. That was my point.

His fitness levels will drop eventually though, but the coaches at chelsea will spot that before we do.

His runs worked well. He made fewer of them than usual and when he did make them, there was a reason, they opened up the attack and had Ramires spotted him, he would have had a goal on one of them. It may take him a little time to get back to 100%, but I thought he was clearly one Chelsea's best players today (Oscar, Hazard, Cole being the others and Mata for his brief spell as well.) It just bothers me how Lampard has become such a scapegoat that people can't even admit when he plays well. (It takes about 5 good games from Mikel for many people to admit he isn't awful although after his poor pass today, it will probably take another 10 good games.)

[Shulz 23]

Great match, good point =) great gol from Oscar and I really envy you for signing Hazard, he's still a little raw, but in time he'll get a lot better, probably one of the best with Messi and Ronaldo. and the combinations with Mata were brilliant. nice job on Pirlo, too bad he's not very fit, I hope to see him at his best in Turin! Giovinco and Asamoah were really nervous they need to get some international experience, but there's time... for a debut after a few years out of the big stages I must say I'm pretty satisfied! =)

guys if we had to sell him you should sign Vidal, he is the perfect player for your game!

hope to see another good game in Turin!

[Rmpr 8,977]

I'm just confused...

Last 2 years we had some serious problems with creativity. Mata, Oscar, Hazard, Moses and Marin came in. All have great quality.

Now, our defense is beeing a big issue. We need to change formation right away or buy players on DM that fit the role (since we are low on this particular position).

We correct one end and the other start to collapse...