Closed Chelsea 1 - 0 Stoke City

[Beirut_Blues 306]

1-0 victory, I love it!

Voted Oscar cuz he showed his incredible attacking work rate plus he goes back and defends when necessary.... really glad Oscar is in our team.

[johnske64 14]

Let's all take a moment and laugh at the bottom three on the table.

[Kojo 4,676]

Don't care what other fans say, this was a great 3 points. This isn't just any average team, this is Stoke, you have to have a different plan for these ones. 3 points is a very good result and I'm happy we've grinded a result out for once in this league, we haven't done that in a while.

But it's not like we played bad, our play was amazing i thought first 60 minutes the passing was just class, but Stoke are massive and were just defending, and if we of had a good fucking striker we would of been much more of a threat.

[communicate 2,703]

The lineup is something that I want RDM to try and it looks like playing our 3 magicians make us too narrow.

and moses on the right or left is a must because it gives our magicians more space to play

[chelsealukas23 79]

very difficult game against 9 defenders...thanks Ashley !!!

[petr.breu 1,618]

Thank God for that... I hate matches against Potters and I'm so happy we have 3 points... I absolutely love this team, apart from Torres... We again played in 10 men... We need new striker (Sturridge, Lukaku or someone new) and this team will be perfect...

We're still top of the league!

[Cosmin 2,484]

This isn't just any average team, this is Stoke

Excuse me, what?!

[Kez 2,727]

Top of the league, having a laugh!

[KonohasOrangeFlash 2,607]

Bring on Le Arse. Will be a massive test and another indicator on the strength of the team.

[Sheva. 5,373]

Playing like 4 shoots on target and without any ideas against a well organized defence.

We had a lot of the ball. So what?

I'm just worried about the future, that's all.

Not every team will defend like Stoke first and foremost. It's not just about setting up to park the bus, it's being capable of keeping it up that many teams struggle with.

We had no space most of the game and kept trying to force things through, even with all that Torres had a chance, Hazard should have done better on one instance, Mata also and Oscar had 2 shots that went slightly wide.

[Muzchap 8,966]

Excuse me, what?!

You know - the BIG Physical team that ARSENAL and CITY couldn't beat!

So stop with the shit - and trying to make KOJO look bad!

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

But even with Width - we have no Aerial threat in the box.

If you mean to create more space in the centre - then sure - I agree

I thought the tactics were spot-on, we were unlcuky a few times and on a different day this could have been 3-0 to us...

Stoke never really troubled us and the TEAM is looking much more balanced with this line-up...

What are you talking about? Stoke had come great chances. Until we scored, they actually had better chances than we did. They hit the bar for crying out loud. Have a look at the average position of our players http://espnfc.com/us/en/gamecast/345799/gamecast.html?soccernet=true&cc=5901 Creating width is not just about being able to cross for headers, it's also about creating space for players to run into and our spacing was just atrocious.We were way too easy to defend against. We completely lacked balance (no width, no central midfield creativity.)

Torres actually played decently today. He maybe should have done better on the ball from Mata, but it took a great first touch to even get the ball under control.

[Kojo 4,676]

Excuse me, what?!

Well what other teams have an average of 6ft 6 defenders?, please tell me?, they stick about 5 players in defence and they are very hard to score against. Stoke make it a hard game for anyone, they drew with City last week, this is a good result and Stoke aren't just any team like Reading, Villa, Norwich.

[BOSS 372]

Wow i am sooooooooooooo happy that we won because literally Torres almost killed the game. While we were passing and moving he would always break those passing down and he missed from 5 yards. Putting Torres on the ptich as a starter can be dangerous for the team nowadays

[Cosmin 2,484]

Not every team will defend like Stoke first and foremost. It's not just about setting up to park the bus, it's being capable of keeping it up that many teams struggle with.

We had no space most of the game and kept trying to force things through, even with all that Torres had a chance, Hazard should have done better on one instance, Mata also and Oscar had 2 shots that went slightly wide.

Decent point.

I pray to God you're right.

About the Arsenal game, I really hope we'll finally win a game against an important team this season. We lost against City, lost against Atletico, drew against Juve.

[KonohasOrangeFlash 2,607]

All this talk about 4-6-0. We are already playing 4-6-0 every time Torres is on the pitch...

[Muzchap 8,966]

What are you talking about? Stoke had come great chances. Until we scored, they actually had better chances than we did. They hit the bar for crying out loud. Have a look at the average position of our players http://espnfc.com/us...et=true&cc=5901 Creating width is not just about being able to cross for headers, it's also about creating space for players to run into and our spacing was just atrocious.We were way too easy to defend against. We completely lacked balance (no width, no central midfield creativity.)

Torres actually played decently today. He maybe should have done better on the ball from Mata, but it took a great first touch to even get the ball under control.

Think you were watching a different game dude?

We played great, soaked up the small pressure they offered and totally bossed the midfield (especially 2nd half)

These were good tactics against a good Stoke team

I thought the team had the best balance of ALL season so far?

Sure you weren't watching a Re-Run of the QPR game :D

Ok, they hit the bar, they had some amazing last ditch tackles to prevent us scoring several times - so much so that Shawcross got MOTM - doesn;t that tell you something

[Cosmin 2,484]

You know - the BIG Physical team that ARSENAL and CITY couldn't beat!

Great point! So we're basically an average team because City could beat us, right?