Closed Chelsea 1 - 0 Stoke City

[Cosmin 2,484]

No - you were being a needless, whiny, keyboard warrior.

Really? You are the one who called me "Cosmic". You started this. I was being perfectly decent before that, in my opinion.

1) RDM changed tactics - nobody expected it

2) We played really well

3) We won

I really don't agree with that.

You decide to claim we are average - because Stoke drew with City and we beat an average Stoke Team.

I was being sarcastic, duuuh, because you said that Stoke are not average because City couldn't beat them. I was just trying to prove how retarded your argument was.

So, spout whatever shit you want to under the 'talk chelsea' guise - as a Fan you should be happy - end of...

Again, I never said that I am not happy. I just made some remarks about the way we played today. Are all of us supposed to come here and say "Yaaay, RDM changed the tactics and we won"? I don't think so.

[November33rd 84]

This was only Oscar, Hazard, and Mata's first time starting together. Relax. They're only going to get better from here on out.

The only player I can say had a bad game today was Torres. But that's to be expected at this point. He's the invisible man up top. Doesn't make runs, gives up the ball, pouts. When we have the ball in the final third he stands around. When he actually does get the ball he tries to dribble through 2/3 defenders and gives it right up. His passes usually go wayward which disrupts the attack. Still indecisive with the ball, turns it over most of the time and Doesn't even look to take a shot when he's in the box. Doesn't do much of anything really. Certainly not Chelsea caliber.

Oscar was our best player today. Ramires proved once again why he should never be played as a winger because he was very good today in his deeper, more central role. We really miss Drogba on set pieces and free kicks. Hazard's only main weakness right now is finishing but he's still very young so he has plenty of time to improve upon that. Mata was his usual excellent self again today.

I feel we are most sound defensively with the Cahill/Luiz partnership. JT's experience is invaluable but we just seem more composed when Luiz and Cahill play together.

Mikel looks A LOT better when he's in the pivot with someone other than Lampard who doesn't fit well into the double pivot at all.

Even though we only won 1-0 i think we played better today than in some of our previous matches this season that we won 2-0.

[Rmpr 8,977]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMhzWjCJKvM&feature=player_embedded

WOW, somebody posted ESPN Brasil video!

Hahahaha

[dumps 284]

was out all day, anyone know a good place to get highlights from?

im happy with a 1-0, not many teams score a lot past stoke. good to see us having the majority of posession. more entertaining than the counter attack game...

[Muzchap 8,966]

Basically I was watching a game without thinking, "this is the starting XI I want so it's going to be great". We had the majority of possession but we barely threatened goal. We had 4 shots on target. Yes, we prevented Stoke from scoring, but Stoke is probably the worst offensive away team in the Premier league. (11 goals in 19 games last season) and they could easily have scored a couple of goals. This side was actually our least balanced all season. We played with three #10s and 2 defensive midfielders, we had nobody to switch play, no creativity from midfield and nobody going wide. It wasn't until Moses came on, that we were able to open up the game. Before that, we were having all this possession that went nowhere that ended up with us taking long-distance shots. I would be very surprised if we see this formation again anytime soon.

But Stoke is 1 GK - 9 Defenders and Crouch...

How else where we supposed to beat them?

Not critiising you - just trying to understand - how would you have approached it differently? Stoke would have stayed narrow, regardless of our width, and then we just have the ball out wide and it still has to come infield as we have no threat in the air up front?

[Milan 17,835]

[Muzchap 8,966]

Really? You are the one who called me "Cosmic". You started this. I was being perfectly decent before that, in my opinion.

I really don't agree with that.

I was being sarcastic, duuuh, because you said that Stoke are not average because City couldn't beat them. I was just trying to prove how retarded your argument was.

Again, I never said that I am not happy. I just made some remarks about the way we played today. Are all of us supposed to come here and say "Yaaay, RDM changed the tactics and we won"? I don't think so.

Sigh...

Cosmic was a joke! It's something Rodney Trotter (Only Fools & Horses) used to say - e.g. Wow, that's Cosmic dude...

Of course you are entitled to your opinion.

Look - Cosmic was a joke - chill - no offence meant - YouTube it, you'll see what I mean - also Rodney smoked 'Astro-turf'

[xPetrCechx 13,548]

WOW, somebody posted ESPN Brasil video!

Hahahaha

It's for u!

[Shaan 263]

I never thought my first post will be about how poor torres performnce was considering I was one of his big fan , his body lnguge clearly shows he is lacking motivation,

pls sturrige for nxt matches...

[Cosmin 2,484]

Look - Cosmic was a joke - chill - no offence meant - YouTube it, you'll see what I mean - also Rodney smoked 'Astro-turf'

I didn't know about that. I take back what I said.

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

But Stoke is 1 GK - 9 Defenders and Crouch...

How else where we supposed to beat them?

Not critiising you - just trying to understand - how would you have approached it differently? Stoke would have stayed narrow, regardless of our width, and then we just have the ball out wide and it still has to come infield as we have no threat in the air up front?

Teams don't stay narrow no matter what. If you have a winger, it's not like teams are going to just let them get the ball and pass into the box without marking them. Creating width is about spreading the defence and creating lanes for your players to be able to get through. You need width in every single match, no matter who you are playing. It's about creating space. I'm not criticizing RDM, because he has to rest players and he was probably curious to see what the Hazard, Oscar, and Mata looked like together (and he took off Hazard when he needed to), but the result was not unpredictable. Ramires simply can't make outlet passes because he's not a good enough passer and we were not able to create any space because we were completely bunched into a small area. Where was he supposed to make his runs?

[Sheva. 5,373]

Basically I was watching a game without thinking, "this is the starting XI I want so it's going to be great". We had the majority of possession but we barely threatened goal. We had 4 shots on target. Yes, we prevented Stoke from scoring, but Stoke is probably the worst offensive away team in the Premier league. (11 goals in 19 games last season) and they could easily have scored a couple of goals. This side was actually our least balanced all season. We played with three #10s and 2 defensive midfielders, we had nobody to switch play, no creativity from midfield and nobody going wide. It wasn't until Moses came on, that we were able to open up the game. Before that, we were having all this possession that went nowhere that ended up with us taking long-distance shots. I would be very surprised if we see this formation again anytime soon.

This lineup was probably the best we have played all season, you're talking about balance but the only balance RDM knows is to play Ramires on the right and that would only have made it worse.

A lot of times in that first half we were 1 failed pass from having a chance on goal, but it didn't happen. This 3 players are only playing with each other for the first time against 10 defenders, every chance things will improve.

[Muzchap 8,966]

I didn't know about that. I take back what I said.

Yeah sorry Man - was excited and didn't realise you might not have understood this.

Keep forgetting what a multi-cultural board this is

How is Romania BTW - thinking of going there for a short break - my dentist in England tells me it's great...

[Naked Mole Rat 437]

It was nice to see di Matteo make some big changes after a series of disappointing results, and we were a lot better today with Oscar, Mata and Hazard all on the pitch at the same time. One thing we seemed to lack was width, and I guess that's where Moses or Marin comes in. Also, I thought Ramires played very well in the double pivot today. Even though he had a couple sloppy passes and first touches, he provided our defense so much protection with his pace, which we've always lacked in the middle of the park with both Mikel and Lampard playing there. Overall, we played fairly well and got just what we needed, so I'm not going to complain too much, but our attackers should take more shots.

[Muzchap 8,966]

Teams don't stay narrow no matter what. If you have a winger, it's not like teams are going to just let them get the ball and pass into the box without marking them. Creating width is about spreading the defence and creating lanes for your players to be able to get through. You need width in every single match, no matter who you are playing. It's about creating space. I'm not criticizing RDM, because he has to rest players and he was probably curious to see what the Hazard, Oscar, and Mata looked like together (and he took off Hazard when he needed to), but the result was not unpredictable. Ramires simply can't make outlet passes because he's not a good enough passer and we were not able to create any space because we were completely bunched into a small area. Where was he supposed to make his runs?

Yeah but how would you have changed it?

Marin is not fit, Studge is not fit - Moses was the only option and he did well when he came on?

We are light in Midfield options.

Ok - so only 4 shots - but as Sheva said - there were lots of last gasp tackles by Stoke that prevented us being clean through on numerous occassions...

I honestly thought this team looked better than when Lampard starts and Ramires is on the wing.

Ramires is better next to Mikel...

[DONI. 1,291]

Crouch and Luiz face :D

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

This lineup was probably the best we have played all season, you're talking about balance but the only balance RDM knows is to play Ramires on the right and that would only have made it worse.

A lot of times in that first half we were 1 failed pass from having a chance on goal, but it didn't happen. This 3 players are only playing with each other for the first time against 10 defenders, every chance things will improve.

The best we played all year? We barely squeaked a 1-0 win at home against Stoke and we barely even created any good chances. We've played 5 matches in the Premier League and this was our 2nd worst result. The conformation bias here is ridiculous.

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

Yeah but how would you have changed it?

Marin is not fit, Studge is not fit - Moses was the only option and he did well when he came on?

We are light in Midfield options.

Ok - so only 4 shots - but as Sheva said - there were lots of last gasp tackles by Stoke that prevented us being clean through on numerous occassions...

I honestly thought this team looked better than when Lampard starts and Ramires is on the wing.

Ramires is better next to Mikel...

No, he isn't. He's awful there. He's very good defensively, but he can't make outlet passes at all so Oscar and Mata had to drop way back to pick up the ball. He can't hit long balls, he doesn't have vision to create openings. I''m not saying that I would necessarily have started with a different lineup, just this "oh my god, our lineup was so amazing" stuff is absurd. There were very serious issues which it created that you are pretending don't exist. And being one tackle away from scoring a goal is like being one bullet away from winning at Russian Roulette.