Closed Chelsea v Manchester United

[Henrique 9,133]

Oscar had one poor game...

As for his defensive abilities he works hard and had done a great defensive job in previous games.

It's a new system, it's not FIFA or FM, it will take time to iron out the kinks and Shaktar can say what the fuck they like, if we had a striker of any quality, we could have won that game...

Instead we have the super Spanish flop, who even manages to tackle himself, spends more time on his back than a cheap whore and has all the physical presence of a 5yr old boy...

Torres is not the one to blame. In fact Shaktar cound scored at least 4 goals in that game, while we had only few chances.

We have to win this game, this is a crucial match, even a 5 year old child knows "it will take time to iron out the kinks".

[Reddish-Blue 2,504]

I just hope we outscore them & win the match.

[communicate 2,703]

Who said we need Oscar, Hazard and Mata together to attack? The 3 guys can barely help in the defensive system. I remember Spurs second goal, someone lost the ball and then none of the 3 return to help in the defence. Spurs had a lot of chance to score, and if they had better attacking players perhaps the result would be different.

Fernandinho, best Shaktar player yesterday said it:

"They have a different team from the one that played UCL final. Many times the offensive players attacked and didnt return. They were left with the 4 deffensive players and only one DM in front of them. Its a different style, the team that won the CL was more compact."

He said Shaktar players had too much space to create, and he think Chelsea were exposed to the counter attacks.

imo, this is a problem with this system. Barcelona have Busquets, Xavi and Iniesta, all players that are very good in the defence, and specially Xavi and Iniesta are superb in the attack. The 3 players are good in the attack but they still lack the defensive skills, like Malouda and Anelka had in previous years. Even Robben, Kalou and Joe Cole could help a lot in the defence. Just see Oscar, the guy run a lot when he is defending, he try to mark, to almonst never he desarm the opponent.

If we start with these 3 players against Manchester, I think we will be in trouble.

Mikel, Lampard, Ramires, Oscar, Mata; Sturridge.

I actually agree with playing slightly defensively lineup. Manu is very potent at front position, but extremely suspect at the back.

[Strike 7,489]

The referee needs to keep a serious eye on Chelsea players kicking and hitting our attacking players off the ball. They have employed this 'tactic' for a few years now, and hardly get called out on it.

From RedCafe. Lol wtf?

Well that is just ridiculous but tbf our players dive more than other teams around except maybe liverpool.. ivanovic, luiz, torres have embarassed the club already this year

[Kezza 1,965]

Well that is just ridiculous but tbf our players dive more than other teams around except maybe liverpool.. ivanovic, luiz, torres have embarassed the club already this year

Only because we get punished for it. I don't think we've ever won a foul because of diving, we have always been booked for it. You are right, we are shocking at it. Iva is ridiculously bad at it.

In saying that, When we have a strong case for a penalty/foul it gets denied, but when other teams have soft calls, ie Valencia against Liverpool, the penalty is won.

It seems as though now if a player slips over its deemed as diving.

[Strike 7,489]

Only because we get punished for it. I don't think we've ever won a foul because of diving, we have always been booked for it. You are right, we are shocking at it. Iva is ridiculously bad at it.

In saying that, When we have a strong case for a penalty/foul it gets denied, but when other teams have soft calls, ie Valencia against Liverpool, the penalty is won.

It seems as though now if a player slips over its deemed as diving.

yeah. the hazard incidents are different. his close control is too good. the refs just don't see that. maybe the rreputation we are building for diving is hurting us. last week suarez was taken for a spin by a norwich defender and he didn't get a penalty. classic case of the shepherd crying wolf. we are not as bad as suarez but still ivanovic and luiz made some pretty horrendous dives this year

[Kezza 1,965]

yeah. the hazard incidents are different. his close control is too good. the refs just don't see that. maybe the rreputation we are building for diving is hurting us. last week suarez was taken for a spin by a norwich defender and he didn't get a penalty. classic case of the shepherd crying wolf. we are not as bad as suarez but still ivanovic and luiz made some pretty horrendous dives this year

It all comes down to the fact that the game needs to adapt to the 21st century and utilise video replays.

The thing with iva is that he dived in our own third, just no point what so ever.

[Kezza 1,965]

.

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

I just hope we outscore them & win the match.

Both? That's too much to ask for!!

[Rmpr 8,977]

Both? That's too much to ask for!!

Classic Footballer Quote: You know, I just hope for a win, even if it is by half a goal.

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

Torres is not the one to blame. In fact Shaktar cound scored at least 4 goals in that game, while we had only few chances.

It's odd to me how much Torres was defended last year when he was awful. This year, he's been OK. He's not the long-term answer to our striker question. Torres was certainly not the problem against Shakhtar. People love our attacking midfield 3 so they don't want to blame them for anything, but they were terrible. I'd really like to see RDM rotating players into the attack because 1) I think rotation is necessary 2) I think those three can get too cute sometimes and could use a different sort of player playing alongside them. When it comes off, it's brilliant, but when it doesn't, it's just annoying. Really would like to see Oscar pick up his game some as well. He burst on the scene against Juve and was fantastic and then had a solid game against Stoke, but he's simply not getting involved in the scoring enough. 4 starts and 2 sub appearances in the league, 0 goals, 0 assists. Hasn't really been involved in the goals. He's the best defensively of the front three, but so was Kalou. (I'm not comparing Oscar to Kalou, just pointing out that you don't splash big money for a player who is solid defensively). I think Oscar will come good, he has all the skills necessary, it might just take a little bit of time and I'm willing to be patient.

Still not sure why RDM hasn't played Moses on the right after his brief sub appearance where he looked quite good. It seems like RDM has a very difficult time trusting players. I don't want to see wholesale changes or anything remotely like that, just want to see us rotating 14-15 players into the game rather than 12.

[Blue-in-me-Veins 4,067]

If we can control rooney and rvp then i am pretty sure we will win.

thats their whole team.

[Rambo 1,729]

I just facepalm each time I see comments like that.

It's not impossible. Torres did a fantastic job vs. Arsenal. As much as I'd like to see Sturridge start, RDM will go with Nando.

[Kezza 1,965]

@Blue-in-me-Veins,

Put a lot of thought into that post. Glad someone appreciated it

[Blue Armour 4,439]

It's odd to me how much Torres was defended last year when he was awful. This year, he's been OK. He's not the long-term answer to our striker question. Torres was certainly not the problem against Shakhtar. People love our attacking midfield 3 so they don't want to blame them for anything, but they were terrible. I'd really like to see RDM rotating players into the attack because 1) I think rotation is necessary 2) I think those three can get too cute sometimes and could use a different sort of player playing alongside them. When it comes off, it's brilliant, but when it doesn't, it's just annoying. Really would like to see Oscar pick up his game some as well. He burst on the scene against Juve and was fantastic and then had a solid game against Stoke, but he's simply not getting involved in the scoring enough. 4 starts and 2 sub appearances in the league, 0 goals, 0 assists. Hasn't really been involved in the goals. He's the best defensively of the front three, but so was Kalou. (I'm not comparing Oscar to Kalou, just pointing out that you don't splash big money for a player who is solid defensively). I think Oscar will come good, he has all the skills necessary, it might just take a little bit of time and I'm willing to be patient.

Still not sure why RDM hasn't played Moses on the right after his brief sub appearance where he looked quite good. It seems like RDM has a very difficult time trusting players. I don't want to see wholesale changes or anything remotely like that, just want to see us rotating 14-15 players into the game rather than 12.

He doesn't like straying outside the comfort zone. The starting eleven doesn't change much except for maybe Cahill for Luiz or Lampard for Oscar.

I suppose it was necessary though, in order to build up the team chemistry.That's important when playing against tough opposition. Hopefully from now on (after the Man Utd PL game) we'll see more rotation. Hopefully more width rather than always playing through the middle.

[channing 8]

i was so disappointed at the mid-week lose but when i get up this morning i feel relieved ......for Manchester City hahaha

[BOSS 372]

We will win this one Shakhtar >>>> Man United.

[ymalleb 14]

Just because we lost against a team that hold a string of unbeaten record in Europe, somehow this kind of " the trio wasn't good enough", "should start danny", "bring moses instead of oscar" and whatnot appear. i don't we should change our winning line up, the same line up that beat the crap out of spuds & arsenal. look around, even the greatest Real Madrid & Man City humiliated. UCL is not a stroll in the park for any team, tell that to Barca.

[TrippingStep 336]

Who said we need Oscar, Hazard and Mata together to attack? The 3 guys can barely help in the defensive system. I remember Spurs second goal, someone lost the ball and then none of the 3 return to help in the defence. Spurs had a lot of chance to score, and if they had better attacking players perhaps the result would be different.

Fernandinho, best Shaktar player yesterday said it:

"They have a different team from the one that played UCL final. Many times the offensive players attacked and didnt return. They were left with the 4 deffensive players and only one DM in front of them. Its a different style, the team that won the CL was more compact."

He said Shaktar players had too much space to create, and he think Chelsea were exposed to the counter attacks.

imo, this is a problem with this system. Barcelona have Busquets, Xavi and Iniesta, all players that are very good in the defence, and specially Xavi and Iniesta are superb in the attack. The 3 players are good in the attack but they still lack the defensive skills, like Malouda and Anelka had in previous years. Even Robben, Kalou and Joe Cole could help a lot in the defence. Just see Oscar, the guy run a lot when he is defending, he try to mark, to almonst never he desarm the opponent.

If we start with these 3 players against Manchester, I think we will be in trouble.

Mikel, Lampard, Ramires, Oscar, Mata; Sturridge.

I agree and what made it worse was that we often had too many players in the same line around their box, not enough people in the middle to keep the ball and moving it and if you add that our back 5 are not very fast and agile, there was a huge gap in midfield.

But even in the champion's league win, I thought that the team was not defending that well if you consider that we were parking the bus around our box. There was a bit of luck that when players were having good chances in the box, they didn't make it.

Gomez had two huge chances in the beginning of the final.

[KonohasOrangeFlash 2,607]

Our defense needs to have a good game. We also need to defend well out wide, although we should dominate the midfield. It will be the biggest test of the season and I cannot wait to face these cunts.