Closed Chelsea 3-2 Shakhtar Donetsk

[Kez 2,727]

Another point, was very disappointed not to see Terry at all last night, RDM saying he has only played 1 game recently, surely it would make sense to play him at some point last night with Liverpool coming up at the weekend, does this mean he won't start against Liverpool? I would rather see Cahill & JT as our defensive pairing as Luiz is becoming such a liability & had a shocker last night.

[Rmpr 8,977]

FIRST DECENT TRANSLATION FOR AN OSCAR INTERVIEW...

Perfect, did not get anything wrong...

[rawi chelsea 9]

Scary defense we must do a lot better than that against Liverpool on Saturday . I just loved the hard work done by hazard because players with his skills don't usually fight for the ball like he do .

[robdog 2,084]

No I did not take anything offensive but you was not there yesterday, so you cant judge last game atmosphere by your last visit at SB. I said it was not a good atmosphere against Shakthar, not always.

Yes TV might give a different impression, but dont go saying it was loud and the whole stadium was vibaritng, because it was more than clear that it was not.

I wasn't judging the atmosphere by my last visit, but you can't judge the atmosphere on what you heard on the TV either. If you weren't there, how can you say what the atmosphere is like? You are basing the atmosphere on a TV broadcast & not the actual environment. That is all am saying. You are saying the Bridge is dead, based on your TV observations. I am not buying your argument. On the telecast that I was watching, the atmosphere was loud & even the commentators mentioned the fact that it was loud.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

And didn't he do this? in fact he has been doing this. He and mostly Bertrand fucked up on their goal, no need to over analyze it and put all the blame on a forward.

But that is the point, it was not a one time incident, it's been happening all the time. And it is extremely noticeable to anyone who watches us. In fact, even the pundit on the Arabic channel I was watching who I would bet has never watched Chelsea because he seemed not to know who Hazard is said that Shakhtar were always attacking in the right wing because the number 17 was not tracking back enough. That's how clear it is.

Excuse me Choulo, I have a lot of respect for you in this forum, but why claim I am only here for Hazard. Did I say that? No. I do love the guy, that's true.

I was actually being sarcastic with my comment, not meaningless. Just check who David Hume is, what the quotation I said is all about and maybe you will get the meaning.

I do not however like you claiming I am here only for Hazard. Not at all actually. I think that is a cheap shot not based on reality. I would have actually expected more from someone that is a mod on here like you.

I still salute you in all friendliness.

I didn't mean to insult you. I apologize. I just meant that we should accept criticism to any player.

[Stingray 9,441]

But that is the point, it was not a one time incident, it's been happening all the time. And it is extremely noticeable to anyone who watches us. In fact, even the pundit on the Arabic channel I was watching who I would bet has never watched Chelsea because he seemed not to know who Hazard is said that Shakhtar were always attacking in the right wing because the number 17 was not tracking back enough. That's how clear it is.

I didn't mean to insult you. I apologize. I just meant that we should accept criticism to any player.

No problem, Choulo.

I'll even try to accept some Hazard criticism myself :-) !

[Sheva. 5,373]

But that is the point, it was not a one time incident, it's been happening all the time. And it is extremely noticeable to anyone who watches us. In fact, even the pundit on the Arabic channel I was watching who I would bet has never watched Chelsea because he seemed not to know who Hazard is said that Shakhtar were always attacking in the right wing because the number 17 was not tracking back enough. That's how clear it is.

No, they attack down the right because it is where Srna is, one of the best attacking full backs in football.

Hazard can only help in containing him, which he did and he also made 3 tackles, including once when he was left alone with Srna.

He did not track back enough in Donetsk, but the game yesterday he certainly did.

[robdog 2,084]

But that is the point, it was not a one time incident, it's been happening all the time. And it is extremely noticeable to anyone who watches us. In fact, even the pundit on the Arabic channel I was watching who I would bet has never watched Chelsea because he seemed not to know who Hazard is said that Shakhtar were always attacking in the right wing because the number 17 was not tracking back enough. That's how clear it is.

No, they attack down the right because it is where Srna is, one of the best attacking full backs in football.

Hazard can only help in containing him, which he did and he also made 3 tackles, including once when he was left alone with Srna.

He did not track back enough in Donetsk, but the game yesterday he certainly did.

I thought Hazard came back too. I remember him getting stuck in a couple of times. Don't get it twisted though, it was like an English style player w/ the physical play. I remember a couple of legit stops Hazard made on the D end. I don't ever recall Hazard ever coming that far back before.

[Jase 43,479]

Goals highlights with a Sky commentary.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xuxz9k_chelsea-vs-fc-shakhtar-donetsk_sport?search_algo=2

That skill and cross from Oscar early on...My word!

[Owizzy 19]

CFC: Who we are and who we are not

After watching Chelsea defeat Shaktar in the second leg, I felt it necessary to share some of views with our honorable forum.

My observation is that inasmuch as we win some games there is something that has characterized the team for some time now and that is; Chelsea has in all these years failed to form a cohesive team amidst our victories that element of connectivity between the defence-midfield-attack is lacking heavily and something needs to be done to change this.

Secondly why are Chelsea players so in love with the ‘yellow-card’. If you make a list of our players you find that the probability of each player conceding a yellow card is appaulingly high. Neat entertaining football is not played with brute force but with skill and intelligence look at these examples:

Ramires 35-60 percent chance of conceding a yellow card, maybe even higher

David Luiz 30-60 percent chance of conceding a yellow card

Mikel 40-55 percent chance of conceding a yellow card

Ivanovic 35-50 percent chance of conceding a yellow card

John Terry 35-40 percent chance of conceding a yellow card

Ivanovic 35-50 percent chance of conceding a yellow card

I think RDM should start emphasizing clean play amongst these players, that is what a good team is meant to look like – clean play.

Next on our players: Firstly how can we solve the David Luiz erratic problem? He is a skillfull guy no doubts, strong attacking qualities but he lacks the seriousness and no-nonsense approach to defensive duties. I think he should go and watch videos of defensive greats such as Paulo Maldini and Franco Baressi to realize that in the defence you don’t joke for even a second, you are expected to put on a serious act from start to finish, why? because any defensive error could be as costly as conceding a goal. If I was coach and have immense options of defenders I will convert David Luiz from a defender to an attacking midfielder he has a knack for wanting to prove to the crowd that he is good on the ball so I guess an attacking midfield role will accord him that desire. Note that Mikel used to be an attacking midfielder before joining Chelsea he was converted to a defensive midfielder and I must say he is doing a good job of it even though he doesn’t score and commentators like to make fun of this but he does distribute balls well.

Secondly Ramires: ‘All energy no finesse’, please can a psychologist talk to Ramires to stop bamboozling his way in every attack, try to slow down his pace and give himself some room to think so as to complete his moves effectively. He is good at collecting the ball and after 2 or 3 dribbles gives it straight back to the opponent. Suggestion he should learn from his fellow Brazilian Willian of Shaktar, we all can see how smooth Willian is on the ball. Ramires plays like raw diamond yet unpolished. His game needs a bit of polish.

And Finally, how long will we be patient with Torres? Don’t get me wrong I am one very strong admirer of Torres when he was with Liverpool, I used to be awed by his ball handling skills and how he manufactured goals out of nothing, I have even watched several of his goals on you tube because I greatly admired his skills. For some unknown reason it’s just not happening for him in Chelsea and I wonder how long we will have to wait. To be honest it is already costing us this season, even though we have escaped with some victories and draws here and there, I bet you if Torres was delivering we would probably be at 100% wins as at this point in the season but Torres is not scoring and he losses possession easily. He was a nightmare yesterday November 7th (CFC –Shaktar,3-2). Please Mr. RDM if you don’t see promise in Torres’ game PLEASE pull him off early enough so that the subs can get meaningful time to contribute more positively to games. I remain a fan of Torres and greatly wish him the best regarding improvement.

[Rambo 1,729]

Scary defense we must do a lot better than that against Liverpool on Saturday . I just loved the hard work done by hazard because players with his skills don't usually fight for the ball like he do .

Indeed, Hazard was my MOTM...his dribbling was on point and won us a lot of free kicks

[edetarod 2,155]

[Kez 2,727]

So gutted cause I had a thought that I should record this when we won that corner, but I never did, the reaction was brilliant! Was in the same stand as this video.